Warning a Boat off the Submerged Barrier off Southsea.

Perhaps the seaward end could use a slightly larger identifying mark.

I think you missed out the "rolleyes" smiley on this one (granted they all look the same now!) The seaward end is fairly well marked!
300px-Horse_Sand_Fort_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1087244.jpg
 
I think you missed out the "rolleyes" smiley on this one (granted they all look the same now!) The seaward end is fairly well marked!
300px-Horse_Sand_Fort_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1087244.jpg

Hasn't stopped a few boats giving it a big kiss, though. Especially folk who think they can cut if fine with a big tide running - it can get embarrassing quite quickly as they enter the wind shadow up or down wind.

Like a few others, I know I could cut across the barrier in the right conditions, but never quite had the cojones to go for it.

Top tip - if you see a 40-footer cutting across, and are tempted to follow, make sure you know what a Southerly and an OVNI look like...
 
The thing is, Ryde Sands and the Bramble Bank aren't on a bee line route one would naturally take, and Horse Sand fort is just apparantly an artillery platform; as for ' a row of yellow posts ' I think not ! Just a few which don't convey the danger.

Yes everyone should look at charts and initially sail or at least chat with experienced bods, but we've all seen boats trundle across unkowingly - in the 21st Century getting wrecked or drowned for not looking at a chart to find a man made hazard seems a bit harsh !
 
The thing is, Ryde Sands and the Bramble Bank aren't on a bee line route one would naturally take,

Huh?

Exit Cowes heading to Hamble and if you didn't know about the Brambles you'd go straight over the top. In fact I've done this with enough rise of tide.

Anyone coming east round the IOW and heading for the central Solent had better know it's there, as again the obvious course is straight over the top... As the RTI race proves year after year...

I do wonder why the barrier is still there though, after all they removed the one on the IOW side!
 
The route from Hamble to mid Solent / Cowes and the North Channel are rather well marked by lots of buoys as well as the post in the middle of the Brambles ( which I agree could be better ); as for Ryde Sands, going inshore is mainly of appeal to racing bods not cruisers taking the bee line.

I'm not being anti-racer, it's just that inexperienced people in anything from speedboats to Swans will not be expecting the underwater barrier.
 
On reflection, I suppose the landward end could be better marked too.

I mean what have you got? A whacking gert big concrete fort at one end, a modest sized island nation at the other, and seven yellow posts, a couple of red marks, a couple of green marks, and a concrete dolphin in between. The whole thing's nigh on invisible!

And why would I want a rolleyes smiley? Do you think I was being ironic? Really! :rolleyes:
 
... it just needs to be better marked.

Please don't take this as anti-Solent, I like sailing there myself, but you guys really need to get out more.

The only way to get things better marked in the Solent is to develop a paint that will allow you to paint dotted white lines & arrows on the water.

Compare, for example, Strangford Lough, some enormous number of rocks, let's say 10,000 as a conservative estimate, marked by a dozen broom handles and, as of a couple of years ago, three or four buoys with real working lights.
 
- in the 21st Century getting wrecked or drowned for not looking at a chart to find a man made hazard seems a bit harsh !

With the downgrading of physical navaids and the increase in reliance on electronic navigation I reckon that getting wrecked or drowned for not looking at a chart is getting more likely in the 21st Centrury.
 
With the downgrading of physical navaids and the increase in reliance on electronic navigation I reckon that getting wrecked or drowned for not looking at a chart is getting more likely in the 21st Centrury.

Indeed. I don't remember seeing the submarine barrier showing up on a Shell Road Atlas or a Tom Tom satnav! (Both of which I have witnessed people using to enter Portsmouth Harbour from the sea! :rolleyes:)
 
Why should electronic nav aids be inherently any less accurate than printed ones, isn't that a bit like saying a calculator is less accurate than log tables or a television picture is less accurate than a photograph?
 
It depends on the tevision and the photograph concerned...

Giblets, the great advantage of a road sat nav is one can programme John Cleese's voice into it - I wonder what he says as one sinks beside the barrier ?!
 
In 2008 at the start of the Round Britain race, the muster area was just to the west of the barrier off South Parade pier....a lot of boats drifted towards it and were warned by the safety boats, one or two drifted right over it...and a certain Fabio Buzzi in his 4 engined contender smashed a drive on it and was out of the race after a mile or two......
 
In 2008 at the start of the Round Britain race, the muster area was just to the west of the barrier off South Parade pier....a lot of boats drifted towards it and were warned by the safety boats, one or two drifted right over it...and a certain Fabio Buzzi in his 4 engined contender smashed a drive on it and was out of the race after a mile or two......

WTF :confused:

Richard
 
Top