Duck Punt in the solent - have a go

[Mark-1]

anywhere a canoe can get.... the punt can get

A fine craft, no doubt, but:

The very top of Furzefield Creek where it goes under an overgrown pipe/plank crossing???

Regarding the Canal. For anyone who doesn't know it it's blocked in two places by causeways and IIRC a couple of other places by concrete cills with significant drops.

However with a couple of carry rounds it's a doddle in punt or Canoe. I think the hardest part would be the stretch over the marina's land where it's a bit weedy and full of houseboat to the extent you might prefer a very long carry.

ISTR that sailing isn't allowed on the canal, but what they going to do? Torpedo you?

If you plan to do such a trip do let me know.

 

[Seajet]

Isn't there some sort of small fee for the navigable bit too ?

SWMBO looked ( briefly ) at a house for sale which was right by the restored bit, there were signs of tripper / hire boats of some sorts but I didn't see any.

It would certainly be a good little expedition, starting at Birdham lock then finally emerging, machete held in teeth, to discover Chichester Basin...

 

[Mark-1]

Isn't there some sort of small fee for the navigable bit too ?

Yeah, (IIRC) last year was £12 a year or £2 or £3 a day. But DW will have navigated the whole of the Canal by the time he reaches the shop to pay it.

Some photos from last January:

http://tinyurl.com/pqkt9uh

 

[dylanwinter]

I can always return with the punt

but it would be crazy to spend too much time punting when this is the only time in my life I have had access to a decent boat in the Solent so I shall concentrate on the main bits

as for canoes

when I was sailing on Port meadow a few canoeists saw me sailing so they started paddlign towards me, then they ran out of water and started pulling their canoes, then they started carrying them

I watched them walk out and walk back

4 inches is all the duck punt needs

 

[Mark-1]

I can always return with the punt

but it would be crazy to spend too much time punting when this is the only time in my life I have had access to a decent boat in the Solent so I shall concentrate on the main bits

Hard to fault that logic.

as for canoes

when I was sailing on Port meadow a few canoeists saw me sailing so they started paddlign towards me, then they ran out of water and started pulling their canoes, then they started carrying them I watched them walk out and walk back 4 inches is all the duck punt needs

I don't doubt the punt has it on draught. I fear some Kayakers are no stranger to a Ginsters Pasty and the occasional half of bitter. 'They' certainly need significantly more than 4 inches. I'm not talking about myself, of course.

 

[mcframe]

It would certainly be a good little expedition, starting at Birdham lock then finally emerging, machete held in teeth, to discover Chichester Basin...

"And this also has been one of the darkest places of the Earth"
"The horror, the horror!"

I sense a theme for the video ;->

 

[mcframe]

"And this also has been one of the darkest places of the Earth"
"The horror, the horror!"

I sense a theme for the video ;->

"Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances. On silvery sandbanks hippos and alligators sunned themselves side by side. The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands; you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert, and butted all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once -somewhere- far away in another existence perhaps. There were moments when one's past came back to one, as it will sometimes when you have not a moment to spare to yourself; but it came in the shape of an unrestful and noisy dream, remembered with wonder amongst the overwhelming realities of this strange world of plants, and water, and silence. And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a vengeful aspect.”

TTBOMK, there are no hippos or alligators in Chi harbour.

 

[Greenheart]

Is that Heart of Darkness?

Odd corners of Chichester Harbour certainly feel very far from the fresh seafront at Hayling, but I'm not sure even Fishbourne exhibits "the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention". Perhaps, before the pubs open. Heart of Dankness?

 

[Mark-1]

TTBOMK, there are no hippos or alligators in Chi harbour.

After seeing this guy basking in the Canal in Winter nothing would surprise me:

 

[dylanwinter]

Is that Heart of Darkness?

Odd corners of Chichester Harbour certainly feel very far from the fresh seafront at Hayling, but I'm not sure even Fishbourne exhibits "the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention". Perhaps, before the pubs open. Heart of Dankness?

the trouble with chichester harbour is the noise of traffic

the only place I foun d that was free of it was between Bosham channel and east head

and there are a lot ofprivate aeroplanes

to get the shots and the accoustic right I will have to move a lot of sound around

and I presume that once the season gets under way then it will get noisy with the mobos

D

 

[onesea]

and I presume that once the season gets under way then it will get noisy with the mobos

I would not disagree about anything particularly the above. I am not a regular there have spent a few days there a couple of years back and decided pretty but I would not return. Now have 2m draft and see no reason to return except to try your duck punt if we I can be there at an appropriate time..

Looks like the canal would make good paddle for me daughter and inflatable canoe....

 

[mcframe]

the trouble with chichester harbour is the noise of traffic

and I presume that once the season gets under way then it will get noisy with the mobos

Mista Kurtz.... he bought a Sunsekka....

 

[Greenheart]

I love the smell of seaweed in the morning. It smells like...we'll be on the mud till evening.

 

[Mark-1]

In answer to the original question, if the punt is down here I'd definitely like a go. Don't bring it especially for me, though.

 

[Seajet]

To be fair Dylan, I don't hear any noise from mobo's in the harbour; the occasional prat goes way too fast between Chichester Marina & the entrance, but they are much more civil and knowledgable than in the bad old days.

The aeroplane noise may include a Merlin if you're lucky, we used to get practice displays by Nick Grace ( the tradition is carried on by his widow Carolyn )- I was once at the Ship, Itchenor when Nick turned up and captivated the punters outside, including a gang of punks who started humming the Dambusters March - wrong song but the spirit was there - there are still visitors like the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight when passing.

Flying into Goodwood there are actually pretty tight noise abatement approach rules, if only the crowds on the roads for the Festival Of Traffic were also controlled, preferably with a cull !

 

[Fantasie 19]

I got twin Spitfires last summer, that was a highlight... I'm not a petrol head, but the sound of those Merlin's.... Fair amount of microlights taking off from Thorney too...

I can't disagree with your summation of Chichester, and making use of your time on the "big boat"... I enjoyed the video of the delivery trip by the way...

I find Langstone is subject to more road noise than Chi, though.. but still worth going to as it has a lot of islands protected by the RSPB for bird nesting so you'd get some good bird film.... I have a yen to spend an evening in Binness Rythe, the channel between the little islands...

Thanks for the canal photo's, Mark - very interesting...

 

[Searush]

Not at present perhaps, but rhino horns & elephant bones are regularly trawled up from the Channel, so maybe, just maybe, in the distant past it may well have been so.

 

[dylanwinter]

I would not disagree about anything particularly the above. I am not a regular there have spent a few days there a couple of years back and decided pretty but I would not return. Now have 2m draft and see no reason to return except to try your duck punt if we I can be there at an appropriate time..

Looks like the canal would make good paddle for me daughter and inflatable canoe....

it does look lovely when the light is performing though

 

[Seajet]

I have a yen to spend an evening in Binness Rythe, the channel between the little islands...
.

Ah Fantasie 19, would that be the place known as ' Nookie Island ' for some reason ?

 

[andrewbartlett]

Dylan , I am glad you are planning to have your duckpunt at HYC for a while , and thanks for your offer to those interested. I am hoping to start building one soon and whilst reluctant to actually test sail sail yours in case of embarassing mishaps also at present it's rather cold . I would certainly like to have a look at it though, I think it would help my preparation for the build. My main query I hav'nt fathomed to date is when you actually fix the permanent frames : when it is upsidedown on the jig or do you turn it over to do that . It would I imagine it would be difficult to do it when the embyonic punt is upsidedown. I thought Harmony looked superb in your video of the Littlehampton to Mill Rythe trip. Surely hard to part with after a year ? I used to keep my wooden Folkboat in the big shed at HYC many years ago .