Bramble Bank

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The annual Bramble Bank cricket match.

The Bramble Bank, otherwise known simply as "The Brambles" is an arrowhead-shaped sandbar in the central Solent which is uncovered at low water spring tides. At other times it presents either a significant navigational hazard or a useful escape from the strong Solent tides. The bank is moving very slowly westward. It is marked at its southeastern limit by the Brambles post sea mark and on its western limit by the West Knoll buoy.

The Brambles post has comprehensive weather and sea state monitoring equipment which is relayed in realtime to a website.

The Bramble Bank is renowned for the annual cricket match held there, when the Royal Southern Yacht Club (RSrnYC) play the Island Sailing Club. The match takes place when the bank is exposed but never lasts very long before the tide returns. The undulating surface with large puddles ensures it is more a social occasion than a serious cricket match, and the scoring reflects this - the victor of the game is pre-determined, and the two clubs simply take it in turns to "win" the match, regardless of play. The most recent match was held on 31 August 2015, the RSYC won.

The Brambles cricket match has been described as "quintessentially English" and has even drawn the attention of a House of Commons Standing Committee, when it was mentioned as a light-hearted example of an event which falls geographically between the boundaries of two different licensing authorities.

Accidents

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Höegh Osaka beached on the bank

On Tuesday 11 November 2008, on approaching Southampton Docks for her last visit prior to retirement, the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground on the Bramble Bank at approximately 0530 hrs. She required 4 tugs to pull her clear on the rising tide and arrived in Southampton approximately 90 minutes late.

On 3 January 2015 the car transporter MV Höegh Osaka was beached on the bank after developing a list. A 200-metre maritime exclusion zone was put into in place around the ship until the salvage operation has taken place, and airspace below 2,000 ft was also closed to aircraft within 1 mile (1.6 km). She was refloated on the rising tide on the 7th of January 2015, and was towed 2 miles east of the bank and moored between East Cowes and Lee on the Solent to await further salvage operations.

In popular culture

Bramble Bank is shown and labelled on maps of the Solent in Ship Simulator 2008 and Ship Simulator Extremes, but doesn't pose any threat to the player due to an absence of low tide in those games.

External links

• The 2005 Bramble Bank Cricket Match photo archive