Alistair Tyrrell

16 Aug 2015 This weekend was my first cruise away. A race both ways, Littlehampton to Brighton on Saturday then back again on Sunday. Skippers note their own start and finish though the race officer did specify a Saturday start time of 1000 or later. He'd laid a mark out near the club's easternmost cruiser mark, Steel Can, and the finish point as a buoy outside Brighton Marina. Keen to take advantage of the incoming tidal stream which would help me towards Brighton, I'd planned an early getaway and moved Elsa out of her berth the day before and out into the river on the AYC hammerhead so I didn't need to wait for the tide to float me off. Stuart joined me and we left the river 0915 on Saturday morning with the keel up, creeping out over the shallows at the river entrance. Hoisting sail outside, we were off and crossing the start line mere seconds after the 1000 earliest permitted start. Looking behind us the bigger boats with deeper keels were at least half an hour ...

2nd Aug 2015 A busy day in the river on Sunday as it was the annual Littlehampton Waterfront Festival. We had jetskis, blokes on water-powered jet hoverboots, lifeboatmen floating past for rescue demonstrations, and a big ship was due to enter at high tide. In the midst of all that, four cruisers managed to put to sea about 1200 for the race. Stuart was with me and the forecast was F4-5 from the East so we set the main with a reef as we motored out past the holidaymakers lining the riverbanks. No time or space for our usual leisurely ramble up and down the river sorting ourselves out. A bit like the race a few weekends ago, the race officer set a course designed to keep us all well away from the river entrance so we'd avoid the ship coming in. The first leg was a long beat into the SE wind out to the weather station and though the two faster boats drew quickly ahead, we were neck and neck with Free n Easy as we crossed tacks on our way out. It took ages to reach the thing thoug...