Solent Hazards

[eddystone]

As boat is going to be based on the Itchen from Easter, planned to acquire Peter Bruce's Solent Hazards. Does this also cover Chichester Harbour? I think there is also a companion book on Solent Tides by the same author - is this worth getting, i.e. is it a lot more useful than the Yachtsman's Tidal Atlas for Central Channel and Solent or is that additional info covered in the hazards book?

Also, suspect this is a stupid question and will attract derision, but do Tidal Atlases ever go out of date, i.e. are there navigationally significant changes in set and speed of tides over time? (both tidal atlases I've got date from early-mid 90's). I thought not because they are far too small scale to show up any detailed impact of seabed movements over time.

 

[l'escargot]

No, it doesn't include Chi harbour - it only goes as far east on the England side as the submarine barrier I think. Local tidal atlases will show very localised changes over the years that may be of significance to racers but in general terms the changes won't have much impact on the average cruiser.

 

[lpdsn]

As boat is going to be based on the Itchen from Easter, planned to acquire Peter Bruce's Solent Hazards. Does this also cover Chichester Harbour? I think there is also a companion book on Solent Tides by the same author - is this worth getting, i.e. is it a lot more useful than the Yachtsman's Tidal Atlas for Central Channel and Solent or is that additional info covered in the hazards book?

Also, suspect this is a stupid question and will attract derision, but do Tidal Atlases ever go out of date, i.e. are there navigationally significant changes in set and speed of tides over time? (both tidal atlases I've got date from early-mid 90's). I thought not because they are far too small scale to show up any detailed impact of seabed movements over time.

Peter Bruce's book is for when you want to go very close inshore for tidal reasons, usually when racing. As a cruiser there aren't many hazards to avoid - miss the Brambles, don't get a halyard wrapped around the anchor of a big ship, and keep a reasonable offing from the trees covers most of it.

 

[RobBrown]

Peter Bruce's hourly Solent Tides book is excellent-still use it after 9 years sailing in the Solent, despite all the other electronic tide info I have to hand. If you're really keen on using Solent tides to the nth degree, you can get one of the tide maps for Solent Racing, like Winning Tides, but not necessary for the average cruiser-plodder. Another reference chart for the Solent which I use a lot & v handy is the Solent Buoys map, which comes out in a laminated version every year or two & can be bought in any of the local chandleries. (or you could download one from any of a no of online sources, print it out & laminate it yourself, but as it is only about £8 to buy, I don't bother)

 

[onesea]

Also, suspect this is a stupid question and will attract derision, but do Tidal Atlases ever go out of date, i.e. are there navigationally significant changes in set and speed of tides over time? (both tidal atlases I've got date from early-mid 90's). I thought not because they are far too small scale to show up any detailed impact of seabed movements over time.

I am still using ones that are from 70's or 80's I think, will check next time I am onboard.

I would of recommend the Solent Cruising guide, as a one time purchase:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solent-Cruising-Companion-Wiley-Nautical/dp/0470988282
but its a tad expensive at the moment.

If you find one second hand any edition it gives good notes... If a new edition comes out I will not be buying it but still a worthy read if you have not visited the Solent before.

For the tides if you use I phone try boatie? it has a good tidal function. Or go to a chandler and browse the tidal maps and see what works for you. 10 years in the Solent and I still use mine form time to time just to remind me when the tide turns and where...

As for the hazards unless you want to go racing most there is little advantage in not avoiding by safe distance...

 

[aslabend]

Peter Bruce's hourly Solent Tides book is excellent-still use it after 9 years sailing in the Solent, despite all the other electronic tide info I have to hand. ......

Me too.

 

[Tidewaiter2]

Peter Bruce's book is for when you want to go very close inshore for tidal reasons, usually when racing. As a cruiser there aren't many hazards to avoid - miss the Brambles, don't get a halyard wrapped around the anchor of a big ship, and keep a reasonable offing from the trees covers most of it.

+1, It's very useful still to a serious cruiser-also the Wight Hazards and his Tides down to Portland, and Inshore along the Jurrassic Coast are all good news(entertaining too!) and useful to a cruiser in making optimum passages.

I have to say that using him has won my crews races, and when we had our 6m RedFox, careful use of his Solent tide book when cruising meant we could reach Lymington in a day and return in a day, even with the 5hp o/bd going flat out because there was no wind.Even with a huge genoa and 35hp now, I still check him out- it saves fuel & time, keeps crews happy with scenery that changes!:encouragement:

 

[Seajet]

eddystone,

have the books by all means, no such thing as too much information on this subject.

Re being based in Chichester Harbour, the only dodgy bit I can think of apart from the Winner shoals is the main channel to the entrance just South-West towards the harbour entrance of where Bosham Channel branches off ( you can see I've forgotten the names ...! ).

On leaving harbour don't stray out of the channel too far to starboard there, lots of nasty pointy stakes from some historical fishing set-up !

In reality you'd have to be trying quite hard to get near them; follow the channel markers and you'll be fine.

Do treat the marks near the entrance with respect, that's the only dangerous part of the harbour and if they say ' leave to port ', one jolly well leaves it to port !

Beware off Hayling foreshore, don't take the direct bee line from Chi beacon to Langstone entrance marker as the shallows bulge out to seaward inbetween.

Also watch out for lobster pot buoys off Hayling, some clown lays pots with small dark blue plastic can markers on exactly the route most boats will take...

The submarine barrier mentioned by ' l'escargot ' is rather serious, I expect you know it but just in case... it consists of huge concrete blocks running from Southsea beach to Horse Sand Fort; they dry a few feet above the water near the beach at LWS, and they do not run in a straight line, there's a zig-zag.

The blocks are marked by the odd yellow post but really should be made more obvious, they have claimed a fair few boats.

There are two gaps; one quite near the beach, marked by a red and a green pole.

The other and far more popular one is ' the Dolphin Passage ' roughly halfway between beach and fort, the ' Dolphin ' is a concrete tripod structure, from any distance it looks like a ' H ' with the top verticals removed; the gap is between that and a post a 100 yards or so to the North.

Sorry if you knew all that, it seemed worth mentioning as every year one sees boats bimble straight across the barrier; most of the time they get away with it, but !

 

[eddystone]

Thanks for all that advice - it's over 5 years since I've been in the Solent but I was at HISC a couple of weekends ago in my usual role of mechanic/driver to my daughter and thought it would be nice to visit (West?) Itchenor some time, not having much experience of Chichester Harbour (apart from learning to sail in a Wayfarer out of Emsworth in the Stone Age, as my daughter would put it). I think I might pass on Solent Hazards for a bit but his Solent and Wight Tides seems worth having.

 

[Seajet]

It might be heresy to some here but I've gone through my copy of ' Solent Hazards ' a few times and always found it badly presented; some charts to refer to and overlaid dotted lines to show transits and clearing bearings would make a huge difference for the better.

It can't be that difficult for publishers, they were doing it in Adlard Coles' pilots in the mid 20th Century...

 

[grumpy_o_g]

eddystone,

have the books by all means, no such thing as too much information on this subject.

Re being based in Chichester Harbour, the only dodgy bit I can think of apart from the Winner shoals is the main channel to the entrance just South-West towards the harbour entrance of where Bosham Channel branches off ( you can see I've forgotten the names ...! ).

The main hazard in Chichester is the bloody dinghies from what I've seen...

 

[Seajet]

I've sailed dinghies, mostly high perfomance jobs, in Chichester Harbour since 1970 and never bothered anyone else; however I must admit when crewing a colleagues' very expensive trendy International 14 I seemed to be in a minority of 1 when even considering nav marks and other boats...

I remember dimly seeeing a big green buoy flash past as I was blinded by spray, I just had time to say ' err ! ' before we hit the Winner shoal big time; those boats have very expensive daggerboards which do not kick up when hitting very hard shallows - I can still remember the cry of anguish as the £ signs ran before the owners' eyes...

 

[Giblets]

Concerning Chichester Harbour this new LNTM issued recently may be of interest regarding the reduced depths around Chichester Bar.

http://conservancy.co.uk/notices/view/113/