Only about 20 kilometres around and easily accessible along the south coast of the UK, circumnavigating Hayling Island in the sunshine would make for a good day out on the water even if you weren’t part of the heated battle over the record. On Friday 18th October, the sun came out for a couple of those record chasers. It looked like it could be a very good day out for Billy Butler and Andrew Birkett.

The start

Standing next to their surfski, Billy and Andy looked out along the coast, peering into the thick fog to identify their starting point. Billy had planned out the precise start spot and time to take advantage of the changing tide. He explained the approach: “Hayling Island is basically a triangle. We’re going to have to punch the tide along the south coast, and then hopefully we should have it all the rest of the way. It will carry us under the bridge, and spit us out in Langstone Harbour entrance.” They’d have to hit the changing tide at top of the island under the bridge, and hit it at the right pace to break the record.

The record

Since sprinters Tom Holland and Alex Sheppy broke the two hour mark for circumnavigating Hayling Island by kayak in July 2023, the doubles record has become one of the most competitive in the country. As Billy Butler was stalking tide charts, he decided to take a crack at the Hayling record in October 2023. With Giles Hudson, Billy proved the record had potential: Billy and Giles rounded the island in 1 hour, 43 minutes, and 29 seconds, ten minutes quicker than Tom and Alex.

Tom Holland and Alex Sheppy are fast paddlers; they figured they could beat that. For their next attempt, Holland and Sheppy picked a calm day and hopped into a Nelo Cinco. The K2 would be much faster on the flat water compared to the surfski, and as long as the sea remained flat, their chance to take the record looked excellent. The tidal current wasn’t as fast as it could be, but they’d be able to make up a lot of time simply by boat choice. In September 2024, Holland and Sheppy snatched the record back, dropping the time by another eight minutes to 1 hour, 35 minutes, and 50 seconds.

Waiting for perfect conditions

Conditions around Hayling on a rough day can turn the quaint island’s often calm waters into tall, smashing waves that look either terrifying or thrilling depending on your craft and experience level. If Billy was going to take the record back, he would have to plan the attempt to perfection. He’d have to pick the right craft, schedule for ideal tides, pray for gentle weather. Oh, and find a partner with a boat who would be free when the moon was full. Billy got searching.

Thursday, 17th October was the next supermoon, meaning a full moon would coincide with “perigee” where the moon is at its closest point to the earth and exerts the greatest gravitational pull on the oceans. A New Moon or Full Moon will lead to a Spring Tide, where the tidal range (the difference between high tide and low tide) is at its highest. The addition of perigee amplifies that spring tide even more: Supermoons lead to around 5 cm (2 inches) larger variation than regular spring tides, called perigean spring tides. This is because the Moon is near its closest distance to Earth so its gravitational pull is at a maximum (Fred Espenak).

“Flirting since 2022”: finding a partner

“Andy and I have been flirting since 2022 when he beat me down the DW course”, Billy said. That year, Andy teamed up with Mike Lavarack and won the Devizes to Westminster race (Teddington finish) in 15:12:15. Billy Butler raced with Dan Palmer and finished just seven minutes behind Andy and Mike. That tight of a finish over 100 miles — they knew they’d have potential together. After that DW, Billy had it in the back of his mind: “we always thought we’ve gotta get in a boat together.” He reached out to Andy, and the stars aligned.

For Andy, it was an easy ‘yes’. “My motivation? Being asked by one of the best in the business really. Billy’s scooping up records left, right, and centre. Let’s try and add one more before he goes.” With Billy moving to the Netherlands in just a couple of weeks time, Andy figured it was as good a time as any to get out there and go for a record.

Punching the tide

Billy and Andy set off for the start, heading west along unbroken stretches of pebbly beach just as the sun finally broke through the morning fog. It was their first time in a boat together, a bold move on a day where they’d need good chemistry to reach record-breaking speeds. They put in a good warmup, waited for 11:30 on the dot, Andy gave a quick 3/2/1 countdown, and they were off.

The first leg of the triangle would be their slowest, with the incoming tide pushing them toward the coast. Despite calm weather conditions, the sea gave them just enough swell to be relieved they chose a surfski rather than a tippy K2. Buffeted by rolling waves from their right, they kept up pace to the first corner, ready for the tidal speed boost.

“This is tight”

As they turned left, Billy and Andy entered the channel. The tide rushed in, and they flew past the RNLI Lifeboat Station and Hayling Island Sailing Club at around 15 km/h. They neared the bridge, and Andy was feeling confident: “I thought we were going to be way under.” But then they encountered a bit of headwind, and Billy realised as they crossed under the bridge that they were exactly on pace with the record. “This is tight,” he told Andy.

They looked for the channel again coming down the west side of the island in Langstone Harbour. The tide was turning, they just had to stay in the deep water, paddle fast, and aim for the final corner. Billy and Andy neared the mouth of the harbour just as the huge volume of water that filled it at high tide started rushing out faster and faster. They were doing 4 minute kilometres here, making the most of that big spring tide. “Seven minutes!” Billy shouted to Andy as they sped through the harbour mouth.

The finish

They raced toward their starting point as Billy watched the clock and his GPS tracker. Finally, paddles down. They’d passed the land marker where they started. It looked like they’d crossed their own line on the GPS. The time would be close.

A new record

I caught up with Billy and Andy on the beach after they’d checked the data. “We did it! Whoo!” The guys grinned. “We snuck in by about a minute. Which is a little close for comfort!” Billy continued: “But those boys took it down a good notch. So we’re pretty happy.” Each improvement on the record is getting narrower at this stage. After Tom and Alex beat Billy’s previous record by eight minutes, a one minute difference feels very tight. And on the day of a perigean spring tide. How much lower can the record go?

Andy thinks there’s still some potential in it: “I think we’ve left some room for improvement. It’s still tantalisingly close for someone else to come and have a go.” Unless someone else beats them to it, it’s looking like Tom and Alex will be the next attempt. Tom came out in his K1 to watch Billy and Andy, and confirmed that he wasn’t ready to let the record go just yet. After trading off with Billy a few times now, he’s keen to take it back. Billy knows the record isn’t safe: “If Tom and Alex get a good tide — flat weather, good tide — they could go for it again. But I wouldn’t have wanted to have been out there in a K2.”

Tom and Alex might wait out the winter, but they’ll definitely return by the spring. K2 or surfski? I asked Tom. “You can definitely get away with a bit more tide with the ski,” Tom said. But it’s too early to say which one they’ll take next time. And that’s assuming someone else doesn’t come along first. Hayling Island is already a hotspot for some pretty quick kayak and surfski paddlers from the London area and south coast. A lot of speedy folks might be looking at 20km in an hour and a half and think that feels, as Andy put it, “tantalisingly” breakable. The now current record holders are ready though. Billy summed it up: “It’s pretty tight now. The record is respectable. If someone comes along – game on.”