Kayak Journal - Aborted Portsmouth Circumnavigation

Monday 25th February 2008

At noon today, Gav and I were sat on the beach just west on Langstone Harbour. The intention was to leave this spot heading west with the tide, along Southsea sea front to Portsmouth Harbour entrance, arriving there before high tide so that we could be carried northwards to Portchester Castle for out lunch stop. From there, an hour or so after high water, we would start eastwards under the M275 motorway in to Stamshaw Water and back to Langstone Harbour via Ports Creek. It wasn't to be...

We arrived just as the flood was reaching its strongest and by the time we werekitted up and ready to go, the tide was running too strong, generating a rough sea over the West Winner sand bar.

We sat and had lunch instead, watching the rising sea level and assessing the conditions. After enduring a US Army ration pack (never again), we decided to go for it. There was a narrow back eddy which would allow us to get afloat before having to fight out in a very confused sea with four feet waves coming from three angles. It was a full five minutes before I was in clear enough water to get my spray deck fitted properly. Looking around, Gav was nowhere to be seen. I edged back across the waves until Gav came into view - he was on the beach pumping out his kayak. After a few minutes, he joined me and we struggled along the seafront, contending with 4 foot waves beam on to our course.

It was a good learning experience, but it was clear that the effect on our progress meant that we would not be circumnavigating Portsmouth today. We started back to the the car, but after ten minutes of slow progress against the tide with the waves causing us both difficulty, we opted in for a beach landing and a walk back to get the car. Discretion was the better part of valour here. Surfing in backwards to control the speed was just the ticket! Back at the car, I was glad not to have returned by sea as a landing would have been impossible with surf dumping onto a concrete sea wall.

We had only covered two and a half miles, but they had been very tough - too much for the intended trip, but lots of fun once we were comfortable in the swell.