Well, this was the hardest trip I've done in this country. Although I've paddled around the Isle of Wight before, the weather was shocking. It blew force 5 all weekend and force 6 at times, which made some of the sea states quite scary. It made paddling last Sunday look straight forward.
I couldn't let go of the paddle to grab water or food for the 1st 30km, and only managed to land once in the 60km done on the 1st day! Even though it was the start of Cowes week, I only saw 3 sailing boats South of the Island, one of which I kept up with with the sail up for nearly 20km.
Off to Weymouth for a long weekend, where I hope to forget all about kayaking. The resultant pain should recede by the time we're back.
In the meantime, here is a far more pleasant trip from the week before filmed by Nick. Thanks Nick, its great not to be the cameraman sometimes!
