Lyminton to Brighton in one go, some advice please.

[baart]

Hi,

we are planning a first longer passage of this season and are thinking of going east to Brighton next week, weather permitting. Will be in Lymington on Monday. At the moment the forcast for Tuesday ranges from SW to NW, hopefully it will stay that way. The plan would be to leave early after 6am as the tide turns east (HW Portsmouth is @1.39am) and get past Selsey Bill before it turns back west. With a spring tide our boat easily gets well over 8knt SOG in the Solent so it should be doable.

Never been through the Looe Channel before though so not quite sure what to expect. Should we avoid it and go south of the Boulder Bank or is the wind with tide situation safe enough? How does it compare tidewise to the Needles Channel or Portsmouth Harbour entrance ?

Once past the Selsey Bill is there anything there we need to be mindful of?

Happy to be corrected if you think the plan is rubbish

Any comments appreciated.

Thx,

B

 

[Stemar]

It's a while since I did the Looe Channel but , from memory, it's straightforward, but you do need to keep a good lookout for pot buoys.

 

[RobbieW]

I'd want to go through the Looe with the tide so I'd try to arrive as it turns W

 

[dslittle]

It's a while since I did the Looe Channel but , from memory, it's straightforward, but you do need to keep a good lookout for pot buoys.

I agree. With wind with tide it’s a comfortable run. You don’t say your size but if you’re getting 8kn, I assume a reasonable sized yacht. However, if you are a reasonable size, that may well mean a reasonable draft...

My MAIN concern (when we were doing the trip) would be getting into Brighton. It is quite a long time ago so, hopefully, things have changed BUT Brighton was VERY SHALLOW when we were last there. I would definitely make a phonecall re depths (we were practically restricted to an hour either side of high water with a 2.1m draft…)

 

[Bobc]

Personally, I would do it in 2 day-sails. Lymington - Chichester, and Chichester - Brighton.

That way you can get fair tide all the way, and you can time your departure from Chichester to reach the Looe channel as the tide turns in your favour.

The tide is quite strong up near Brighton, so you don't really want to be pushing it.

 

[Sandy]

I was last in Brighton at the end of August 2021. It was being dredged at the time, as I recall a racing yacht got a real rocket polite telling off over the radio for trying to sneak out as the dredgers were positioning themselves.

The Master Mariner had very good beer and Bella Napoli an excellent pizza.

 

[baart]

We are trying to get used to longer passages hence the idea of doing it in one day. Considering we don't want go against the tide through the Solent the only choice seems to be to accept pushing the tide from Selsey Bill to Brighton. It means though we would be arriving at around low water at Brighton so if depth is still an issue we may have to rethink the plan. Boat's draught is 1.7m. Will give them a ring to check whether any dredging got done recently. Thanks for the replies.

 

[johnalison]

I have only done it (the whole way) in the opposite direction, many years ago in a Sadler 29 from Brighton to Yarmouth, ending up with a beat from the Looe Channel against a rising F5. I don't remember the bit against the tide from Brighton as being especially arduous, so I would have no qualms about doing it in a larger boat, though generally speaking ending a sail with the tide is more satisfying.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Doing it in one day is fine.

I'm not able to advise about the Looe Channel as I've only been through a couple of times as crew. It was no shorter (not more than 1nm or so, at least) to go through it when I sailed my boat back to the Solent from NL, so I just went the outside way. We passed Brighton somewhat offshore though, having refuelled at Eastbourne, so maybe it'll make more sense for you.

 

[baart]

Spoken to the marina guys and it seems the entrance would not be a problem, however the depth inside the marina would if arriving at low water. Decisions, decisions...

 

[rotrax]

The tide is important. Leave Lymington before it turns East, perhaps an hour-hour and a half. By the time you get to Cowes it should be going your way. take the passage through the submarine barrier and then the Looe Channel. It can be 'interesting' F5 and above wind over tide. If that is the case, go outside the Owers. At some time you will have to buck a foul tide, the journey in most sailing boats is too long.

Good luck.

 

[laika]

I see rotax posted the first part of my post before I hit "post". My copy of "winning tides" is on the boat (perhaps someone has one to hand?) ...the admiralty publication is less useful here because of course that shallow bit to the north of the main channel behaves bit differently but leave when the tide isn't too badly against you. Have it with you from cowes and ride it through the submarine barrier and the looe channel. You'd think twice about doing the whole trip in an easterly gale anyway so given that, nothing onerous about the looe approaching high tide and last summer the Brighton entrance was dredged up to the visitors' pontoons . Nothing to be mindful of past selsey bill other than that if you have my luck and you're not bashing into an easterly you'll be gybing with the wind right behind you. And obviously Brighton entrance is distinctly dubious in strong winds from the south/south east

 

[DJE]

According to Reeds it's 33 miles from Lymington to the Owers light bouy. So if you're confident about that 8 knots SOG you should be fine that far. It's then another 28 miles to Brighton. That 8 knots SOG is probably 6 knots through the water so 10 hours for the 60 miles, as some of it will be against the tide. So the best you're going to do is about half way down a falling spring tide at Brighton. I don't fancy that very much. If you really can make the 8 knots you might make Littlehampton not long after HW - it's 15 miles nearer.

But it looks like a two-time trip to me.

 

[Bobc]

Beware of the hundreds of pots between Brighton and Bognor. They are poorly marked and get largely dragged under by the tide. You won't want one around your prop.

 

[LouisBrowne]

I've sailed from Beaulieu to Newhaven a couple of times. If you can be at the mouth of Lymington River before 0600 and can average 6 knots through the water you'd only have foul tide for the last 10 miles or so and should arrive at Brighton in plenty of time before it gets too shallow at about 16.00. Even if you are held up and can't get into Brighton it's not the end of the world because you can carry on to Newhaven. The Looe Channel would be OK for water.

 

[baart]

Wow, thank you for so many replies! So based on what you say it is doable but inevitably means pushing the spring tide somewhere past the Selsey bill which might be unpleasant. I guess we will have to see how long it will actually take to get past Chichester and then decide if we want to carry on.

With regards to the submarine barier, if coming from Cowes would I actually gain that much going through it? I always thought the tide would be stronger in the middle of the channel ?

 

[Concerto]

Of course it is do able. I have regularly sailed singlehanded from Gosport or Cowes to Brighton or Eastbourne. Main thing is you will have some tide with and against you, so make sure you take it with you through the Looe Channel. Personally I would arrive there about 1½ hours before high water as this will allow you the benefit of the tide through the Solent as well, then after Selsey Bill the tidal stream is slightly weaker, so easier to punch. The only problem is you will be arriving at Brighton nearer low water.

It all depends of the wind, the direction and strength should make it an easy trip, but remember you are more likely to be on the wind for your return journey.

At present I am just finishing a video of a trip from Chatham to Portsmouth and back from video and photographs I took for my personal use in 2016 Looking through them made me think they could be combined to cover most of the trip. There is a long section of video in the Looe Channel at starting about 2.42 whilst on a run in strong winds. I will try and finish it tomorrow night and load it on to You Tube. I will post the link here and as a new thread.

 

[Ningaloo]

This will be a long day and you'll have adverse tide at the end of the passage. Also a falling tide at Brighton with the depth issues.
I always want to make maximum use of tides, especially with headwinds. Going east you will hopefully have a good wind direction.
I have been to Brighton many times with 2m draft. Often with dredgers present at the entrance. You definitely don't want to arrive within 2 hours of low tide however I'm surprised that the marina has stated that depth on the berth is an issue. The visitor pontoon does have depth issues but they always put me on a vacant finger pontoon with no depth restrictions.
One option to give you the feel of a longer passage without so many tidal issues might be to leave Lymington the day before and anchor in Osborne Bay. That way you can leave in the morning just before the tide turns and have favourable tides through Looe (whish isn't usually an issue) and arrive at Brighton near the top of the tide.
This is how I plan my west bound passages - sail with the tide, anchor up during adverse tide for 5-6 hours then move on again.

 

[davidmh]

You could leave an hour earlier at 5am, there will be very little west going tide if you keep close in to the mainland shore.
David M H

 

[Bobc]

You could leave an hour earlier at 5am, there will be very little west going tide if you keep close in to the mainland shore.
David M H

Or you could leave the day before and make your life a lot easier and your passage a lot more pleasant.