We had a great turnout of 12 for our Chichester cruise on the 11th June - Dave R, Owen, Kerry, Andy, John C, John E, Nick R, Maurice, Mike B, Martin, and myself. We were also joined by local Hayling man and LWA sailor Chris Gibson.
The forecast was for sun with the chance of a shower and a 9/10 mph NW wind. Launching a bit late at midday we made good progress down the Chichester channel. We met up with Martin who had launched from Thorney and landed at Itchenor to regroup.
As we couldn’t book for lunch at the Crown & Anchor Dell Quay, we checked out the Ship Inn close to our landing spot. They were happy to welcome wet suited windsurfers so we decided to have lunch there, and most enjoyed a very good fish & chip lunch.
Setting sail again we made our way through the moorings towards Dell Quay. It was a reach most of the way until half a mile from the pub when the wind changed direction and more than doubled in strength. So we had a nice beat for a while reaching the pub an hour and a half before high tide at 2.30.
After tea and coffee instead of lunch here we launched in a fair bit less wind and had a run back to Cobnor point to regroup, arriving there at 4.00. While there we spotted a seal swimming just off the shore. As the wind was getting a bit lighter we decided to head back to HISC, rather than risk our planned route to Bosham.
After saying our goodbyes to Martin who was heading back to Thorney, we set sail for the last leg. Running with the now light wind and the help of the outgoing tide we made steady progress, until the last half mile when the wind deserted us. With no help from the tide we had to pump and paddle to get back to shore, so near but so far!
We all landed safely at about 6.00 and had been out for 6 mostly enjoyable hours. We had been let down by the wind gods again, but at least the rain held off this time.
Richard Williams
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