The Hamble River entrance was the scene of one of my most treasured boating experiences. I had booked a couple of days of training prior to my Yachtmaster practical exam with Robert Avis (sadly now RIP) who was a well known Yachtmaster Examiner, RN Reserve Commander, some time contributor to MBM/MBY and all round good guy. We had a similar experience to the OP in that when we reached the entrance on our way out we were faced with a phalanx of yachts tacking in to the river. I was all ready to turn around and wait until the entrance cleared a bit but Robert instructed me rather sternly to carry on and stick as far to the starboard side of the entrance as was safe to do so I did. Shortly afterwards, a yacht tacked across our bow. There was no danger of a collision because I had come off the power to leave room for him to do this but all the same we got the usual volley of abuse from the crew. Robert got straight onto VHF Channel 16 and hailed the yacht. They answered and he asked to speak to the skipper. He then proceeded to explain who he was and gave the skipper a lecture on the colregs governing narrow channels at the end of which the yacht skipper couldnt apologise enough. The basis of Robert's position was that just because a vessel is a yacht under sail, that does not absolve the yacht from its obligation to keep to the starboard side of the channel. Now I suppose some might argue with that position but all the same it was a beautiful moment
