Double Chalk-to-Chalk Challenge To Help Raise £10000 For The Blandford School Science Faculty

Hello my name is Paul. I previously worked in the science faculty at The Blandford School. I wished to do a challenge to raise much needed funds to purchase new science equipment that otherwise would not be possible within the financial constraints of current government school funding.

On Saturday 5th September 2026, I successfully completed an epic open sea crossing journey by kayak from Swanage to The Needles on the Isle of Wight and returned to Swanage the same day!

The total journey distance covered on this amazing journey was around 40 miles (64Km) and took over 14 hours to complete.

For safety (and company!), I was accompanied by my fellow sea kayaker, Allen Westerby. We are both British Canoeing (now Paddle UK) sea kayak leaders with Poole Harbour Canoe Club. Allen also has a wealth of leadership and coaching knowledge in a wide range of paddle sport.

To make this challenge even more challenging, the journey was undertaken in plastic sea kayaks and on neap tides!

After a final check of the wind forecast, the journey started late morning at 11.30am on Monkey Beach, Swanage. The National Coast Watch Institution (NCI) at Peveril point was radioed to inform the tower of the trip plan.

The first phase of the journey was to head across Swanage Bay, past The Pinnacles and over to the chalk stacks of Old Harry Rocks and take a compass bearing towards The Needles.

The predicted wind forecast for mid-afternoon was South Westerly (SW) Force 4. This is between 11 to 16 knots and is described as a moderate breeze with wave heights between 1 and 1.5 metres... starting to break. The limit of our safe paddling threshold!

Conditions would be reviewed an hour into the open crossing to decide whether to continue.

Not long after leaving Old Harry, the high-speed Catamaran Ferry was approaching at 40 knots on our starboard side. Pleased to say, it did as predicted, change course and slowed to pick up the ‘pilot’ to enter the main shipping channel for Poole Harbour.

At the 1-hour review point conditions matched the forecast, so we continued.

We transited the area on our chart marked ‘submarine exercise area’ and with no sightings of periscopes or torpedoes we continued towards The Needles. As expected, conditions became ‘bouncy’ as we approached the sandbars near the Needles channel and at one point Allen said; ‘I can just see the top of your hat, Paul’! At this point we observed the Waverley Paddle steamer going around The Needles to enter The Solent. With the 1 metre plus swell and occasional breaking waves, it was understandably not possible to get a photograph as the paddle steamer majestically crossed in front of The Needles lighthouse. Hurst Castle in the distance looked like it was ‘on an ‘island’ in the middle of The Solent, however this is an optical illusion as the castle sits on Hurst Spit. At The Needles lighthouse a spitfire aircraft heading towards Swanage, flew overhead on our port side. At 4.10pm having rafted up the kayaks on the bouncy sea to take the obligatory photograph of The Needles lighthouse, it was time to ‘Thread The Needles’ which involves kayaking in and out between the chalk stacks. Unfortunately, the gap between the last stack and the cliff was not passable as there was a ridge of rock in the way.

Due to the swell, a 3-course picnic lunch at Scratchell’s Bay just south of The Needles was ‘off the menu!.’ Scratchell’s Bay is only accessible by sea. While further to kayak, Alum Bay which is at the westernmost tip of the Isle of Wight next to The Needles, offered a sheltered ‘refuelling’ stop.

With the SW Force 4 still blowing and knowing this would ease early evening in fading light, the journey switched at 5.40pm (around slack tide) to a safer northerly direction across The Solent to hug the shore, rather than directly west.

Passing between Dolphin Bank and the notorious Shingles Bank (both shallow underwater banks of sand and shingle) in The Solent, Milford-on-Sea was the next destination to be reached. Understandably with the sea swell continually hitting us on the port side, crossing The Solent was a focussed exercise. Like The Needles, whilst appearing as a mirage for quite sometime, Milford- on-Sea did eventually materialise. The coastal waters unsurprisingly were a little less lumpy. The Needles, now behind us, had considerably shrunk. Passing Barton-on-Sea and then Highcliffe it was time for a refuelling stop and leg stretch at Mudeford at 8.55pm and to add another clothing layer. The air temperature, like the sun, was falling rapidly. Our white navigation lights were now switched on and the journey continued around Hengistbury Head, which not surprisingly was a little bouncy. The lights on Boscombe Pier were twinkling in the far distance and continued to do so, even after kayaking for what seemed an eternity.

Once eventually at Boscombe Pier, conditions were again suitable for an open sea crossing, which this time would be in pitch darkness. With kayaks pointing towards the twinkling lights of Swanage, the last stage of this amazing journey began. At night there is no horizon and all that could be seen, apart from the lights of Swanage, were the green and red flashing lights of the main channel marker buoys in the far distance on the starboard side. Handfast Point and Old Harry Rocks were just a distant dark shadowy mass in the far distance which never seemed to get closer. Eventually the dark shadowy mass appeared paler halfway down as the chalk of Old Harry Rocks and the cliff emerged from the darkness. At this point a mysterious ghostly fishing boat with what appeared to be two bright candelabras, one at the bow and one at the stern, appeared to drift eerily and silently towards us. Having passed in the distance on our port side, the red flashing marker buoy for Peveril Ledges and the twinkling lights of Swanage became more distinguishable as we arrived back to Monkey Beach on Sunday 6th September 2026 at 2.15am. Swanage, like the ghostly fishing boat encountered earlier, was also equally silent at that time in the morning, the only sound being when I called the Solent Coastguard on the VHF radio to log our call and safe return back to Swanage and their reply to say; ‘received, thank you, goodnight, out’.

It is hard to imagine that until about 10,000 years ago, a ridge once joined the Isle of Wight with the Isle of Purbeck. Old Harry Rocks and The Needles then emerged over millennia as the sea eroded the ridge away.

If you have enjoyed reading this story and looking in the 'Updates' section below at all the photographs highlighting this challenge and would like to make a donation to help buy new equipment for the science faculty at The Blandford School, please click on the ‘Donate’ button in the knowledge your kind donation will be helping hundreds of school children benefit from using new and up to date science equipment.

The school is a key part of the Blandford community and also the wider community in Dorset.

If you would like to know more about Poole Harbour Canoe Club and the wide variety of paddle sports that it offers, please click on https://www.phcc.org.uk/ which also provides details on how to join the club.