By Dudley on July 29, 2005.
Near Southampton, on the Solent overlooking the Isle of Wight, is the Calshot Activities Centre. Mike O’ had the excellent idea of arranging for a group of club members to do a “Sea Kayaking Skills” weekend there, so on Friday 15th July we were arriving (at various times throughout the day) at Calshot Spit.
For anyone who doesn’t know this location, it is really quite impressive, with the Reception area being in an old aircraft hanger, (also housing an indoor climbing wall and cycling velodrome), which has loads of history as an early home of seaplanes/flying boats.
The sleeping accommodation for the Centre includes old coastguards’ cottages, right next to the beach, so you go to sleep listening to the waves lapping on the shore.
Before getting to this point, however, some of us there earlier in the evening were lucky enough to be able to share an impromptu barbecue on the beach, very quickly and efficiently arranged by Louise and Sean.
The next day, after a full cooked breakfast in the communal dining room, we gathered at 9.00 am on Saturday morning for a briefing from Simon, our instructor from the Centre. We were a good-sized group, consisting of Alison, John, Lars, Louise, Luke, Mishi, Sean and myself. In addition to the main group, Mike and Tony (as experienced sea kayakers) were there paddling “independently”.
When we go out on the River Thames on a Tuesday evening using sea kayaks, usually most people’s hatches are empty. Not this time, on the Solent! For a day trip on the sea we needed more equipment, including a change of clothes, spare “split” paddles, tow lines, pump, first aid kit, boat repair kit, a combined day/night flare, a helmet (strapped to the deck, to be put on in case of having to land in surf) and of course, lunch.
Before setting off, we also got a chart of the area and a compass, both being fixed under the deck lines on the kayak for use while paddling. During the weekend, Simon showed us how to use the chart and compass to plan and make trips by kayak on the sea, including, for example, how to allow for the tide when deciding what course to steer on a compass bearing.
Our itinerary for the first day was to paddle along the coast to the Beaulieu River, to paddle up the River to Bucklers Hard, have lunch and then paddle back again to Calshot, taking advantage of favourable tides as much as possible - and that’s what we did.
Buckler’s Hard is interesting for the fact that some of Nelson’s fleet (used at Trafalgar) were built there.
The Solent is well-known for its various underwater obstacles and we were able to take advantage of one on the way towards the River, by grounding our kayaks across a sandbank and getting out to stretch our legs while watching the waves breaking towards us from two different directions at the same time.
The return journey to Calshot in the afternoon was fairly lively, with a Force 4 wind and a following sea giving some good waves, which could be caught and surfed, to save on paddling effort.
Nevertheless, this was a tiring day, as we paddled for about three hours on the way out and the same on the way back (including a few stops to regroup etc).
Over the weekend, between us we saw quite a bit of wildlife, including jellyfish, swans with cygnets, a tern diving for fish, fish leaping put of the water and an unidentified stoat-like creature running across the grass at Buckler’s Hard.
On Sunday we put all the boats on a trailer behind a minibus and drove a short way along the coast to Lepe, where we parked and put-in for a paddle across to Newtown on the Isle of Wight.
We used fixed buoys (marked on the chart) as way-points to aim for, setting a course to steer to them, having allowed for the tide. The distance across is about 5 nautical miles and the paddle took us about an hour and a quarter, so we obviously had some help from the tide, as Simon reckoned on a paddling rate of about 3 knots (if unassisted)!
We were very lucky with the weather, as the sun shone all weekend, but this did contribute to the Solent being very busy, with yachts and other vessels of every shape and size going in all directions. It was therefore quite reassuring that we were accompanied for the crossing by a large powerboat from the Calshot Centre, whose driver had the job of making sure any larger vessels knew we were there, down at water-level.
After lunch and a swim on the beach at Newtown, we took a short paddle up the Newtown River, before the return crossing back to Lepe.
We then practised rolling and various rescues – not so easy in a loaded sea kayak - before getting out and driving back to Calshot.
All of us taking part are at least BCU 3 Star level, so already knew the “general” kayaking aspects, but the instruction and information provided by Simon was still very worthwhile, adding to our knowledge and experience of features relating to sea kayaks and travelling on the sea.
We had a fantastic, very enjoyable weekend – if anyone gets the chance to do anything similar in future, I would highly recommend it.
Thanks very much to Simon, our instructor, for looking after us and to Mike, for organising the trip.
Dudley