Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
Anglesey or Ynys Môn is an island off the north west coast of Wales. Two bridges span the Menai Strait, connecting it to the mainland: the Menai Suspension Bridge designed by Thomas Telford in 1826 and the Britannia Bridge. Formerly part of Gwynedd, Anglesey, Holy Island and other smaller islands now make up the Isle of Anglesey County.
Almost three quarters of the inhabitants are Welsh speakers and Ynys Môn, the Welsh name for the island, is used for the UK Parliament and National Assembly constituencies. With an area of 714 square kilometers (276 sq mi), Anglesey is the largest Welsh island, the fifth largest surrounding Great Britain and the largest in the Irish Sea.
What a super day this turned out to be, with bright sunshine, lovely conditions and all in the middle of January. Having met up with Andy and Ann, in their new van, on the Friday, Andy and I set off from Porth Dafarch, on Saturday morning, with the plan of paddling to Rhoscolyn and...
After a day off after my trip around Anglesey, I paddled with Curly at Harry's. The sea was nice and smooth on the paddle out and Harry's was working nicely. There was nothing too big, but lots of fun, all the same. We were joined by lots of Terms, dive bombing into the water,...
For some time now I've been thinking about paddling around Anglesey. Having read the various blogs out there, by various paddlers who have completed this challenge, I decided I must have a go. Besides, there are just two small sections of Anglesey I had not paddled, so if anything, it will complete the missing...
Owain told me he had not paddled on the North coast of Anglesey, so I said I would see what I could do. Looking at the tides I could see that if we went from Bull Bay with the tide towards Middle Mouse, the tide would turn at 12:24 and bring us back again....
This Saturday saw me paddling with Owain, a friend I've known for some time from paddling the white water course at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. Owain was in Anglesey with Nottingham Kayak Club, although most of the NKC group had signed up to paddle with Roger Chandler of Coastal Spirit for the day. Owain...
On Sunday we paddled from Cable Bay down towards Llanddwyn Island. We didn't get there as we stopped off at the Church in the Sea (Cribinau), followed by Port y Cwch beach for lunch. We perhaps stayed too long on the beach. After all, it was a glorious day. We did a big beach...
Saturday saw me going to meet the gang at Rhosneigr 9:00am sharp for some super surfing. Since my last trip out in my surf boat I had found it had foot pegs, buried behind a load of foam. I had also sorted out the backrest and so it was all good to go. The...
On the Sunday, I spent the morning trying out my newly acquired Mega Bullitt'S' out on some fairly average surf at Rhosneigr. The sets were still coming in, but now the period between the sets seemed to be about every five or so minutes. The waves were much smaller than the day before. Still...
Looking out to sea from my van parked at Porth Dafarch in the morning the sea state didn't look too bad, but every now and again I would notice some fairly hefty waves coming into the bay. I'd then look out a few minutes later and all would appear calm again. Hmmm.. interesting. I had...
During a rash moment over Christmas I booked onto an Advanced Sea Kayak assessment. I thought, "March, It'll be warming up by then". Wrong! It was only the week of the "Beast from the East". Even so, I travelled up to Anglesey after work on the Tuesday night, arriving at Anglesey Outdoors close to...
Dave and I headed for Rhosneigr on Sunday hoping for some Surfing fun. When we arrived we were a little disappointed as there was not a great deal going on, but we decided to get on anyway. We were glad we did, with the surf picking up as the tide went out. It wasn't...
Having arranged to paddle Harry Furlongs on Saturday, I headed to Cemlyn bay in my van, late on Friday night, arriving at around 11:30pm. Next morning the weather was lovely and sunny and the sea state smooth. No sooner had I taken my boat of the van and carried it to the beach, I...
Kris was already at our meeting point as we arrived at the Point Lynas roundabout. No more than a couple of minutes later, we were joined by Wendy with her Rockpool Isel demo boat. We quickly unloaded the boats, before moving the cars back up the hill to the carpark. As expected the north...
With the weather forecast for SW F5 gusting to F7 there was much debate among the various groups at Anglesey Outdoors as to where would be best for a paddle. Having had a little drive down the coast to Trearddur Bay and seen the various conditions, it was an easy decision, head for the Menai...
After a very late night in the Paddlers Return for some and promises of being ready for an 08:30 meeting, I was somewhat surprised to see everyone looking fairly bright eyed and bushy tailed at 08:30!! Perhaps the hang-overs hadn't kicked in yet! We then spent the next 20 minutes deciding to do Puffin...
With the wind being f3-f4 NW and a reasonable swell forecast, I led a group of three paddlers: Keith, Spencer and Paul. This day I was paddling a Valley Gemini SP, lent to me by Valley. It is a lovely looking boat in nice metallic Blue with a funky white stripe down the middle...
At this years NWSK end of season meet, Jimski suggested one possible trip would be to do the Stacks. Four of us decided to join him, along with his friend Ashleigh. The paddlers were Jimski, Ashleigh, Alan, Chris, Graham and moi. Everyone else decided to go to Rhoscolyn. Setting off from Porth Dafarch we...
After another good night in the Paddlers bar, with great food (as always), great atmosphere and excellent real ales, much talk had been about the likelihood of some reasonable surf conditions the next day. And so, it was decided to meet up open Sunday at the Roadking transport cafe for breakfast for 9:30. Despite...
As there were a few of us we split in to two groups initially. Then following a little exploratory trip out from the shelter of Borthwen, we became three groups. I paddled with Andy, Kris, Trevor. The wind was blowing a good F5/F6 and there was some big swell coming in.We paddled out to...
After another wet and windy night, I woke to the sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the roof of my van. Eating breakfast and drinking coffee in the warmth of my centrally heated van, I looked out of the windows at people scurrying about in the rain. Hellen Willetts was on the telly giving...
