South West Sea Kayaking

In the Hurst Narrows, the kilometre-wide gap between Hurst Spit and the Isle of Wight, the tide squeezes through at speeds of 5 knots and beyond. A number of tide races form, the race nearest to Hurst Spit being known as ‘The Trap’.

On the ebb flow, ‘The Trap’ can be an entertaining roller coaster propelling paddlers out towards the Needles Rocks. However, when the tide is ebbing outwards against the prevailing south westerly wind, the waves in the race surge and break. On these occasions ’The Trap’ isn’t always a fun place to be…

On a warm summer night last year, John Gilmour and I made the crossing of Bournemouth Bay from Swanage to the Needles Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight, about 18 miles. It was too dark to read our compasses (we only found this out after setting off, oops) but some guesstimated navigation saw us through the first half of the paddle until we could see the lighthouse. We were several miles from the nightclubs of Bournemouth but could have been mid-Atlantic, it was pretty lonely out there.

I hoped to repeat this (in reverse) this week, but it’s too windy for my taste. I cheated and came back from the Solent by car instead.