The Selsey Bill Trilogy: Pagham, visions of angels, Jerusalem and mindfulness

This is the first of three posts describing a voyage from Felpham to Chichester Harbour via Selsey Bill.

My first row was from Felpham to Pagham harbour, just a long the coast, returning to Felpham on the same day.

Felpham is a small village to the east of Bognor Regis. Launching there is very civilised, with a good slipway leading down to hard sand at low tide.

Close to the slipway is the lovely cottage where the poet William Blake wrote 'Jerusalem' with the lines: 'I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand. Till we have build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land.'

Felpham is mentioned in a Blake poem: 'Away to sweet Felpham, for Heaven is there. The ladder of angels descends through the air.' He claimed to have seen visions of angels on many occasions, starting aged eight years old, when walking from Soho to Peckham in London.

I didn't see any angels but was more preoccupied with launching PicoMicroYacht, having only one hour of fair tide left.

I decided to skirt over the reef at Bognor, due to the calmness of the sea. This reef has the appearance that some giant has sporadically lobbed boulders into the sea. Out to sea the rocks were visible and a threat to any passing yacht.

I moved forward gingerly, on the lookout for submerged rocks and circumventing them when seen.

Although there was some choppiness from the waves, there was no swell. A line of buoys marking lobster pots were at the end of the reef and I noted this for my return.

Further on I saw a post and the remains of a large concrete slab. This had been fabricated in 1944 to be used as part of the Mulberry Harbours to for the D-Day landings. It never made it across the Channel.

A head wind meant it was relatively slow going and the tide began to turn against me as I reached Pagham.

The sailing club announced itself with flags and a sign, easily seen from out at sea.

Beyond the club was the entrance to Pagham Harbour, which I reached at low tide. I beached briefly on a shingle bed in the middle of the channel, having rowed very carefully though sea grass.

The water trickled over the shingle bed .

After a short break I pulled the boat out into deeper water and returned, the wind and the tide making it a quick journey.

It took around two hours to reach Pagham, and the return was in about one hour.

I had captured the sound of the water over the shingle, a sort of mindfulness experience.

A voyage past Dancing Beggars

This was a journey from Dartmouth down to Torcross, a voyage of about seven nautical miles.

The plan was to leave Dartmouth on an ebb tide and catch the start of the tide going down Start Bay, a simple voyage. I set off at midday to catch the tide out of the harbour.

There was low cloud and slight drizzle when I started, but the weather started to clear. Although there was low light for photography, the weather effects made Dartmouth more atmospheric.

The colours and tones blended in a way that made everything seem like an impressionist painting.

I looked up at the Britannia Royal Naval College where my uncle had trained, starting aged 13 years.  His first action was four years later, when at dawn on D-Day, his ship, the H M S Warspite bombarded enemy gun emplacements from eight miles offshore. He was attacked by E Boats, before forcing a retreat. His ship wore out their 15 inch guns and went back to Portsmouth. (see: http://stevespages.org.uk/pgm-greig/warspite.html)

As I exited, there were some yachts coming in, with the crews trussed up in their sailing gear, having been voyaging in the rain.

The lack of wind and stillness, meant their conversation carried over the sound of their engines and I heard one person talking about PicoMicroYacht, saying ‘… and it has a radar reflector on the top of it’s mast …’

At the mouth of the Dart Estuary I went along the southern side of the channel. 

The Kingwear Castle arrived, this ship being the last remaining operational coal fired paddle steamer in the UK.

It headed straight for me and I wondered what evasive action I should take, if any.

It then became clear it was turning and having to create the widest arc to go around smoothly.

Further down the coast was a reef with a series of rocks called the Combe Rocks. Because of the calmness of the sea I decided to go between the Dancing Beggar and Combe Rocks rocks, gingerly moving forwards, also sticking to a path made by lobster pot buoys. The Dancing Beggar rocks were to starboard.

Looking back towards Dartmouth I could see the rocks and also Mew Stone rock in the far distance. I was wondering whether low clouds would decend and create a fog.

Soon I was closing in on Torcross, with Start Point in the distance, the sea now silky smooth.

When I arrived, the tide was out but the small stoned shingle beach made it easier to drag PicoMicroYacht upwards.

To make it easier I emptied the PicoMicrYacht of all gear, including the rowing system, which is easily detachable.  This reduced the weight to bare hull 60 kilograms.

I then rigged a bridle attached to bow and used a towing technique. I walk two metres up the beach, faced PicoMicroYacht, and slipped the bridle over my lower back. I then leant backwards. The weight of my body provided enough force to slide PicoMicroYacht forwards for a few inches, at which point I adjusted my legs and repeated the process.

PicoMicroyacht inched up the beach with comparatively little effort. As the beach got steeper, I slalomed up it to reduce the angle. 

Because PicoMicroYacht moves so slowly, quite often people see what I am doing and offer to help anyway.

I took a photograph of my radar reflector, which is set up so I can attach a navigation light on top.

Voyage details:

Plymouth high tide: 7.50 am

Tide: Springs

Left Dartmouth: Midday

Arrived Torcross: 3.30 pm

High tide Plymouth on 19 06 19 was 7.50. Set off at 12.00 midday when the tide turned south down Start Bay (four hours after high tide Plymouth)