Hi all,

Did any one else get sick after surfing in the harbor last Saturday. I dont normally get sick but i was rotten yesterday, lots of trips t the toilet, sweating and shivers, swollen sinuses. Not cool.
The water was a particularly foamy brown and I thought it smelt like a horrible mix of silage and diesel.
I understand we are lucky to have access to the harbour, but was wondering if anybody knew why it was so bad, so maybe i could make a more informed decision before going in.

Has anybody ever not gone because of water quality?
Is there an SAS rep on here? Do we get pollution alerts for this spot?
Has anybody ever not gone because of water quality?

Because of the amount of rain we had in the week and at the weekend the water quality in the harbour was shocking.
It always is after heavy rainfall. I reckon its the run off from the gutters and streets which flows out from the adur.
I feel fine but it did look and taste rank!

I am writing this from my squatting position on the porcelain throne!
I went out on Saturday at New Beach and the harbour and I felt fine. Went out yesterday (Monday), at New Beach then harbour and I feel awful.
Same symptoms as you described.
I'm on leave at the moment and was hoping to get another surf in this afternoon- gutted!

Got in the harbour yesterday for a couple of hours and I feel fine today
Water looked and smelled a bit iffy but that's river water for you!
When I'm worried about getting ill I use a trick borrowed from open water swimming; a can of full fat coke will kill everything nasty in your stomach

I was out Saturday & Sunday & felt 'rough as' all day Monday. Monday night had an early night as was completely drained and had stomach ache.

But I like the Coca Cola advice, never been ill before but will try that after a surf session.

Southern Water aren't signed up to the SAS Safer Seas Service http://www.sas.org.uk/safer-seas-service/. See this thread: http://sharkbait.co.uk/sharkboard/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=501
I'm pretty sure that after all that rain the outfalls would have been working and also there would have been run-off from the fields into the Aturd.

My G.P recommended a Hep A jab ( don't just wait for that Indo trip )if I was surfing this far up the channel on a regular basis and that was over 20 years ago.
Like to think the water quality is slightly better now, after all the channel is basically one large gutter.

chinaman08 wrote:My G.P recommended a Hep A jab ( don't just wait for that Indo trip )if I was surfing this far up the channel on a regular basis and that was over 20 years ago.
Like to think the water quality is slightly better now, after all the channel is basically one large gutter.

Good advice. Also SAS are still looking volunteers to assess the effects of dirty water on users. See here: http://www.sas.org.uk/news/campaigns/scientists-and-surfers-team-up-to-assess-antibiotic-resistance-risk/ and encouraging people who get ill to fill in this http://www.sas.org.uk/medical-response-form/

Yeah I done that SAS bum test... HA! No doubt my body had fought of some nasties over the years surfing there.

Surfing in $hit brown water, in a river mouth inside of a harbour, in th english channel following a big downpour after several weeks of fine weather & no rainfall, so all that lovely gloop is all back up plus being surrounded by ***** on SUPs.

You'd have to be a sewer rat or a ninja turtle to not get ill.