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Portsmouth Harbour entrance is just 200m wide and must accommodate naval vessels, car ferries to and from the Isle of Wight as well as large commercial shipping. There is a small craft channel through the west side, mandatory for craft less than 20m long, which is only 50m wide. The tide through the entrance can run to 5 knots, and there is a nasty cross tide at the seaward end which can knock you several metres off course. The Ryde hovercraft lands close to the entrance.
We were heading for Birdham Pool Marina’s Classic Boat Festival. This lovely, slightly quirky marina is situated at the top of Chichester Harbour, east of Portsmouth, meaning we needed to cross the main shipping channel after clearing the entrance. As we approached the authorised crossing point we had a ferry leaving the harbour astern of us, another approaching to our starboard, and the hovercraft crossing at over 20 knots also to our starboard. As things stood all three would converge at the crossing point
