Fervent February & Mad March

I thought the blog was a little bare so here a few photos from some recent Sunday club trips to prove that we have actually been very active, even in the dim dying days of winter's end!

The water is starting to warm up a bit now (according to Peter. B anyway!), the days are definitely getting longer and the sun has shown his face on several days recently, so come on everyone, get yourselves out on the club trips. Many of the upcoming trips are shorter and less demanding - a great way to ease those muscles into your 2011 paddling season.
See you on the water soon!

Round Portsmouth & Hayling (RP&H)

"Bet you can get across in front, go on, you can do it, dare you!" (RP&H)

Three icons - one's a famous kayak, one's Portsmouth's tower and the other lives and paddles there! (RP&H)

Er Bill.... the other way! (Hilsea Creek, RP&H)

Second Breakfast or 1st Luncheon? (RP&H)


All set and ready to go (Selsey Bill)


"It's out there, honest. If you had come to my Navigation class, you'd know" (Selsey Bill)


Yep, I can squeeze in to my boat too - just! (Selsey Bill)

Your Treasurer, wondering when YOU are going to pay your subs! (Selsey Bill)

Always good to keep the RNLI close (Selsey Bill)

The Mixon (or R.O.T - the republic of Tim's land as PDCC's own Tim Sims was the first to lay claim - you had to be there!) (Selsey Bill)

The smile says it all. (Selsey Bill)

Comrade Tim, the first ruler of ROT (Selsey Bill)

Joe thought he could cunningly camouflage his kayak with the beacon but his drysuit gave him away! (Selsey Bill)

Sun 13 Feb 2011 - Bracklesham and Chichester Harbour

Originally planned to go on the "Poole to Old Harry Rocks" trip, but a forecast of strong winds led to it becoming cancelled. As a secondary option I'd considered doing some kayak surfing at Bracklesham Bay; the surf forecast was predicting some big surf, and a southerly F5 wind which *should* have been cross-shore. Low water was about midday, neap tide. I was accompanied by two paddlers I know from London, Jae and Paul. We took sea kayaks.

We arrived at the car park at 9:30AM, got on the water at 10. The wind felt like it was blowing on-shore and it was really hard work to get out through the breaking waves (often at 4 or 6 second intervals) and strong wind. It was full-on effort with no time for warming up. After breaking through about a dozen waves, I couldn't see any end of the surf zone, so decided to wait for the end of a set to turn the boat and start to head inshore. My inshore surfing wasn't very good; I was slightly concerned about the bow sinking and being pitchpoled, and rather than using ruddering to keep straight I just kept allowing the boat to be broadsided. Some of the foam piles were the biggest I've experienced so far. It was good fun and worthy experience, although I much preferred to be in a big playboat.

Although it was fun, the amount of effort required was a bit too much. The conditions were better for the dozen or so kite-surfers there, some of them having lots of airtime. We probably should have got there an hour later, with the water lower and less groyne hazard. We decided to pack up and go for a paddle from Langstone Bridge. We went into Chichester Harbour, the wind was strong, about F4, against us, but we managed quite well. About 1 foot of swell was whipped up by the wind. We were passing Thorney Island, and noticed a channel that might take us to the shore. It did, although it was tricky to find where we could land without getting muddy, and I managed to get practically covered in it! We had a bite to eat, then decided to head back, zooming along with the wind and swell behind us, by which time the tide was rising, and we explored the marina and had a closer look at Langstone. We then got out on the very slippery sea wall by the car park. The whole thing was quite an adventure!

There's a video of my comedy-stand-up-after-exit-in-mud here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odf1BCX68D8

Some photos follow, as well as the route taken, surf and wind reports. Distance covered was approximately 4km each way. It was pleasing to see confirmation that what felt like F4 in the harbour was F4, similarly F5 in the sea.

Poole to Wareham - Sunday 23rd Jan

Five of us (Andrew Wallace, Jason, Jane, myself and a non-PDCC friend Nick) met up on a calm but chilly Sunday morning near Hamworthy, overlooking the North of Poole harbour. We managed to have picked the same car park as both Poole Canoe club (who are based there) and the New Forest canoe club, but after a few social chats we went for a 2 hour paddle up to Wareham quayside for a sunny picnic before heading back.











Nick, Jason and Jane - paddling up to Wareham










A picnic on the quayside at Wareham.















Time to head back...

Wareham in sunshine.

Back at Hamworthy.

Kimmeridge to Lulworth 3rd January 2011

A few photos from Sunday's paddle down Dorset way