Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
Sunday, the weather was not looking too promising. The forecast stated conditions would deteriorate with strong winds increasing throughout the day. So, after a hearty breakfast in the Paddlers, we decided to head for Trearddur Bay. Initially, we talked about heading around the coast towards Rhoscolyn, but soon after setting off from the beach,...
Saturday morning, I met up with Si, Keith and Ashley for breakfast in a little cafe at Valley. The reason for having breakfast here instead of in the Paddlers, was that Anglesey Outdoors and especially the Paddlers was heaving! If we'd had gone to the Paddlers, we would have been waiting for a very...
2022 was a bit of a weird year for me. It started off fairly normally, but from July I was increasingly busy with some family bereavements. Apart from my IOW circumnavigation and the Oban Sea Kayak Race which had been previously pencilled in on the calendar, if I did get any time to go...
I hate cold and wet, especially when you feel like you have just woken up and feel all warm. In fact, I had overslept and was still trying to wake up! The last thing you want (or need) is to get cold and wet. But we had decided to do a skills session at...
I think it is fair to say that Si, Keith and myself have a great fondness for paddling on the north coast of Anglesey. The rugged remote coastline, the islands - skerries, west mouse, Middle Mouse and East Mouse (I was going to say mice) along with the excellent wildlife, with plenty of birds,...
It's 2022 and suddenly there is a weather a window where its not blowing a hooley. What a better way to start 2022 with a little potter around The Stacks. Eight of us met at Porth Dafarch, it wasn't blowing at all, but it was a very grey dull day. We did the usual,...
Paddled with Wenders and Si. We decided to paddle across the top of Anglesey with the flood tide, lunch, then paddle back on the ebb tide. Managed to get as far as Porth Eilian, near Point Lynas, despite stopping for a leg stretch at Bull Bay. Saw some Porpoises around East Mouse. Some fairly...
I'd been thinking about doing the Holy Island trip for some time, but what with Covid, a knee replacement, a bicycle accident - which caused my bad knee to swell to the point I started getting DVT's (Deep Vein Thrombosis) in the calf muscle of my bad knee/leg, followed by a pulmonary embolism (from the...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The start of the day saw us meeting around Simon Beasley's caravan at Anglesey Outdoors looking at options for a paddle. The group of ten was going to be of mixed abilities and with a strong southerly wind blowing, our options were going to be limited. In the end it was decided to paddle...
After another rough nights camping, day 2 saw us head off to Penrhyn Mawr from Porth Dafarch for some excellent paddling and coaching by James in good 5 * conditions. I think at the end of the day we were all pretty tired and we had all identified areas we needed to improve. For...
On day 2 of the NWSK end of Season meet, I decided I fancied some more lumpy seas to play in so I paddled with Sue's group, which consisted of Graham Cooke, Alan Tonge, and Alan. We messed about in Penrhyn Mawr for a bit before setting off for lunch stop in Abraham's Bosom....
Penrhyn Mawr and South Stack with Phil Clegg, Andy, Krista and Annette. Krista was from Canada and Annette from Sweden. Phil asked Andy and I if we would join him to make the numbers up. We set off from Porth Dafarch and headed to Penrhyn Mawr. I practiced my roll in the outer race,...
Once again a visit to Penrhyn Mawr, this time with Tani and Seda. Both are doing their 4 star with me next weekend. We did lots of skills - rescues self rescues rolls in the flow, on a fairly lumpy Penrhyn Mawr as swell was coming across the waves. On the way back we...
Penrhyn Mawr again with Brian, Andy Sloan and Dave Blake's group. We all got there far too early. We (Brian and moi) told them it was far too early after the night before, but they insisted on a 9:30 on the water. Hey ho. Another hour in bed would have been nice. When we...
