Well, exactly as advertised it was a chilly, breezy, and occasionally pretty choppy SUP Club last night – but thanks to everyone who took on our 8k downwinder from Old Leigh to Thorpe Bay. Full-on fun, and at our midway rally point we somehow got involved in a Hindu ceremony offering amazing sugar effigies of Ganesha to the river too! Worth celebrating the ‘remover of obstacles and bringer of good luck’ eh…

Venue: Old Leigh (SS9 2EH / https://w3w.co/those.slave.fancy) to Thorpe Bay one-way
Arrive: c.6pm (and/or kit drop c.5pm if shuffling vehicles pre-launch?)
Launch: after 6.25pm briefing (absolutely no late launchers!)
Finish: c.8pm (maybe bring red / green navigation lights?)
Level: Strong, experienced, chop-capable coastal paddlers only

It’s going to be a cold one tonight alright, and really quite windy, but the WNW direction looks to be setting us up nicely for a proper downwinder for SUP Club this week… Which definitely needs prefixing with a public health warning (!) that things could turn out genuinely ‘hardcore’ / ‘very challenging’ as we’re leaving just after high tide – so if the wind direction’s just a few degrees more westerly than advertised, things could get really quite choppy. Although we’re banking on it staying cross-shore enough to stay reasonably flat with tailwind the whole way, inevitably the water state can get pretty fruity near the casino and under the pier. And we’ll probably be finishing in the dark, so might be time to dust off your navigation lights (albeit not compulsory, and as always please no bright whites: reds and greens are as much as you need). So please, unless you’re totally confident in your abilities and experience, tonight’s absolutely not a night to ‘give it a go’. We do want to be as inclusive as possible, so if in any doubt, just drop us a quick email or message us and we can advise. Anyway…

We’re going take advantage of a relatively neapy (4.85m) high tide at 18.08 with a solid west-north-westerly wind on the forecasts for a downwinder from Old Leigh (SS9 2EH / https://w3w.co/those.slave.fancy) to Thorpe Bay (SS1 3HL / https://w3w.co/entire.supporter.wizard). Sunset’s at 19.20, so we’ll need to be relatively early and relatively quick, launching straight after a 6.25pm briefing at the Belton Bridge car-park in Old Leigh (SS9 2EH / https://w3w.co/those.slave.fancy). This will definitely need to be a hardy, chop-capable, ‘experienced coastal paddlers only’ week. Dress appropriately. And bring a board you’re completely solid on (ie; a comfy c.28-30″ tourer rather than your narrowest raceboard!)

We’ll start from the Belton Bridge car-park in Old Leigh (https://w3w.co/those.slave.fancy) and get out 8km downwind at the Thorpe Bay zebra crossing at the western (bowling club) end of the green (SS1 3HL / https://w3w.co/entire.supporter.wizard … ie; not where we usually get out!) so anyone early enough to shuffle vehicles might leave boards etc in Old Leigh c.5pm, drop vehicles and hopefully get a lift back from Thorpe Bay at 5.30pm (there should be free parking up St Augustine’s Ave and west up Thorpe Bay Gardens), ahead of a general meet and set-up in Old Leigh (SS9 2EH / https://w3w.co/those.slave.fancy) from 6pm. Then we’ll be briefing at 6.25pm and launching straight afterwards.

We will of course need to be patient in the dark at the far end, when we’ll work out the logistics of getting everyone back to the start (we usually have enough willing lifts and vehicles these days, although the fall-back is always a taxi or two) then we’d expect to be eating and drinking at the Elms ‘spoons … although you never know, if there’s just a few of us and we’re quick enough there might be more salubrious options in Old Leigh?