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A strange landscape that was once top secret and remains largely inaccessible We punched through the waves with the flow behind us down the seaward side of Suffolk’s longest shingle spit. Suddenly we were surrounded by seals. Britain’s largest new colony of seals is well-defended by unexploded ordnance and the North Sea. The Atlantic […] “Avoid travelling completely or find something to do at home: decorate the bathroom or something,” so said National Highways as they shut the M25 over a weekend for the first time in its history. Unluckily for them, I decorated my bathroom last year, and I had signed up for Liza’s planned trip on the […] Following on from the Margate to North Foreland trip in February 2024, CKC had planned a trip in another Inshore Shipping Forecast area: Selsey Bill. Checking the forecast on Friday for the Saturday trip didn’t give us much hope: “The Inshore Forecast issued by the Met Office at 0500, Friday 1 March…North Foreland to […] An early start on Saturday meant that we were able to get the shipping forecast for the area that we planned to paddle today. The North coast of Kent is the location of North Foreland, one of the boundaries for the shipping forecast and in particular we were interested in the Inshore Forecast for […] Hands up for Christmas! Yes, it is that time of year again – time for the annual CKC Christmas Paddle! Even though the wind was gusting force 5 in our faces as we launched and the fluvial flow significant, we still had an enjoyable, although short, paddle. Meeting up in the late afternoon […] Sunday 1st October It was finally the day for six intrepid CKC kayakers to rendez-vous at Laguna Blu campsite in Alghero, Sardinia. The preparations had been ongoing for much of the previous year from planning calls with Clark, our local operator and provider of kayaks, to group zooms where kit lists, food plans and […] After a short safety briefing on the beach we left Rottingdean just after low water under cloudy skies, light winds and a small amount of swell – perfect kayaking conditions for this mostly straightforward paddle, but with some significant distance to cover. Launch at Rottingdean The trip followed the cliffs passed Saltdean and Peachaven, […] For Mike’s first practice sea lead we had chosen a favourite CKC trip down on the south coast – Selsey Bill. We had an onshore wind F3 with some good swell ~0.5m (although later that would become an issue) and launched in brilliant sunshine with occasional sea fog drifting in. Once on the water […] CKC organised a club skills weekend in Pembrokeshire, focused on developing paddling skills on the sea. The plan was for both less experienced paddlers and more experience paddlers to be able to gain new skills and practice old skills in a safe environment, with external coaches. This meant that everyone was challenged at least […] Last weekend we had a great turnout of fourteen for a surf skills trip on the Gower in South Wales. Previous attempts to organise a surf skills trip had been postponed because of poor conditions – too calm the first two times on the South coast, and then too rough on the Gower in […] |
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