Monday was another glorious day...perhaps summer has finally arrived (read on a few days for clear proof that this was not the case).  However, in view of past hold ups with the weather we are now definitely in the mode of ‘make miles while the sun shines’, and we set off for Brighton, but with the intention of extending to Eastbourne if the weather held and we felt up to the extra miles later.

Exiting Gosport towards Horse Sand Fort (see pics) was uneventful, but required a good lookout for Isle of Wight ferries and hovercraft, and a cross channel ferry thrown in for good measure. One rather sobering moment was a call from a working boat in Gosport reporting that it had found a dead body in the water, and we heard the arrangements being made for the lifeboat to go and retrieve it....not the best Monday morning for the RNLI crew.  However, as soon as were out of the exit channel and making our course to the Looe Channel off Selsey Bill things soon died down; we saw very few yachts on the whole trip.

Our tide planning was based on rounding Beachy Head, just before Eastbourne, with the east flowing stream to give us wind with tide, to minimise the risk of any rough water, and to enable us to get as close in as possible to save time.  In heavy weather and strong tides we would need to be five miles or so offshore of this headland. We also wanted to leave Gosport on the last of the ebb, so that we got a tidal push out of the Solent towards Selsey Bill.  All of this meant that we would have an adverse tide slowing us down for most of the trip across ‘Brighton Bay’, ie between the two headlands.  However, this was the lesser evil, since the tides were slower here, and we could get out of most of them by going a little inshore into shallower water. The slight increase in distance vs going straight across the bay was more than made up by the increased speed.

The trip worked out well, with some good sailing in a F5 in the sun, making 5.5 knots SOG against a little tide and with 1 reef in and using the jib. As always, putting the reef in as we got into a good F5 made no difference to the speed and just reduced heel and made the trip more comfortable. After Brighton the coast became quite interesting with the white cliffs of the Severn Sisters Hills, leading to Beachy Head, with the soft contours of the Downs behind.

5.15pm was an important moment; it was the time we crossed the meridian and went from west to east. We were at 000 degrees, 00 minutes on the plotter. Watching the final numbers scroll down is the sad equivalent to watching the milometer on your car move through 55,555 or whatever. Anyway, at least it denoted progress. It was also around this time that the catch on one of the galley draws failed ( again). See the pic for the patent method of locking the draw in place until in harbour . We carry plenty of spare catches so it was quickly fixed, but it is a pain that these fittings are not more robust.

Our tide planning worked, and we picked up the east going tide at Beachy Head and were quickly swept to Eastbourne and into the Sovereign Yacht Harbour, where we locked into the modern marina with its new apartments, shops and restaurants. We had a little drama to watch while the lock filled, as a seagull attacked and tried to eat a cuttle fish, which we assumed was a discarded catch from one of the fishing boats. Lots of flapping and squawking.

This had been a long trip of 70 miles, but had made the most of the good day and moved us well along the coast. We knew from the forecasts that this good spell was not going to last...so make the most of it!