The Bognor Raid 2010 - 10th and 11th July 2010
Toby and Kevin dropped the gear down to Bognor on the preceeding Thursday, as is now customary, and were only a little hampered by a lack of access to our sea front. The forecast was good and the only cloud on the horizon was our rescue boat which developed a steering problem the previous weekend towards the end of the Paddle Round the Pier Regatta.
| Inshore waters 24 hour forecast: 0600 Sat 10 Jul 0600 Sun 11 Jul | |
| Wind | Southwesterly 2 or 3 occasionally 4. |
| Sea state | Slight. |
| Weather | Fog patches |
| Visibility | Moderate or good, occasionally very poor. |
| Outlook: | 0600 Sun 11 Jul 0600 Mon 12 Jul |
| Wind | Southwesterly 4 or 5 increasing 5 or 6 veering northwest 3 or 4 becoming variable 3 or less later. |
| Sea state | Slight. |
| Weather | Showers. |
| Visibility | Moderate or Good, occasionally poor. |
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny with light SW airs forecast. Despite efforts from Roy the rescue boat was inoperable but, given the forecast, we decided to go. We had near on 15 entries this year, more of an Armada than a raid but this translated to 12 boats on the day.
A pleasant sail ensued watching the Sussex coastline roll by in bright sunshine and blue skies however, the English weather is never boring. With no rescue boat we were relying on the " the buddy system " which meant keeping your buddy boat insight. This became increasingly difficult as the sea mist and low cloud started to thickn around Littlehampton.
At times visibilty was down to 2-300m though individual boats could see the rest of the fleet they stayed in touch with their buddies. The wind freshened to SW4 from time to time and provided some trapezing and a very pleasant sail into Bognor. Notable for ther abscrence this year were fishermans pots which are normaly a real hazard. As ever the welcome was warm and we all enjoyed the Bognor galley and washed the salt from our mouths with a beer or two. During the evening a local band rocked the place with some well played hits from the past 3 or 4 decades (un)fornately we new them all. The Sunday morning is now routine, a fuill English and copious tea or coffee interspersed with boat rigging and tent packing. With the "Goodbyes" and "Thanks" said we launched into the SW3 and headed east.The sail home was pleasant and blessed with good visibilty to enjoy watching the Downs roll by with the foreground changing as we passed the various villages and towns of the coastline. The wind picked up a little as we neared Shoreham and gave us a pleasant surf into Brighton. Another good weekend with great company - The best sail of the year!
I would like to say a big thank you to Bognor Regis Yacht Club for making this all possible especially:-
- Joe and Brenda Elwin and the galley crew.
- BSC safety boat crew:- Grove and Pierre. (Next time we'll take the rescue boat as well!)
- BSC Fleet for enjoying it :- Toby and Mark (H16), Graham and Jane (H16), Jim and Aidie (H16), Ben and Adam Guest (apt name for friend of member) (H16), Paul and Helen (H16), Kevin and Roy (his dad) (H16), Roger and Ian (H16), Brian and Andre (H16), Chung and Christie (Topaz16CX), Nuck and Aimi (H16) and Mike and ?? (H18 Pacific), Simon and Penyy (RS400).