Itchenor
14th May
When we woke up we found that the boat “Collective Spirit” had just been launched at the pontoon opposite. This boat has been made from pieces of wooden objects donated and built for the Golden Jubilee. It is part of a £550,000 project set up by Arts Council England. Arts Council England used the money to pay for the build and it commissioned artists Lone Twin, Olympic sailor and boat-builder Mark Covell and designer Simon Rogers to carry out the work, which took 14 months.
Leaving our berth at Sparks Marina was not our best departure. The wind was blowing us off the pontoon and I had a cunning plan to get us off. Unfortunately, the plan had a minor error which resulted in Carole being unable to get aboard once she had released her line from the cleat. I put the incident down to Carole’s short legs! Anyway, Carole managed to run to the next pontoon, fend us off and clamber aboard and with the kind assistance of our neighbours we finally made it away.
This was to be our first night at anchor on our trip and we had been told by the people at the marina that we would need to pay harbour dues to anchor in the Chichester area. Once we dropped our anchor I called the Harbour Master via VHF to tell them that we were here. Within 3 minutes the Harbour patrol boat was alongside. However, they did not have their receipt book with them, so with a big smile I was told that we could pay double the next time we were in the river.
We put dinner on and a short while later sat down to roast chicken and a glass of cider.
We discussed whose idea it was to spend the night at anchor when the wind picked up to a F6 with the wind battling with the tide. However, after making sure suitable anchor alarms were set, we did settle down in our beds for the night just before midnight when the tide turned and both managed to get a modicum of sleep before the tide turned again just before 6 am. No peace for the wicked (and even less for the righteous!).