The wind forecast was for a moderate Easterly breeze. For some crazy reason, we decided to head up to the north coast to see how far we could go into the wind from Cemlyn Bay. The flood tide was due to start around 09:40, so we were going to be in wind over tide conditions.
Leaving the beach at Cemlyn Bay behind we paddled out, in what seemed like quite pleasant conditions. But as soon as we rounded the corner, things changed drastically! Not only were we into the wind, the swell was against us and the waves were on the lumpy large side. It wasn't't so much scary, just unpleasant battling into the stiff wind and big swell. Just passed Wylfa, Si suggested we head back to the cars and go somewhere else. He had a good point. I said let's at least get to Camaes, before heading back. So, we then spent the next 25 minutes battling into the swell and wind, covering just over 1.1 nm! It was a lot of effort!
Going back the way we came wasn't so bad. Yes we were against the flow, but as always on this piece of coast there are numerous back eddies to shelter in and make your way along the coast. Going in this direction was not so bad. So much so we decided to carry on and see if we could get around Carmel Head. Carmel head had a fair current going against us, but with a bit of effort it wasn't too bad.
We were now pretty much sheltered from the wind by the cliffs. But any hope of making it as far as Church Bay ( for ice cream!) was unfortunately out of the question (doh!). There was a tide race to overcome, and as much as we tried, the current got the better of us.
So lunch was had, having hauled the boats up onto the rocks. Sheltered by the wind with the sun out, it was a lovely peaceful spot. We sat and chatted for a bit, when suddenly Si realised his boat was in danger of being washed away! We raced to the boats, first securing Si's boat, just as mine actually started drifting out to sea. I leapt at the bow and luckily just managed to grab a hold of my boat as it started to drift out.
So, it was back in the boats, rounding Carmel Head and back into the wind. The swell wasn't so bad as earlier, as we were protected by Harry's and other reefs along the coast.
A fab day out!
Distance: 13 nm Time: 5:30 minutes
GPS track
