Have you ever sailed passed Brighton on a boat?

[8ace]

I've never been past Brighton on a boat, obviously I've looked back at the town from the pier(s), but never from a sea-going vessel.
Have I missed much

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Just guessing mind, but I would think you'll see a bit a sea quite close to you, a bit of land a little further up and a bit of sky at the top. What are you expecting to see, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon ? Herds of Wilderbeast sweeping majestically across the plains ?

 

[daveinprague]

Yes, in the 70s on HMS Lowestoft, we sailed very close, past Brighton following a Soviet Whiskey class submarine that was on the surface. I was actually quite shocked that Soviet submarines were that close off our coast. Other than that, was able to see Le Carbone in the Portslade old village, and that was almost home....and helo picked up mail from Shoreham airport...was on our way to Portsmouth for weekend leave when we were ordered to track the sub, and ended up following the chuffing thing to Gibraltar..losing the weekend at home... The regency buildings along the front makes it look a very nice place.

 

[T soprano]

I've been past it in my Kayak if that counts
From shoreham harbour to the Brighton pier & back ( was absolutely knackered on return journey )

 

[LamieRobertson]

I've been past it in my Kayak if that counts
From shoreham harbour to the Brighton pier & back ( was absolutely knackered on return journey )

I never knew you were so athletic Mr T

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I've been past it in my Kayak if that counts
From shoreham harbour to the Brighton pier & back ( was absolutely knackered on return journey )

I have done similar. It's a great view.

 

[T soprano]

I never knew you were so athletic Mr T

You'd be surprised, I've got 3 kayaks often going up and down the the river Adur to upper Beeding mind you the pit stop is the Castle pub for a couple of pints while waiting for the tide to turn for return journey

 

[LamieRobertson]

You'd be surprised, I've got 3 kayaks often going up and down the the river Adur to upper Beeding mind you the pit stop is the Castle pub for a couple of pints while waiting for the tide to turn for return journey

Lol..it's not a bad pub ..I cycle but will take a keener interest in any kayakers I see in future!

 

[T soprano]

Lol..it's not a bad pub ..I cycle but will take a keener interest in any kayakers I see in future!

I'll be wearing my Brighton shirt and I'll give you a probably be going up the river over the weekend

 

[8ace]

I never knew you were so athletic Mr T

His enemies don't go to sleep with the fishes by themselves.

 

[skipper734]

The best view is at night, when the wind has died and you resort to using the engine instead of the sails. Pushing the motor as fast as it will go in an effort to get home as quickly as you can.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

As it happens, yes I've seen Brighton from a boat on two occasions:

a) When HMS Brighton, a Rothsay type anti-submarine frigate, was moored next to Brighton Marina, as a Naval Cadet we were transfered out to the ship on a motor launch and given a tour round.
b) In a small dinghy when sailing off Shoreham Harbour.

I have to say both occasions were a memorable day for different reasons. Sadly HMS Brighton was scrapped just 4 years after my tour round her. Ignominiously she was used as target practice between decomissioning in 1981 ( probably why she was off the Marina ) and scrapping in 1985.

On attempting to return to Shoreham harbour in the dinghy we were caught on an ebb tide and spent most of the late afternoon floundering around in front of the Harbourmasters / Coastguard tower and the RNLI Station, getting absolutely nowhere as the wind was being stolen by a large block of flats every time we attempted a tack. Eventuallly we gave up, pulling up alongside the jetty, clambering up to the tower and requested a tow upstream. After much delay a coaster came to our aid and whilst we were being towed up to the yacht club we passed the club rescue launch heading out to the Channel in the oppposite direction.

 

[daveinprague]

As it happens, yes I've seen Brighton from a boat on two occasions:

a) When HMS Brighton, a Rothsay type anti-submarine frigate, was moored next to Brighton Marina, as a Naval Cadet we were transfered out to the ship on a motor launch and given a tour round.
b) In a small dinghy when sailing off Shoreham Harbour.

I have to say both occasions were a memorable day for different reasons. Sadly HMS Brighton was scrapped just 4 years after my tour round her. Ignominiously she was used as target practice between decomissioning in 1981 ( probably why she was off the Marina ) and scrapping in 1985.

On attempting to return to Shoreham harbour in the dinghy we were caught on an ebb tide and spent most of the late afternoon floundering around in front of the Harbourmasters / Coastguard tower and the RNLI Station, getting absolutely nowhere as the wind was being stolen by a large block of flats every time we attempted a tack. Eventuallly we gave up, pulling up alongside the jetty, clambering up to the tower and requested a tow upstream. After much delay a coaster came to our aid and whilst we were being towed up to the yacht club we passed the club rescue launch heading out to the Channel in the oppposite direction.

Seemed a common fate for Rothesay class frigates....this is Lowestoft during successful Tigerfish torpedo test....same torpedo that sank the Belgrano in Falklands war..

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

The disappointing thing was that I never got a chance to have a look at one of the big ships, the only other two I got a tour round were HMS Cleopatra F28 at Plymouth, and HMS Bristol D23 at Portsmouth. Although Bristol was moored right alongside Invincible ( I think - was definitely an aircraft carrier but which one has got lost in the midst of time, might have been Illustrious but definitely not Hermes ) at the time - fascinating to look round but I was always surprised how lightly armed they appeared in reality compared to what you might think from watching films. Being a unique vessel, Bristol was regarded as a bit of an oddity, and ended up as the Cadet liason and training vessel, a role she still has today. Does look very odd tho' with no guns or masts on........

 

[daveinprague]

I was on the 'old' Ark Royal... preferred small ships, a lot less formal...itr also never dawned on me, that as the principle strike carrier, we were carrying nuclear weapons...other than that, no fixed weapons on board.
I used to think the same thing about the weapons, especially when coming across some of our soviet counterparts.... and particularly after seeing a Kara class destroyer...they really did seem like 'war' ships, compared to ours. Also, the Chinese navy has come on in leaps and bounds...some of their new ships look terrifying.

 

[Hampden Park]

I was on the 'old' Ark Royal... preferred small ships, a lot less formal...itr also never dawned on me, that as the principle strike carrier, we were carrying nuclear weapons...other than that, no fixed weapons on board.
I used to think the same thing about the weapons, especially when coming across some of our soviet counterparts.... and particularly after seeing a Kara class destroyer...they really did seem like 'war' ships, compared to ours.

not as heavily armed as they may look dave. was invited round one of these when is Sevastopol and we were given magnets to test if the weapons were made of metal (gen dit, no shit) and suprisingly some of them were indeed made of ?plastic? spooky eh?

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

I tend to swim stupid distances out from the beach near Hove lawns, and it all looks pretty peachy from out there lying on your back and drinking it all in. Gotta watch out for those passing boats though!

 

[daveinprague]

not as heavily armed as they may look dave. was invited round one of these when is Sevastopol and we were given magnets to test if the weapons were made of metal (gen dit, no shit) and suprisingly some of them were indeed made of ?plastic? spooky eh?

Chipping paint on the Lowestoft, I realised our ships were principally made of rust haha...but always got the impression the soviet ships really did look like warships compared to ours.

 

[Hampden Park]

Chipping paint on the Lowestoft, I realised our ships were principally made of rust haha...but always got the impression the soviet ships really did look like warships compared to ours.

did you ever see them in rough seas dave? probably not, if they indeed they were that top heavy with weapons etc. then if they were to 'hard to port/starboard' they could have broken their backs lol. whereas our grey war canoes were made of sterner stuff (type 21's exempt). p.s. the paint kept the rust at bay ha ha

 

[daveinprague]

Dont remember seeing any in partcularly rough weather...but i remember we were unable to catch a 'trawler' ... thing was motoring...I used to love it when we came across soviets at sea...our officers would be rushing about with notebooks, binoculars, charts, and all manner of nonsense....look at their ship, and see their offficers doing the same... whereas the crew of both ships were down at the back waving to each other haha...