Paddle 35 Chichester Harbour

A nice early Sunday morning paddle.  The main aim was to dust off some cobwebs and try out new dry-suits and fleece under suits.

Chichester Harbour has decided that kayaks no longer need to pay harbour dues!  This brings it into line with Langstone and Portsmouth harbours.

My Crewsaver Cirrus has been good the past 4 times I've used it.  Not a drop past the neoprene seals and it's been very comfortable.  This time I used it with a Lomo fleece under suit.  I was perfectly comfortable stationary and paddling slowly, but anything more than gentle paddling and I was too hot.  It will certainly be useful later in the year, but really it was too warm for today.

Steve enjoyed using his Gul dry suit.  He doesn't have as much natural padding as me, but his neoprene seals also stayed dry.

We did see a couple of seals off Thorny Island and also managed to get a picture with a local friendly Orca!

Paddle 34 Seal Hunting (with a camera)

We dusted off the old double and went looking for Common Seals.

The seals tend to hang out on mud banks at low tide and like to avoid the motor boats and jet skis.  Today we found a group of 9 seals on the SW side of Thorny Island.  I really need to get a better digital camera, despite the seals coming as close as 20 feet to us, we only managed a few "Loch Ness Monster" style shots, here are the best:

 

Paddle 33 Eastney to Chichester Harbour entrance

F3 Easterly, dawn paddle, beautiful.  I pushed my self today and really enjoyed the work out. It took me 1 hour 42 minutes to cover 9 statute miles.  At that pace it would take me just under 2.5 hours to paddle round Hayling Island.  I'm not sure I can hold that pace for 2 and a half hours yet.

The flood tide into Chichester Harbour is later than Portsmouth Harbour, so an anti clockwise trip would get the most tidal assistance.  I reckon leaving the West end of Hayling beach 1.5 hours before HW Portsmouth on a big Spring tide would be optimum for me.

 

Paddle 32 Warsash to Calshot Spit

A SW wind gusting F6 led to a mix of wave shapes and heights as it blew against the tide running out of Southampton water and over the various depth changes.  We had flat water, long sinusoidal waves 4 feet high, vertical faced waves from 1 foot to 5 foot and plenty of foam.
As I only had my handheld camera I didn't take pictures in the bigger waves, I know there is a tendency for wave height to be measured as accurately as fisher men can judge "the one that got away" but there were plenty of times when Rob and his paddle were completely hidden from view.

 

Paddle 32 PDCC end of season wet training & curry night

The final wet training session of the year!  Where has the time gone?

The session was very much about having fun rather than following a syllabus.  We had an all in 18 paddler rescue. I finally managed a cowboy self rescue, which I hear vaguely resembles an aquatic version of a bear on a bicycle.  I won't be using that as a real time rescue technique just yet.  I use more energy getting back in than I would doing 10 of any other type of rescue I can do.  I did several re-entry rolls and it started to feel more technique less brute force.  The Kodiak has an enormous cockpit volume, but even so I found it easy to paddle flooded.  I'll pack out as much of the cockpit as practical with foam and that should make a huge difference.

Paddle 31 BCU 3 star assessment.

Being ill sucks, being ill and not knowing what it is sucks even more. I found out today it's not cancer, but needs more tests to tell me what it's not.  Luckily for me there was an open slot on a BCU 3 star assessment, I went along not expecting to pass but thinking the experience would be worth while.  The examiner casually mentioned that the conditions just outside Eastney Harbour entrance were beyond the remit of 3 star but that the area with in the harbour was at the top end of acceptable.  That was a surprise, as was the remainder of the assessment.  I'd clearly warped the standard required into something far higher than the reality.

I passed!

Paddle 30 Monday night training PDCC

Monday night practising at Eastney. I managed a re-entry roll but it was a triumph of brute force over sloppy technique.

Paddle 29 Warsash to Hillhead

Its been more than a month since my last paddle, fortunately my health is much improved and I can get back out onto the water again.



Trying Rob's Dagger Alchemy 14.

Warsash has two car parks, one at the waterside, the other about a quarter of a mile away.  The waterside car park fills up quickly during summer and is free but limited to a maximum stay of 4 hours.

The slip at the south end of the car park can be used for launching at any state of tide.
 

Paddle 28 Prinsted

Two paddles in one day!  I took my daughters to Prinsted to kayak.  They were more interested in swimming with Grandad, partly because they hadn't seen him for a while and partly because the water was very warm and inviting.  So I left them playing on the beach and went for a blast round the harbour.

I noticed someone trying to paddle an 18 foot catamaran into a marina.  They had no sails on board and just one  single bladed paddle.  The marina was dead upwind and they were losing ground against the F5.  I offered to try and tow them in but said I wasn't sure how much help it would be.  It turned out that I was able to tow the boat easily against the wind using my normal Greenland Paddle.

Paddle 27 Eastney

No pictures from this morning.  The tide was flowing fast and the Westerly was about F4.  My brother managed his first roll at the end of the session.

Paddle 26 Eastney Harbour Entrance

There is a small patch of standing waves on a flood tide.  I played in that, did a few rolls, managed a self rescue.  No photos but had a good time.  Edit coming later.

Paddle 25 PDCC Regatta

A day playing on and in the water with my daughters & Portsmouth Canoe Club.

Paddle 24 Hilsea

It was perfect conditions to take my daughter out in her Sea Flea.

Two capsizes happened as she experimented with more aggressive paddle stokes and turns.  The Sea Flea was easy to empty and carry out deep water rescues.  She was back in and paddling after about 2 minutes on her first capsize, and in less than 90 seconds on her second.  Her long John wetsuit was warm enough that she was disappointed to be back in her kayak so quickly the second time!

 

Paddle 23 Emsworth at low tide

Emsworth town to Mengham Rithe and back  F3 dropping to F1.

There was no water in the channel by the Mill at the end of South Street, so I launched from the pontoon about a third of a mile further on.  There was about a foot of water on one side of the pontoon and mud on the other.  Nice easy launch, negligible tide flow at this pontoon.

This was the first time I used my shorter Greenland paddle for any distance.  I definitely prefer it.  It has made me certain that my old GP was too long / blade too wide.  I used both back to back and the bigger one makes me feel like I am straining too much.  The smaller one still allowed me to push my pace as hard as my aerobic capacity would allow.  Should I lose lots of weight and improve my fitness I'll try my longer paddle again.  When it comes to GP's too short is better than too long.

If you see this much water or more, skip the pontoons and paddle to South Street Slip.

After just over an hour and a half of hard paddling, it was time to leave.  If the water is lapping at the second post of the pontoon walk, there is enough water to return to the Mill Slip at the end of South Street.  handy to know as it saves the long portage and hassle of the pontoon landing.

Here are the latest parking regulations for South Street car park, correct as of 3 June 2015

 

Paddle 22 Eastney waves play

Training night with PDCC at Eastney. Playing in waves and clapoitus just out side harbour entrance. Average wave height approx 3 feet.

Paddle 21 PDCC training night

Varied practice, included a paddle across to Portchester Castle, contact tows and bow rudders in 1 foot waves.

Paddle 20 Hamble River

More to follow

Paddle 19 Tipnor

F4 to F5 PDCC training. Cold but fun.  Had a slip that resulted in my head being fully underwater, but my "high brace" (I was told it was not a roll as my kayak wasn't fully inverted) pulled me back upright.

Paddle 18 PDCC Training Night

Eastney training session with Portsmouth Canoe Club. Monday 20 April 2015.

Less of a training session and more of a get back in your boat session for those whose boat stayed dry in the winter.

Sadly it is time to say goodbye to the Inuk.  It is a beautiful boat and very good at what it does, but I'm still to heavy to paddle it on anything other than flat water.

 

 



Inuk left, Kodiak right

The Inuk has no chines and the tiniest flat spot right under the seat.  The Kodiak is renowned as being one of the fastest plastic kayaks available.

 

Paddle 17 Hayling launch & landing practice

Sunday 12 April 2015

I have been wanting to get some more time in waves for a long time now but for my own peace of mind I wanted an onshore wind, waves big enough to learn but not so big as to be dangerous, some one to paddle with and no work or family commitments.  The unicorn was found today and fun was had.

Chimet shows that wind strength was 21 knots gusting to 25knots, F5 gusting F6.  The waves were 2 to 3 feet high and it was easier to launch than I expected.  Landing was straight forward too, (except for the bit when my empty kayak was rolled in the last of the waves ripping my camera off the mount).

My Kodiak was empty, paddler weight including drysuit BA etc was 120 kg and it was very well mannered in the waves and wind.  I had no difficulty in controlling the boat or keeping a heading without using the rudder, which surprised me, I had expected to need to use the rudder.  The only time water went over the deck was on launching through breaking waves.  The Kodiak was a much drier ride than my friends Scorpio, despite the load in his boat being at least 30 kg lighter.

Paddle 16 Pool Session

Unfortunately user error resulted in no pictures or video of this session.

I used my two Greenland paddles, in a pool setting there is a negligible difference between them despite the 10 cm length differential.  I'm looking forward to some experimentation on longer sea trips to work out the best paddle for me.

I used a Perception Super Sonic, I'm less than the maximum user weight and found it comfortable and with plenty of legroom.  I managed my first ever re-entry roll, but that was only possible if I put the spray deck on while underwater.  The large cockpit entry scooped up enough water to swamp the boat in a single roll without the deck being on.  I was encouraged by how easy it is to get into the upside down kayak, much simpler than I expected and with my sea kayaks two bulkheads I should be able to roll up with or without the spray deck fitted.

At the end of the session I popped something in my left shoulder trying to hand roll the Super Sonic.  I don't have any kayaking planned for the next month at least, due to the expected birth of our latest kayaker, so hopefully the injury won't cause me to miss any planned paddles.

Paddle 15 Pool session 3

Sticks and wings

I have been offering my Greenland paddles to anyone willing to try them.  I know they are not magic paddles that will cure any fault technical or medical, but they are very different and do suit some people more than others.  If you haven't ever tried them how will you know they aren't for you?

Keeping that philosophy in mind I tried a wing paddle.  My first use of a wing paddle was a very positive experience, it felt very natural.  I enjoyed the "planted" feel I have heard so much about and was able to roll on both weak and strong sides.  I'd definitely like to use one on some open water but that will have to wait until I have an increase in kayaking funds.
 

Paddle 14 Pool Session 2

I didn't use the camera much during this pool session, instead I worked on forward finishing rolls and provided Eskimo rescue when rolls failed for a couple of new rollers.

Forward finishing rolls feel completely alien to me at the moment.  I did manage to do a few but only as a transition from chest down sculling and they were finished more by brute force than good technique.

The boat I'm using is a Pyranha Aquabat 270, which has a max recommended paddler weight of 88 kg.  I'm significantly more than that, but for rolling it doesn't seem to matter.  It might be my imagination, but on entering the pool, I seem to go deeper than the others.  Just 2 inches of water inside the boat does make it a complete pig to balance.

There was a hint of spring in the air today, water temps according to Camberley are up to 5.9 C.  I'm really looking forward to longer evenings and being back on the sea.

Paddle 13 Pool Session 1

First pool session, working on my weak side.