The three of us met at Itchenor just before 9.30 am on a beautiful sunny morning on Saturday 4th June, and we set about getting Tony’s Wayfarer ready for our weekend cruise. As usual it took us a good hour to get Karinger rigged and our mountain of gear stowed away so it was 10.30 before we pushed off from the hard and sailed down Chichester Harbour with the tide against us and only a light southerly wind to push us over it. As we went down the harbour the wind freshened and veered SW and we passed the Hayling Island Sailing Club at about 11.50. It is advisable to stay within the buoyed channel between East Head and Hayling Island to avoid the sand banks which extend an incredible distance from the shores.

It was quite misty as we passed the East Pole buoy (we couldn't see the Isle of Wight at all) and steered west towards the forts and Spithead. We were about a mile from the forts when the wind dropped and for about half an hour we were more or less becalmed. We couldn't quite lay the Horse and Dean Sand Fort, but found the gap in the obstruction and went through there. We ate our lunch then, sandwiches and hot soup for which we were grateful as it had turned quite cold. By 3.30 pm we were off Cowes and being helped by the ebbing tide.

Now the wind strengthened — about force 4 — and we set a course for the entrance to Beaulieu River. We got there just behind four Folkboats and had quite an exciting sail ‘catching up’ up the narrow river, gradually overtaking all the other boats. We passed Francis Chichester’s new boat Gypsy Moth IV lying some way below Bucklers Hard and were amazed at the size of her. By the time we got to Bucklers Hard the wind had almost gone, but we went on for about another mile until we came to a slipway where we thought we could stop for the night. We cooked our supper on the river bank, then put up our small tent under a tree, and went off for a drink.

We were awakened at 7 o'clock the next morning by a man with a shotgun, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu's keeper, who informed us that camping was strictly prohibited. So we got up, took down our tent and had breakfast. As a result of this rude awakening we got away to our earliest ever start that morning — 9.00 am.

The wind was blowing strongly from the SW — force 5 gusting to 6, we discovered later — so we put in a reef and went down the river against the tide. We decided to go out through the gap, but the tide was still rather low and we were scraping our centreboard, even though it was half up. It was very wild out in the Solent, and we decided to go over to the IoW to see if it was more sheltered. It wasn't, so we tacked all the way back again. The tide was making fast and by the time we had thrashed our way back to the mainland we had gained only 200 yards. When we were out in the middle of the Solent we sailed close past a pair of shellducks with about ten baby ducklings all swimming strongly and making nothing of the waves which we were crashing through!

We decided to try some coast hopping to dodge the tide and made better progress then, but the wind was so strong and we were shipping so much water that we had to go off on a reach every couple of tacks to get the self bailers working properly and drain Karinger out. We arrived at Lymington about 1.30 pm, dripping wet and hungry, having seen nothing — apart from the ducks — smaller than 20-odd foot cabin cruisers. The Wayfarer Southern Championship was on that weekend and we met a number of old friends. We were also very pleased with ourselves when we heard that the afternoon race was to be cancelled because of conditions.

I had to go back from Lymington by train because of baby-sitting problems, so I left Tony and Eric, with their tent pitched in a nearby field, cooking their evening meal in Karinger. The meal was eaten to the accompaniment of Gilbert and Sullivan music played by the local brass band, envious looks and comments from passers-by, and occasional swigs from an innocent looking bottle.

As the weather had greatly improved a short post-prandial sail was made up and down the harbour, taking care to keep well out of the way of the ferries.

In the morning they left Lymington at 9.20 and passed the starting mark outside the harbour ten minutes later. They headed for Cowes and Spit Head with a following wind, about force 4, and with the tide flooding. Two submarines were passed and a vain attempt made to pick up a beach ball. They passed Cowes entrance at 10.45 and saw five warships steaming out of Portsmouth and between the forts. There was an explosion as they skirted the mining area. The first thing they felt was a great thud through the boat, followed closely by a loud bang and a fountain of water rising up.

Hovercraft were going to and fro between the IoW and the mainland and they passed much closer to one than we had two days before.

With the favourable conditions it was only 12.20 when they sailed between the forts, so they decided to set a course for the Nab Tower, arriving there at 1.35 when they headed north for the Chichester Harbour entrance. Hayling Island was reached at 2.45 and Itchenor at 3.30.

The intention had been to make for Poole Harbour but lack of wind on Saturday and a surfeit of the same commodity on Sunday had ruled this out. The return trip could probably have been made with Monday’s favourable conditions.