The weather was forcast north backing northwest for Friday. We needed to leave Bembridge around 0800 to make the most of the easterly going tide for the 40 odd mile trip to Brighton, but were pushing it to get off the beach and out of the shallow Bembridge harbour after 0700 due to the falling tide. I woke at 0500 and went out to look at the visibility which I was hoping was good for crossing the Nab channel area which is the main route for shipping into Portsmouth & Southhampton. It was ok & I went back to bed, listening to thunder for the next hour.
I didn't want to set out until I'd listened to the 0730 weather report, but by then we had to be out of the harbour and couldn't return until the next rising tide. We decided to go. At 0715 I went into the water which was only knee deep to fetch the anchor. We grounded and then floated back toward the kedge after the bow anchor was in. A few other boats had left 20 minutes before in a group and I was hoping to see them all sailing East. When we got out of the harbour they were just heading into the Solent and we were on our own. The weather confirmed the forcast and although the thunder had stopped, the sky to the East looked as black as night.
We weaved our way through the tankers all anchored waiting to go into the Solent and across the Nab channel where we met coming from opposite directions a minesweeper and a massive container ship. The F2 or 3 Northerly was blowing Northeast 17kts and I was thinking about going back. We were making 8-9kts through the water (motorsailing) and over 5 across the ground as the tide wasn't with us yet so we pressed on. After 10 miles we reached the marker for the channel through the shallow area around Selsey bill. The sky had brightened although it had looked so close to the rain we had all the wet gear on ready. The wind still hadn't backed and as we had to change course for Brighton (28m) we sailed into a head wind. The genoa was up & down for the next few hours, until we were a few hours from Brighton when the wind dissapeared completely and we motored in flat sea & full sunshine the rest of the way.
We berthed on the fuel pontoon at 1603 and filled our tank for the first time since setting off for Cherbourg. It took a fiver - that includes running the engine for an hour each day for hot water & charging batteries while on the beach! Brighton is the biggest marina in the country and I nearly had to do a passage plan back from the fuel pontoon to our berth which we arrived safely at, at 1625 with wind westerly 12kts!!!
