Wareham for a pint

[Sprinter]

Ben (Seagypsy) sent me a PM asking if i fancied a paddle on Sunday, i took no persuading at all, I suggested a trip around Brownsea but Ben suggested Wareheam, personally i was only bothered about getting back on the water so Wareham was the target.

 

I have been to Wareham before once in the car, and once on a floating Bar for a quick pint before getting back to the floating bar and home again, a very nice evening if i remember it accurately.

 

Ive been away from home a lot recently and the wife wanted the car, i know when to leave things well alone and was pleased that Ben would pick me up on the way past.

 

At around 09:45 Ben arrived, we loaded up and set off to Lake Pier at Hamworthy, on arrival the bay was spectacular, a little gray (but if you know me then you know that's a good thing), quite a lot of mist on the horizon , mirror like water surface and superb scenery, it didn't take long to get on the water and start paddling the 6.5 miles to Wareham.

 

we had the last of the ebb against us, there was a spring tide but it was only a slight amount of tide (near 2nd high water), we stayed reasonably close to Arne to stay in shallower water and avoid the tide as much as possible. the scenery was amazing, even being a Cornishman i have to Admit that Dorset has some very pretty areas, this was one of them.

 

We passed a couple of beach anglers, and some commercials claming at the top of the harbor. Ben found the entrance to the main Wareheam channel and we went in, still a touch of tide against us (though we had felt little in the main bay before we entered the channel), the channel was a mile, maybe mile and a half long with lots of curves and bends, you could see the church steeple, but it rarely seemed to get much closer. On the way up the channel we encountered a bloke and his girlfriend going out on their powerboat, the lady advised us not to fall in, and we advised her of something else, quietly.

 

We arrived at Wareheam at about 12:45, pulled the Yaks onto the quay and took the sensible option, so having ordered a couple of pints from a very posh resturant type pub (whilst fully clothed in dry suites and kit), we headed back outside sat down talked bollox and let the world pass us by, after the pint we went up the high street and had a fish and chip lunch which we took back to the quay to eat, then it was time to head home.

 

The tide had turned by this point and the water was now heading out of the channel at a fair rate of knots (1.5 - 2 kts maybe), so we did the correct thing, broke out a smoke and a Guinness and drifted and talked more bollox whilst drifting, no sooner had we finished our beer we noticed a stranded boat on the mud, we laughed about turning the VHF off and heading out of earshot so as not to get involved, though of course we both pointed the yaks at the boat and started paddling, they was outside the channel by quite a margin and they knew it (couldn't hide the fact that they was surrounded by a lot of Mud), anyway they were slightly embarrassed but had tea and coffee making kit, warm clothes and a sense of humor, so they were going to wait it out and float off are about 19:00 - 20:00 tonight.

 

After that my bladder made itself knows and as we were surrounded by dropping tides and a lot of mud we ploughed back to lake pier, had a pee, loaded the Yaks and headed home.

 

I'm tired but satisfied that i had a god paddle, saw some fantastic scenery, had a great pint (fursty ferret i think), good fish and chips and great company, home cold and happy just in time for the wife to put a mountain of roast chicken in front of me, and an open fire, only one more thing to finish the day off properly but the kids are still up ;D

 

Ben was chief photographer and will be along soon enough with some piccies.

[seagypsy]

Moving further up the River Frome

more pics on next post

[seagypsy]

 

After a stop for lunch we headed back

looking back across the purbecks

Then we came across this boat which was high and dry, he assured us he was ok , i contacted the harbour master when i got home about 5.00pm to see if they were safe , i was told that portland coastgaurd had dealt with it , the poole lifeboat had to rescue them with two lifeboats because they were almost hyperthermic, hopefully Gavin will reveal more about their situation here?

 

End to another brilliant day

 

About 13 miles there and back which at our steady pace took about 2 hours each way , , well worth the effort though. . . .

 

 

[Maverick Martin]

Thanks for sharing your excursion with us, nothing better than talking bollox I'm renowned for it

 

Also superb photos, a first class way to spend a day

 

Martin

[pirky]

Great way to spend a day !!! I enjoyed the read ..great photos too....Thanks lads

 

Dave

[Jim]

Very good report Paul & Ben.

The Wareham river is Beautiful. I spent lots of holidays over there in my younger years.

I must take Small Fry up there next year on a hot, sunny afternoon.

 

 

Jim

[Rob]

 

spent lots of holidays over there in my younger years.

 

Yes - you can see Jim's fossilised footprint on display in Wareham!!

[Brian]

Very good report Paul & Ben.

The Wareham river is Beautiful. I spent lots of holidays over there in my younger years.

I must take Small Fry up there next year on a hot, sunny afternoon.

 

 

Jim

 

The only trouble with a "hot sunny afternoon" is you can't get near the Quay.

[Jim]

spent lots of holidays over there in my younger years.

 

Yes - you can see Jim's fossilised footprint on display in Wareham!!

That's a Pint you owe me ! !

[Jim]

Very good report Paul & Ben.

The Wareham river is Beautiful. I spent lots of holidays over there in my younger years.

I must take Small Fry up there next year on a hot, sunny afternoon.

 

 

Jim

 

The only trouble with a "hot sunny afternoon" is you can't get near the Quay.

Yes Brian, I'd forgotten that.

 

 

Jim

[seagypsy]

This is a post we received on the AA forum from the helmsman of the poole ILB. . .

 

 

RE the boat aground:-

Unfortunately the boat aground was the perfect example of not asking for help early enough!!

 

We were called out at 16.13 when the owner of the boat called portland coastguard to say things werent so good. They werent sure of their position (initially saying they were in Holes bay which is in totally the opposite direction!)

 

We arrived at Lake pier and had to start a search as by now the fog had come in and visability was down to 30yds. we found them where the photo shows them but the tide had gone out even further and I had to do a mud walk over to them, everyone was obviously cold but my main concern was that the 2 kids had ice on their coats. In fact the entire boat was covered in ice. The Allweather boat was requested and turned up with our x-boat (a small inflatable dingy) we used this as a sledge to ferry the 2 children and 2 of the adults out to the ILB and then onto the ALB to rewarm and be assesed properly. If the x-boat hadnt worked the parafin budgie from Portland (coastguard helicopter) was in the air on another service but was ready to divert for medivac to an ambulance at baiter park. In the end it wasnt needed and we managed extract the four without the chopper and then had to wait for the tide to refloat the boat.

 

We towed the vessel back to Poole Quay and went to the boathouse for cups of warm tea. The 2 young lads were within 1/2 hour of being fully hypothermic from exposure. I understand that they were asked if every thing was ok and due to embarrasement they said yes. If they had asked for help earlier, the ILB could have just popped out taken everyone ashore and gone out again when the tide returned, instead of using 2 lifeboats, 2 coastguard shore teams and possibly a helicopter.

 

All I can really say is thank god for the microwave oven as my roast dinner got saved when I got home at 20.30! And it was noted by the casualties that someone passing in a kayak had asked if they were ok and in hindsight they wished they'd said no!!!!!! oh well the first thing they did today was book onto a dayskipper course with one of our crew who is an RYA instructor ..... hes getting business cards made up for future casualties .

 

 

[Paul D]

I think that the incident has proven to be a useful exercise as it has taught me that if I saw a boat aground now and they said everything was OK I would radio through to let the coastguard know of their predicament "just to be sure".

 

Isn't hindsight wonderful !

[Overrun]

Lovely day out guys and a jolly good read.

 

Hindsight certainly is! Had a similar incident earlier this year with a boat tangled in it's own anchor rope, offered to assist with the rope but they assured me they'd be OK once the tide eased. Never occurred to me to inform the CG, although checked if they had a VHF and they said not but did have a working mobile.