We had a lovely autumn day sail in Portsmouth Harbour, visiting three sailing clubs.

Not having done many events there recently, it was as an interesting sail that was surprisingly green and picturesque in parts. Martin had arranged with Portchester Sailing Club for us to launch from their slip way and use their facilities for the day. They were very welcoming inviting us also to join them afterwards for their boat laying up end of season social.
Martin led the cruise in his Wayfarer crewed by Edmund and Joshua. Simon sailed his Comet Trio crewed by Anne and Andy. James sailed the club Comet Versa single handed.

It was a good wind for the sail, mainly F3 to 4 from the north to north west and wonderful autumn sunshine! We left Portchester sailing club slip following the channel firstly south then north west up Fareham channel which was a beat for part of the way. We landed at Fareham Sailing and Motoring Club for lunch at close to high water. We tied up on a jetty there. The club house is a lovely old building with a great view over the water with a nice bar serving food and drink. We had a very leisurely lunch in the sunshine.

After lunch when the tide turned, we sail back down Fareham Creek taking the falling tide out towards Hardway Sailing Club. We first landed on the beach at Hardway but were advised by a local to sail to a jetty next to the hard as the tide was falling and the it was not nice for grounding boats (hard concrete leading to mud). We sailed the boats to the end of a long jetty to ensure they didn’t dry out while we popped into the club for tea. Landing on the jetty in a strong cross tide was tricky but good practice though.

After a short stay at Hardway we then sailed up a now narrower channel than in the morning back towards Portchester sailing club. The wind picked up slightly and it was a hard beat (especially for the single hander) against a falling tide. We made it back to Portchester SC eventually though with the last of the day light.
Once back at Portchester SC there was a bit of a party going on with food, drinks in the bar including homemade rum punch and a band setting up. We packed up the boats in the compound and enjoyed the excellent friendly hostilely of Portchester SC. It was very enjoyable end to a pleasant sail and in fact the main Cody sailing season. We hope to do a few similar sails like this over the winter.

Thanks to Martin leading and arranging with Portchester and also Fareham sailing clubs to host us. Surprisingly, the sail was 21 km in total, longer than I had expected. Portchester sailing have welcomed us back next year for a sail and may be do a rounding of Portsea Island. That will take some careful tide planning!

Simon M (photos by James P)