Nick Harding | @nickhdg | Sportscene - The annual Paddle Round the Pier charity beach festival returned to a sun-baked Brighton last weekend – hundreds of paddlers circumnavigated the ruined West Pier.

Stand up paddleboards, kneeboards, surfboards, longboards, kayaks, outriggers, va-a's, Canadians canoes, inflatable dinghies all took to the water for the weekend festival's main event at 2pm on Sunday 7th July – The Paddle.

Starting shore-side but on the water, paddlers in their hundreds lined up in a mass chaotic huddle while thousands of sunbathers cheered and lined Brighton Beach – not quite as many though as the 250,000 people who gathered for the free Fat Boy Slim beach-concert in 2002!

On the klaxon, the exodus paddled out to sea to the first of a series of buoys that lined a circular course. The erratic waves created by the number of paddlers setting off at the same time meant there were a few swims and wobbly stand up paddlers from go!

Active 360, organisers of the Polar Bear expedition to Greenland, allowed me to use one of the official Bear Grylls paddleboards that one of their team will use in a matter of weeks when the adventure kicks off. Hugely stable and perfect for icy-Greenland exploration yes, but more of a wallower in a race.

From the first buoy, marked by the towering orange figure of the local coastguard's flagship cruiser, it was on towards the dilapidated yet protected skeleton of the the West Pier that was  closed in 1975 and then later victim to arson in March 2003.

Working my way round the pier was nothing short of beautiful; twisted, seagull-shit-covered metal never has been so attractive as it twinkled in the haze. Looking back, the sun was in my eyes – the hundreds of paddlers became a vastly spread-out line of blacked-out silhouettes. Postcard.

Notably, the sea was so calm for most of the paddle albeit unnecessary waves created by a few insensitive testosterone-fuelled jetski-junkies. 28 degrees was sweaty paddle work!

Other events that took place over the weekend included surf lifesaving races, professional SUP sprints, 14-mile and 7-mile SUP races, escorted sea swims, pier-to-pier competitions and the gimmicky gem; the paddle something unusual category.

In past years brave and creative teams have paddled rafts made from Guiness barrels, sun-loungers, and even into a scaled model of James Bond's submersible car from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), this year saw the turn of an actual car, a floating tennis court and the shell of, children's TV programme, Postman Pat's red car.

Maybe Redbull could put on a similar kayak event to Flugtag or Soapbox paddling ridiculous creations downriver! True, they have put on snow kayak events.

So, a great day of nutty and serious paddling down at Brighton Beach, look forward to next year's antics.

Links

Paddle Round the Pier: http://www.paddleroundthepier.com

The Paddle photos: http://www.paddleroundthepier.com/about-the-paddle/paddle-gallery/

Fat Boy Slim concert: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2127259.stm

Brighton West Pier fire: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2894981.stm

Active 360:  http://www.active360.co.uk, http://www.polarbearsandpaddleboards.com