Solent Central

Jim Saltonstall looks at one of the country's most used racing venues

The central Solent has hosted countless numbers of events over many, many years. It could well be the most popular venue in the country, for the number of boats out racing regularly. This is partly due to the large number of clubs that race in the area north of the Brambles Bank. It’s not uncommon to find four or five courses out there on a summer weekend. Fortunately the clubs involved have developed a rapport over the years and largely the potential overlaps in this restricted water are well-managed. The clubs that host events in the northern Solent include; Royal Yacht Squadron, Royal Southern YC, Royal Southampton YC, Hamble River SC, Warsash SC and Hill Head SC. With the Royal Yacht Squadron fixed start-line at Cowes, to the south, used both by Cowes Combined Clubs (for Cowes Week) and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (for everything from their club racing to the Admiral’s Cup) and you’ll see why this is a busy piece of water.

All of these clubs have excellent facilities ashore, good club houses, parking and good race management teams. The accommodation around the Southampton and Hamble area is plentiful, as are camping and caravanning facilities. The popular pubs with the sailors in Hamble include the King and Queen and the Square Rigger. In Warsash the Rising Sun is the place, while in Southampton, Town Quay and Ocean Village are both popular venues for eating and drinking. Cowes is just as well set-up to accommodate the visiting yachtsman as Hamble and Southampton. There is plenty of local accommodation and marine services. Though these are necessarily strained during Cowes Week itself, when prices are notoriously high - book early!

Race Areas

There are two main race areas in the central Solent, the best of which is to the north, situated north-east of the Bramble Bank, off the Hill Head shore. The multitude of sailing clubs that race here do so with good reason - it has the weakest tide of any race-able part of the Solent. That’s not to say that tide isn’t still a huge factor, it’s just that its use is more subtle. In contrast, the race area south of the Brambles Bank and off Cowes is just about the last place that you would put a championship course - it has some of the strongest tide in the Solent. Nevertheless, it comes in for some heavy use, particularly during Cowes Week, when almost all the racing starts and finishes on the Royal Yacht Squadron line at Cowes. Racing in this area tends to be round-the-cans style orienteering, rather than traditional championship courses - which does nothing to make them less challenging!

North

Wind Direction

340-040 degrees: With the wind coming from the northern sector it is blowing over relatively low land. But it is still quite shifty and, as with any offshore wind, the closer you get to the land, the more unstable in both velocity and direction it becomes. It’s important to get a fix on how big these shifts are on different areas of the race course. At the starting area in the lighter winds, the shifts can be as much as 20 degrees, maybe 10-to-15 in the mid-to-upper wind range. In contrast, up near the windward mark under the shoreline, the shifts in the light winds can be as much as 30-to-40 degrees, and in the mid-to-upper wind range 20 degrees. So get a feel for the numbers on the compass and the size of the oscillations. If the windward mark is within half a mile of the shore, look out for more lifts on port tack, during your final approach, as the wind veers to the right as it leaves the land to come onto the water.

040-110 degrees: Now the wind is leaving the northern shoreline at a tangent, it normally pays to go left up the beat for the wind. The mainland shore has the convergent breeze. It should provide both more pressure and a starboard tack header as you approach the land, with the corresponding port tack lift as you sail away.

110-140 degrees: When the wind is in the south-east sector, it pays to go left up the beat for the wind, as there is definitely more pressure on the port side of the course due to the wind convergence.

140-220 degrees: The breeze is blowing off the Isle of Wight, and how steady it is will depend on how far you are away from the island. The River Madina will usually try to funnel the wind down its river valley. So if it’s blowing from the south-east then expect a more southerly wind to be blowing down the river, and then fanning out into the area off Cowes harbour entrance. This shouldn’t affect the northern race course too much.

220-250 degrees: The wind is now being channelled down the western Solent, towards the race area. There is a point effect off Cowes, the wind veering as it wraps around Egypt Point. This should only affect the course in a very stable breeze, when the wind bend may still be seen some distance downwind. In these conditions you should watch for a right hand shift as you head south and upwind.

250-310 degrees: The wind is now blowing from the land and water to the east of the race course. This is the trickiest direction for this race area. Generally you can expect the strongest wind to be blowing straight down Southampton Water, as the gradient will want to line up with this channel. The south shore of Southampton Water is also a convergent wind zone, while the northern shoreline is a divergent wind zone. The result is that you can expect to find stronger breeze offshore over the race course. At least until you come under the effect of the shore between Calshot (the high tower on the south-western tip of Southampton Water) and Stansore Point to the south-west. The wind close to this shore is light and horribly shifty - but generally you can expect it to back significantly (from the effect of the land) as you go further south down this shore. The practical result of this is that the stronger right hand puffs from Southampton Water, and the softer left-hand puffs from the land often take it in turns to dominate on this piece of water - keep your eyes peeled! If your race course is further away from this shore, east of the Brambles Bank, then you can expect the stronger north-westerly wind coming out of Southampton Water to dominate most of the time. But you can still expect it to be shifty, and in a dangerous sweeping generalization - the further south you are, the more left-hand-shifted wind you will see.

310-340 degrees: In this sector the wind is more settled as it blows down Southampton Water. Not as shifty as for the above sector, but you can still expect to find better wind further offshore. This is again due to the convergence zone on the west shoreline of Southampton Water, and the divergence zone on the eastern side. Again, there is an unpleasantly light and shifty zone up under the Calshot-to-Stansore Point shoreline.

South

Wind Direction

340-040 degrees: With the wind coming from the northern sector it is blowing over relatively low land, and has a reasonable distance over open water before arriving in the southern race area off Cowes. What you get is a reasonably steady breeze, your strategy should be to play the shifts.

040-110 degrees: Now the wind is leaving the northern shoreline at a tangent, the mainland shore has the convergent breeze. The wind will also lift over the island shore, so although the convergent wind zone is some distance away from this race course, there should still be better breeze away from the island shore.

110-140 degrees: When the wind is in the south-east sector, there should be a point effect off the East Cowes headland, Old Castle Point. But it’s not as straight-forward as the bend on Egypt Point in a south-westerly. This is partly because of the moorings that run to the east from Cowes (particularly during Cowes Week), but also because the island shoreline is now a divergent zone, with less wind. That makes the breeze around Old Castle Point much more unpredictable than around Egypt Point. Certainly, once you get past this headland, the best breeze is away from the shoreline and in the channel. The tide may well be the over-riding element in your strategy, given the unpredictability of the wind and the strength of the tide in this area.

140-220 degrees: The breeze is blowing off the Isle of Wight, and how steady it is will depend on how far you are away from the island. The River Madina will usually try to funnel the wind down its river valley, so if it’s blowing from the south-east then expect a more southerly wind to be blowing out of Cowes. It also tends to fan out as it leaves the harbour entrance - but this effect can come and go with the puffs.

220-250 degrees: The wind is now being channelled down the western Solent, towards the race area. There is a point effect off Cowes, as the wind wraps around Egypt Point and veers. As with all wind bends, it pays to get to the inside of them. That means tacking in towards Egypt Point on starboard expecting to get headed, then taking the port tack lift back out. Generally it’s worth getting into Egypt Point for this effect, although the tide is so strong along this shoreline that current will be your primary concern.

250-340 degrees: The wind is now blowing from the land and water to the east of the race course, and it will make the breeze more shifty and lighter the further north-west you go.

Sea Breeze

The central Solent is not renowned for its sea breeze, as there is often a fight between the thermal wind trying to come up the eastern Solent, and the sea breeze coming up the western Solent. This can often leave nothing much in the middle, from Cowes to Hill Head. Most Solent sailors will have spent a frustrating hour or even a day, sitting watching spinnakers coming towards them from the west and east - but with no breeze in the middle. If either of the two winds is going to win, it’s normally the south-westerly sea breeze blowing down the western Solent. The reason being that this is the main sea breeze direction for the whole of the south coast. And, normally (if there is such a thing) this will eventually over-ride the more localized south-easterly sea breeze in the eastern Solent.

The best conditions for a strong south-westerly sea breeze setting up are the same as for the rest of the south coast. We’re looking for a light north-westerly, or no gradient wind, and the land getting warmer than the water. The signs are the sky clearing as you look towards the entrance to the western Solent, and the development of cumulus cloud over the mainland. The sea breeze almost always rolls down the western Solent, arriving in a line from 220-250 degrees. When it fills in properly, it can blow plenty hard too, pushing up towards 20 knots. There is not much rotation with the sun however, as the wind is channelled down the western Solent towards this race area.

We shouldn’t ignore the impact of Southampton Water and the Hamble River either. Both these areas of water can produce very localized sea breeze effects. If the day is a good one for the south-westerly sea breeze, they will quickly be over-ridden by it. But if the main sea breeze doesn’t fill in, then these smaller local winds can last all day. This is a tricky area for thermal winds, because of the complex lay-out of land and water. There is a great deal to be said for keeping your eyes peeled in all directions to see what’s coming your way, or happening on the other side of the race course.

Tide

As with the western Solent, the tide is the all-important factor, playing a crucial role in our race strategy plans. As with our advice for the other Solent areas, we can’t recommend strongly enough the various tidal guides and books listed below. The broad outline is that there is a double high water in Southampton, the second high being one hour after the first. The effect is a prolonged period of ‘high water stand’. The flood tide sweeps the north race area in a clockwise direction heading north-north-east past the Bramble bank, then swinging east to run south-east along the Hill Head and Lee-on-Solent shoreline. The ebb tide runs anticlockwise through the race area, and is met by the outgoing tide coming down Southampton water. These two flows meet near the north-west corner of the northern race area, and it’s possible to see a tide line on the surface that indicates this coming together. An often ignored tidal effect in this area is the channel that runs through the north race course, called the North Channel. There is deeper water and slightly stronger tide in this area.

On the south race course, the tide is absolutely central to all race strategy. It runs as strongly off Cowes as anywhere in the Solent, flooding to the east, and ebbing to the west. It turns first on the Cowes shoreline, and it’s possible to watch the new tide creep its way out from the shore. Watch the moored boats and the buoys to see what’s going on. The result is that small distances can make a massive difference when racing in this piece of water on the tidal change. Once again, buy the books.

Other Sources of Information

Admiralty Charts

2040 (detailed chart of the western Solent that overlaps the central racing area)
394 (detailed chart of the eastern Solent that overlaps the central racing area)
1905 (Southampton Water)

Admiralty Small Craft Charts

SC2040 Solent Western Part
SC 0394 Solent Eastern Part
SC1905 Southampton Water and Approaches

Tidal Information

Solent Tides, by Peter Bruce and published by Boldre Marine
Solent Hazards, by Peter Bruce and published by Boldre Marine
Solent Tide Disc, published by Roberts
Roberts Bramble Tide Slide, published by Roberts
Cowes Tidal Flow Chart, published by Roberts
Solent and Isle of Wight Tidal Streams, published by Check Charts
Admiralty Tidal Stream Atlas NP337 The Solent and Adjacent Waters

Tourist Office

Southampton, phone: 023 8022 1106
Cowes, phone: 01938 813 813