SUPing the Thames through London

OK, this is going to be a long one because it deserves it,
so get yourself a cup of coffee and I hope you enjoy reading about
it as much as we did paddling it.

The SUPer Club:
The Blue Chip SUPer Club has been paddling around the Thames
Valley for over two years now and we have been posting our adventures
since May 2009. We have a hard core group of paddlers that have
literally been through (our around) the mill with us. Over the last year
we have often talked about paddling “The Big One”, right through the
middle of London on the Thames. So early in the year I started to lay
the plans into action.

Choosing the right day:
In the Spring we started our reconnaissance drives up to London to
asses and find the right entry and exit points along with the right tidal
conditions and it soon became apparent that timing was going to be
everything. We had to coincide in daylight time (with a good margin)
the correct tide, the correct phase of the moon (to get the right water
level at our exit point) and to be on a Sunday so all could make it.
After all these variants were taken into account, Sunday 16th of August
was the day.

Preparation:
The Thames can be beautiful and also deadly, let us not forget the
people jump in the Thames to kill themselves, no weight required,
the eddies and whirlpools will take you down no problem so I sounded
out the Port Of London harbour Masters office to find out what was what
and a week before the start I also contacted the River Police and emailed
them our schedule and asked them to let us know if we needed to be
aware of anything that would pose an unacceptable danger. I spoke to
the River Police by phone and they thought that I have covered all
reasonable bases including the paddlers wearing buoyancy aids and
having leashes and safety ropes.

The Team:
Seven paddlers made up the paddling team, and we also had 3
photographers and spotters on mountain bikes plus 3 cover boats each
with two on boards plus a flat bed crew cab truck (from our friends at
the National Grid) and driver to transport and collect the boards and
paddlers at the end. That made a team of 17 people, 7 boards, 3
mountain bikes, 3 boats and a truck and a London Taxi.

The Schedule:
We would start our 8 mile paddle from Putney Bridge at 12:30 and 2-3
hours later reach Tower Bridge at about 1 hour before low water which
should give us relatively flat surface conditions in the pool of London
and in particular the Tower Bridge area without us having to trek
through mud to get to our exit point at Alderman’s Stairs on the north
bank adjacent to St. Katharine Docks.

The Paddle:
After much planning and preparation the day arrived. Conditions were
great with blue skies and a light tail wind. Everything was in place:

07:00: I checked my email and one of the safety boats had engine
trouble and had to pull out (Pool of London was not the place for a
boat to be with a dodgy engine) so we were now down to two cover
boats but that was fine.
08:00 The two cover boats made there way through Teddington lock
on their way to the rendezvous at Putney Bridge.
09:00 Kevin (one of the photographers) started his drive up to London
with his bike on board where he would park his vehicle and cycle back
to Putney for the start, this would give us another vehicle to get us back
to our cars that will be left at Putney.
09:30 Tom arrives at Blue Chip with the truck to pick up the boards and
the other two bikes
10:00 We set off for the starting point at Putney.
10:30 We arrive at the Starting point to find Jason and Paul there ready
and waiting but the river is still flowing upstream at this time.
 
11:00 Like clockwork, the river now starts to flow down stream towards
London
11:15 The two cover boats arrive and moor up. The final paddlers arrive.

Now all is in place. We all want to get on with it but we must wait until
12:30 or we will hit the pool of London with a massive tidal run and that
won’t be good..! So we all go and find a coffee and try to kill some time.
12:00 The boats have to be moved as the water is draining fast and they
would have been grounded. We started getting the boards ready

and donning our buoyancy aids and SUPer Club T shirts, the
camera crew got ready and Kevin moved up onto the bridge.

We made our way onto the water to test the current and the
crowds started to gather on the bridge. We played around on
the water up stream of the bridge to the crowds delight.

On the stroke of 12:30 we where off on our epic voyage, we
were going to SUP a journey where no SUPers had journeyed before.
The crowds on the bridge gave us a cheer as we passed under
the bridge and got our first taste of the tidal Thames. To our surprise
the current and the tail wind were moving us at about 6 mph which
is about twice the speed I had planned for. That meant the camera
crew on their bike would have a job keeping up with us. We were

literally flying past Wandsworth Park and closing in on Wandsworth

Riverside Quarter Pier.

We soon came up on Wandsworth Bridge

and just after that we beached on the South side to regroup and give

the cameras time to catch up.

We kicked off again and soon passed

Lots Road Power Station on our left, followed by the house boats at

Chelsea and just around the corner was Battersea Bridge

and Albert Bridge

right behind it with Battersea park and the pagoda on our right.

We stopped here to regroup again and let the cameras catch up.
Also we needed to slow down not to be too early. By now the land
marks were coming at us one after the other and as we came
under Chelsea bridge we had Battersea power station on our right

Andrew and Jason couldn’t resist catching the wash of every boat
that passed much to the amusement of the passengers

and we could just see the MI6 building around the corner on the
right just past Vauxhall Bridge. Then a very slick Police RIB
closed in on us from down stream and came along side one of the
cover boats, stayed for about 5 minutes and then carried on up
stream. Mary in the boat said that they wished us well and we
should stick to the South Bank and watch out for the pleasure boats
and their wake. We decided to stop at the beach near the MI6 building
to see if we could get some drinks on the Albert Embankment when
the big Yellow Duck came thundering down the ramp and came to
an abrupt halt when he saw us,
[
I think he thought we were some kind of invaders.

Then the Duck drove into the Thames and tootled off. It was so
low in the water we all commented that it wouldn’t take
much wake to sink it. We walked up the shingle bank to the road
and were abruptly sent back with a flea in our ear by an official
with a badge on his jumper telling us that duck ramp was
private property owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and we had
no right there, we explained that we were not on the ramp but
on the shingle but he was having none of it and was reading
the riot act as we went back down the shingle,


he was still going into one as we went out of sight.
I expect he is still going on, and on, and on…

So we paddled off past Millbank on our

left and we could now see in the distance all the landmarks
that London is famous for across the horizon. Next was
Lambeth Bridge with the Houses of Parliament clearly in our
sights now with the London Eye beyond.
Once past Lambeth Bridge
we decided to break with convention and cross over to the North Bank

to cruise past the houses of Parliament and under Westminster Bridge

still on the North Side to great
cheers from the of crowds that were now gathering on the banks
and bridges to wave and cheer at us. Now we had to negotiate
our way across the river to the London Eye



and under the right hand side of Hungerford Bridge
and that was the most torturous paddling we have ever done,
there were 3-4 foot waves coming at us from all direction
and the flow was taking us down steam all the time so we had to keep paddling across the river to make the right hand arch of
Hungerford Bridge to get out of the way of all the day tripping boats. Thankfully we all made it across to
where the surface was relatively smooth, no, less choppy..!
We all needed a rest so we beached at Festival Pier and had a well
deserved rest and some refreshment. The cover boats also stopped
and we all enjoyed this respite. After about ten minutes the
camera crew caught up with us and we had a short debrief,
then Jason and Andrew decided that this was a photo opportunity
too good to miss.



The camera crew then set of and we were
under strict instructions not to leave until they were at their next
location and ready for us. Then we got the call from them and

we paddled off again passing the National Theatre on our right



along with ITV HQ, Kent house in the background,

Kings Reach Tower.




As we were coming up to the OXO tower we could see in the
distance a very fast boat coming towards us and I mean
VERY FAST with a huge wake following it then we made out
the “blues and twos” Yes we were being pulled over by the fuzz.
As they approached us they killed the “blues and twos” and
cruised past and turned around before pulling along side one
of our cover boats.

Apparently we had inadvertently passed
under a closed arch on one of the bridges in our haste to
save our lives from being tossed off our boards by the wake
of the pleasure boats. We were told not to get in the way of any
more pleasure boats and to keep to the right at all times so we
duly took our rollicking and carried on



passing under the two Blackfriars Bridges passing Tait Modern

and under the Millenium Bridge

and then passing Shakespeare's Globe theatre.
Then on under Southwark Bridge and Cannon Street Railway Bridge

and then past the Golden Hind on our right.

And then on to London Bridge when I got a call from the River Police.

They first of all confirmed that they knew about us and where we
had come from and where we were going, they asked me

about our safety precautions and our safety boats and I informed
the officer that I was now at risk due to only paddling with one
hand and that I was drifting towards HMS Belfast.

The officers continued to talk and I had to let go
of the phone several times

before I told him that I was going to end the call as I could end
up in a dangerous situation. His passing words were
“Do not go through the central part of Tower Bridge, we were
being watched and if we did, we would be nicked”
I looked up and sure enough there was a Police Helicopter
circling above us, so I quickly upped my paddle rate and caught
up the other six who were patiently back paddling waiting for me

so that we could go through the central span together.
I broke the news to them and we paddled off to the right
]
and towards Horsleydown Old Stairs where we would have a break
and regroup for the final crossing to the North Bank. What a trip,

we did it.


Then the phone rang again, yes it was the same Police
officer letting me know that they were still watching and where
were we getting out. I told him that we will wait for a quite moment
and then paddle the safest rout to Alderman Stairs where our
transport was waiting in St. Katharine’s Way. He was happy
with that and wished us a safe journey home. When we were
rested we set off for Alderman Stairs by what we considered to
be the safest route. Did we decide the safest route would be to
go up stream for a short distance to find flat water and then go
through the centre span of Tower Bridge..?

You decide.

SUPing the Thames security alert
John Hibbard, tries to steel a march on the Thames SUPers…

12:00 Sunday Morning: While we were getting the Boards Ready
at the launch point, Jason asked,
“Did you tell John Hibbard what time we were setting off?”
I replied,
“Yes, why?”
Jason exclaimed,
“I think I have just seen him sneaking past us trying to steel a march on us all”