Small Boat to Chichester - Stats and Tracks

Blue tracks indicate under sail ,Brown tracks indicate motoring (or motor sailing), Flags indicate ports of call

Outbound:


On the outbound passage to Chichester, we covered 175 nautical miles in 43 hours at an average speed of 4 knots (our average speed rises to 4.25 knots if the slow sail from Hayling Island to Itchenor is excluded from the calculation).

On the passage to Hayling Island we sailed 99.7 of the 169 miles at sea at an average speed of 4.25 knots (our average speed under motor and sail, by sheer coincidence, being identical)

The 60/40 split between sailing and motoring is a little disappointing but the conditions generally, being unseasonably chilly and with changeable winds, did not encourage too much hanging about! When the wind died or headed us there was no great enthusiasm on board for gilling about waiting for a change.

Return:

On the return passage from Chichester to Fambridge, we covered 182.5 nautical miles in 44 hours and 17 minutes at an average speed of 4.12 knots

On the passage from Hayling Island to Burnham, we sailed 96 of the 169 miles at sea at an average speed of, yes you guessed it, 4.25 knots! We dropped to a 55/45 split between sailing and motoring though, largely due to the final day from Ramsgate to Burnham (try as we might, it was just one of those days when sailing was not going to happen (we tried five times to get her going under sail and were headed or had the wind, such as it was, die on us on every occasion usually within minutes)

The run from Chichester to Hayling Island was under motor all the way due to the conditions. It was F6 gusting F7 (and nearly hitting F8 in one recorded gust) all the way and crossing the harbour mouth was a nerve racking experience with the wind and waves on the nose.

The final run upriver from Burnham to Fambridge started out well under sail short tacking and starting to get the hang of getting the new smaller genoa across smartly but was curtailed by the tiller breaking and therefore is left out of the sailing calculations.

In total, we covered 357.5 nautical miles at an average speed (over the ground) of 4.1 knots

By and large, we made excellent use of the tides which, coupled with the much improved performance under sail with the new "canvas" accounts for our generally excellent passage times.

We have reason to suppose the log is reading fairly accurately (by comparing our logged speeds with the speed over the ground in various tidal conditions and especially in slack water) which makes the maximum logged speed of 6.5 knots pretty impressive!Our maximum speed over the ground was 8.25 knots but that was with well over 2 knots of fair tide and a following swell helping us on our way.

We used, with astonishing accuracy, almost exactly 50 litres of petrol and given that we were on engine for 39 hours (and 3 minutes to be pedantic) means we burnt fuel at a surprisingly miserly rate of a tiny fraction over 1.3 litres per hour

Statistically speaking, it was a very successful cruise and, if we say so ourselves, quite an achievement for three blokes in a small boat. Oh and quite a lot of beer was drunk too!