Posts by Geoff_C:
Epic river trip
July 1st, 2011In a departure from the usual Thursday evening we thought we would take advantage of the longer evenings and stretch our range a bit further with a trip to Shadwell Basin. Six of us headed downstream at 6.30pm with a brisk tide taking us along the river. On a glorious sunny evening we passed through a busy central London with pleasure craft plying to and fro.
After an hour of gentle paddling we came to Tower Bridge and with the tide still ebbing we decided to carry on to Shadwell where we conveniently found the famous Prospect of Whitby (perfect for the evening pint).
With the tide flooding we headed upstream but as many of you will know, the upstream flow is only a fraction of the downstream flow so it was a fairly robust paddle back to Cremorne. Off the water at 10.30pm, distance covered 24km.
Here are a few other snaps from the trip:
Thanks to David for being our photographer, see his comment below for the full album.
Surf’s up dude
March 30th, 201126th March 2011
On the 26th March we set off for the inaugural Chelsea/Battersea joint surfing trip. Heading off to the Gower we were not expecting much action; Magic Seaweed was predicting almost no surf. But it just goes to show, you’ve got to give it a go. Our first day at Llangenith on the Gower gave us a gentle introduction and was perfect for those of us (like me) who were feeling a little rusty. Lovely little waves, just perfect for the sea kayak, soon got me surfing in nicely. Great for the edging skills and an unexpected bonus was the practice you get in turning the kayak around. With the waves coming in pretty quickly you want to get the turns in promptly or else face the next wave side on.
Day two took us to Rest Bay in Porthcawl. Much bigger surf and in the interest of my own safety and the crowds of other surfers and kayakers, the sea kayak stayed on the roof. We had a amazing few hours in a lively surf with plenty of spills and thrills. Paddy from Battersea was snapping away from the beach and he informs me that I am not the third person to be using one of his photographs as a Facebook profile.
Great couple of days. When’s the next trip?
Geoff
Chelsea. Well ‘ard
December 3rd, 2010Sub-zero temperatures and snow on the ground made for an interesting start to the evening. On the plus side, the snow on the ramp to the pontoon made it easy to get the boats to the water. Once on the water, paddling warmed us up a bit but no doubt about it was arctic conditions. A fact proved by the ice that formed on the hull of the boat and the buoyancy aid as we progressed downriver. We made it to the wheel and turned to get swept back to Cremorne with the rising tide.
Back to the Centre with the smug satisfaction of beating the elements and off to the Pub for a quick pint.
Geoff
Kilchoan Sea Paddling
June 16th, 2010Friday 11th – Monday 14th June 2010
Last weekend was the inaugural club trip and what better place to choose for getting on the sea than Kilchoan – a remote Scottish crofting village at the westernmost end of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, a two-hour drive to the west of Fort William.
Seven club members set off from London by train, plane and automobile to arrive in Kilchoan in time for a Friday evening paddle around Glas Eilean with a full escort from the inquisitive seal population.
On Saturday we set off up Loch Sunart pushed along by a brisk westerly wind with some fairly exciting paddling around Maclean’s Nose and Ardslignish Point (Rubha Aird Shlignich).
We stopped off at some beautiful deserted beaches on the way that are only accessible by sea. Once past Ardslignish Point, things became a little calmer and we had a leisurely paddle to the Nature Centre at Glenmore for a well deserved tea. All in all 7.7 nautical miles clocked up!
On Sunday we returned back to Kilchoan from Glenmore clocking up a distance of over 10 nautical miles, this time going into the wind and waves which proved to be a demanding exercise. Just to make things a little more interesting we crossed over Loch Sunart to Oronsay and a quick look into Loch Na Droma Buidhe (Loch Drumbuie) before heading back across Loch Sunart via Sligneach Mor to say hello to some seals and along the coast to Kilchoan. On the way we stopped for lunch at Port a Chamais, a deserted settlement at the foot of Ben Hiant. A couple of ruined crofter’s cottages on the shore front made a beautiful picnic spot.
As you would expect we experienced the full range of weather and sea conditions which was just what we were looking for. A special thanks to Jon Haylett and Trevor Potts for the loan of equipment and to John Chapple for the taxi service and much appreciated bottles of beer!
Geoff