on the water
Island Life - June/July 2010
Graham Sunderland fondly
calls his new publication
The bible of
the Solent
By Peter White
Graham Sunderland sparked a terrorist
He said: “I knew the Solent well
He describes the headlands as the
alert while surveying it, dived into it in
before I started the survey, but once I
most critical points for any Solent sailor
winter without a protective wet suit,
had completed it I knew it inside out
to navigate, explaining: “I mapped the
and even found two footballs from arch
– everything from depth contours,
most popular headlands – Lepe Spit,
rivals Portsmouth FC and Southampton
sandbanks and rocks. I did it primarily
Gurnard, Gurnard Ledge, Bramble Bank
FC floating in it.
to get more data for racing. The
and Ryde Sands.
So no wonder that this Gurnard-based
benefits of having good, accurate data
sailing guru knows The Solent probably
can be the difference between winning
danger level, particularly when it is
better than most people might know
a race and losing it.
wind over tide. The tide going one way
their front garden.
In a painstaking exercise Graham
“The tide in the Solent adds to the
“I knew the only way I could do it
and the wind going in the opposite
would be commercial because of the
direction form two opposing forces,
spent an incredible three years,
expense and equipment involved. I
and that is when it can become very
sometimes from dawn to dusk, bobbing
couldn’t justify going out and getting
dangerous.”
around on the unpredictable waters
data just for myself. I used an inboard
between the Island and the mainland to
diesel rib and spent just over £5,000 on
tactical navigator, Graham knows the
produce what he fondly calls The Bible
diesel at a time when I could buy it for
difference between winning and losing
of the Solent.
24p a litre.
a sailing event can come down to just a
Highly detailed maps in his “Winning
Describing himself as a freelance
“The initial tests were great fun –
few seconds.
Tides” publication show the flow of
merely throwing a cork in the water,
the tide, and highlight all the hazards
and then timing its movements to
crew co-skippered by Olympic gold
the Solent can throw up. His maps
measure the speed of the tide. Actually
medallist Rodney Pattisson and
are covered in arrows – each one
that method was a complete nonsense,
renowned French sailor Francis Joyon
pinpointing a spot where he spent no
and was never going to work. Then I
that completed the Round the Island
fewer than 13 hours carrying out his
used Differential GPS’s and got fantastic
race in a record breaking 3 hours, 8
detailed survey.
results.”
mins, 29 secs. A veteran of more than
88
He was part of the 2001 multihull
Visit our new website - www.visitislandlife.com