SUP Club enjoyed a heatwave cooldown at the beach last night, with a classic splasharound at Thorpe Bay – some upwind/downwind and practising turns in the chop and sea breeze, then a big game of SUP rugby, before dinner and drinks at our favourite ’spoons…

Venue: Shoebury Common Beach (SS3 9QR / https://w3w.co/scared.acting.earth)
Arrive: c.6.20pm
Launch: after 6.45pm briefing
Finish: c.8.30pm
Level: Confident coastal paddlers

With a heatwave in the offing, yet some breeze on some forecasts and none on others (so, with a potential sea breeze effect too, we could literally get anything between no wind whatsoever and really quite breezy!) and a workable high tide this week we’re heading to Shoebury Common Beach (SS3 9QR / https://w3w.co/scared.acting.earth) for a splashabout SUP Club. So hopefully some fun and games if it’s good and sheltered and flat, maybe an upwind-downind chopfest playabout if not, or potentially kicking off with a quick / short route in the first half, if a lack of breeze allows – we’ll have to see what conditions dictate…

[Note: to be clear, Shoebury Common Beach is just east of Thorpe Bay, past the yacht club at Uncle Tom’s … NOT Shoebury East Beach. Follow the postcode / w3w above, drive into the beach car-park and through onto the grass. SS3 9QR / https://w3w.co/scared.acting.earth]

As far as kit goes, probably bring your most comfortable board and ideally a stunt paddle. It might be dead flat and calm, in which case we may play some games after a short route to warm up – or there could be enough breeze about to turn things ‘challenging’, in which case we’ll stay put for a chopfest! We honestly won’t know until we get there… Either way we can easily look after everyone, but we just don’t want anyone left disillusioned by conditions, as can potentially happen if it’s a bit breezy at the coast. Basically, all competent stand-up paddlers welcome, but be ready for some swimming if you’re not used to choppy coastal conditions and it turns out that way…

Anyway, arriving c. 6.20pm (after parking charges cease at SS3 9QR / https://w3w.co/scared.acting.earth) ahead of a quick briefing at 6.45pm, we’ll work out the plan for sure when we see conditions. The tide (18.18) will have only just turned so we’ll decide whether to stay put for a splashabout (assuming it’s a bit breezy and/or choppy), maybe some fun and games, and/or there’s an outside chance we might decide to take on a short route first if there’s little or no breeze, up-tide towards town then back for a playaround. We’ll see. All confident coastal paddlers welcome (ie; able to stand up and paddle strong for 90+ minutes and not in need of a lesson to do so – which of course we offer via www.supsect.com/learn-to-sup).

After, we’ll be off to the Shoebury ‘spoons for dinner and drinks for sure…