I joined the Crouch Kayak Club in May this year. Due to the dreadful coronavirus club activity this has been somewhat restricted.

Despite this I have managed to attend all the Wednesday evening paddles, but the Wallasea circumnavigation was the first club trip of the season. This was run in two groups of six socially distanced paddlers and I was placed in the second group being led by Roger and leaving at 12:15 sharp.

The first was led by Adrian and left at 12:00. High tide at Burnham was about 12:30 and we needed to be at the road on the West end of Wallasea Island near high water as this part of the route dries out. 

The plan for the trip was to leave the club pontoon head to the West end of Wallasea Island leaving the Crouch through Lion Creek. There is a road at the end of this creek, and we would portage the kayaks over the road and enter Paglesham Pool SW of Wallasea. We would then continue into the Roach and Devils Reach around the E corner and into Quay Reach. Exiting the Roach to the Crouch at Branklet. There is a beach at Branklet where we would stop for a comfort break before travelling back up the river Crouch to the club. Whilst I have sailed on the Crouch and the Roach before this was the first time I had been round Wallasea Island and so Lion Creek and Paglesham Pool would be new ground to me. This made the trip particularly exciting for me.

I arrived at the club car park quite early to ensure I had plenty of time to off load my kayak from the car and get ready.

 I tend to always overestimate how long I need and nearly always arrive early; I hate to be late. Since I had plenty of time to spare, I set off to have a quick look at the state of the river before unloading. I met Adrian and he agreed that it was a good idea to see what conditions we were going to experience “so I knew what I was letting myself in for”. We had all known from the weather forecast the day before that the wind was going to make the trip a bit of a challenge.

The wind forecast was for SW 20 mph gusting 30mph. I had listened to the marine forecast on the VHF in the morning this was giving gale force 8 for Dover and Thames, which did not sound good. Of course, this would be offshore in open water. 

The majority of the trip was going to be in the sheltered marshes backwaters. Crossing the Crouch on the way out and on the return was going to be the exposed part of the trip. 

My biggest concern was the passage back from the lunch stop to the club. These few miles was going to be against the strong wind and tide after I had already paddled a fair way. I consoled myself that the lunch stop would fortify me and give me a new strength. stressed that particularly in these conditions it was important we all stuck close together in our groups. 

The first group had crossed the river to Essex Marina we set off from the pontoon. 

Crossing was quite exhilarating; we were heading straight into the wind. Once into Lion Creek the conditions calmed somewhat. At the road I was directed to paddle my bow straight into the marsh to a helper on the bank. Once my bow was firmly held in the marsh, I stepped out from my kayak cockpit not realising how deep the water was just away from the marsh vegetation. I went into my waist. What a silly mistake to make, but why was I wearing wetsuit trousers and boots if it was not to get wet!

Once into Paglesham Pool Mark travelling in our group in a club kayak started to experience problems with his skeg.  He put it up and it would drop back down. This made his kayak very difficult, almost impossible, to turn particularly if the wind was not in his favour.

Stuart spent quite a bit of this stretch trying to fix the problem, but this was not possible on the water and Mark had to wait until the lunch stop.

This gave the rest of us Roger, Jerry, and Dee time to have some rests. 

I had brought plenty of fudge and chocolate to eat on the way and because you are burning lots of calories by paddling you can eat as much as you like great.

Once we entered Quay Reach the first group were just ahead and so we had not lost too much time. This was the point where we found some seals. Mostly the seals were in the water, but one was hauled out on the mud and Sophie wanted to take a picture while it posed.

Lunch was a welcome time to stretch our legs and the men made use of the local conveniences. The stop was kept brief so as to avoid us getting too cold in the strong wind. Marks skeg was taped up as it was easier to be without the skeg than to have it permanently down. At least he would be able to manoeuvre now he would just have to work hard to keep the kayak in a straight line. all left from the beach together but after not too long I found myself towards the back with Adrian.

This was definitely hard work pushing against the tide and wind as I had feared. Most of the group were hugging the North bank of Wallasea Island very closely and it certainly made quite a difference to wind and tide strength even a few feet out made a big difference. 

After a few more short stops for breathers while we regrouped, I found that I was at the front again with Jerry, Dee, and Stuart. The others were presumably also finding it hard and Roger was holding back to assist them.

We decided to carry on as a group of four. By this time, the club pontoon was in sight across the river and Stuart was keen to go for it. We were still a fair way down The Crouch and once we left the shelter of Wallasea Island we would experience the full force of wind and tide. Jerry and I thought it was best to make more ground, taking us well past the club pontoon before making the turn for the final crossing. I was particularly concerned that if we ended up on the Burnham side East of the pontoon we would effectively be on a lee shore.

It would then be very difficult to make headway through the moorings and round the other pontoons with the wind driving us relentlessly onto shore.

We turned to cross the river the crossing was very quick, and we came in just West of the pontoon. Jerry reached the pontoon first and I came in very rapidly behind with Dee behind me. While waiting to exit the kayak the full force of the wind became apparent and my kayak was driven hard against the end of the pontoon.  was pleased I had a polythene kayak as they can take a lot of punishment. Once the spray deck was released waves started to enter the cockpit over the side deck. I scrambled out quickly to assist the other kayaks coming in. was standing waiting and I heard Adrian yelling for us to keep the pontoon clear. At first I did not understand the urgency as there was plenty of room for his kayak but then I saw the rope in the water and realised he was towing a double kayak that had been part of the first group. He needed room for both kayaks to safely reach the pontoon.

Poor Adrian was very exhausted and needed to rest on the pontoon for a while after that. A heroic effort by him. I believe that group had been blown across the Crouch earlier than they would have liked when the double kayak became difficult to control. This is why the tow had been deployed to assist with turning it. When I pulled Adrian’s kayak onto the pontoon it started to be blown across the pontoon which was quite a shock. I think the wind had increased in the afternoon.

A quick headcount and everybody was safely back and the boats were hauled back up to the club.

In some ways the weather was kind to us, we had no rain and if it had been very sunny it would have been hot. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, although it was perhaps more of an experience building trip than a social. 

I look forward to the next club outing!

John