Blog #5 – Open Season…

Happy Easter! Biblical miracles, chocolate eggs and magical rabbits aside, we’re in April now which surely marks the start to a new summer SUP season. And we have been getting out there as a group – both last Wednesday for our first official SUP Club of the year, and yesterday a few of us managed to catch the perfect forecast on the top of the tide from Chalkwell for the Two Tree Superlap via Old Leigh.

Wednesday went great; which was a relief as there’s been so much rain about. But after yet another wet day the sun came out for our departure from Mill House, we had a strong turn-out of 11 for such an early start at 6pm, and we only got caught in a couple of quick showers on our way down the 8km route to the A12 roadbridge and back. The flow was unsurprisingly strong after the weather we’ve had just lately, but it made for a decent work-out on the way out and a magic carpet ride home. By the end, the skies had cleared gifting us a sunset under the bridge and then a bright moon to paddle back towards. Then the Lion Inn provided us with great food and laughs for dinner afterwards. More pix on Facebook…

Since then the long Easter weekend’s been another notorious national wash-out, with cold temperatures, rain and even snow about in places. But yesterday was always looking to be the best day of the four – and we’d spotted an ideal break in the wind and rain. Unfortunately it coincided with most people’s plans for their family Easter Sunday lunch, so with just a day’s notice on the Facebook SUPsect Forum only five of us were free to meet at Chalkwell Beach. Very unfortunately Gary encountered a serious manufacturing flaw whilst pumping up his board so wasn’t able to embark on the 10km Two Tree Superlap. Whereas luck smiled on Trev, Al, El and Dunc who scored some of the most perfect glassy conditions we ever see on that route. Look away now if you were stuck at lunch, but plenty more images of that on our Facebook page too…

So what does this week have in store? Well, afraid to say, wet and windy does kinda sum it up. Although on the bright side temperatures do seem to be creeping back up into double figures at last – maybe even the dizzying heights of 15°C by next weekend?!? But for this Wednesday’s SUP Club the current forecast is calling pretty strong southerly to south-westerly winds, which will seriously limit our options again, so we’ll almost certainly be headed back to the river. Keep up with developments on Facebook tomorrow (Tuesday) for the heads-up then the actual call by Wednesday lunchtime – and we’ll update the event details on this website too.

Meanwhile stay warm, stay dry, and keep the faith: summer has to be on its way soon!