alant
Active member
Anchor just outside river entrance in the lee of the castle/lighthouse/shingle bank, good holding & reasonable shelter, no cost. Just keep clear of the entrance & the corner of Hurst (tide runs fierce here on the ebb).
Needles / Overly Cautious?
- Thread starter CondorAA5A
- Start date
Anchor just outside river entrance in the lee of the castle/lighthouse/shingle bank, good holding & reasonable shelter, no cost. Just keep clear of the entrance & the corner of Hurst (tide runs fierce here on the ebb).
Tranona
Well-known member
+1
The inside is attractive though, particularly if you want to go ashore.
It cost me £10 to park in the West Quay car park yesterday to visit the show. Which is the better value?
alant
Active member
Easy to get ashore from outside spit, but its a long row up to the yacht club, even if anchored in the pool inside.
There is a ferry of course.
jac
Well-known member
Outboard???
Seajet
...
Dries at LWS so timing is of the essence; drawing 2' with the keel up, at neaps, we were able and welcomed to tie up to the jetty - but it would be very different on springs, a long way out and I didn't really study how one would get ashore then; quite possibly go perpendicular in the dinghy from a mooring / anchor then wellies and a bit of a walk.
alant
Active member
dancrane
Well-known member
After scaring the poop out of me, the page or so of replies regarding pleasant Solent ports, felt like the BBC presenter saying "goodnight everybody...don't have nightmares." 
I've sat at Totland Bay on a fairly calm day, remarking on the distant line of white water over the Shingles to the west, but I'd never stopped to look at the chart there.
It certainly looks loaded with opportunities to go rapidly, desperately wrong in a small yacht during adverse weather. The MAIB report has me thinking I'll never enter or exit the Solent that way, though I realise those circumstances were exceptionally bad.
Plenty of sobering reading in there for anyone inclined to feel cocky.
I've sat at Totland Bay on a fairly calm day, remarking on the distant line of white water over the Shingles to the west, but I'd never stopped to look at the chart there.
It certainly looks loaded with opportunities to go rapidly, desperately wrong in a small yacht during adverse weather. The MAIB report has me thinking I'll never enter or exit the Solent that way, though I realise those circumstances were exceptionally bad.
Plenty of sobering reading in there for anyone inclined to feel cocky.
Daydream believer
Well-known member
After scaring the poop out of me, the page or so of replies regarding pleasant Solent ports, felt like the BBC presenter saying "goodnight everybody...don't have nightmares."
I've sat at Totland Bay on a fairly calm day, remarking on the distant line of white water over the Shingles to the west, but I'd never stopped to look at the chart there.
It certainly looks loaded with opportunities to go rapidly, desperately wrong in a small yacht during adverse weather. The MAIB report has me thinking I'll never enter or exit the Solent that way, though I realise those circumstances were exceptionally bad.
Plenty of sobering reading in there for anyone inclined to feel cocky.
To someone coming from the Thames estuary they would look at that channel on the chart & think that they were on home turf & not turn a hair--- Until they tried it of course!!!
Fox Morgan
Member
The right choice is the one you feel happy with the outcome.
The needles channel is a horrible thing, I dislike it most of the time, I've been through ridiculous standing waves at Bridge and got wetter than an otters pocket more times than not going through there. Usually on a mission to get somewhere/race or not on my own boat.
I prefer the east entrance most of the time, it's more open with more scope to move around and sail properly instead of rapid gybing as is most common, short tacking out of that fast flowing spout by Hurst castle. Coming back north into the solent on the flood with a decent southerly should be ok though, but once you've committed to it, it can be hard to extricate yourself if you decide that either you, your crew or boat can't handle the conditions. I think it was wise to go the easterly slightly longer route.
The needles channel is a horrible thing, I dislike it most of the time, I've been through ridiculous standing waves at Bridge and got wetter than an otters pocket more times than not going through there. Usually on a mission to get somewhere/race or not on my own boat.
I prefer the east entrance most of the time, it's more open with more scope to move around and sail properly instead of rapid gybing as is most common, short tacking out of that fast flowing spout by Hurst castle. Coming back north into the solent on the flood with a decent southerly should be ok though, but once you've committed to it, it can be hard to extricate yourself if you decide that either you, your crew or boat can't handle the conditions. I think it was wise to go the easterly slightly longer route.
alant
Active member
"should be ok" but often isn't & as you continue "once you've committed to it, it can be hard to extricate yourself" is putting it mildly. Please don't invite me on your boat, if thats your usual attitude to passage planning.
Fox Morgan
Member
I've no idea how you can mis-interpret my post. There's no need for dramatic phrasing or over emphasis. I suggested that it's not wise to put yourself in a situation that is difficult to get out of. I'd say that's about as prudent an attitude as any.
I would have gone the easterly route if I had a choice and wanted to have a comfortable sail with friends. If I was racing then I'd deal with it and suck up the wild ride, assuming of course that the race wasn't rerouted due to weather/tide issues.
It all depends on the circumstances and crew onboard. The OP in my opinion did the right thing and took the safer route.
Don't worry though, you won't be invited. Not unless you ask nicely. ;-)
CondorAA5A
New member
Many thanks for everyone’s comments and views – I’ve found them very interesting to read.
alant ’s comment on old and bold made me smile as I remember this from when I was learning to fly (if you’re not familiar with it - There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots).
Now engrossed in Flaming’s berthing challenge!
alant ’s comment on old and bold made me smile as I remember this from when I was learning to fly (if you’re not familiar with it - There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots).
Now engrossed in Flaming’s berthing challenge!
DoubleEnder
Well-known member
Old thread revival, apologies.
I need to head west from the Hamble early next week, if possible. The forecast is all SW wind but on Tuesday/Wednesday it may get a bit lighter and if so I will go for it. Boat is an old wooden sloop, 34 feet, only 24 on the waterline. Very wet with low freeboard.
Assuming I exit the western Solent with a fair or slack tide, am I best using the N Channel? Seems so to me but I am not very expert on the neighbourhood. I have some experience of the Needles and the Bridge and would prefer to avoid unpleasantness, but how unpleasant is it likely to be in SW4 against the ebb?
Thank you
I need to head west from the Hamble early next week, if possible. The forecast is all SW wind but on Tuesday/Wednesday it may get a bit lighter and if so I will go for it. Boat is an old wooden sloop, 34 feet, only 24 on the waterline. Very wet with low freeboard.
Assuming I exit the western Solent with a fair or slack tide, am I best using the N Channel? Seems so to me but I am not very expert on the neighbourhood. I have some experience of the Needles and the Bridge and would prefer to avoid unpleasantness, but how unpleasant is it likely to be in SW4 against the ebb?
Thank you
alahol2
Well-known member
The North channel, or north of the Shingles anyway, will definitely be more comfortable than via the Bridge. To me, avoiding unpleasantness is important.
oldmanofthehills
Well-known member
Well I'm a stranger to those waters and only transited twice. The first time we come up on an acquaintances boat on the flood, hit rough water and saw another boat nearly overwhelmed by straying onto the Shingles. Our skipper was a fool and we were lucky. The second time was taking delivery of my third boat/my wife's first, and trying to beat a foul SW F6 into Poole. I considered the Northern passage but it seemed longer and time was of the essence as it was promising F7, and there were two boats ahead of me so I was reassured. Horrid waves just past the Bridge, she dipped her bows and a wave broke over the boat removing the sprayhood, filling the cockpit up with water and incidentally lifting a poorly fitting forehatch so my wife got drenched while below, though the later incident is a result of previous owners workmanship not the weathers.
When more recently I made a similar run from Emsworth I made sure we went south of the IOW. I also refused to leave Emsworth till I knew all hatches secured, all bilge pumps worked, the cockpit did not drain into the engine bay via a ventilator - and we had a stout bucket on board for emergency bailing not just the previous owners small saucepan.
You can keep the Solent IMHO, I'll stick with the Bristol Channel
When more recently I made a similar run from Emsworth I made sure we went south of the IOW. I also refused to leave Emsworth till I knew all hatches secured, all bilge pumps worked, the cockpit did not drain into the engine bay via a ventilator - and we had a stout bucket on board for emergency bailing not just the previous owners small saucepan.
You can keep the Solent IMHO, I'll stick with the Bristol Channel
Bobc
Well-known member
T'was a bit bouncy around Bridge I seem to remember.
lw395
Well-known member
I think the seas you encounter will depend on a few things.
Wind strength
Wind direction
Wind over the previous few days
How long after the tide turns
Springs or neaps
A lot of the time, the Bridge is no worse than Hurst.
Personally if I wasn't confident in my boat to go through the Needles channel in a 4 gusting 5, early in the ebb, I probably wouldn't go West of Yarmouth in it.
However if you are late in the ebb, in springs with 6 in the forecast, then the North Channel comes into its own.
Being late on the ebb tide generally implies not heading beyond Swanage, perhaps Weymouth anyway, so there is less incentive to go to the Needles.
Middle of next week is springs with SW F4 for most of Sat/Sun/Mon, so you'd expect some swell coming in.
It's only 5M from Yarmouth to the Needles, so it ought to be possible to get there before the wind over tide builds up.
rotrax
Well-known member
I was pooped big time in the Needles Channel in 2004. The wave that hit us suddenly rose up on the Sbd. quarter and fell onto the the cockpit and the lower part of the sail, pulling the mainsheet bale from the boom. To do that it must have been over 4 metres high!
We were two up, both in the cockpit and clipped on. My Skipper was thrown across the cockpit, damaging a rib or two on a coachroof winch. I was hanging onto the tiller,water two feet over my head, my auto lifejacket went off.
Not pleasant at all.
Came in earlier this year from Studland, at springs, last of the ebb. Very nasty looking sea by the Bridge, made it quite squirrely.
We used to go out on a fishing charter boat from Lymington.
Every time we used the Needles channel the Skipper, vastly experienced, would exclaim" Bloody place-I 'ate it 'ere! "
In the wrong conditions a very wild and dangerous place.
We were two up, both in the cockpit and clipped on. My Skipper was thrown across the cockpit, damaging a rib or two on a coachroof winch. I was hanging onto the tiller,water two feet over my head, my auto lifejacket went off.
Not pleasant at all.
Came in earlier this year from Studland, at springs, last of the ebb. Very nasty looking sea by the Bridge, made it quite squirrely.
We used to go out on a fishing charter boat from Lymington.
Every time we used the Needles channel the Skipper, vastly experienced, would exclaim" Bloody place-I 'ate it 'ere! "
In the wrong conditions a very wild and dangerous place.
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lw395
Well-known member
As is Hurst.
Although it's great fun in a fast dinghy.
But in general, the RTIR doesn't see many people getting into bother here in reasonable winds.
I have had an interestign moment at Hurst due to arriving too early in SW winds, before the flood had really got going. That was due to a very fast passage back from Weymouth IIRC. The last of the ebb in a SW wind is to be respected IMHO. Wind-over tide chop/overfalls lags behind the tide that causes it IMHO.
Seajet
...
The biggest wave I ever saw was at The Bridge - a nasty cross sea going diagonal to a larger wave underneath, like a mini but still jolly unpleasant version of the nightmare photo's in ' Heavy Weather Sailing ' - it broke over us from forward and filled the cockpit, good job we had all the hatches shut as mentioned.
That was in about Force 4 but after several days of SW F9 - we were young and unwise to set off before it had settled.
Nowadays I usually use the North Channel.
A few tips; you can't see the crucial N Head buoy from the Hurst end so have some binoculars for when you get closer.
Keep an eye on the depthsounder, the current sets onto the Shingles - you can hear it ! - so an angled ferry glide course is required - not as drastic as it may sound.
The trip across Poole Bay is usually sublime with a few handy landmarks to practice hand bearing fixes on.
Near Poole don't forget to keep a lookout behind you for the big ships and high speed ferry.
That was in about Force 4 but after several days of SW F9 - we were young and unwise to set off before it had settled.
Nowadays I usually use the North Channel.
A few tips; you can't see the crucial N Head buoy from the Hurst end so have some binoculars for when you get closer.
Keep an eye on the depthsounder, the current sets onto the Shingles - you can hear it ! - so an angled ferry glide course is required - not as drastic as it may sound.
The trip across Poole Bay is usually sublime with a few handy landmarks to practice hand bearing fixes on.
Near Poole don't forget to keep a lookout behind you for the big ships and high speed ferry.