East, West, Littlehampton's best!

They came from the East, they came from the West - and all agreed that Littlehampton's a great place for a Little Ship Club Rally! In the end, seven skippers 'dared to sail where no LSC Rally had hitherto dared to sail'.   And were they blessed?
 

Were they! Miraculously, wind and tide turned out to favour all -

The lovely NE 4/5 had the sole brave Westward boat, Melody, rollicking along at over 5 knots on the same steady close reach all of the 20NM from Brighton.  The tide, too, seemed to flow sweetly almost all the way, flooding though it was (ah, these back-eddies!).

From distant Lymington, the mighty Isis shot down the Solent under that same North Easterly coupled with a Spring tide - the sacrifice of beauty sleep again amply rewarded.  Yes, Littlehampton's entrance is narrow and on a fine sunny day there's plenty of traffic, so Lee Harrison, Assistant Harbour Master, went another extra mile for this Rally by escorting Isis safely through.

From way up North even (well, Southampton is north up the Solent), Commodore David Roache had his crew up on deck at 0400, but rewarded with a beautiful sunrise as Ariel 'romped' down the Water, through the Solent, braved the Looe Channel and was tucked up alongside by 1030.
From just round the corner past Selsey Bill, skipper Geoff Beal took Koto into position down-harbour on Friday night, ready for a quick getaway in the morning together with Jus Lymin and Snoek - so the entire Chichester fleet was able to make a grand almost-joint entrance bang on HW Littlehampton.

Fjord, the lovely Hillyard 'native' to Littlehampton, was frustrated by the need for a new mast in her original aim of making the round-trip to join Melody in Brighton and sail Westward from here - so motored instead from her mooring off the old Hillyard yard, to join the party on the visitors pontoon.

Once safely alongside, crew dispersed to whatever activities took their fancy - some enjoyed celebratory hospitality on board Jus Lymin (the outcome of England's first sally in the World Cup not being at that stage known); Nicola de Quincey led a party to admire the architecture of the award-winning East Beach cafe; others visited the chandlers in search of gismos; and yet others enjoyed the friendly and helpful welcome from Littlehampton's excellent range of shops.

Come evening, Isis's magnificent poop deck easily accommodated all 24 members and guests for pontoon drinks. 

Soon, the promised ferry service so kindly provided by our hosts Arun YC materialised, with two of their members taking us to a 'wonderful' dinner where we were delighted that Commodore Nick Clare was able to join us.  After dinner, Philip Bush, a member of Arun YC who also represents Recreational Users on the Harbour Board, told us a bit more about this 'best kept secret of the south coast' - including that it was one of Henry VIII's shipyards but also of the more recent sharp decline in commercial shipping, which means that the development of the harbour for the likes of us will be able to gather momentum - so we will keenly watch this space.

After dinner, the same superb ferry service took us all back to our boats where those who had risen at dawn put their heads down.
Come Sunday morning, there was an admirable 100% turnout (except for Koto who slipped off early to catch the sill at Bosham) for breakfast at River Breeze - the choice of cafe recommended by Fjord's skipper Adrian Chorley endorsed by an impressive gathering of bikers!

After breakfast, some Sunday walkers enjoyed variously wondering at the standing waves in the entrance, though which they would shortly be making their way; the geographically-confusing New Forest ice cream from West Beach Cafe; and generally the beauties of a Sussex seaside resort on yet another sunny day.

And finally, as HW approached, boats reassembled their crews and headed out and back for home - leaving Fjord to make her way back to her berth and await her new mast.

Participating boats were:
Ariel - skipper Commodore David Roache with Gill, Nicola de Quincey and Alja Schmidt
Fjord - skipper Adrian Chorley
Isis - skipper Vice Commodore South Coast Iain Muspratt, with Patrick MacCulloch, Tim Edwards, Elisbetta Scanferia and Madeline Preston
Koto - skippers Geoff Beal and Ralph Nuttall with guest Christine Ablett
Jus Lymin - skipper Chris Cowley with Jemma, and guests Mike & Jane Phillips and Mark & Hillary Walker
Melody - skipper Mike Lakey with Ian Barclay, Ian Middleton and Elizabeth Forbes
Snoek - skipper Graham Pinner with guest Rebecca Wood