Well so much for that.

Moonshine's still got a dirty bottom. The trip to the Sealift on March 3rd/4th didn't happen in the end.

The tides were always going to be a problem in that we were going to be getting back to Chichester either on the ebb tide or right on low water. Not much fun, but we could have hung around for a while until the conditions were better.

Unfortunately, to make matters worse, from mid week, a big depression was forecast to come in from the Atlantic. The forecast winds were therefore F6-F7 and South to South East. This is exactly what you don't want trying to get into the harbour on an ebbing spring tide. It didn't take much thought to realise that we were onto a loser and so I cancelled.

Come Sunday and I was so glad that I did. The storm was a real belter. The wind speed at the bar beacon was touching F10 at times and the rain was torrential. We were at home and Moonshine was tucked up in her berth. By far the best place to be.

Had we gone out, we'd have had the wind on our nose all the way to the IOW, and then it turned and we'd have had wind and tide against us all the way back. Mmmm, lovely.