No excuses! not updated for a while… however! Since March there’s been a 4* Sea Kayak Award, which I completed over on the Isle of Wight, then recently, a trip down to Devon for the SWSK meet…. pics to follow……..

Last weekend took us across the Solent to the Isle of Wight,  one of the things on my ‘tick list’ !

Last weekend I took a trip down to Poole, spent a couple of nights in an apartment overlooking Holes Bay, home of the RNLI Head Quarters and Sunseeker!

This month I received a couple of copies of Canoe Focus, the official magazine of the British Canoe Union ( BCU ). I sent in an article a while ago about my trip to Barra in the Outer Hebrides.  It appeared in a copy of Canoe & Kayak UK last year,  and I’d forgotten that I’d sent it to these guys as well !!

Hayling Island is a true island, completely surrounded by natural watercourses at all states of the tide. Looking at its north to south orientation, it is shaped like an inverted T, about 6.5 kilometres (4 miles) long and 6.5 kilometres wide. A road bridge connects its northern end to the mainland of England. A small passenger ferry connects it to the neighbouring island of Portsea where the city of Portsmouth is located. To the west is Langstone Harbour and to the east is Chichester Harbour.

The natural beach at Hayling was predominantly sandy but in recent years it has been mechanically topped with shingle dredged from the bed of the Solent in an effort to reduce beach erosion and reduce the potential to flood low lying land. At low tide, the West Winner sandbank is visible, extending a mile out to sea. The coastline in this area has substantially changed since Roman times: it is believed much land has been lost from the coasts of Hayling and Selsey by erosion and subsequent flooding.

Last weekend took us around Hayling Island, the temperature did’nt get much above zero all day!  but at least the sun came out for a bit, and the sea was calm!!

“Does exactly what it says on the tin. Two days covering the essential areas of sea kayaking, navigation, safety and rescue.
You will spend the first morning in the classroom, looking carefully at how to plan sea trips including tidal and weather considerations before heading out onto the water to put it all into practice. Day two is all about staying safe on the water, dealing with incidents including towing, rescuing capsized paddlers and getting yourself back into your boat.”

Is exactly what we did !    and there would have been more pictures!   but!   I lost the digital camera in the lake………………………..

Last Sunday was the annual Adventure Dolphin Thames trip, the weather could’nt have been better ! also the tides were perfect, enabling a put in at Putney, and a leasurely trip through the centre to Tower Bridge.

It was low water at 12:30 so there were a few places to stop for lunch, we decided on a place by The Tate Modern.

We stopped for about an hour while the tide turned which we then used to take us back again !

All the usual sites as pictured below……….

End of last week I joined the Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking crew for their circumnavigation exped. The trip included instruction on planning, navigation as well as packing a sea kayak for a multi day trip.

Pretty much ‘Plan A’ changed as soon as we got on the water at Freshwater! a swell was building so it was decided that we’d head off to the Solent coast.

We set off for the north coast where we could find some shelter from the wind and swell. After a while we ended up in Newtown Creek where we packed boats and launched again!

We headed off towards the Solent and followed the westerly tide for a couple of hours passing Yarmouth and ending up at Fort Victoria Country Park This was to be our first camp spot.

.. This weekend was a trip inland to Milton Keynes!  however,  we did find some water for Adam to have his first try in a kayak!