Hurst Castle Spit, Solent

I've never found my heading to make much of a difference around there. I understand most sailors feel more settled with the bow pointing in a sensible direction, but I entered the Solent stern first at 6kt there once. The boat following us were shouting and waving, but there was no wind so we'd lost steerage and at 6kt I didn't feel compelled to burn any diesel!

lustyd said:

I've never found my heading to make much of a difference around there. I understand most sailors feel more settled with the bow pointing in a sensible direction, but I entered the Solent stern first at 6kt there once. The boat following us were shouting and waving, but there was no wind so we'd lost steerage and at 6kt I didn't feel compelled to burn any diesel!

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Bit like The Shoots on the Severn Estuary. Only turn on engine if the gyrating boat seems too close to some thing hard, otherwise just admire the whirlpools

Indeed, I realised long ago that in a strong tidal current it's actually quite hard to hit the sides because the water isn't usually headed that way. The whirly bits are a little concerning sometimes but usually momentum wins out

Heading straight towards the transit marker Tusker rock on Jacks Sound by Skomer was alarming, particularly when engine then wouldnt go in gear, but as ever the current cant go through a rock and we passed clear, as I dived headfirst into engine bay to whack the linkage

lustyd said:

I've never found my heading to make much of a difference around there. I understand most sailors feel more settled with the bow pointing in a sensible direction, but I entered the Solent stern first at 6kt there once.

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I've had a similar experience nearby, which really taught me something, (very basic too). We had our heading correct, pointing at the smooth water 100 yards away, and GPS was telling me 4 knots over the ground. I took comfort in that. But we weren't getting any closer and I couldn't get it....until I twigged it was 4 knots sideways. Location just a bit directly west of the Needles . Took me longer than I care to admit to work it out .....

FairweatherDave said:

I've had a similar experience nearby, which really taught me something, (very basic too). We had our heading correct, pointing at the smooth water 100 yards away, and GPS was telling me 4 knots over the ground. I took comfort in that. But we weren't getting any closer and I couldn't get it....until I twigged it was 4 knots sideways. Location just a bit directly west of the Needles . Took me longer than I care to admit to work it out .....

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The tide gets pretty frisky in various places in the western solent area, that being one of them. Island on one side, very shallow water the other. On spring tides, you’d need to take notice entering Yarmouth too. Don’t loiter in the entrance taking sails down, you’ll be passing Sconce sideways when you next look.

Chiara’s slave said:

The tide gets pretty frisky in various places in the western solent area, that being one of them. Island on one side, very shallow water the other. On spring tides, you’d need to take notice entering Yarmouth too. Don’t loiter in the entrance taking sails down, you’ll be passing Sconce sideways when you next look.

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Cheers CS. Appreciate entering Yarmouth needs getting right. My reason for confusion was not having any points of reference other than the calm water ahead. We had cut across the overalls but just couldn't exit...winds were light, my wife wanted to put the engine on but I could see we were making progress...GPS said 4 knots. Yup. Just not forwards. Rookie error. ( Wind was easterly )

The SAR helicopter often hovers around Hurst. On one occasion I was playing at sailing beating out against a flood tide. It has not started running properly yet.

Sailing close ish to Hurst close hauled on Port tack, we started to loose ground sailing sideways not forward, we had dropped out of the slack close by Hurst. Simultaneously as the helicopter started flying off, I threw a cheeky tack in to stud towards Hurst.

The helicopter engine noise changed they stopped watching us , we could see them looking down. We got back in the slack and with luck it was an eddy carried us out round Hurst into Christchurch bay.

As we started clearing Hurst the helicopter left

I remember a lady's helm race back to Hamble from a Yarmouth rally. Blush had a number of wins so was the boat to follow, until the race when there was a really strong flood tide. We set off to the west and other boats thought we had got it wrong. Lymington Bank was the first mark and Blush was one of the few boats to successfully round the mark.

blush2 said:

I remember a lady's helm race back to Hamble from a Yarmouth rally. Blush had a number of wins so was the boat to follow, until the race when there was a really strong flood tide. We set off to the west and other boats thought we had got it wrong. Lymington Bank was the first mark and Blush was one of the few boats to successfully round the mark.

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We race around the cans off Yarmouth and Lymington. The hard ones to round are Harbour East, in acSW light wind and flood tide, and 4 and 8 on the ebb. You go from a light tide zone and find those marks in full tide. Easy to be swept irrevocably past them.