Sea kayaking at les Ecrehous,Jersey.A short video
Kayaking the small tide race at les Ecrehous on a 10.96m tide.
There is a lot of water flowing around les Ecrehous. This short video is from one of our guided sea kayak tours. A few more videos can be seen here.
This is just one example of the sort of tides you can find. Think of it as a river (which changes direction twice a day) and the flow of water makes sense.
Les Ecrehous is a remarkable offshore reef 6 miles north east of Jersey with old small fishermen’s huts.
Kayaking to les Ecrehous
Le Blianque Ile and la Taille shingle bank on a dropping tide
It is possible to kayak to les Ecrehous from Jersey but the trip is for the very experienced sea kayaker as you will be more than 3 miles from land with tide streams of up to 5 knots in places.
I often get asked by paddlers wanting to undertake the trip and remind them that this is a classic BCU 5 star sea assessment trip so it is not for the novice.
Get the crossing wrong and you can easily miss the islands. I’ve ended up off the Grande Rousse and have also been swept well past Gorey when paddling on big tides, or when we have turned to soon towards the islands.
I know of one trip which completely missed the islands so the 6 mile paddle became a 12 mile trip back to Jersey in the dark.
Les Ecrehous at low tide
For the less experienced paddler we organize escorted and guided trips to les Ecrehous by charter boat. This is a great way to explore the reefs and see perhaps Seal and even Dolphin in Jersey.
Guided walks are also possible as there is a lot of history on the reefs. For example the main historical book on les Ecrehous is over 200 pages long (les Ecrehous, by Warwick Rodwell).
