Graham Bird and his daughter Hannah decided to take Harwell Charter’s Raider 18 out for an early morning session. The forecast was for force 3 but this quickly rose to a 4 shortly after the sun started to rise. The intention was to drift for plaice out by the Sovereign Tower but as
the wind rose they headed in for more sheltered waters ½ mile outside of the harbour entrance. Following reports of codling being caught in the bay they carefully anchored on a short rope between two rows of nets on a small piece of raised ground. Within 10 minutes Hannah caught
a gurnard in excess of 2lbs this was followed by half a dozen undersize whiting. As the sea ebbed the wind against tide made for lumpy conditions, however whiting continued to come aboard along with 3 sizable dabs. So with 5 species coming aboard including several fish for the pot they headed for the locks. The Raider 18 has exceptionally good freeboard and they are renowned for being a dry boat as this boat proved in the choppy conditions.
Great photo of the Sovereign Light Tower, Eastbourne
