Fog Ahoy

Thick fog encircled us as we edged out of Brighton Marina at 0600. The sea was dead calm with an eerie quietness, only distant squawks from birds following in the fishing boats could be heard. The radio crackled to life to inform us that one of the boats in the group had already turned back. Three of us decided to continue on, based on the minimal risk until the shipping lanes out from Portsmouth. The only potential collisions would come from a fishing boat or other pleasure craft. We had plenty of hands on board for a constant watch and were comforted by our experienced friends from the Cruising Club following close-by, somewhere. Visibility was not great at around 30m but prospects for the sun to shine through and burn off the fog were favorable.We cruised through the looe channel and out past the buoys, Border and Street, marking the end of a narrow channel rounding Selsey Bill and the entrance to the Solent. The fog had not lifted despite the forecasted sunshine and a collective decision was reached to head towards Horse Sands fort, marking the outer side of the narrow commercial shipping channel into Portsmouth Harbor. The Fort and submerged wall were built in World War II to keep out enemy submarines and defend one of the UK’s major military bases. There are only two places to cross the wall, either between the two opposing forts where the major ships run through, or through a narrow gap in the wall marked only by a small post. No-one liked our prospects of finding ‘the gap’ in the fog and decided the safest thing to do was meet at a marked buoy just on the inside of the for and call the port authority at Portsmouth to determine if a safe passage was available. The bells and engines of ships surrounded us and I could feel my heart starting to race. As we edged though the shipping channel suddenly we all heard the roar of a ships engine, seemingly bearing down on top of us. At this stage I was really starting to swet and Martin on one of the other boats was desperately trying to squeeze out the last breaths from his gas canister foghorn. Surprisingly though we were not mowed down and predictably the buoy marking the outer edge of the channel came into view. We realised with hindsight that the ship had just passed in front and it was the noise of it moving away from us out to sea that we heard. From there we followed the small ships channel into Portsmouth for some well-deserved beers. Glad I had the experience, but wouldn’t recommend it for family fun! Thanks to the experience of David and Mike at the BMYC to get us through safely, and for providing plenty of alcohol to sooth my nerves.