Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
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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...
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...
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 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...
The weather forecast was looking good for a morning paddle, with the winds increasing over lunchtime. So Andy and I decided a trip to Harry's would be a good option, leaving us plenty of time to get home. Due to the swell, Harry's was fairly messy, but it was still good fun catching the...
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...
Having bought a Surf Kayak earlier in the year, I decided rather rashly to enter the British Surf Kayak Championships. Besides it was going to be held in Northern Scotland, Thurso, just a stones throw from John O'Groats. I had heard about the world class surf waves often found on the North Coast of...
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...
This was a short paddle around the Plymouth Breakwater and Plymouth Sound whilst on holiday. The breakwater wasn't as interesting as I had imagined, but was worth doing all the same. Interestingly, I was stalked by a motor launch (MOD?) for quite a while as I think they thought I had intentions on landing...
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...
