Trip Reports Page 1

Following extended discussions on the mechanics of arranging a shuttle for a one way trip to Swanage, it was decided we'd best meet at Kimmeridge and work it out later. Weather reports were not looking good with a predicted south-westerly Force 5 later in the day and the likelihood of some rough water. Seven of us met and motored down to the bay, luckily arriving before the man in the toll booth so a substantial loss of income for the coffers of the estate!

There was a little confusion and possible concern at the notice on the slip advising that the firing range was open and the sea was therefore closed but it turned out the sign had been left out in error and was quickly removed by a slightly sheepish bloke who'd been called by the coastguard.

Inspection from the slip confirmed our expectations as it was already a fresh breeze with a lot of white horses and surf breaking in the bay and on Broadbench, so we decided to go for plan B, which was to head west to Lulworth with the option of putting in at Worbarrow Bay if conditions required. This would be against tide and wind but with some assistance on the return leg. The prospect of rough conditions and lack of landing sites made a trip eastwards and especially around St Aldheim's look a bit too risky.

We launched without mishap and headed out through the surf aiming to go wide and miss the breaking waves on Broadbench. The sea was what we'd call confused as were some of us as there were sets of larger waves coming at irregular timing and from all sorts of directions. Some of you, by now will have guessed where this story leads but let's just say it was a tribute to the paddling skills of (most of) the group and Bertie's leadership that we have only two additions this week to the Swim Tracker! I was first to fall prey to a (huge, obviously) wave but ably assisted by Bertie, followed shortly after by Hugh caught by a wave (almost) as large as mine. A textbook rescue by Clive and we all proceeded with more than a fair share of bracing and good luck. Progress was exceedingly slow and when Bertie suggested a stop at Worbarrow Bay there was no dissent. It had taken us over two hours of solid paddling to cover about two miles!

We spent a peaceful hour enjoying the rest and Hilary's baking before heading back to sea where we found conditions had improved considerably. The swell had subsided, the wind had dropped and the sun made an appearance so it was really rather nice. With conditions in our favour we made the return in under an hour. We took particular care approaching Kimmeridge Bay following the experiences of some of the group members last year. We kept wide of Broadbench and kept a weather eye for rogue waves but arrived back at the slip without mishap. All in all a hard paddle and a good test of skills accompanied as always by good humour and convivial company. Thanks to Bertie for leading and saving us from disaster and welcome to Jim who joined us for his first paddle with the club.

There are no accompanying pictures for this report as Barbara, our resident photographer, was away skiing.

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Report by: John Christmas

A motley yet fine band of paddlers assembled on the slipway at Weymouth Harbour bright and early on a Sunday morning. They were commendably led by Clive West, who attempted to get the properly kitted out band of 18 merry paddlers into some sort of order. All types of craft were represented today. The plan for the day was to head off out through the harbour bound for the northern entrance of Portland Harbour and on to Chequered Fort. With appropriate warnings of death by hanging if we dared to venture onto the structures we duly departed under sunny blue skies. Obviously Clive had had words with the weather gods since we had a touch of blue sky and barely any breeze. The forecast of E /NE 3 -4 was certainly incorrect for the morning.

We shared the slipway with Weymouth Rowing Club who were launching a new gig in preparation for some gig racing in the harbour entrance later that day. The paddle out through the harbour was a pleasant warm up . As we neared the harbour entrance the blue sky disappeared and a chill descended over the area. The sea however was flat calm and we made rapid progress to our destination, with plenty of opportunities to chat to fellow paddlers, a number of whom were meeting for the first time. A special welcome to Jon Massey, Ron Lee and Michelle Price who were taking part in their first club paddle.

The only drama on the way out was for Geoff, who had swapped a borrowed club Charleston for Barbara’s Rockpool and suddenly found himself taking on water. Stopping to pump out what appeared to be gallons of water it was unclear whether this was sea water or whether Geoff had got caught short after a heavy night the evening before. Geoff’s concern was more to do with the size of the repair bill that Barbara might present to him.

On arriving at the Chequered Fort the calm seas meant that we could fully explore and take in the historical surroundings. At this point Kevin Mundy decided to put on some extra clothes, not quite landing on the structure (obeying the words of out Leader) and it could be said that it counted as a ‘half –swim’. As we had made such good progress plans were altered and our erstwhile leader said we would head across to Sandsfoot. However as the leading group approached Sandsfoot we were informed that we were heading for Castle Cove. We never did work out whether Clive’s navigation was faulty or whether that was the intention all along!

Anyway we lunched on the beach, Barbara and Hilary ensured our energy levels were high for the return journey by providing plentiful home baking, including left overs from Ian’s birthday cake. Happy belated birthday Ian! Meanwhile Barbara’s boat was temporarily repaired and she happily swopped back into her now dry boat.

With the breeze picking up slightly, together with the sea state, we set off for the northern entrance of Portland Harbour. It was slightly choppy coming out through the entrance and making our way back to the harbour entrance, but all managed well with no swimmers or near misses. The rest of the group paddled back without incident to the slipway, with the exception of Jon and Barbara who paddled between the hulls of the large cat. They were suitably rebuked by an irate crew member.

All managed to exit safely, so the first paddle of the year with no swimmers and no alteration in the current league table.

Yet again it was a great day out paddling in local waters. It was great to see so many club members out and especially good, as a new member, to meet other new / relatively new members and put faces to names or forum names, as well as meet the ‘die hard’ committee members who together put much time and effort into making the IOPCC a success. Thanks are particularly due to Bertie for arranging the programme and to Clive for his unflappable leadership, even in the event of partial rebellions and much talk about tassels. You’ll have to get to know me a bit better to find out more about that one!

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Report by Jill Franks
Pictures by Barbara Browning,
Roger Williamson & Jill Franks

After the extremely cold, frosty, snowy, windy weather Dorset has had so far this year Sunday 17th January was a beautiful day. The Isle of Portland Canoe Club took advantage of the excellent weather forecast and 15 members met at Sandbanks, Poole. There was a blue sky, sunshine, a light breeze and a calm sea. It wasn’t warm but everyone had appropriate gear for January paddling. We could see our main objective Old Harry Rocks, 5km in the distance.

We set off from Sandbanks across the entrance of Poole harbour towards Studland Bay. There was very little traffic on the water and we were able to cross the main channel easily. In the summer this area can be very busy but on this occasion we had it to ourselves and crossed easily into Studland Bay which was beautiful and calm. As we paddled across we met three more Club Members who had launched at Knoll Beach. This made a total of 18 paddlers on the water – an IOPCC Club record.

From the calm of Studland Bay we could see the ominous white of breaking waves around Handfast Point – Old Harry’s Rocks. The stacks point out from Handfast Point towards the Needles on the Isle of Wight, 28km across Bournemouth Bay. ‘ Old Harry’ is an archaic name for Satan, and describes the stack at the seaward end. A tide race forms off the outer edge of the rocks and on this occasion with a big spring tide and residual swell it was working well! For most people this was good fun and everyone bounced round this spectacular Headland into the relative calm of the cliffs towards Ballard Point where we paddled inshore to be close to the spectacular chalk spires, pinnacles and caves that form off the white cliffs.

At Ballard Point we turned and paddled back through the stacks and pinnacles to Old Harry’s. The tide race had developed further and we had the combination of following waves and tide against us. For those who chose to give Old Harry a wide berth the tide was stronger and those paddlers who cut in close had large breaking waves. Too large for Hugh who capsized, failed to roll and swam. Ken skilfully reached him and carried out an efficient rescue so Hugh, clad in a dry suit, was unscathed and quickly back in his boat. The other 17 paddlers eventually battled their way against the tide back into the calm of Studland Bay and we then paddled across to Joe’s Café for a well-earned lunch break. Some keener Club members took advantage of the calm safe water and practiced their rolling skills before lunch. Most people decided to stay relatively dry.

After lunch we paddled inshore along Studland Beach and played in the small surf waves. This was very good fun. Cate got a bit carried away and capsized. She was quite close to the beach and was safely washed up. We dropped three people off at Knoll beach and made our way back to the training wall and the main channel out of Poole Harbour. The tide was running out of the Harbour very quickly and we had to work quite hard to get across the Channel. There were waves off the Sandbanks in the bay to add a bit of interest to the last kilometre before we all safely reached the beach at Sandbanks. All landed without incident apart from Clive who decided to swim the last 10 metres – smiling and swimming – now that’s a neat trick in January!

 

Barbara's pictures of the paddle are on the Galleries Page.

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Report and pictures by: Barbara Browning

Sunday January 3rd was forecast to be cold and windy. The scheduled event in the IOPCC paddling programme was to put in at Sandsfoot on Portland Harbour, paddle up the Fleet and then back again. This paddle was suitable for everyone and a group of 12 met at Sandsfoot at 09.30am. The forecast was accurate. Freezing temperatures and a strong easterly breeze.

The group included the usual suspects in closed cockpit sea kayaks but also three new members in sit on top kayaks. It was good to see twelve people on the water and to welcome new members in craft we had little experience of so early in the year.

It was a high spring tide and the whole of the beach at Sandsfoot was covered at HW. We knew this meant that the flow under Ferrybridge was likely to be in excess of 6 knots! Well wrapped up in a variety of dry suits, pogies, balaclavas, pink woolly hats etc we set off with the wind behind for Ferrybridge. There were waves but everyone coped with this without a murmur. Approaching Ferrybridge it was evident that the wind and waves were funnelling through the gap and with wind against tide there was significant rough water! Out leader Clive J had asked Ian and I to bring up the rear so we had a good view of the group as they rode the waves . 10 out of 10 for surfing style to John Mc on his 3m SOT. I have never seen a SOT surf – and as it turned out neither had John! He seemed to be having fun…sort of!

Once safely through into the Fleet we had a relatively easy paddle up the Fleet. Although we were against the tide the easterly wind was significant and we were blown up to the narrow gap next to the Army barracks. The flow here is squeezed and was very fast. Clive West was delighted to be able to use his towrope in tandem with Ian to give John Mc a bit of help up to the lunch stop.

As it was such a cold day Clive J who was leading the trip had planned to stop after 1.5 hours so the time out was about 3 hours. We had a short break on Chesil beach for a chat and a hot drink. The flow had increased even more and was perfect for practicing ferry gliding so we did a bit of that before setting off at speed through the narrows and back down the Fleet. We regrouped before Ferrybridge and John Mc left us at this point preferring to walk back with his SOT on wheels.
 

The group whizzed under the bridge and just as it seemed we would get through without incident Sandra was taken by surprise by a very fierce eddy and her SOT turned over. The flow was very fast and she was quickly swept out into the Harbour. Once clear of the flow and eddy Kevin M was able to raft alongside and turn the boat over and Sandra was able to climb on. In those conditions it took longer than any of us would have liked to get Sandra out of the water. (about 3 minutes) The sea kayaks were difficult to manoeuvre in the wind and waves and we had no experience of rescuing with a SOT.

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Report and pictures by: Barbara Browning

IOPCC Christmas Paddle
Sunday 20th December 2009

After several weekends where the conditions were too wet and windy to get out on the sea, the weather forecast for the planned Club paddle on December 20th looked like paddling would be possible.

December is usually chilly, but when you have to chip ice from the inside of your kayak rather than sponge it out you know that an extra layer under the dry suit is a good plan. So having rooted out the pogies and the hats the advance party met at Sandsfoot and launched at 10am. There were four paddling from Sandsfoot – Jill, the fifth person was unable to make it from Reading because she was snowed in!

Despite the freezing temperature it was a beautiful bright sunny morning with the forecast 10 knots of Westerly breeze behind us. We made easy progress across Portland Harbour and out of the North Ship Channel. Weymouth Bay was a pretty place to be. We made our way round the bay to Bowleaze Cove where we met up with the rest of the group at 11am. Our group now numbered 10 as we made our way around Redcliff – pausing to try and catch some feeble surf waves – and along the coast to Osmington Mills. It was good to see such a large group of Club members out so close to Christmas. Beats Christmas shopping!

The sea conditions made the landing at Osmington straightforward so there were no swimmers – not that they would have counted...yet! The muddy scramble up the cliff was strenuous but the warmth of the Smugglers Arms made it well worth it. Our break in the pub was very pleasant especially as we were joined by Club members who weren’t paddling and also non-paddling family and friends.

At 1.30pm we were on our way again – sliding down the cliff ready to paddle back. As expected the gentle breeze of the morning had picked up to 20 knots and the paddle back required more energy. The water as it splashed over the foredeck into your face was surprisingly warm!! Shortly before we dropped the main group off at Bowleaze we met up with Hugh deIongh. Hugh had been sailing in the morning but jumped out of his Laser into the Sirius and paddled out to join us.

It seemed a lot further on the way back due to the freshening breeze which was right on the nose but we made it back to Sandsfoot with daylight to spare. No one was too keen to do any rolling practice, despite it being the first outing for Hugh’s new dry suit. So we quickly changed and packed up the boats with minutes to spare for the Carol singing in Hope Square at 4pm.

Happy Christmas Everyone.

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Report and pictures by: Barbara Browning

River Barle: Tarr Steps to Exebridge
Sunday 15th November 2009

After a week of heavy rain the first Club river trip of the season was eagerly anticipated. Seven paddlers headed up to Somerset to Tarr Steps to paddle the river Barle down to Exe Bridge a section totalling some 16 kilometres.

The first section is the South West’s most popular and best Grade 2 trip. Its popularity was confirmed as we arrived at Tarr Steps to find about 30 other paddlers already there. Out trip had coincided with an annual race, which is held in memory of a paddler who had drowned on the river 21 years ago. Just the sort of reminder that the more apprehensive of us needed! The race got underway while we shuttled our vehicles and by the time we were ready to go there were a lot less people about.

The river was quite high but manageable and we were treated to impressively long and numerous rapids. The purchaser of the beers was quickly decided as Ian took a swim early on (after about 400 metres) after failing to negotiate a very large rock. The interest continued down past Marsh Bridge with some interesting rapids that were challenging in places for most of the group but good fun! Continuing on towards Dulverton still water and a horizon line heralded the town weir. River right provided an easy line and all successfully negotiated the weir. Below the weir a long braided rapid led us into Dulverton where this section of the river ends, just below Dulverton Bridge.

Following on from Dulverton down to Exebridge the last 6 kilometres continued to provide interesting paddling, as the level was quite high. There is a large weir about a kilometre after Dulverton. We portaged this one and welcomed the leg stretch this opportunity to be out of the boats provided. The second weir was more straightforward and we all successfully slid down its face. Not long after that the Barle and the Exe converge and there was an enjoyable surf wave lurking where we stopped to play and Andy demonstrated a couple of good rolls!

After another kilometre the road bridge came into view. We had reached our egress and after changing enjoyed a pint (or hot chocolate for some) in the Anchor Inn.

Thanks to Bertie for leading this trip.
 

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Report and pictures by: Barbara Browning

Sandbanks to Ballard Point.
Sunday 27th September 2009

Sunday 27th September was a beautiful day. The sky was clear blue, the sun shone all day, it was 20 degrees or more, the sea was calm and the seven members of IOPCC who went out paddling from Sandbanks had a splendid day out! Where were you???

Launching from Sandbanks beach was very straightforward at 10am as there were few people about and the sea was flat. We set off towards Shell Bay and crossed the Channel as a group with no problems from the other craft in the channel. As there was only a light breeze blowing most of the sailing craft were motoring.

We made our way in a leisurely sociable manner across Studland Bay towards Old Harry Rocks. The stacks point out from Handfast Point towards the Needles on the Isle of Wight 28km across Bournemouth Bay. Old Harry is an archaic name for Satan and is used to describe the stack at the seaward end. In the nineteenth century Old Harry had a wife but this accompanying stack fell into the sea. The perfection continued, as it was neap tides with only 20cm of tidal range so the tidal race, which can form off the outer edge of the rocks, was not working.

We remained inshore and pottered along to Ballard Point under the arches, into the caves and round the chalk spires and pinnacles. The spectacular chalk cliffs stretch progressively higher but then fall away after Ballard Point.

At Ballard we decided to paddle back the way we had come and enjoy the amazing scenery again before going to the café in Studland bay for our lunch break.

We enjoyed an hour sunning ourselves over lunch before launching again. We paddled inshore along the beach at Studland. There were hundreds of Naturists out enjoying the sunshine. A pity the battery on my camera had died by this time!

We made our way over the training wall, across the channel, over the Sandbanks and back to the beach. Some of the group then did some rolling practice in the lovely warm water! After loading the boats and changing we enjoyed an ice cream in the late afternoon sun while taking in the view of where we had been.

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Report and pictures by: Barbara Browning

Night Paddle, Ringstead to Durdle Door and back.
Saturday 18th July.

A message on the ansa-phone in the afternoon from Hugh confirmed the trip was on. The heat wave earlier in the month a distant memory, the planned trip actually fitted into a brief window of light winds (SW 3), calmish seas( slight) and no rain (dry!)

So on the beach finds us having an in-depth briefing, which included the issue of personal laminated maps, which enabled our group of 5 to set off eastwards.

We cleared Ringstead (which is a big bay) around a small choppy point. The eroded grooves on the cliffs tell their tale-this is an exposed coastline in spite of our eponymous island in the way of the prevailing South Westerlies.

So the green coast of the bay gives way to the deserted cliffs with Bat Hole in the distance. Small groups of cormorants could be seen. We took our turns to go through Bats Hole which was calm and the sea full of kelp, to find Hugh ambushing us armed with his camera.

Next Durdle Door which is still standing in spite of my sons claims that it had fallen in due to a combination of global warming and acid rain.

Issued with whistles, green ,pink and purple night lights we set off back. The journey back was a delight ,into a freshening wind in our faces. Tidal assistance meant easy paddling with the hull of my canoe slapping down loudly into wave troughs. The light went quickly, huge formations of heavy, dark rain clouds out to sea built up rapidly, filling the horizon.

In the gloom we spotted the rocks of the causeway and beached in the dark with varying degrees of clumsiness.

It was a successful trip and most invigorating. Thanks to Hugh for organising it. He obviously put a lot of thought and effort in and everybody enjoyed it.

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Report by: Rob Hogben | Pictures : Hugh DeIongh

IOPCC FRIENDS AND FAMILY DAY
Saturday 11th July - Sandsfoot

Despite the weather we had a very successful, relaxed and enjoyable afternoon on the water.

The forecast wasn’t good, and true to met office predictions it started raining on Friday night and seemed determined to drizzle all the next day. Lots of phone calls in the morning expecting cancellation but no, we were running with what we’d got.

Ken arrived with a much larger fleet of boats than anticipated (thanks to John Perham of WOEC, who lent us the Jurassic Kids kayaks) and combined with IOPCC’s club boats I thought we would have more kayaks than people!

BUT within 30 minutes of kick off the whole fleet was on the water and there were kayaks and paddlers everywhere – what a great sight! Lovely to see new faces and whole families trying paddling out for the first time and others who just turned up for a go. Lots of fun was had by all. Unlike last year there was no passing trade from accidental tourists that happened to be attracted by the boats and noise, but some very keen and determined folks ready for some sport.

In all, it was a very enjoyable and relaxing (if not the sunniest) afternoon. A big thank you to Will who did a grand job of looking after everyone on the water, Ken for bringing the boats and returning them, John, Gemma, Keziah and Hannah for helping with the clear up.
Feedback from the punters has been very positive, so perhaps we’ll see some new faces on the water.

Thank you to everyone for turning up.

Cate

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Report by: Cate Bargh | Pictures : Barbara Browning

Aveton Gifford to Thurlestone
30th-31st May 2009

The weekend 30th-31st May was the highlight of IOPCC’s month. Ken Baillie carefully planned the Club trip to Thurlestone in the South Hams of Devon. This was such a great weekend enjoyed by 11 members. Ken had got it all organised and the whole trip went perfectly. Even the weather was great.

Most people met at Dorchester Tesco’s and travelled down in convoy to the Car Park at Aveton Gifford where we were due to launch at 14.00. This was at about half tide and we had to walk with our boats floating along for the first few hundred meters or so before there was enough water to paddle. The sheltered estuary was very beautiful with lots of birds and an ebbing tide to float down on. At Bantham the pace of the tide quickened as we wound our way past the thatched boat house and between the moored boats. As we reached the mouth of the river we came out of the shelter and felt the Force 5 easterly wind. The waves were substantial in the entrance and we were in the company of kite surfers who were often spectacularly airborne. As usual there were a couple of larger waves which some people got trashed by – but everyone stayed upright.

Once out onto the ocean we headed inshore to appreciate the spectacular coastline and to try to get out of the full force of the wind, which was gusting up to 25 knots. It was a hot sunny day out of the wind and the beaches were very busy with holidaymakers. We had hoped to camp on a beach at Thurlestone but we carried on to Hope Cove where we stopped for an ice cream. Cate decided she was a little warm and had a swim on the way in. Hugh valiantly went to her rescue.

Ken had a chat with the Harbour Master at Hope Cove and agreed that it was OK for us to camp around the corner from the main beach. It was just a 5-minute paddle away but very secluded as it could only be reached by boat. We set up camp there and enjoyed food, drink, a fire and good company in a beautiful location with perfect weather. It was Clive’s 60th birthday so we all enjoyed the cake Hilary had made for the occasion. Even a half moon and the stars came out to join us.

An uneventful night led to a perfect morning. Our leader had said the plan was OTW 9am sharp. Such was the enthusiasm and organisation of the group that we were ready to go at 08.15 – so we did. The wind had dropped and it was a perfect blue day. As the tide was flooding we were able to paddle through Thurlestone Rock which is an arch . After this the group split as 4 paddlers stayed inshore to rock hop whilst the rest of the group carried on out to go around Burgh Island. Ken had arranged VHF communication channels in advance so there were no worries and we all met up at Challaborough for a leisurely brunch.

Once again Kens planning was perfect and we were able to paddle across the bar, which links Burgh Island to Bigbury at high water. It was good fun to paddle our boats across with people paddling across.

There was some waves and surf to be enjoyed on our way back into the Avon estuary. The tide was weakly flooding up the estuary and we had a leisurely paddle back up to Aveton Gifford accompanied by jumping fish, egrets, herons and swans. This was an excellent club trip, carefully and meticulously organised by Ken and enjoyed by us all.
 

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Report by: Barbara Browning

Poole to Brownsea Island
12th April 2009

Easter Sunday 0930: Lake Pier car park. The sky didn’t look as promising as forecast. Six of us were preparing to be on the water at 10:00; two more, Barbara and Ian were already on the water, paddling round from their overnight camp, with their equipment stowed in their sea kayaks. We were also pleased to be hosts to Emlyn. He was on holiday from South Wales, and had sought us out through the wonderful IOPCC website. He was joining us on our trip in his Capella (his wife went shopping in Bournemouth with his wallet - good effort!).

Clive West organised this trip meticulously, as he did not want to be responsible for getting us stuck in the mud at low tide! The sky brightened as we prepared to launch (this included Ian and Hilary clearing my boat of wood lice - I must use my boat more!). Clive handed out laminated OS maps of the area which included our destination: Brownsea Island. Also included were the tide directions and speeds taken from tidal diamonds on the chart.

We set off on time, with the sun glittering on the water now. Conditions were calm and clear. We paddled straight across the end of Wareham Channel to the other side and headed south skirting the Arne nature reserve. This was very tranquil. Anchored ‘gin palaces’ were dotted here and there and impressive properties peeped out from the shore. We passed Long Island and the wooded Round Island and then headed east towards Green Island and Furzey Island, passing a colony of noisy gulls.

From Fitzworth Point we headed north-east, straight across to the west side of Brownsea Island. This was as exposed as it got with a mild head wind and some gentle bouncy water. The approach to Brownsea was inspiring - peaceful sandy beaches and pine woods. I was looking forward to my lunch only to be told by Clive that we had to paddle all the way round the island first!

Landing is forbidden on most of the north side and all of the east side due to nesting birds, including Oyster-catchers and Canadian geese of which we saw lots. Brownsea Island has been a designated nature reserve since 1927, now managed by the National trust. It is also famous for being the birthplace of scouting, with Baden Powell taking his first group there. The view of Poole on our left was not particularly attractive but the harbour was full of activity with sailing boats, cruisers, wind-surfers and skidoos.

As we passed Sandbanks and rounded the corner onto the south side of Brownsea the calm and tranquillity returned. With the island on our right hand side now and superb views of green mainland including the Purbeck hills in the distance. Despite my rumbling tummy the mood was relaxed and the temperature warm. Along the beach people were enjoying the holiday. Craig obviously still had some energy to dispel before lunch, as he did some Eskimo rolls.

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Report by: Fiona Marlow

Bude Surf Trip
29th March 2009

Early on Sunday morning nine paddlers ventured north to sample the thundering surf of Widemouth Bay in Bude. Surf reports did not look overly optimistic despite high wind and rough seas earlier in the week, but we decided to go anyway as there was bound to be more than in Weymouth.

The day did not look promising with an early morning frost and the usual build up of rain clouds as we approached Honiton. Things improved as we made fast progress with no traffic problems and without getting lost. The omens improved further when the beach café opened just as we arrived and coffee and bacon butties brightened the prospects markedly. The day continued to improve with some nice clean waves and a bright blue sky. The beach was unusually quiet with hardly any board surfers and paddlers in the majority- surf probably not big enough for the hard-core locals.

Much riding of waves followed accompanied by occasional swimming although not nearly so frequent or as painful as the whitewater swimming practice of previous months. Bertie, Steve and Matt showed off their skills in their glass-fibre surf boats while the rest of us did our best in the plastic. Ken demonstrated his patent T-Bone rescue to good effect and a fair amount of rolling was evident.

The surf had been about 12feet by the time we got back to Dorchester (measured in the 'proper way' from the sea-bed to somewhere above the crest of the wave). The day was unfortunately without any real drama or tragedy, although we did scour the beach for possible accidents and photo opportunities but everyone enjoyed themselves and returned exhausted which all adds up to a pretty damn good day on the water, which is what it’s all about.

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Report by: John Christmas