The Needles up close.

Anyone who has sailed regularly in the Solent out of Portsmouth, Southampton or Cowes will be familiar with the chain of rocks called the Needles - probably the most famous landmark for sailors in the south of England.

I have passed them many times in yachts but it was only this last weekend that I managed to get up close and personal - too personal as it happens.

A few of us visited the Isle of Wight to spend a day kayaking and learning some of the rescue and recovery routines. We decided to go for a paddle in the morning and do the routines in the afternoon. The weather was good and the tide was receding with the prospect of a bit of breeze getting up later in the day.

We headed west towards the Needles from the Cowes direction within the Solent where it was pretty calm, but as we approached we could see that between the rocks the sea was much less benign.

The Needles get their name from a spindly pillar called "Lot's Wife" that collapsed in a storm in 1764. Today they resemble more a set of molars.

Four of us paddled out and rounded the lighthouse under the supervision of Owen Burson, an experienced instructor who runs Isle of Wight Sea Kayaking. On the channel side of the Needles there was a bit of chop but nothing too worrying.

There was quite a bit more chop, however, between the lighthouse rock and the second of the "white teeth" jutting out from the island. The idea was to paddle through this gate towards the calmer water beyond.

I volunteered to go first, with the others following, spaced a good four boat-lengths between each kayak, so we didn't get in the way of each other. Just as I had reached the roughest part between the rocks I heard a shout from Charles Godden (who crops up with BJ - Mark Brownjohn - another of our group, in this story) behind to watch out as his canoe ploughed in to mine. I had no means of steadying myself and there was a slow inevitability about the capsize.

There was time enough for me to rip the spray deck away as I went over (no I haven't had the self-righting and rolling lesson yet) but it didn't feel too comfortable to be a canoe's length from the rocks in the waves. This is not the place you would choose to fall out of a kayak.

Charles held on to the upturned kayak as Owen arrived and paddled me clear while I held on to my paddle and the rear of my kayak. Once away from the cliffs we were able to go through the recovery routine - emptying the canoe and clambering back in while it was rafted to Owen's kayak. Then it was back with the spray deck and once more through the gate - this time successfully.

Everything went well during the recovery but I can tell you it was a relief to be back inside those cliffs. It taught me just how easy it is to fall out of one of these sea kayaks and just why it's important for comparative novices to be with an instructor. I don't blame Charles (well of course I did, continually, for the rest of the day, just as he insisted he had saved me), it was just one of those things.

In the afternoon at a calmer spot near the shore we rehearsed the routine that had happened for real in the morning. Owen says that it's good to practice your balance at home on a big exercise ball. Safer too. I must remember that.

Cowes to Madeira

Cowes week came and went. I always think Cowes town gets too rowdy during the annual regatta while out on the water it's chaotic.

I buried my prejudices and sailed in one of the Sunsail races. It wasn't a bad race. Unfortunately we were saddled with a particularly poorly prepared boat (what preparation?) that had a ripped sail with a baton missing. Our helm deserved a medal.

I can see the attraction for corporate teams who can come down from the city, have a fun day's racing, then clear off with a one-off rental payment - no mooring and upkeep fees for a company boat.

The day after the Artemis Challenge, a round-the-Isle of Wight race contested by Open 60s,I had the opportunity to go out on the winning boat, Pindar. With a righting moment of 48 tons compared with about 38 tons on Artemis, it has a big power advantage. It's a beast of a boat, but an amazingly well-balanced beast from the helm. I'm preparing an FT feature on Brian Thompson who I believe has an excellent chance of winning the Vendee Globe in what promises to be the most competitive Vendee yet with some exceptionally strong French and British entrants.

Just now, however, my thoughts are with Puma Logic, the boat I helped crew in the 2006 Round Britain and Ireland race. It looks like they had some fierce weather in the early part of the race from Cowes to Madeira.

If you want to get a taste of what ocean racing is really like in a big sea on a comparatively small boat, read the Puma Logic blog. Good luck to all of them.

Round the Island Race

Come and join ICAP Leopard for the Isle of Wight Round the Island Race this weekend, said the ICAP team who hope to break the race record to add to a string of other records they have broken of late.

It would have been quite something to have been out on the rail of this super-maxi and back in Cowes for lunch. Sadly I had another commitment - sea kayaking with friends, off the Isle of Wight ironically.

It should be quite a sight, watching close on 1,900 entries competing in what must be Britain's most popular yacht race. If you're out there and you see four canoes bobbing around on the water as you're approaching The Needles do give us a wave.