bnxseakayak

An unexpected mild day with a light easterly breeze and a midday high tide prove to be ideal conditions for a late season outing. I am not the only kayaker setting off from the Hardway slip. Just beyond the yacht moorings and the Fareham channel two warship hulks create calm water in their lee as I leave them to starboard. I tuck under the stern of HMS Chatham and head east across the upper harbour shallows where fish flip out of my way. There's sun and haze to the south and a large ferry docked in the continental port. The training destroyer HMS Bristol sits opposite, a lone officer by the bridge. Heading back west I come to a huge crane atop pontoon barges where workers are constructing a mid-harbour jetty for the MOD. They spare me a moment to chat. By the time I get back the hard is as busy and the car park as packed as most summer weekends.

Thu 13 Oct 2011 Haslar creek

As I approach the end of my kayaking season pleasant low wind conditions are a signal to launch. Boat Two slips easily into the sea at the Gosport boat yard upstream of the Haslar road bridge. It's quiet and the tide full and flat. I revisit the shallows by the park and notice two white egrits among the gulls roaming the edges. On the far side by the Qinetiq site a lone little grebe bobs under the surface. Even in the top pool under the old railway bridge the place is free of kids and the sound of St Mary's bells is clear over the water. Several moored boats along the Naval cemetery shore are simply abandoned floating wrecks.

Thu 29 Sep 2011 GAFIRS to Seaview

Historic weather. Best recorded since 1895. By 11am I had the kayak in the water off Stokes Bay at the inshore rescue slipway and heading south east. It's an opportunity to make for the island and there's plenty of activity between the mainland and Ryde as yachts parade and ferries ply. I dodge the hovercraft roaring out by the North Sturbridge buoy. Big ships keep to the north of this yellow mark. Then I hit the ebb current coming against me and again fail to reach Nettlestone Point and beach up by Spring Vale. I am tempted to check my emails and find a request for the early delivery of a job in hand, but this means no hanging about. Time to snack lunch and squeeze the wet out of my trousers before dashing back. The round trip is done within four hours and the job sent off on time despite having to wait for the passing of a monster container ship hooting small fry out of the way.

Tue 27 Sep 2011 Hardway eastward

Today the weather was typical of an Indian summer and consequently just right to use the local landing to take advantage. I headed east for Whale Island's northern end and caught the southerly ebb under the road bridge. I was able to moor briefly by the fishing fleet and make a mobile phone call.
Three of the new destroyers were visible in the dockyard and I got away past HMS Bristol as navy Bosun dinghies came flying in.

Fri 2 Sep 2011 Up to Fareham

For my birthday I find conditions ideal so there's no hesitation in taking Boat Two to Hardway to catch the flood going up Fareham creek. I paddle steadily north hugging the western mainly military shoreline past Elson woods at Frater, RNAD (Royal Navy Armament Depot) at Bedenham and its pier of loading barges, Foxbury point, and beyond to the helicopter field at Fleetlands, and Salterns park as far as Town Quay.

I pull up at the slip where youngsters are crabbing and enjoy a beer and sandwiches at The Castle In The Air (what a name!). Then there's time to cruise with other folk around the lake between Cams Hall and the high brick viaduct before ambling back home.

Sat 20 Aug 2011 In the Solent

Rain stops play at the Oval after lunch which is a good excuse given the fine weather here to set out into the chop of a west running tide and an easterly breeze from the Gafirs slip. Having spent the last two weeks on dry land barring a couple of swims I was keen to get my arms moving a paddle again whatever the conditions. There was much activity off Gilkicker: a fleet of big cruising yachts in race, motor boats plying the highway to Cowes and Southampton, and the regular ferry traffic out to and back from the Isle of Wight. In the blue sky the Lee-on-the-Solent tow plane was taking up a glider, and a small helicopter was patrolling the coast when an unusually load throbbing aero engine noise alerted me to the fact that a smart RAF Lancaster was flying low and stately in from the west. Later I found it was on a run from Bournemouth to Shoreham as part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. The sight of it is awesome. By the time I'm out of the water and packed up to leave, she looms in again from the east heading home and people are more ready to stare and tell children what they are seeing.

Wed 27 Jul 2011 Off Calshot

Calshot at the toe of Southampton Water opposite Cowes is a great place for kayak. Along the coast westwards is a long stretch of deserted shingle beach called Stanswood Bay.

Mon 27 Jun 2011 Round Whale Island

At the Hardway start I'm quizzed by a disabled sailor who keeps his craft up by Fareham. "Is it stable? I can only swim on my back. This leg can't bend." He sets off on a short walk to keep supple. The weather seems set to be glorious and I think I might get up to Port Solent in the north of the harbour. On the way over as fish flip mysteriously out of my path and cormorants peer down from beacon posts I reach the weedy remnants of the former Gosport ferry pontoon, a stucture replaced this very weekend. A new one had been shipped over from The Netherlands and installed. The old ramp portion laid to rest atop the floating sections clearly still had elements of the pre-war construction (see those rivets) although it had been well stiffened up in the seventies.

Just after this, nearer Tipnor with the firing range red flags flying and the rattle of automatic weapons punctuating the peace, gusts of wind freshened bringing clouds and uncertainty to the picture. I headed south for shelter into the creek behind Whale Island and stopped a moment by the road bridge into HMS Excellent to check emails and drink water. This corner is tight with moorings, fishing boats, continental ferries, shipping and the Royal Navy. The refitted type 82 detroyer HMS Bristol was back at her moorings and in action for training with crews out in whalers, dinghies and motor boats.
Gradually the wind softened and I plugged my course due west back towards Elson with the Fawley chimney visible way beyond. While I was packing up another kayaker with the same trusty inflatable roof bars was readying his short surf version. He told me he was getting exercise after several heart attacks.

Tue 14 Jun 2011 Gafirs to The Boat House

With the promise of a light southerly and an hour of slack water before the tide moved west I got down to the Gafirs* ramp on Stokes Bay and set out in the kayak on a course for Seaview on the Island. The sea was mostly flat and I was soon past the yellow buoy off Gilkicker and on the look out for the multiple ferry traffic to Ryde and Wooton from Portsmouth. By the time I neared the Sturbridge shoals marked by a tall beacon I had just the hovercraft to negotiate but found that the current was already sweeping in from the Bembridge direction. A small fishing boat came away from the sands area followed by a cormorant.

I seemed to be standing still against the shore line with the little round tower staying on the same bearing. At least it was getting closer so feeling that I would not make Nettlestone Point I headed more south and fetched up at Puckpool, a sandy beach by The Boat House hotel. Early summer visitors were out cyling and walking the coast path but there were no sunbathers or swimmers. The hotel bar provided coffee with a fine patio view over the Solent. Another kayaker in an Ocean Kayak Prowler fully kitted for fishing pulled up, attached a pair of wheels and hauled it off to his car parked along the road.

Going back I was helped with a freshening wind and the tide still to the west. Watching for north on my compact blue Plastimo compass did the trick and I was up on the shingle before my car park ticket had expired.

*Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue

Fri 3 Jun 2011 Itchen at Southampton

In direct sight of the great liner terminal with Queen Mary 2 towering over the green and white slab bulk of Aida a dry cargo ship moored at berth 32 is the Southampton Sailing Club. This is my starting point from a slippery concrete ramp where a local cyclist queries me about the suitablility of my Ocean Kayak Caper for fishing. I tell him how stable it is and set off northwards into a fresh breeze. My course takes me under the high arches of the Itchen road bridge that replaced the Woolston chain ferry in 1977. Up along the eastern shore are several yards including one filled with lovely sad vessels awaiting refurb or serving as house boats.

While a sand dredger manoeuvred slowly to secure on the other side, the wind funnelling down the river became too gusty for further progress and I turned south and in to investigate the moorings of Ocean Village; rather a souless development compared with the yard opposite, apart from the Harbour Lights, one of Mark Kermode's favouite cinemas.

Fri 27 May 2011 The Solent

An evening punt around the massive USS George H W Bush anchored off Stokes Bay in the Solent. Well loaded with some 70 aircraft and crew of over 5000.

Fri 20 May 2011 Chichester Harbour

Today I set forth for Chichester and the waters of the Conservancy. My launch point, identified thanks to Boat Launch (see link below) was Itchenor, where the Harbour Office sitting on the shore line is my first port of call. Here you have to pay your dues, £3.60 for a kayak for the day. There's plenty of room to launch until the tide rises so it's essential to use the village car park, £3.00 for four hours, which I reckon enough for my first exploration.

I knew the tide was running in and it was pretty strong so, what with a stiff breeze coming from the west, my heading west towards the harbour entrance and the Witterings is not the best plan. I struggle with it for half an hour, give up and finally let the current take me north up the Bosham Channel. A good few yachts and motorboats are out sailing in the gusts but no other paddlers. Oyster catchers squeal and fly off over the fast disappearing marshes. I pull up on a concrete ramp lined with green weed in sight of the old church, a really old Saxon relic even pictured on the Bayeux tapestry.

It's also tough going south down channel, but I make it back to the broad Itchenor hard, which is now well covered by the sea, quite exhausted well within my parking time frame. Next time I'll check the weather conditions more carefully.

Mon 9 May 2011 Forton Lake

Fine weather and a sunny evening are too tempting to resist even at 5pm. So it's a quick prep and straight off to the public slip at the Gosport boatyards. Keeping the resident swan a safe distance I'm carried out into the marina by the westerly wind and then choose to go up harbour under the MOD pier. A grey heron is disturbed and circles to a quieter spot on a hidden pontoon. The vast emptyness of Forton Lake beyond the arch of the Millennium bridge draws me in even against the breeze, but it's worth it to see the many wrecks and revisit the still proudly rusting Vadne ferry on the southern shore. Children are playing out in the recreation field and a small party are exploring the previously forbidden northern side now being developed for housing. Once in St Vincent's College back yard I paddle-sail back easily.

FL3: Minesweeper (http://bit.ly/lWCpWt)

Tue 19 April 2011 Stokes Bay

Two of us share Boat Two for a punt off the shingle at the Bay. It's a fine afternoon with a force 2 wind from the south-east. D takes her off first getting into the kayak on the bank and sliding her down into the choppy sea. He goes out to the Browndown buoy then slowly over towards the sailing club for a quick run back almost sailing. I do much the same, but he has a train to catch so we call it a day.

Sun 10 April 2011 Stokes Bay to Ryde

It doesn't get much better than this on the water in a kayak with only the tides to calculate and the other traffic to avoid.
Here's Boat Two at Ryde pier where the crane pontoon is evidence of alteration work. The yellow ball was found afloat off the shore below Quarr Abbey.

Thu 7 April 2011 Hardway to Fareham

A super spring day tempting me out and headed north up harbour from Hardway to Fareham carried on the last of the flood.

This is the pontoon off Town Quay in Fareham Lake with my light lunch of water, banana and sandwiches. After this I pulled on through the tunnel under the Roundabout to follow the stream along Wallington Shore (shallow, rarely visited and fish aplenty) to within sight of the old brick bridge by the Cob & Pen.

Sun 27 March 2011 Haslar creek to Gilkicker

The first day of summer and a corker for paddling. I set out at low tide from the Gosport Marina slipway tucked in behind the two great green buoys that mark the entrance on dry land. On the right before the bridge to Haslar proper. Anyway, the question whether to go up or down creek from there was soon answered with the thought that a rising tide would always bring me back if I headed down to the harbour mouth. Plenty of signs of activity in the yards with folk preparing boats for the new season. A huge two master from Sweden was moored at the pontoons. With Fort Blockhouse on my right and a continental ferry just come in, the traffic and the sea state looked comfortable for a quick exit. The coast guard even gave a wave.

Just outside by the red pole marking the small boat passage I looked towards the island barely visible in haze with numerous yachts seeking the few vestiges of wind. Gilkicker seemed remote but the long stretch of grey stone wall that protects Haslar urged me along. I made better progress than the yachts - one suggested I give them a tow! From one yellow buoy to the next and soon the old fort was there. Far enough for the year's first outing.

There was more chop on the way back in but now the current was moving my way, swinging me round past the orange Pilot boats and back under the bridge. Surprisingly a man fishing gave a friendly wave and it turned out he was a fellow sit-on-top kayaker from Lee. We chatted and he gave a hand lifting Boat Two on to the blue tubes of my inflatable roof rack.