Field Journal

Stories Behind the Gear: YETI
Written by Daniel Neilson // Photography by John Summerton
Produced in Partnership with YETI

The coastline is in constant transformation. It changes by the hour, by the day, by the season, by the decade, by the aeon. The flux of the tide picks up rocks, breaks them, and deposits them elsewhere like a restless child. Autumn storms saturate the cliffs, causing rockfalls, and the constant battering of waves chips away every second. The chalk cliffs of southern England are softer and weaker than the basalt of Cornwall, the limestone of southern Pembrokeshire, or the granite of the Isle of Skye.

5,000 years ago, the chalk cliffs would have protruded another kilometre out to sea. Five days ago, evidence of rockfall suggests they would have protruded another foot. Chalk hangs off the edge like a snow cornice. The white cliffs are constantly crumbling (one of the reasons they’re so white), and the shingle shifts continuously – remember the longshore drift lesson from school? Despite the coastal defences we use in an attempt to hold it back, nothing stops the power of the sea.

A group of three friends, sat pondering the power of the sea over a coffee one morning at Holywell, at the western end of Eastbourne’s promenade. ‘Choppy’, we decided, was the best descriptor of the sea that day. We were waiting for the tide to turn before putting in our paddleboards and rounding the 162m chalk headland of Beachy Head – with a stop at the famous red-and-white-striped lighthouse – and landing 6km along the coast at Birling Gap.

It’s a committing paddleboard with no escape route. But hit the tide right and you’re swept around with satisfying speed, landing at Birling Gap for a G&T and a sunset to rival any in Britain.

Putting In

Half an hour after high tide, we dragged our boards and bags over the curling waves and into relative calm. In our bags we’d packed lunch – and gin and tonic. We weren’t trying to break a record; we were here for a fun, relaxed day to explore the coast, see the lighthouse up close, and maybe spy some inquisitive sea mammals bobbing in the water.

The sea wasn’t calm as it had been through the summer. Stirred-up silt made the water brown. The wind pushed the clouds across the sky with speed, bathing us in the low sun before briefly sealing off the warmth.

At a particularly low tide, you can walk around the lighthouse at Beachy Head, past Cow Gap and onto a place called Falling Sands – a local secret but dangerous without an understanding of the tides. But as we passed on that day, the sea kissed the cliffs. It was hard to imagine the picnics we had enjoyed there in the summer. The white cliffs also looked intimidatingly high. A wave of anxiety rose; there was no way out, but I suppressed the anxiety with the knowledge that we’d done it before. We had the right clothing and a bag full of safety equipment.

On a previous trip, we’d paddled up to the foot of the lighthouse and attempted to get out for a sandwich, but found a maintenance team there waiting for their lift back. Today, with slightly rougher seas, we decided on skirting closely but not stopping. This patch of coastline is among the most photographed in Britain. As locals, we see it regularly, but the view from the water affords a new perspective. Once past the lighthouse, it’s just the cliffs that dominate the view north and the horizon of the English Channel to the south. We briefly fell silent.

We were experiencing the pure elements, gazing at a view that only changes significantly over geological time. These cliffs existed before humans, and will be here in some form or another after we’re gone. Perhaps another kilometre inland. The seas will still be here… although who knows at what height. It’s a fascinating thought rather than a scary or defeatist one. We do these things: open our minds to a new perspective on a regular Sunday afternoon. You enter an art gallery hoping to be inspired or a conversation to be sparked. Adventure, even for a few hours, is precisely the same.

Soft Landing

After a few hours, we passed Belle Tout Lighthouse – now a bed and breakfast – and could see the tiny hamlet of Birling Gap. In 1878, eight coastguard cottages were built, but only four remain; the sea has eaten up four. In 2023 the hotel, now a National Trust visitor centre and café, had to be partly demolished after a considerable rockfall in the winter. It’s an ongoing process – the hotel will eventually be lost to erosion. It’s when not if.

We landed on the beach an hour before sunset, and there were day trippers taking photographs as we rode the waves in. We spend many of our summer evenings down here. This November day was too chilly for a swim, but there is always time for a gin. The horizon was clouding over, but the sun streamed through the clouds in waves of orange and red. We cheers’d a brilliant day – one where the weather changed by the minute, where the conversation and laughter flowed, where we considered our time. Time to make the most of our days, to make that extra effort on a windy November Sunday, and the time of time, of aeons.

We may not get out again until next year. We wonder what the coastline will look like then. Who knows, but we do know it will be different.

REVIEW: YETI Hopper M20 and M12 Soft Backpack Cooler

YETI. Just mention the name and you’re already picturing an item. For a brand name to become synonymous with a product means they’re doing something right. Perfectly, really. The coolers are used across the globe. If you need this kind of gear on an expedition, then YETI is where you go. It’s also, incidentally, where we always go for drinkware. That coffee stays hot, and that beer stays cold.

So when a significant new product is launched, it has to work. Well. Very well. And the new Hopper Soft Backpack Cooler surpassed our expectations to a surprising extent. In fact, we are still talking about it. Why? This is a soft and comfortable backpack that keeps what’s inside cold with the ColdCell™ insulation (a closed-cell foam). Really cold. We know this because we spent an entire day on the beach for our shoot, and inside were several bags of loose ice. When we unpacked it 12 hours later – having been opened and closed dozens of times – the ice was still, well, ice. Almost none of it had melted. If we were the sort of publication that did emojis, we’d do that ‘head exploding’ one. So, for that one function, the critical function… the job is done brilliantly.

But really, all the other details make this bag so special. First, this is seriously durable. Flick through the YETI Insta account and you’ll see a clip of a truck driving over the top of it. It’s gimmicky marketing, for sure, but the bag really did come off unscathed. We clipped ours to a paddleboard and swung it around the choppy seas of the south coast without any issue. A lot of its success is due to the closure. Its MagShield access uses durable and powerful magnets across the closure that snap tightly shut. It’s then folded over once, snapped over with clips, and becomes watertight. Even smarter is that when it’s open, it stays open – but just a nudge snaps it closed again. It’s strangely satisfying to keep it shut. By keeping the water in, it also keeps the water out. There was zero ingress on our paddleboarding trip.

The material is a high-density fabric, strong enough to stand up against punctures and scrapes – which we subjected it to plenty. It’s also mildew resistant, essential when dealing with food.
The larger M20 and smaller M12 have ample securing points in thick webbing – perfect for looping in a carabiner or attaching bungee cords on a kayak, roof rack, or halfway up El Cap. The M12 has a kangaroo pocket to stash essentials, and we love that one of the selling points is ‘wine bottle compatible’. Finally, the straps are as good as any on a regular backpack – a perfect cool bag and worthy of the name.