Solent Sea Kayaking

Valley Sea Kayaks have today launched their new website.
Paddlers who are regular visitors to the superb UK Sea Kayak Guidebook forums may be aware of the discussions and comments regarding the Valley Sea Kayaks website and it’s relatively long ‘hiatus’ during the revamp.
The homepage of the new website has this message:
I know for many, [...]

At £10, Lomo’s Kayak Gloves are an absolute bargain. Made from thin neoprene the Lomo Kayak Gloves also feature Amara reinforced palms and ‘hotspots’ (places where the hand traditionally rubs on the paddle shaft. Real thought has been put into the design and the extra reinforcement is well placed.
The wrists are long enough to cover [...]

So the UK is gripped in what the press are calling the ‘Big Freeze‘. Today provided brilliant sunshine and freezing cold temperatures with the car reporting -5 degrees celsius. A quick phone call to the brilliant staff at Lepe Country Park confirmed that the country lane running down to the beach was passable. It was [...]

Just a quick post to wish all readers of Solent Sea Kayaking a very Happy New Year.
I saw in the New Year watching the Fireworks over Southampton from Hythe Marina then headed out very early on New Years Day to watch the sunrise over the Solent in very cold but beautiful conditions, launching from [...]

The weather forecast was for freezing temperatures dropping to -4 degrees centigrade however after a couple of very breezy nights the wind looked set to stay below F2. Grabbing the opportunity for a paddle I headed down to Calshot.
Early indications of the cold conditions manifested themselves in iced up puddles on the slipway. I [...]

Ok, my self imposed rule for this post – affordable! Not necessarily stocking fillers, but not huge expensive gifts like shiny new sea kayaks, as much as we would all like to Santa to add another Kayak to our rack. Hopefully this list will give a few ideas. I’ve added 10 items that I use [...]

Last night was incredibly still, Bramble Bank weather station indicated max F2. The sky was cloudy and their was a constant drizzle. With it being a very high tide I decided to do a short paddle and explore the networks of channels that make up Ashlett Creek.
A quick blast across Calshot Bay enjoying the clam [...]

Huge congratulations are due to Freya Hoffmeister who today completed her circumnavigation of Australia. This solo trip has taken her 332 days (of which 245 were paddling days). The distance covered was an unbelievable 15,000km. You can read more on Freya’s website.
Freya is the first woman to complete this epic journey, and only the second [...]

For quality at an affordable price, Lomo have made a significant name for themselves in the paddling community.
The Lomo Aqua Wetsuit Boot is no exception. At £23 they are an absolute bargain.
The Lomo Aqua Boot are constructed from 5mm neoprene with a treaded hard sole. The heel and toe areas are re-enforced with rubber [...]

The Palm Aleutian Immersion Suit is Palm’s sea specific drysuit sporting a number of features not usually found on general purpose/white water drysuits. Over the past 3-4 months I have been putting the Aleutian through it’s paces in a range of conditions on day and night paddles.
Introduction
Paddling, particularly in the winter months, demands that we [...]