Kayak Journal - West Solent 40

Sunday 14th September 2008

Mustering at 0700 at Warsash, Griff, Mike and I embarked on our most ambitious paddle to date; a long loop down the western Solent, hugging the Isle of Wight coast on the outward leg and returning along the New Forest coast line. The basic plan was to stop when we wanted with The Needles as our aim point.

Crossing Southampton Water was uneventful and we were soon along the Calshot coast starting out across the Solent toward Cowes. We allowed for the (still) east flowing tide, but did get carried back further than intended by the strength of tide off of Gurnard ledge. Just after 0830, we were ashore at Egypt Point sipping coffee. The conditions were perfect for covering a big distance - glassy seas with very light winds. We set off westwards after a short while having waited for a back eddy in Thorness Bay to start. Almost all of this coast is untouched. It felt like we were looking back in time, staring at the slowly eroding cliff faces and shoreline only accessible by sea.

Off Newtown, Griff caught his first mackerel and we landed at the mouth of Newtown River some time after 1000. We had a longer break this time, in part due to us rescuing an inflatable dinghy, which had drifted away while an embarrassed dog was walking it’s owner.

Back on the water, progress was swift with the now west flowing tide. Beach Surgery saw an old wind surfer skeg fitted to Mike’s Easky kayak and he reported an improvement in it’s tracking and confirmed by the obvious ease he was having as the conditions got a lot bouncier around Yarmouth - strong tide overfalls as we passed the pier and extending to Black Rock buoy. We cut closer in shore to avoid the worst of it and found ourselves in an adverse back eddy at Fort Victoria. We landed on a sandy beach for another leg stretch and to make an informed decision about carrying on pass Hurst Narrows where we would be committed to waiting for the tide to return eastwards again at around 1700.

We readily agreed that we should carry on. We viewed the deceptively still water ahead half expecting another back eddy, but were pleasantly surprised to find a gentle one knot lift of tide. Fort Albert slipped by and we set in slightly to Colwell Bay then Totland Bay. The Needles were in view and we pressed on, turning the final corner in Alum Bay where Griff hooked his second mackerel. Sausage sandwiches for the boys followed. The view of The Needles is the most impressive sight in The Solent. The coloured sands of Alum Bay are not...The chair lift along the beach ferried a steady stream of tourists up and down from the cliff top. Only one couple actually ventured on to the beach! And then they wouldn’t leave when nature called.

We were well aware that with stops and enjoying the scenery, we had taken seven hours to get down here - 20 odd statute miles. We studied the tide table, tide stream atlas and debated our departure time. We agreed that if we were to fight tide, it would be better to do it while we were still fresh, after a meal and a good rest. Making the most of the daylight was also another priority. With this in mind, we set off at about 1515, turning the corner and heading across the tide to Hurst Castle. This was a real slog - only two miles but a hard hour of paddling. The leg stretch on Hurst Spit to the east of the castle (and the mouth of Keyhaven River) was appreciated by us all. We then agreed to make as few stops as needed and to limit them to ten minutes - including this one.

We set off again along the New Forest coast line, standing inshore while we waited for the tide to turn in our favour. This happened a lot sooner than the tide streams atlas led us to believe. Lymington slipped by quickly and we powered on towards Beaulieu / Lepe, stopping for our final time on the beach just before the Royal Southampton Yacht Club. Another ten minutes and another chocolate bar. At this point we still had another ten or more miles to go and we all agreed that the pleasure was not now in the scenery, but the accomplishment of getting back to Warsash. Our original calculations predicted we would not be back until 2300. Leaving Alum Bay early brought that forward to 2100.

The last ten miles were spent weaving off shore to pick up the tide and back in again to reduce the overall distance. It was clear that we would be crossing Southampton Water in the dark unfortunately. We rounded Calshot Spit and waited for a ship to pass before making the crossing back into the River Hamble. We stepped ashore again at about 2015, having covered the return 20 miles in under five hours paddling time. This in itself was pleasing as the first hour had been limited to two miles progress. 35 nautical miles / 40 statute was by far our longest paddle to date and not likely to be repeated soon. We were all tired with various aches but nothing that a bath and early night wouldn’t fix.