Near sunrise on Saturday morning on the Barbican means driving carefully past people who are little worse for wear after a hard night but for me it meant a solo paddle on my on-loan 12' 6" Red Paddle Race board.
Conditions should have been perfect with a gentle swell outside the breakwater and very light winds but as I'm frequently finding out with more time on the water the forecast sometimes doesn't always tie in with reality, particularly on the sea.
First problem was where to park, my usual spot was pretty much full with power boats, trailers and camper vans, but I got into the last space there, wondering what was going on, should look at local news more often I guess. Made mental note to be back early before they got started.
After inflation and a short walk around the corner to Commercial Wharf I could not fail to notice a tall ship tied up.
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| The Clove. |
A bit of post paddle Google revealed this is
'The Clove' a 112 foot long tall ship in Plymouth for the Japan 400 celebrations.
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| The Clove waiting to enter Sutton Harbour |
Nice start to the paddle, mindful of the anglers at Elphinstone I headed out of Sutton Harbour and took a right, destination Cornwall.
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| HMS Dauntless |
Next a bit of a Pirates of the Caribbean moment, OK I had to Google this one too but that's
HMS Dauntless leaving Devonport. She's a type 45 Destroyer and up close, on a paddle board she's pretty impressive.
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| HMS Dauntless |
Size isn't everything but as I was a little outgunned I pulled over to let her past. Far enough away to keep the police boats happy.
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| HMS Dauntless still leaving... |
The Sound was somewhat busier than I expected with military support vessels coming and going and they generate a bit of a wake, which is fine if you're concentrating but I really wasn't and while waiting off the Royal William Yard I got tipped in when looking the wrong way by a series of waves that snuck up behind me, much to the amusement of a passing yacht.
I needed to cool down anyway.
Composure regained I crossed the channel and headed south for a bit before deciding that Plan A, the breakwater, would take longer than I had so I cut back across the Sound passing to the south of Drake's Island.
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| Drakes Island |
From here I turned back to the Hoe in much quieter water, no more traffic and the swell had died down. I made good progress making the most of the Race shape keeping a reasonable pace. On return to Elphinstone I noticed that all was quiet with none of the power boats on the water. More time to paddle.
The easy option from here is Hooe lake so mindful of traffic I cut back towards Mt Batten and up river.
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| Entering Hooe Lake |
Picking my way through the moorings I saw my only other paddle boarder of the day, heading the other way too far away to chat to. Maybe next time. Hooe was glassy flat as I made my way to a proper power boat that I spotted last time I was here:
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| Virgin Atlantic Challenger |
The Virgin Atlantic Challenger no less. In 1986 this was the fastest thing to make the Atlantic crossing and she's a pretty impressive sight up close.
Impressive in a different way are the wrecks / salvage projects in the same part of the lake.
On the way back I took on a challenge from a yacht leaving harbour under sail, I won getting to Elphinstone first.
All in 11.9 km, one swim and one brilliant post paddle smoothie in Rockets.
