Saturday 11th April: East Wittering - Yarmouth IoW (25 n.mi.)

A much better day today. Had some problems with the trolley disintegrating on the way down to the beach - not sure what caused it or whether I've found a cure. HW at Wittering and surf dumping onto the shingle bank made for an interesting launch (and probably quite dramatic for the onlookers). Today I have four charts on deck (Admiralty Leisure folio, that fold in half and fit neatly in an A3 Ortlieb document case), and they survived the launch and the rest of the day without even getting damp. Well done, Ortlieb.
Stood well off to avoid the surf break, and saw a couple of other sea kayaks in the distance. They looked as though they were heading for the south of the Isle of Wight, whereas I had changed plan and abandoned the idea of doing St.Catherine's Point as the tides are a bit late today.
A quick chat to QHM Portsmouth on the radio, and I was safely across the deep water channel that leads into the major naval base, and then lunched at Gillicker Point. Unable to raise Southampton VTS (my low antenna height is a problem), so had to do the Solent crossing just on visuals. Fortunately, traffic was light, but I did have that nervous small-furry-animal-scuttling-across-motorway feeling.
Two knots of tide under me most of the way to Yarmouth, where I was met by friend and former colleague Dugald and hosted royally by him and his family. Sun really did try to get out on the last mile to Yarmouth, and I was treated to a fine display of crepuscular rays.