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If you fancy somewhere other than Yarmouth or Lymington for a night away, why not give Chichester a try?
At Neaps, you can get in at almost any state of tide but at Springs you need to look a bit more closely. In both cases note the warning about entering on the ebb with strong southerlies.
Easy to find – just head East from Horse Sand Fort passing south of the Winner cardinal until you can pick up W Pole and Eastoke beacons. A back bearing from the conspicuous Nab Tower would be useful in poor vis. There is a transit to cut the corner, but I found it very difficult to see.
Once in the harbour, we followed the buoys round to the right past East Head, where we anchored up for lunch, and on towards Itchenor. The oddly-named Roman Transit is a white diamond on the hill against a port hand mark with a big white vertical stripe – stands out well.
Round to the right you come to Itchenor. There are visitors buoys (white) near the pier by the harbourmaster’s office or a visitors pontoon a bit further on – but this is not connected to the shore, so it’s a dinghy job either way (only 100m away, if you get on one of the nearest buoys). The water taxi (whizzing around as we arrived) stopped at 6pm.
The visitors buoys have a sturdy chain with a chain loop on the end – however, don’t be tempted to drop the chain loop over a cleat as we did or you will listen to the thing graunching away all night, seemingly trying to saw through the bow! Also, it was very difficult to take off again in the stiff breeze we had next morning. A bridle would have been much better.
The reward for all this effort is to visit the Ship Inn – a very pleasant spot just up the street with excellent food. You can also keep the locals amused by arriving in full wet weather gear and lifejacket after you row ashore (no, we couldn’t get the outboard to work!) and then disrobing in the bar. Watch out for the tide on your return and if you switch on your anchor light before you leave, it’s much easier to work out which is your boat in the dark!
Leaving the next day has the same restrictions as getting in, but if you leave too soon before high water, you’ll have the tide against you all the way up the Solent.
For a second visit (glutton for punishment or what!), I thought Chichester Marina might be worth a go. It’s further on round the corner from Itchenor and needs some rise of tide to get in. However, on calling them and giving them our length and draught, they said they had nothing available – this should have been a warning! Nevertheless, having got that far, we put plan B into operation – Birdham Pool Marina.
This, apparently, is Britain's oldest marina and very picturesque – but not a lot of water! We crept in along the entrance channel to be locked in (very helpful lock-keeper – get the mobile number by calling the marina phone number in the Almanac) and sent to berth “at the end under the hedge”! This proved a challenge – we discovered that Concorde’s echosounder goes down to 1.7m before you touch – fortunately I’d seen this before in Newtown Creek (thanks, Kevin!), so we pressed on.
Eventually we dragged ourselves alongside and settled down (literally) for the night. Eating ashore is limited. The yacht club adjacent we didn’t try as lots of people were turning up in jacket and tie (and that was just the women!), The restaurant in Chichester Marina next door was pleasant enough but a bit lifeless, and the crew complained there was no real ale. Taxi (or even bus, apparently) into Chichester wouldn’t be a problem, but don’t be fooled by the promise of a pub “just 10 minutes walk down the road”. It isn’t!
We had the next morning off, and so will you, as you have to leave around high water and unless you can persuade both crew and lock keeper to pitch up in the middle of the night, you’re in for 24 hours. No problem, however, as there is a splendid walk along the old Chichester Canal (alright, beside it, if you want to be picky) right into the heart of Chichester (cathedral, abbey gardens etc). There is also a coastal path back to the marina, or you can wimp out, as we did, and catch a taxi back (£7).
Getting out was no problem once we had dragged ourselves out of the mud again with much heaving on long lines and judicious use of the engine (didn’t Jeff Nellist say somewhere that the odd burst of max rpm was good for it?). Still, it made for a very restful night. An hour before high water we motored bravely out of the lock - bags of water! Who said we’d have to stay here until the next spring tide?
Seriously, if you want to give it a go, and it is something different, we got in 1 1/2 hours after a mid-tide high water of 4.3m, and out 1 hour before a high water of 4.1m, so that gives you an idea of the minimum height of tide you need. Tell the lock keeper your draught and try and avoid being sent right down the far end.
Some other possibilities in Chichester harbour which I haven’t tried.
Northney Marina or Sparkes Yacht Harbour, neither of which look very promising for eating or drinking. Emsworth is a possibility – good pubs and restaurants. Visitors pontoons are promised south of the village, but a longish dinghy ride off. It does dry at the village, so it could be interesting leaving the pub if you’ve miscalculated! Again, a water taxi is listed for the summer, but no indication of hours of operation.
Good luck!
Steve Hatch
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