Chichester Harbour

Our sailing opportunities may be limited but thankfully we do now have access to our boats. Technically we need to return to our "primary residence" overnight, however my only bricks and mortar residence is 9,000 miles away in Australia, so this isn't practical. Fortunately I can show that I have lived on my boat during the (northern) summer months since 2004. For me, my boat is my only summer home.
I launched from my winter storage on Hayling Island last week and now, a week later I am back in Chichester Harbour. No gale force wind today and the sun is doing its best to keep us warm. Water temperature is 18C - a little marginal for swimming?
We are anchored off Pilsea Island which holds very special memories for me. I learned to sail in Chichester Harbour and this was one of first places we sailed to. The older boys (and girls) who were helm made us novices jump out to hold the dinghies. I'm sure that they took delight in getting us to jump out in neck deep water when a few meters further would only be knee deep! I started sailing here as a 13 year old, almost 50 years ago. Almost as unbelievable, the same Bosun dingies with yellow sails are still in use teaching the current generation of teenagers the delights of sailing.



[Edit 15/06/2020 We woke to a peaceful morning. Little wind but some sunshine (always a plus in the UK) and a friendly seal swimming around the beach. We watched him for 15 minutes, in which time he must have caught (and eaten) at least six fish.]