Southampton Docks

Heading out from Hythe Marina, I kept to the shoreline and worked my way up past Marchwood and Cracknore Hard. This route keeps you well away from the shipping channel along a edge of a nature reserve. Its a strange situation to be on one side of the water surrounded by fields, woodland and nature whilst looking across at the hustle and bustle of a major city.

Ferry Terminal

From here I passed a huge berth with numerous cranes, lit up like christmas trees and then on into relative darkness winding my way up until I was in striking distance of Redbridge Flyover. As time was pushing on I turned about and with the tide now dropping enjoyed an easier paddle back towards Hythe Marina.

At this point something quite unexpected happened. Shortly after rounding the berthed container ship, a reasonable distance out into the channel, I heard a loud splash and noise behind the kayak. Turning I could see nothing in the beam of my head torch. I kept paddling hard towards the shore when another loud splash came from my right side.

Hotel & West Quay

For the next 10 minutes or so, the seal kept alongside me, stopping occasionally to pop its head up and stare at me with a loud snort before surging on to catch me up. I kept my course straight and maintained speed so as not to scare it away whilst it almost bounded along next to me. Then as quickly as it had appeared it vanished.

A little research once back home has revealed that it is likely to be one of a colony of Seals based in Chichester Harbour, as this article from the Southampton Daily Echo explains.

The seals are part of a colony of 16 that inhabit Chichester Harbour, but they have been spotted roaming the north coast of the Isle of Wight, in Southampton Water and as far north as the Itchen River.

Similarly, the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton reports frequent sightings of a Seal in Southampton Water.

As for me, well once I got over my initial shock and fear I was left speechless. Having paddle around the Solent Area so frequently during the last 3 years I have never encountered a Seal, then suddenly in the space of two weeks I have two experiences. It made the paddle a truly special one.

Southampton Panorama

View Southampton Water in a larger map

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had a couple of great night paddles and one aborted paddle. I recently outlined my self enforced criteria for deciding when to paddle solo at night and the routes I’m prepared to paddle.

Last week I set out in wonderfully calm conditions and enjoyed a great paddle along the shore to Stansmore Point. However literally seconds after a photo session the Isle Of Wight which often features as the back drop for my photos vanished. Dense fog rolled in and up Solent Water. Within minutes the visibility had dropped to around 25-30ft maximum.

Luckily I had stuck to my guns and despite such calm, clear conditions when I set out I was in a position where I was able to follow the shoreline home listening to the booming horns of the shipping out in the deep water channel.

Tonight I arrived at Calshot to find the wind considerably higher than shown on the weather forecast. Whilst it was at a level I would happily paddle in during daylight hours, or at night with other paddlers I decided to abort the paddle and spent a great evening exploring some new launch points for future paddles and taking some night photographs. I was struck by how beautiful the industrial landscape of Southampton Docks is at night and discovered a great public slipway which provides access into the heart of the docks. I’m planning a paddle up Solent Water past the docks on the next suitable night!

Here are the results from the last two paddles (Click on any photo to view a larger version):

Stunning View

Landing Near Lepe

Calshot Castle

RNLI Jetty

Calshot RNLI Station

Southampton Docks

Docks

Keeping Warm

Freezing Night

Early indications of the cold conditions manifested themselves in iced up puddles on the slipway. I layered up well and broke out my thick Yak fleece hat and Lomo gloves before launching of the beach by Calshot Castle to avoid the icy slipway.

With the tide at it’s lowest point I was glad of the glassy conditions as I crept out around the shingle bank and made a beeline for the Power Station outfall – a concrete tower that sits several hundred metres of the coast. From here, the clear conditions and bright starlight allowed me to fix a bearing on Stansmore Point and dig in for a quick paddle to keep warm. The sea remained flat calm and mist hung on the surface of the water creating an eerie glow from the LED lights on my deck.

Stansmore Point

Pulling up on the beach at Stansmore Point I was thankfully downed a steaming cup of coffee before breaking out the camera for a quick photo session. As I was packing up my kit, the two headtorches bobbed into view and the fishermen appeared on the walk back out to Lepe Beach. They stopped briefly to see what I was up to saying they had watched me paddle past stating to each other ‘he must be bloody mad’! Coming from folk who are happy to sit in freezing conditions watching a thin line disappearing into the dark I wasn’t sure who were the mad ones in this scenario!

Calm Conditions

As I reached Calshot the mist rolled in heavily and within minutes all but the nearest of buildings was hidden by thick fog. The ships horns started to boom down Southampton Water as I loaded up and worked hard to clear the car which was enveloped in thick ice.

All in all a great paddle despite the cold!

Solent At Night

Quickly checking the Southampton VTS live weather stream showed less than F2 wind on Bramble Bank and Easytide sealed the deal by showing relatively high tides.

Solent By Star Light

I put in at Calshot Castle on glassy waters and as i headed out around Calshot Spit was astounded at the lack of wind and quietness of the usually busy Solent. Heading along the coast towards Lepe I could smell woodsmoke presumably from generated by the fireplaces of the large, shore side properties just past Calshot.

Calshot Lifeboat Station

Having reached the entrance to the Beaulieu River, I headed back to Stansmore Point an spent half an hour or so playing with the camera before picking up the pace for a swift paddle back to Calshot. It felt great to drop back into a quick paddling rhythm I pushed faster and faster enjoying the sensation of the kayak cutting through the still water.

Calshot Castle

A welcome paddle thanks to some sublime conditions. Hopefully the first of many over the Christmas period.

Hythe Marina is my closest put in for paddles using the Public Slipway. It is situated opposite Southampton Docks where the large cruise liners and various cargo ships berth. For me it’s become a playground not only for paddling but also practising my photography skills. I thought I’d share a few of my recent efforts.

Seaguls At Dawn

First Ferry Of The Morning

Ship Docked

Yachts At Night

Marina At Night

The South Coast has been hit by very strong winds over the past 24 hours. The BBC reported gusts of 100mph off The Needles and Southampton (my home town) was hit by 60mph winds. I had pretty much written off paddling this weekend however this evening it looked as if there was to be a period of calm before the next front of wind and rain moved in. Was a paddle possible?

P&H Cetus

Rather than head down to Calshot or Lepe I chose the closet put in to my home – Hythe Marina. With High tide at 9pm this mean’t I could put in at the Public Slipway and if needed hug the shoreline keeping well clear of the main channel.

On arriving at the marina, I found the slipway was barricaded due to maintenance work so a slippery clamber down some rocks was called for. I set off under the Hythe Pier as the small train carrying passengers out to an awaiting ferry to Southampton. The water was incredibly calm which was amazing considering earlier in the day I had shot down to Lepe to see waves crashing over the shore road which had been closed by the police.

Southampton Water At Night

Having fired off several shots I was soon back on the water heading up to the moored oil tankers at Esso Refinery.

The journey back was enhanced by the frequent passing of the Fast Jets running their regular service to Cowes on the Isle of Wight. A minute or so after they pass you are rewarded by large, smooth swells as their wash heads to shore. I was able to get a couple of good surf runs every time they passed feeling very lucky to be surfing by starlight.

Hythe Marina At Night

Once the boat was loaded back on the car, I took the opportunity to snap a few more pictures of the yachts moored up in the marina before driving the 2 minute journey back up to my house.

A unexpected but very welcome paddle in the clam after the storm!

Route: View route on Google Maps

Another night paddle. Very calm conditions tonight but the forecast clear skies didn’t materialise. However, I took the opportunity to play with a 50-200mm lens on the Pentax and ran through several takes of each photo making small adjustments to ISO, then exposure time to compare and contrast the results.

A reasonable moon made occasional appearance allowing me to use much quicker exposure times – around the 8-10 seconds mark which help reduce the blurring when I posed in the photo. I’ve included the four best shots. As ever, click any image to see a larger version.

P&H Cetus

Sat By P&H Cetus

Favourite Shot Of The Night

Facing Newtown Creek

A very still but cloudy night tonight so I headed out from Calshot with the DSLR & tripod packed in a dry bag with the intention of having another go at getting some long exposure photographs. Started to drizzle and get a little misty which made me glad of the good weather proof seals on the Pentax.

Results not quite as successful as last trip. The main issue I found was getting the shots in focus in the pitch black. However, amongst the incredibly blurred images I found a couple which were reasonable. If anyone out there has any suggestions for getting setting the focus manually in very dark conditions I would be very grateful for some advice!

For some exceptional long exposure shots (although not sea kayaking related) take a look at this site.

P&H Cetus

Cetus At Stansmore Point

Looking out at Cowes