River Hamble - A First Experience

[sprocker]

So this weekend saw our first 'experience' of The River Hamble....and I have to say I was rather surprised.

Experience 1 - Is it normal for yachties to come up the fairly busy river under sail and tack right in front of you, causing you and others to have to take certain crash avoiding action?

Experience 2 - Is it normal for this to happen on 3 occasions between Mercury Yacht Harbour and Southampton Water?

Experience 3 - Is it normal for lots of other mobo drivers to shake their fists and shout at said yachties? (One of these wasn't me by the way)

Experience 4 - Is it normal to leave Mercury Yacht Harbour in lovely clear skies and sunshine, to be met by a solid wall of very thick fog as soon as you get to Southampton Water?

Maybe I've led a sheltered boating life, but it was all quite amusing at times.

Other than the experiences above it was fantastic to get out on our new boat and start to get the feel of her. I have never had to berth on a tidal river before, and have to admit I was a little worried about it, but had plenty of time to 'play' and get used to the current and how it affected the boat. Timing the berthing close to slack water helped, but it still surprised me how much effect the current has when you're side on to it.

The first berthing attempt went well, nice and slow, with no problems...so we went out and did it all again a further three times, and all went well.

All in all I was a very happy boater on Saturday evening, and celebrated with some good food at The Victory Inn in Hamble, washed down with a goodly amount of Doom Bar!

Roll on next weekend!

[ColinR]

Congratulations on surviving

Experience 1 - Is it normal for yachties to come up the fairly busy river under sail and tack right in front of you, causing you and others to have to take certain crash avoiding action? Oh yes, all the time

Experience 2 - Is it normal for this to happen on 3 occasions between Mercury Yacht Harbour and Southampton Water? Certainly not unusual

Experience 3 - Is it normal for lots of other mobo drivers to shake their fists and shout at said yachties? (One of these wasn't me by the way) Not seen that before but I can understand why it might happen

Experience 4 - Is it normal to leave Mercury Yacht Harbour in lovely clear skies and sunshine, to be met by a solid wall of very thick fog as soon as you get to Southampton Water? Never, it's always warm and sunny on the Hamble and around Southampton water. There's also loads of fish just waiting to leap on you hook as well

[mlines]

Also watch out for:

Yachts motoring along in front of you suddenly slamming into reverse and reversing across the fairway. Apparently a blue flag on the transom is a warning that this will occur

Yachts motoring out of marinas straight into the fairway without looking or showing any signs of giving way to anything (same blue warning flag on the stern)

[BruceK]

I have a really, really, REALLY loud horn. I know it's meant to be used for something like which side I'm going to pass but as nobody else seems to know the rules I forgot them and I find venting anger and frustration with it works just as well and mostly better.

It's also great for using against idiots roaring through the pontoons creating a big wake. Scares the bejezus out of them. I even saw one drop his cocktail as he made a mad grab for the helm.

[shibbs]

I have a really, really, REALLY loud horn. I know it's meant to be used for something like which side I'm going to pass but as nobody else seems to know the rules I forgot them and I find venting anger and frustration with it works just as well and mostly better.

It's also great for using against idiots roaring through the pontoons creating a big wake. Scares the bejezus out of them. I even saw one drop his cocktail as he made a mad grab for the helm.

[MartynG]

Don't see hardly any saily boats where I am.
Maybe one or two a year out on the water .
Lots of them in marinas but do not often see anyone near them.

I belief darn sarf the 'WAFI's think they can do as they bloody well like and the 'Stinkpots' have to give way.

[NickT]

I have come across all the things the OP mentions above....

As it is impossible to avoid situations where "close combat" maneuvering occurs, I tend to use my action cam as I transit from the Upper Hamble to Southampton water and beyond.

Someone cut across the channel on exiting Universal Marina and when I remonstrated with him he started a torrent of abuse - this was cut short when he realised he was being videod.

These days the video will be up on a boaty forum in a flash and no one wants the humiliation of that!!

Libel laws don't apply if it shows the truth.

Both stick and power boats are equally at fault - the Hamble is a congested place and at peak times I try to slink up the outer channel between boats when possible.

Probably the hardest part to navigate is when sailing schools have perhaps up to 20 dinghys in action at the mouth of the river - it becomes impossible to avoid them so I generally stop in the water, wave my hands and say I can't navigate!!

If there were a collision then having video footage in these litigious days is a bonus!

Starting early on sunny days helps though - you will avoid a procession of boats leaving the river.

Colin is correct - there are no fish in the Solent so don't bother trying.....

[sprocker]

Phew! I'm happy it wasn't just me then.

I guess I am just not used to such congestion. The River Dart is the most congested area that I regularly see, and even on it's busiest days in the summer it doesn't compare to The Hamble last weekend.

It didn't lessen our enjoyment of the day though, it is still good to be out on the water, wherever you are.

[ColinR]

You have to be aware that, on the Hamble, there is a clear rush hour period in the morning as everyone charges out to get to their favourite anchorage in Osbourne Bay for lunch. You then get the returning mass late afternoon. Of course they all want to fuel up and Port Hamble on the way through as well

Generally a place to avoid.

[Dave]

Berthed at the last boatyard at the top of the Hamble, we come across all the things mentioned above pretty much every time we go out, which is most weekends. Amusing mostly with the odd occasion having to stop completely and wait for a situation to become clearer....thats not easy at the A27 bridge area north of Deacons yard with the flow speeding up at the bottleneck, but so far unscathed.....certainly not boring whichever direction we go in. Regatta day is always interesting....