Wet'n'Dry SUP - Stand up Paddleboarding Blog

Spring Paddle Boarding Lessons Essex

Paddle Boarding Lessons Essex

Spring has finally sprung, and we even had a little taste of Summer over the Easter Bank Holiday. The temperature hasn’t stayed quite the same, but we are still in double figures, making it the perfect time to start Paddle Board Lessons in Essex!

We are lucky to be spoilt with the amount of places that we can teach our Paddle Boarding Lessons in Essex. At WetNDry SUP we make the most of our local water ways by teaching at various locations. With 10 years of teaching of teaching Paddle Boarding under our belt, we know just about everything there is to know about tides, conditions, currents and more.

Some of our favourite spots in Essex include the River Chelmer, River Crouch, Two Tree Island, Chalkwell Beach, Hullbridge, Southend on Sea and our very own private lake.

A fun morning with a Ladies group SUP Lesson held on our private Lake in Essex.

BSUPA Ready to Ride Course

Next available Paddle Boarding Lessons

Our next Paddle Boarding lesson is Sunday the 28^th April, at Hoe Mill Lock on the River Chelmer. This lesson is a BSUPA course which teaches you everything you need to know about Paddle Boarding within a 2 hour course. Jeremy our Instructor is on hand to keep the lesson fun and informative. Our trailer is fully stocked with the latest 2019 Inflatable Paddle Boards from Red Paddle Co, we stock the exact same Boards in our shop WetNDry Boardsports, so it’s a great opportunity to try before you buy!

We have also just posted our lesson dates for May, giving you a choice of BSUPA courses, 1hr taster sessions or we can customize your own group booking.

SUP Yoga will be starting very soon, we just need to wait for the water the warm up a little before we can schedule any classes. Keep an eye on the calendar and also our Facebook page for updates!

26 April, 2019 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – Season Opener…

It might have come a week late, but this season’s first SUP Club was a great success thanks to the 12 who made […]

9 April, 2015 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

National SUP Club Championships

Back on Saturday 23rd August a small team of just 10 paddlers from Wet’n’Dry SUP attended the National SUP Club […]

2 September, 2014 wetndry Events No comments yet

Wet’n’Dry Race – Norfolk Classic

Wet’n’Dry Race – Norfolk Classic This years Stand up Paddle Race series have seen some great results from team Wet’n’Dry […]

9 August, 2014 wetndry Events No comments yet

SUP Club – Heatwave-ride!

Huge thanks to all 18 paddlers that made it up to Paper Mill Lock for a sultry summer SUP Club last night. It was great to have a real family atmosphere, with two father-and-son combinations, a father-and-daughter, a couple of couples, and a brace of brothers on the river. Plus we were even joined by puppy-dog Bongo!

With very little wind and mirror-flat water, we cruised two locks east up to Hoe Mill Lock in well under an hour, pleased to see that the blanket-weed we found that way a couple of weeks ago has all safely sunk back down to the riverbed again. We grouped up at the lock waiting for a few late arrivals to catch up with us before heading home into a glorious setting sun.

While a few of our racier guys kept the pace high enough, it was a pretty gentle paddle home leaving us all plenty of time to chat and enjoy the scenery – the wild-looking horses seemed to be enjoying themselves on the riverside too. Although understandably the swans with their fledgling signets didn’t seem so keen to see us glide past!

We finished the c. 8km route before 9pm, leaving us plenty of time to pack up and make it down to the Rodney before dusk for yet another well-earnt post-paddle-pint. More of the same next week?!?

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If you want to join a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information just give us a call on 01268 569988 or email jamie@wetndrysup.com

17 July, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – Windy Wednesday!

With a strong wind forecast, grey skies, and a bit of rain through the day, we weren’t expecting the greatest of turn-outs for last night’s SUP Club up on the River Chelmer. So we were pleasantly surprised that eight brave souls arrived at Paper Mill Lock to take on the breeze. And it really didn’t turn out so bad – there were certainly windy stretches forcing us to dig in pretty deep during the 3km paddle two locks west, but on the whole the trees and banks tucked us out of the worst of it really nicely. In fact, at times you’d hardly have known it was windy at all … and the sun even made an appearance!

After a 10-minute break at the apex of our route, the 3km paddle back downwind really flew by – aided by a little bit of current from the stream too – and we were soon back out at Paper Mill Lock and packing up. Unfortunately not quite in time to make last food orders at the nearby Six Bells pub, although a few of us did scrape in at the Grange Chef & Brewer for a hard-earnt dinner.

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If you want to join a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information just give us a call on 01268 569988 or email jamie@wetndrysup.com

10 July, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – 2 July 2014

Unlucky for some, namely those who couldn’t make it, as 13 of us enjoyed a great cruise up the River Chelmer last night for SUP Club. To keep it fresh, we opted to launch from a ‘new’ spot – Hoe Mill Lock (see www.wetndrysup.com/hoe-mill-lock-river-chelmer/) has often been the apex of our paddles east from Paper Mill, but this time we met there and headed out towards Maldon. Sure, we had to avoid a bit of weed here and there, plus the odd swan or two, but the 8km trip two locks east and back was a great way to unwind after a hot sunny day…

Our turning point was at the confluence with the tidal river as it runs out to Heybridge Basin – definitely somewhere to check out again at high tide. It was great to see a couple of long-time absentees returning to SUP Club: Al was looking super-comfortable on his new Red Paddle 12’6″, while Matt impressed us all by nailing three consecutive jumping dock-starts onto his board. One for us all to work on this summer.

After a couple of hours spent on the water, we rounded off the evening just up the road from Hoe Mill at the nearest pub – The Queen Victoria – which turned out to be another fine establishment. As usual, we weren’t quite in time for the 9pm close of service from the kitchen … but one look at the fish-&-chips coming out of there meant we’ll be sure to hurry up a bit next time!

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If you want to join a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information just give us a call on 01268 569988 or email jamie@wetndrysup.com

3 July, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – Fun in the Sun…

The wind might have blown a fair bit stronger than advertised – and although the sun was out, that easterly took the edge off the temperatures too – but it didn’t stop 24 paddlers from turning out to last night’s SUP Club. Launching from Two Tree Island nearly an hour after low tide, we were always going to have to dig in off the slipway, and that sea breeze made for quite a work-out as we headed down towards the Ray. Kudos to Jo who showed great technique and determination to charge into the headwind and tide on just her second time on a paddleboard, having only graduated from our Learn to SUP course on Sunday! Looking even stronger were Julia and Tanzi, fresh back from the 16-mile Bray Lake Ultra on Saturday where Tanzi took the iSUP title – another top result for Team Wet’n’Dry SUP.

Once we were round the corner we grouped up at the first buoys before striking a little further down the Ray. At the second group of buoys we set up ‘base camp’, where we chatted, swapped boards, practised our turns and sparred in a few impromptu sprints out towards Seal Point. Great fun was had by all under a strikingly beautiful sky – the wispy cloud formations looked almost unreal, producing spectrums as the sun began to set…

Of course, approaching mid-tide with a strong tailwind the paddle back was much easier and faster! Soon enough we were packed up and driving in convoy past the cockle-sheds into Old Leigh and the Crooked Billet in for our traditional post-paddle pint. Thanks again to everyone for another great SUP Club.

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If you want to join a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information just give us a call on 01268 569988 or email jamie@wetndrysup.com

26 June, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – Paddle to the Pier

Another sublime SUP Club last night as 22 paddlers took on the c. 5-mile route from Thorpe Bay to Southend Pier and back – not an easy paddle, and a massive well done to all 20 that made the distance! We hooked up on the rigging green at Thorpe Bay and started to launch at 7pm on a falling tide with the remnants of a sea breeze blowing us west towards the pier. The group strung out along the coast as a few of us hung back to wait for the late arrivals (!) until eventually our flotilla were all paddling into a blinding sun. 30-45 minutes later we were hanging out under the pier … where we even got a salute from the train driver as he clanked over our heads.

As the sun dropped in the sky and the tide started to rip out, we headed for home with a strong current to help us back against a strengthening north-easterly breeze. With the sun at our backs we all dug in for a sociable cruise home, chatting in small groups as we paddled. Some charged the distance – notably Tanzi and Julia, who are representing Team Wet’n’Dry SUP at this weekend’s Bray Lake Ultra 16-mile race: good luck to both of them!

Once back at the beach in Thorpe Bay, the waist-deep water had really glassed off so we spent a while playing about and practicing our turns under a glorious sunset before coming ashore approaching 9pm. Then, naturally, it was time for a post paddle pint – this week at the Halfway House, the nearest pub just along the seafront. A fine end to a very fine evening…

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If you’re interested in joining a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information just give us a call on 01268 569988

19 June, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

Rewind! SUP Club – 4th June 2014

So after a wet and blustery day on Wednesday 4th June, the eleven of us who ventured out to brave the elements were more then happy to find the skies clearing and the sun coming out just as we launched at a new spot on the River Chelmer, about a kilometre upriver from our usual spot at Paper Mill Lock.

With an easy launch off a low grassy bank we started our journey into the wind, and paddled a couple of locks up to our turning point – on this occasion just within sight of the A12, as we wanted to get back to the vans to comfortably pack up and make the pub before they stopped serving dinner! Suitably motivated, we charged back with the wind behind us, making the total paddle about an hour and a half. It was good to see Jim fearlessly practising his step-back turns this week, although he’ll have to work super-hard to compete with step-back Stu who made a welcome return to SUP Club after his winter gym sabbatical! And congratulations to Claire on her glorious return to SUP Club, having won the 2-mile race at the Battle of the Thames last month.

To round off our beautiful sunny paddle, we all headed to The Generals Arms pub in Little Baddow for a well-earnt pint, a lovely meal, and plenty of post-paddle chat….

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If you’re interested in joining a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information just give us a call on 01268 569988

16 June, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – 11th June 2014

This week’s SUP club was a technical sessions, in which we all practiced our technical turns and paddle technique. Over 20 paddlers turned up for a great paddle out to the Ray. Once at the Ray we all stopped for a little bit of a muck around, everyone did really well with their step-back turns and reverse sweep turns. There were even a few fun races between bouys which everyone enjoyed. It was good to see so many people out on the water practicing their technique, we will have a 20 strong race team before you know it. Also a lot of new riders came this week which was good to see, keep up the good work!

After a lovely paddle it was time for a fully deserved beer down in Old Leigh to finish the evening off nicely.

If you’re interested in joining in on a Wednesday night SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call the SUP location on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25. For more information give us a call on 01268 569988 and we will happy to help.

Thanks to Julia for bringing her Go-Pro and recording a few bits of video;

14 June, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – 28th May 2014

Although the weather hasn’t been the prettiest this week, last night’s SUP Club saw some of the best conditions we’ve had on a Wednesday evening all year. Sure, it was overcast, but the forecast drizzle held off … and more importantly there was absolutely no wind, which made for totally glassy water and some joy paddling. A 7.30pm low tide (of 0.58m) meant Two Tree Island was on, and we launched around 7pm to head east down the Ray towards Seal Point. Thirteen paddlers covering a wide range of experience (kudos to Steve and Mika who had only just completed our learn to SUP course last weekend!) cruised c. 5km out to the dogleg where we were greeted by Southend’s resident seal colony…

A revered silence fell across the group as we knelt or laid prone on our boards and kept our distance from the seals at first. With a couple of pups on the sand, it was especially important to have some respect for their territory. Maintaining the hush, we drifted closer on the glassy waters, allowing the seals to check us out from the shore and play around our boards in the water. We’ve had worse evenings!

Commune with nature done, we headed back home aided by a building flood tide and the lightest of south-easterly breezes. Cutting through the mirror-flat water, we were back to the slipway in no time and packing up for a well-earnt post paddle pint in the Smack after some 10km of paddling. Thanks again to everyone for a magic SUP Club – see you again next week…

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If you fancy joining SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25.

29 May, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

Battle of the Paddle – Thames Rowing Club

Wet’n’Dry SUP – The Battle of the Paddle

The Battle of the Paddle is one of the biggest SUP race events in the UK, and this year Team Wet’n’Dry did not disappoint! Wet’n’Dry entered a team of 6 this year, covering all the different board and age categories.

There were distances that could be raced: the full 10-mile race or the 2-mile sprint, and Team Wet’n’Dry had these all covered. The 10-mile course was 3 laps of a circuit on the River Thames, there were two buoys to navigate, so everyone got some good step-back practice. The 2-mile race was a shortened single lap race.

First up was the 14’0″ 10-mile race. Dan Sherry was racing for team Wet’n’Dry on a Red Paddle race inflatable with a Starboard Enduro Paddle. Dan did not disappoint coming 2nd in the 14’0″ inflatable class with a time of 2 hours 15 minutes, not bad for his first ever race!

Next up was the 12’6″ 10 mile race, this time we had two entries, Chris Humphrey on his 12’6″ 24.5″ Starboard Sprint with a Starboard Enduro paddle, and Nathan Dodds, on a 12’6″ 26″ Starboard AllStar with a Starboard High Aspect paddle. Chris came in 8th in his category with a time of 2 hours and 10 minutes. Nathan came in 4th for his category with a time of just over 2 hours.

Now it was up to the women to show us what they’d got: Tanzi Foulger and Julia Holmyard. Tanzi on her inflatable 12’6″ RRD raceboard came in 1st in the inflatable class with a time of 2 hours 18 minutes. Julia in the verteran class did very well indeed with a great time of 2 hours 45 minutes on her RRD.

Finally there was the 2-mile race, Claire was on the Red Paddle inflatable surf style board and did extremely well coming in 1st woman!

Another great event for team Wet’n’Dry and thank you for all that participated, we are all looking forward to the next event. If you ever feel like a friendly race, why not race for team Wet’n’Dry – give us a call on 01268 569988 or pop into our store for more details.

24 May, 2014 wetndry Events, SUP Club No comments yet

SUP Club – 14th May 2014

Looks like summer’s on its way? A healthy turnout of 18 stand-up paddlers plus one prone surfboard is a sure sign the warmer weather has arrived… Last night’s SUP Club convened at Two Tree Island for an hour’s paddle down the Ray into a moderate sea breeze – enough to notice, but nothing that a bit of digging in couldn’t overcome. A handful of our crew were treating this as a training paddle for this Saturday’s Battle of the Thames: Claire, Julia and Dan put in a solid steady state paddle over the 7km loop … while Tanzi and Chris charged off for the horizon at full-on race pace, not turning until beyond Seal Point! (Good luck to them all in Surbiton this weekend.) It was great to see some new faces amongst the familiar smiles too; as always, all comers with a little experience are very welcome to join in on a Wednesday night…

Most of us stopped at the orange buoy to chat and admire the setting sun before turning for home, aided by the flooding tide and an ever decreasing tailwind. Then back up the slipway and into the car-park to pack up as a stunning full moon rose over the pier – before the obligatory post paddle pint, this time at the Smack in Old Leigh so canine companions Ruby and Bongo could join us! Thanks again to everyone for another great SUP Club evening…

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If you fancy joining SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on the day on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar, location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25.

15 May, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

Chasing Rainbows – Battlesbridge

Last night’s SUP Club was never going to be a busy one – gusting Force 5+ wind and rainshowers understandably put many people off. Plus the windsurfing fraternity had race night down at Chalkwell… But a small, yet perfectly formed, group of five (Julia, Claire, Alex, El and Dunc) met up at Hayes Leisure Park on the Crouch to see what was possible.

It was blowing alright, with some big gusts rattling up the creek, but the water stayed flat so we decided to head upwind into Battlesbridge. 40 minutes of hard paddling later, under moody skies and accompanied by dozens of swans who took flight in front of us every so often, we made it to The Barge Inn at the bridge. A muddy scramble up the bank later we celebrated with a swift half before an even swifter downwinder back to Hayes Leisure Park in about 15 minutes. Huge thanks to the clubhouse team at www.leisureparksuk.co.uk/hayes/ who welcomed us into their bar and even cooked us a huge bowl of chips for our well-earnt traditional post paddle pint.

Despite the weather – and this was undoubtedly the windiest SUP Club yet – we had a surprisingly enjoyable paddle: so the question remains, how windy is too windy for SUP Club?!?

If you fancy joining SUP Club, all we ask is that you have some paddling experience (if not, check out our SUP Lessons) – we call Wednesday SUP Club on our Facebook page and Wet’n’Dry SUP calendar location depending on weather and tide conditions. If you have your own kit, just turn up and you’ll be very welcome. If not, we do offer limited SUP hire for £25.

8 May, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

Sunset Paddle – Two Tree Island SUP

For a brief second we could have been in the Caribbean as this week’s paddle was blessed with a beautiful sunset over Hadleigh Castle. Yet another good turn-out for Wednesday’s SUP Club, considering the conditions were not looking great. But those who battled through the wind and tide were rewarded with a beautiful sunset. This week’s conditions favored those on raceboards as the tide was quite strong at some points, but everyone that turned up did very well, especially the inexperienced riders who dug deep and made it in good time. We were even joined by Alec on a surfboard, which looked like a lot of hard work, but he looked like he was having fun, which is the most important thing!

Everyone will be glad to hear that the water temperature is finally increasing. The water in the Ray as we stopped to swap boards about and try step turns, was quite pleasant. People were falling in without the loud gasp that generally follows, this is a good sign! Summer is definitely peaking around the door, and it looks like it good be a good year for SUP.

If you ever fancy joining in on one of our Wednesday or need to brush up on your paddling skills, give us a call on 01268 569988 or pop in our shop for a friendly chat and the lowdown on everything paddleboarding.

3 May, 2014 wetndry SUP Club No comments yet

Poppadom Paddle – River Crouch, Hullbridge

Another great turn-out to this week’s SUP Club paddle from Hullbridge to Battlesbridge. The first 4km to Battlesbridge was with the rising tide and a slight headwind, but the whole group managed it in good time. After posing for a few photos under the bridge in Battlesbridge we turned back and so did the tide. So the paddle back was with the tide and the wind so was a really relaxing SUP. Everyone did really well, even those who have paddled only a handful of times managed the 8km with ease. Once back in Hullbridge we all got ready for the main event, the curry! We had all ordered before setting off for the paddle so the food was ready as soon as we sat down, and every enjoyed a well deserved feast.

For those wanted to join us on our weekly SUP sessions, there is no joining fee and newcomers are always welcome. You dont even need to own a stand-up paddleboard: we hire out boards for £25 for the session, all we really ask is that you have done some stand-up paddleboarding before. If you haven’t paddleboarded before, head over to our SUP Lessons page and get involved.