Littlehampton harbour entrance

We headed south to Gosport on the Friday and met the crew for the weekend.  After unpacking and a bit of sorting out we sat down to Chris’ homemade curry and Debbie’s homemade Pear and Ginger dessert. Both were excellent and we settled down for the night.

We set off at 10am in sunshine although there was a chill in the air and with Jill on the helm we headed for the gap over the submarine barrier by Horse Sand Fort.  We headed East and Charlie took us through the Looe channel at midday, with a plan for five knots and a SOG of 9 knots we were obviously going to arrive too early so we dropped anchor just outside Littlehampton and waited for the tide. We’d had a good sail.

We entered the harbour to find  Optimist, Tortola Dawn, Windhummer and High Time moored and relaxing in the sunshine. The harbourmaster was extremely courteous and helpful making our job so much easier, the other boats Mimidae, Snoek, Solid Air and Lazy Life arrived shortly after. Speed Date Drinking started at 17.30 ‘ish and all boats participated taking their favourite tipple and glass along to their designated host boats.  New acquaintances were made and old ones refreshed.  No time to relax it was time for our short walk to the renowned East Beach Café.  All were seated and the evening continued.

Sunday morning dawned, Tortola Dawn & High Time had already departed to start their cross channel to Le Havre.  The rest of us untied and headed to our home ports, quite a Little Ship Club flotilla – some went East to Brighton and the others headed west to the Solent again in the sunshine keeping our eyes peeled for the many pot markers between Littlehampton and Selsey Bill.  A superb sail until the wind dropped then the engines went on to finish the last bit.

A good time was had by all and we are certainly looking forward to the next one – will you be there?

Chris and Julie Overall

Oxygen