The Bognor Raid 2011 - 9th and 10th July 2011
Toby and I drove the gear down to Bognor on a pleasant but breezey Thursday evening. The forecast for the weekend was optimistic though Saturday looked windy but manageable....so we thought.
| Inshore waters 24 hour forecast: 0600 Sat 9 Jul 0600 Sun 10 Jul | |
| Wind | Southwesterly 4 or 5 increasing 6 or 7 for a time in east, decreasing 3 or 4 later. |
| Sea state | Slight or moderate. |
| Weather | Showers |
| Visibility | Good. |
| Outlook: | 0600 Sun 10 Jul 0600 Mon 11 Jul |
| Wind | Westerly or southwesterly 3 or 4 occasionally in east decreasing 2 at times later. |
| Sea state | Slight. |
| Weather | Fair. |
| Visibility | Good. |
Saturday morning saw 11 Hobie 16s rigging ready for the 16th Bognor Raid in pleasant conditions with a good SW4. The near gale force winds the previous day had left the sea lumpy and the forecast made me uneasy. I checked the inshore forecast, windguru and looked at Shoreham weather station. The inshore forecast had revised the wind strength up to F5-6 and Shoreham weather station was showing F5. At the briefing I explained my unease and decided to postpone the departure until 10:30 to see whether the wind was building or had reached its peak.
After all the tea in the club had been consumed I once more checked the weather station at Shoreham. At 10:00am it was reading F6 and the sea had become increasingly lumpy. With no rescue boat I decided not to delay any longer. With a heavy heart I cancelled the event for only the second time in 16 years.
However, Bognor were having a bit of a knees up that evening with 2 bands lined up and a BBQ. So Brighton Sailing Club weren't going to let a bit of wind get between them and a good party so we all decided we'd go to Bognor and join the revelry. Of course we had to have a bit of drama first !Two Hobie 16s decided that they would go for a quick blast before packing away. Ben Simon and James Chapman set off from the beach through breaking surf into a good F6. The inevitable happened and it was Ben that capsized first. James went over to check Ben was OK but also capsized. It wasn't long before James was upright but Ben was struggling and drifting east at a fair pace. We watched from the shore through binoculars and could see Ben struggling to free the mast from the water. We decided the rescue boat would have to launch and started preperations only to find we had no fuel. After a moments hesitation there was no choice but to call the RNLI. Using the hand held VHF we called Solent Coast Guard on Ch16 and explained the situation. They relayed the story to the RNLI Launch Controller who is based at the Seafront Office. The RNLI sent their RIB to assist. You can watch the action from the RNLI headcam here. Brighton Sailing Club says a big "THANK YOU" to the RNLI. The mast of Ben's Hobie 16 had filled with water and had become so heavy that 3 crew could not right the boat and required the RNLI to tow them.
The RNLI escorted the Hobies back to the beach by which time it was time round up wives and children and drive to Bognor.
The weather was sunny and very pleasant apart from the aforementioned wind. We sat on the lawns at Bognor and enjoyed the first of the bands and the BBQ. Later on Alibi rocked BRYC and numerous examples of "dad" dancing could be seen. As ever BRYC gave us a warm welcome and it was good to see our old friends.
Thank you BRYC for a great night. Especially:- Ken and Diana Green
- Joe and Brenda Elwin and the galley crew.
- Gary who made sure we didn't dehydrate