Todays row towards the Needles


Two good rowing days for training. Calm seas and not too hot or cold. Yesterday I did 9 miles along the coast to just past Barton on Sea and back.
This morning I decided to do something a bit more interesting so headed out towards the Needles.  Click 'READ MORE' to see more info.
I got to about two miles from the Needles then turned round back to Mudeford. At that point I had a good view of the Needles but most of the land behind me was lost in the mist with only the low outline of Hengistbury Head and the Barton on Sea cliffs to be seen.
I stopped about 2 miles from the Needles to take a photo of the Needles and have a couple of minutes rest before turning back home. Then I heard an extremely loud double bang followed by a huge blast of water into the air, then another double bang which must have been an echo from the high cliffs behind the Needles.
I came across the explanation this evening:  
Apparently the explosion was 1 mile off the Needles and was not more than 2 miles from me. There were very few other boats around at the time and I didn’t see any patrol boat or helicopter. I was presumably outside the danger area or perhaps they didn’t even see me in my small boat, 6 miles out to sea. They almost blew me up!!
I had quite a hard and slow row back as I then had the tide against me before it eased off. My route as recorded my my Garmin is above. The graph under the map shows my speed being reduced by the tide after I turned back.
It was then very difficult getting back into the harbour, as it also was yesterday. I went out through the Run at high water when the current is slack and when I had to get back in the water was gushing out furiously. I had to row very hard and very fast for about 8 minutes to get past the quay into the harbour, causing a boat traffic jam!
When I got back today after 4 hours 10 minutes at sea, covering 13.5 miles, mostly rowing, I was completely shattered. Despite this I'm pleased that these two days show that my challenge will be difficult but should be achievable.

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