Brian Humber's blog

Wary of the weekend weather forecast all the crew ( bar one confined to bed with manflu)  joined Ronhilda on the Friday afternoon.  We then made a short trip to Gosport Marina in the late afternoon sun.  I must have found the gravel hump on Chichester Bar as we only had 0.7m depth under the lowered keel on the shallowest part even at half tide.  Breaking waves were noted on the sand banks either side of the harbour entrance, and the East Winner shallows off Langstone entrance had a good display of white water. As the wind was turning Westerly and backing the geny at this point we furled sail to avoid getting anywhere near these breakers and motored the rest of the way.  Distance sailed was 11miles with max speed 8kts.

We had an excellent value Fish and Chips meal at Gosport followed by a pint in the Castle and retired to our berths to listen to the wind increasing overnight.

The forecast in the week for the Jan FC was uncertain, but seemed to be settling down to a brisk N/NW on the day with a bit of a lull on the Saturday morning.  So with it being Neaps I was looking forward to an easy passage out from Chichester followed by a  crisp hard sail and Charles's course for the day looked very good for all  FCers coming from North, East and West.

Friday saw an unexpected lull which made me a little nervous things were moving through quicker, but the forecast was still for NW/N F5/6 when we needed to be punching our westwards so I was still confidant of a good day.  Foolish skipper that I am, 5am in Chichester Marina saw snow falling which froze on the pontoon woods and a steadily building W wind. We noted the dredger which is digging out Birdham approach had shut up shop for the weekend in view of the forecast F8s.

Saint Graham had kindly advised the start was to be in the wild west of the Solent this month, so that would have meant trying to leaving our home Gulag of Chichesterstan at LW springs. Apart from not being able to get out of the maina this is not a good idea if any kind of winds are blowing so the crew voted to part join in Chichester, and move Ronhilda to Gosport for others to join on Friday night. This also meant we could avoid the 3/4 hour potential beat against the flood tide on the Saturday up to the start.  So we bounced over the bar 2 hours before LW on Friday afternoon with the SE F4 kicking up the ebb tide nicely over the bar.

It was a pleasant surprise to log onto the Web site and find the first start was just off Portsmouth so even though the weekend was Springs we could have a later start from Chichesterstan Gulag. Even so I had to leave on the Friday evening as I would not be able to get out of the Marina at LW springs so we went down to pick a bouy up in Itchenor reach.  Looking for the Boathook I found it was missing, somebody must have borrowed it and dropped it/not returned it on Ronhilda's berth.  We then found it was difficult to raise a pick up bouy  with a brush using torchlight so we approached stern to and made a bridle across the stern from the bathing platform. This worked well and we had a peaceful night under a clear sky with many stars shining brightly. 

The weather for this FC had been giving cause for concern since the predicted Low Pressure had appeared on the weather charts on the Monday beforehand. Saturday appeared OK but Sunday was looking bad with strong to gale force Southerlies predicted with gusts to 50kts.  Then Midweek a) the new Chichester Harbour News arrived to confirm the bar had shoaled significanlty and in Sept was only 0.7m below CD and users should allow for  further variations and b) Graham announced the start for this FC was to be in the badlands of the Wild West otherwise known as the central Solent west of Wotton Creek - grim news for we immates residing in the remote Gulag of the East.

Ronhilda's patron,  Saint Graham,  had set a start off Portsmouth this month so with a Neap ebb tide and forecast ( in the morning at least!) of light winds those of us berthed in Chichester Gulag, Siberia had some extra beauty sleep and set a lock exit time of 0730am.  On the morning we slipped and waking up several hundred crows perching on mastheads in the marina we informed the lockkeeper we woud be back later in the day and set off down the harbour.

The sea was flat with a low swell from the south as we turned for the Submarine barrier and the start next to Spithead fort.  After Bacon butties, we stayed on the east of the channel to let an exiting gas tanker pass and then started before the inbound Delmonte ship arrived. We saw Oxygen run back with Delmonte and wondered if they were asking for some free fruit.  

With light winds forecast the Ronhilda Immates of Gulag Chichesterstan gathered on the Friday evening to have a 0430 Saturday morning bunk call. After getting everybody awake, up and through the Marina Lock, the Spring ebb was in full spate and we were taken down to Chichester Harbour entrance to get across with about 0.8m over the two humps on the bar. 

Ronhilda was rerigged for the third time in my ownership (time flies by ever faster) in the week before the FC and as always it takes far more time to reset things up than it did to take the mast out.  So it was not until Friday afternoon we were ready to bend on the mainsail and do a test hoist.  Unfortunately the sunshine of the morning had disappeared and the sail was put on in torrents of rain.  We then had 30/40 knots in Chichester Marina for 20mins which was an omen for the following day. All systems passed the static tests apart from having no main VHF arial and the backstay tensioner was found unserviceable.

Most FCs this winter are more Neaps than Springs and this made a huge difference last Saturday.  Coming from one of the Gulags in Chichester Habour, a neap FC weekend means no creeping over the bar at 6am at LW with little water under the keel to then fight a spring flood all the way, normally beating in a SW wind to foreign waters far way in the west.  This weekend saw us up at 6am so an hours lie in compared with last year and the sail to the start was far easier and less tiring and stressful. So thanks to Graham for this and he has been made the Patron Saint of Ronhilda as a reward??

Earlier in the week the forecast seemed good for an expedition to France so I took off the Dutch Charts and put back on the French ones. Sadly the weather forecast turned unpredictable with winds in the North on Monday so I wimped out and decided to go east on the UK side.

So Saturday at dawn saw Ronhilda leave Chichester at dawn (the lock keeper saying we were the only boat to leave on his watch) and creep over the bar with less than 1.8m at LW.  Wind was from the NW so we lowered the keel, hoisted full main and solent jib and set off.