Little trip between Rouen and Chichester

 

This little trip has been done on an english ship, a Westerly with a ketch rigging (fore mast higher than aft mast) and with monokeel (the other Westerlies i have seen had two keels but this time not). On origin model to take a reef you have to use a handle to turn the boom, a little like a pig cooked on a rod ; by this way we furl the sail around the boom. On this boat aft sail is not very needful for propulsion but more efficient for boat's balance under sails.

1) the Seine

This navigation lead us to follow seine's river to reach the sea. from Rouen to the channel we must foresee roughly 130 km. In fact it's the worst part of that trip because of rules and drawbacks on this area, especially for the slower boats:

-For pleasance boats we have not the allowance to sail by night (maximum half an hour after sunset, and half an hour before sunrise).

-few times before it was possible to come alongside a ponton at Caudebec or a barge at Duclair but now it's normaly not possible (these places are used by professional boats, and anyway those places are not secure to stay because of rough waves coming from big boats). There are some moorings but there are here for professional boats for the biggest ones, and for sailing schools for the others…In fact it's better to do this part without any stop because ther is almost nothing to pick up or to come along with. For a powerful motor boat it's ok but for a sailing boat or a heavy motor boat (with a limitated speed) we should foresse an average number of 12 hours).

-we must keep the right bank to avoid bothering big boats.

-It's forbidden to use the sails (if you have an engin breakdown it's an another thing), to tack in the channel.

-the more you are close to the estuary, the more current's strength will increase. That's why it's very useful to foresee tide before departure, to leave marina at the good moment. In the sense Rouen>Honfleur it's more difficult because at one moment we will meet flood stream, so unfortunately at one point we will be against current (in the direction Honfleur>Rouen it can be done on an ebb stream only). In fact the best way is to leave very early, and if it's possible to have current against us at the beginning, close to Rouen because it's weaker there than Honfleur. For a little boat we must leave Rouen about 12 hours before the low tide level at le Havre to be ok.

-In spring, when water is still cold but temperatures in the air are better, fog could happen in the morning into the Seine's valley, so with those conditions it could be dangerous to leave.

For boats “slow”, because of these things (navigation forbidden by night, tidal currents, no places to stop, or no suitable places to stay), The most of time it's not possible to do this way before spring (season when days grow). The radio watch on the Seine is on channel 73.

2) the English Channel

No problems in spite of some perpendicular currents (mainly during this time of spring tide at this moment) and the shipping lane to watch like ferries; For this trip the shipping lane is closer to the english south coast. The weatherforecast were very easy this day (3/4 10/15 knots from south-east), The last part of this trip has been done under sails too but with the engin in the same time, to manage to arrive when it's the high tide level in Chichester's river.

By night it's easy to notice Portsmouth and Langstone, for Chichester it's needfull to come closer to the coast to find in a first time the west pole (one red flashlight per 5 seconds), and the other lights. The entry is isolated, far from the city so unlike Portsmouth or Langstone it's not very lit. In spite of being arrived just one hour before the high tide level current were still strong there, so we had to care care about the other boats on their moorings, which are not lit. after that we have just to follow buoys to reach a wide place full of boats on moorings, It's there where we find some visitor's moorings. This place is not very lit by night, and current is strong so we have to keep an eye around; There we find a pontoon linked at the coast on our right side: it's a private pontoon, and when it's the low tide level it's almost all lying on mud…Arrival at Birdham pool, where, after the little lock, it's possible to berth our boat on wooden poles (2 ahead, 2 aback) in a kind of pretty pool. The Birdham pool's entry is lit but, beetween here and moorings area nothing is lit.

Birdham pool's berthing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chichester's channel, moorings:

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