We had a lovely time in Chichester although we did not like the mooring in Itchenor Reach which was terribly rusty and resulted in Carolyn having to get the dyson out every hour to hoover the rust off the deck. It also took us ages to get it set up on Askari, trying all sorts of combinations of bridals and deck securing to not damage the boat.
It was a bit like going back in time as nothing had changed at Itchenor since Carolyn used to come hear as a child - people still trudge down to the muddy foreshore and launch dinghies in their wellies, the harbour tour boats are still the same but most amazingly they still clean off and anifoul boats on piles on the beach - although they had jet washers that they didn't when my Dad did this with our family boat.....
That night we went to the Ship Inn, which was totally packed with locals on a Friday night and had the sort of noise that only an English pub does - brilliant. We met Di & Keith of Dizzy Di, who were moored next to us. They had just taken ownership too so we enjoyed a drink with them before tucking into fab fish and chips!
Askari anchored at Itchenor behind boats being cleaned on the beach
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| Andrew thought the wind forecast quite amusing (for non sailors that is wind of 11 to 33 knots) - we stayed another day! |
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| Carolyn had her first run out in "Askooby" |
We left Chichester in the rain and actually had a really good sail down the Solent - we managed to dodge the hover craft and even in the murk spotted some of the highlights....
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| Sailing in the Solent - love the British Weather! |
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| Solent Fort |
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| Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight |
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| We whizzed passed Cowes under full sail - this photo was supposed to show the Union Jack behind our Aussie Flag |
We arrived at the entrance to the Beaulieu River with just enough water to scape over but it was raining so hard by then we were just keen to get in. We slowly wound our way up the river and found the visitors dock, to bet met by a very excited Rowena from Sea Crusader. Her and David were also Ocean Cruising Club members so when they saw our flag she rushed to help and then invited us for drinks that night. We also met their friend James (who had just had a bath in their cockpit bath - yes seriously that is a feature on a Discovery 55), Nelson the dog and Nipper the cat. We had a fun time exchanging stories of the high seas!!!
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