I hesitate to write of my trip in case it gives the local Coastguard and RNLI services more work than they need.

I had made two previous trips from Itchenor to find the two buoys marking the Looe Channel, some two miles off-shore. I had to turn back before finding the buoys as I was day sailing and needed to be home the same day. I had done a lot of preparation:

Cruising Association Handbook (1981, Page 79) Macmillan's Almanac (1984, Page 433) Shell Pilot to the English Channel (Vol. 1 1985, Page 31) Stanford's Chart No. 9 Imray Chart No. C 9

but I had not got the Admiralty Chart - Mistake No. 1?

I sail a 'West Wight Potter', 14 ft gaff rig, 6½ cwt. cabin cruiser, draught 8 ins. to 3 ft. I have been sailing since 1975, and single-handed for three years. At the age of 60 I think I am safety conscious. I try always to wear a lifejacket, and do not go out in exposed waters if F5+ is forecast. Even so, I have been caught out in the Solent, but so far I have not got into situations I could not cope with. An experience off Clacton some years ago in a 26 ft. boat (5 crew) in a F6 gusting 7 has made me "over cautious"!

My aim was to sail to Littlehampton and return to Itchenor next day. I estimated 21-22 miles, 7+ hours, and with six pages of notes set off on Sunday, 21st June 1987.

11.30 Chichester Bar Beacon. LW 14.08, 1.4 metres, Neaps. Wind F2-3 West. Lunch. 12.45 Up anchor. Sailed 135°M (need 133°T + 5°). 13.55 BBC Forecast W, backing SW 4-5. 14.42 Street Buoy. Sea not very rough; nice breeze. Course 070°M (need 068°T + 5°). 15.05 Nixon Beacon. 15.20 - 15.25 Hove-to for refreshments. 16.55 F4+. Winter buoy. Course 020°M (need 019°T + 5°) but decided to keep up-wind of Littlehampton entrance. Getting rougher (bar half mile off-shore). 17.30 A 25-30 ft. yacht getting up anchor across entrance, so I had to keep to West Pier. Surged into narrow entrance. Wind fluky but a quiet sail up to the footbridge with the tide (LW + 3½ hrs.). 17.45 Moored onto a floating platform for the night. Wash from fishing and motor boats disturbing, despite fore and aft springs.

Monday, 22nd June

Estimated HW 09.33. Selsey LW 15.06. Radio not working. Mistake No. 2 - no forecast. Sunny. Wind SW. Mackerel sky. If I had heard the forecast I doubt if I would have left.

07.28 Motored against flood, strong in narrow entrance - in trouble if Suzuki 4 packed-up.

07.48 Anchored west of pier. Fair sized cargo ship entered 08.00. I had just got clear of the narrow entrance in time! Safety pin on mainsheet pulley had come adrift. Checked gear. A swell developing. F3+.

08.15 Sailing 200°M. Took one hour to get 2.2 miles to Winter Buoy. Sailed past for 5 mins., tacked west for 10, tacking every 10 minutes. Back bearing on Winter Buoy 080°M - too close inshore. Need 068° + 180° = 248°T (253°M). Rain. Visibility dropped. Difficult to see coast two miles to starboard. Need to pick up Nixon Beacon, then find 2 cable gap between Street and Boulder Buoys. Saw red can buoy to starboard - Shelley Rocks Buoy. Decide to go inshore despite Bognor Rocks and area charted "Foul Ground". Lots of fishing nets (or lobster pots). Had to weave in and out to avoid them.

11.28 Decided to motor. Closed inshore between Bognor Regis and Pagham. Uncertain of position. No sign of Barn Rocks. Beach deserted. Tide falling. No sign of yellow buoy marking edge of foul ground. Saw a distant beacon to port; might have been the one near Pagham Church. Eventually passed dried out entrance to Pagham Harbour (nature reserve). Anchored. Refuelled. Could see Lifeboat Station in distance. Anchor difficult to lift - had fouled a piece of heavy chain! Motored past Lifeboat Station. Started to round Bill. Advised by a fishing boat that there was not enough water for the inshore passage, which needs "good local knowledge and perfect weather".

14.30 Picked up a mooring near Lifeboat Station. Rested until 16.00. Motored off, keeping close to groynes (46 metres according to Cruising Association Handbook). Lee shore. Water rough. Wind SW F3-4. Waves breaking on shallows to port. I did not like the look of it. Thinking about returning to moorings near Lifeboat Station for the night.

16.30 Engine failed. Swept towards lee shore 100 yds. away. Put 2 Kg Bruce on 12 ft. of chain and warp over. I did not belay it quickly enough to dig in. Hit a groyne - jumped into shallows - gravel and sand - to fend off boat. Luckily the local Coastguard came and helped me. He called up the ILB which arrived in 10-15 minutes. They towed my boat onto a mooring near the Lifeboat Station. The Coastguard and RNLI arranged for me to spend the night in comfort in a hotel organised by the Shipwrecked Mariner's Association.

Tuesday, 23rd June

HW Chichester Bar 10.27, 4.3m. LW 15.55, 1.4m. Forecast SW F3. Sea not so rough as yesterday. The RNLI navigator briefed me to keep just off the groynes, then go out to sea W to NW, when opposite the CG Tower to clear the Hounds (unmarked) 4 mile off-shore, and also to keep clear of East Pole Sands. A fisherman took me out to the moorings.

09.50 3K west-going current. Motored off. Rough round the Bill (wind against tide). Waves close and steep.

10.10 Smoother water opposite Coastguard Tower. Course W to NW until 1 mile off-shore. Rain for a while. Steered for Chichester Beacon.

11.50 Up main channel (HW +2).

LESSONS LEARNED

1. Need 2-3 day forecast. Return journey was wind against tide part of the time.

2. Right to go at Neaps. Spring ebb in Looe Channel can be 6-7K. Stream going East (Portsmouth LW), West going Portsmouth -0135.

3. A long haul from Nixon to Winter Buoy, over eight miles, so need an accurate course.

4. Rough off entrance to Littlehampton - SW wind plus shallows. No trouble with eddies round East Pier at LW +3½ hrs. Heed warnings in Pilot books, "Littlehampton dangerous with strong SE winds".

5. Should I have reefed with F4+ astern? I had not tried -to beat to windward to test the conditions - I had been making 4K in the direction I wanted!

6. Beating on either side of the course from Winter to Nixon I found difficult in poor visibility once backbearing on Winter Buoy no longer seen. My course was too far inshore, and I did not want to end up on the rocks on a falling tide.

7. A land survey of the inshore passage at low water, and a talk with the RNLI before making the trip, would have been wiser.

8. Engine failure due to forgetting to open the air vent on the fuel tank. The engine ran for about 15 minutes before stopping.

9. Had a change of dry clothing, but old ones. Need a RESPECTABLE CHANGE for staying in a hotel!

10. "Panic Bag" - small, waterproof (money, credit card, torch, mini-flares) was easily grabbed on going ashore.

11. Pin over mooring cable prevents it jumping out of stem-head in rough weather mooring or anchoring.

12. Told by Coastguard that any anchor will not hold off Selsey. I should have had my Fisherman's anchor more readily available as a back-up to my Bruce.

13. All along this coast the change of direction of stream is as much as 1½ - 2 hrs. before main stream off-shore.

14. I usually sail outward trips against the wind and with the tide. Return next day with wind and tide together. The return trip to Selsey was very wearing, 12-13 miles in 7 hrs. against the outward trip of 24 miles in 6¼ hrs.

FINALLY

My thanks to the Coastguard and RNLI for their help, and to the Shipwrecked Mariner's Benevolent Society for a comfortable night, instead of tossing about on a mooring half a cable off a steep-to shingle shore near the Lifeboat Station.