Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
Simon and I had arranged to set off from Anglesey Outdoors at 8:00am, for some breakfast, before heading up to Cemaes Bay. Cutting a long story short, someone (ahem me!) forgot to pick up their kit from the drying room at Anglesey Outdoors. I guess a combination of still being a bit sore about...
With Saturday 14th December blown out, and the weather forecast or Sunday looking only slightly better; Simon, Ashley, Kris and I decided to meet up at the Menai Bridge Slipway at 0930 for a session in the Swellies. We played in the currents under Menai Bridge for a while before moving out to the...
The final truck stop meet of the weekend, but this time SI and I were meeting Andras. A chap I'd met before at Rhosneigr and who Si knew from paddling with in the past. The wind and swell had picked up overnight. With both Si and myself needing to get home at a reasonable...
Sunday and another meeting up at the truck stop where some consumed their breakfasts and others looked on aghast! With the tidal flow timings, we decided to head to Bull Bay and paddle with the tide, taking in Middle Mouse and take whatever else we can get before the tide turns. The weather was...
Saturday. Si and I met the others at the truck stop at 9:00am in Holyhead. We were joined by Ashley, Matt, and Gareth. Due to the tide, predicted swell and anticipated weather - a strengthening SW breeze, we decided to paddle from Porth Dafarch to Rhoscolyn and back. We didn't get to see much...
With holidays to use up before the year end, I agreed to meet Simon Williams on the Friday for four days of paddling. All week the weather had been looking extremely unpleasant, but surprisingly on the Friday it turned out not too bad. We agreed to paddle from Cemlyn Bay and to potter around...
The forecast for Sunday deteriorated overnight Saturday and the winds were going to swing around to the NW from just after midday. So, we decided to paddle once again from Newport and paddle in the other direction, up the coast to Ceibwr Bay as a one way trip. This should see us off the...
The weather was not looking too good for this weekend and many people dropped out in the week prior, leaving just Fiona (the organiser), Lynette and me making it to Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. We paddled from Newport to Fishguard, around Dinas Island, along some spectacular coast line, stopped for lunch in Lower Town and paddled...
Brian wanted big and bouncy and having arrived at Porth Dafarch for 9:00am, it is what we got. You could easily see the white horses of the breaking waves out at sea. We paddled around the coast towards Penrhyn Mawr, giving Mini Mawr a wide birth. It was fairly hard going with a big...
Battered and a little bruised from my surf kayak exploits at Rhosneigr the day before, I met Brain as pre-arranged at the Anglesey Truck stop 9am Saturday. We both acquiesced to decline breakfast at the truck stop and get on with paddling. As it turned out both of us are not exactly fans the...
Storm Lorenzo, previously Hurricane Lorenzo, but thankfully downgraded to a storm, was forecast to hit our shores on Thursday 3rd October. Looking at the surf forecast (Magic Seaweed) I noticed they were forecasting 5 star surf for Friday at Rhosneigr! Surely this cannot be possible? Well, I had to see this for myself and...
Keefy Green messaged me earlier in the week, asking me if I fancied going along on simon B's trip to Flamborough. I have to admit I wasn't at all sure. Simon B tends to paddle from South Landing to North Landing and back again. It always seems a long way to go for such...
Well into my second week of my holiday, I finally got to paddle my Valley Sirona. We were touring Devon and Cornwall, in the campervan, and had worked our way to the end at Sennen Cove, then worked our way along the north coast of Cornwall. We were now beginning to make our way...
I had arranged to meet Kris, Si and anyone else who was interested at the Holyhead truck stop cafe for 0900. Kris had a plan to paddle to South Stack and then to paddle PM tidal race later in the day. As we left the Truck Stop, Kris bumped into a friend of his...
About ten miles from Holyhead on the Friday night, it started to rain. I think drizzle was expected, but certainly not this. Anyway I parked up at Dafarch for the night and settled in for a good nights rest. Early the next morning, it was fairly dull, but at least it was no...
I somehow managed to buy a new boat during the week between my previous paddle and this weekend! It all started last week; as I was slipping in my spare paddles under the bungie cord on the deck of my Valley Etain, the bungie went snap. I managed to bodge it together enough to...
So is it Harry Furlough's or Harry Furlongs? Ordnance Survey reckon it is "Harry Furlough's" as does Welsh Sea Kayaking, and yet the chart definitely says Harry Furlong's! Searching the internet I found: "Harry Furlough's Rocks, sometimes said to be a misspelling of furlong from the length of the rocks". I'll use both terms...
I've just come across a little booklet written by the UK Sepsis Trust. I wish I had been told about this following my little sepsis episode a year ago. Or at least been given some of the info by the hospital when they discharged me. But then again, if I was told, I would...
With 18 of us in the group it was a bit like being on a symposium paddle! With the briefings completed we set off from Egremont across the Mersey to see the sights of Liverpool, as we were whisked along by the current. We were supposed to be a tight group crossing the Mersey,...
With the weather looking a bit wild (F5-F8) on the West Coast of Wales, I posted if anyone was interested in a Flamborough trip on the Sunday. It turned out Sabina was already on planing on heading to Flamborough. So, 10:00 am meet at South Landing, on the water for 10:30 was agreed. Simon...
