Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
With another weekends weather forecast for Anglesey still not looking too good, I didn't think I would get a sea boat trip in this weekend. Then Kris posted on Facebook "how about a trip on the Mersey"? There was a flurry of responses and we agreed to meet outside the Ferry Pub on Tobin...
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...
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...
Having bumped into Abo in the Paddlers the night before, followed by a solid nights sleep (thanks to Abo showing me the delights of a Welsh Pale Ale which I cannot remember the name of, and err the green and yellow label was it?), I joined Abo and PL at Rhoscolyn. Both Abo and PL...
After seeing my wife and daughter off on Saturday morning to see the ballet in Sheffield, I set off for Anglesey. Leaving home, near Nottingham at this time would mean not arriving to Anglesey until 1300-1330 in the afternoon. But seeing as I am away for the week, to do my 5 star training,...
The deal was to meet at the Lighthouse cafe at 10:00. Due to someone forgetting their drysuit, then getting their partner, in mid hair dyeing mode, to drive halfway and meet with said drysuit, two of the party were, ahem, let's say a little late. Chris Fisk and I proceeded straight to North Landing to...
The photos below say it all really. Andy and I arranged to meet at 10:00 am at Cable Bay (Porth Trecastell in Welsh). Setting off from home at 6:00 am it was a chilly -2 C. The temperature didn't change much on the trip to Anglesey. Needless to say it was pretty cold.On the...
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...
After a wet night (internally) in the Paddler's Return bar at Anglesey Outdoors, with Dave Blake and few others, we decided a surfing session at Rhosneigr was in order for Sunday. Just ten minutes into the session, Mike was hit by another Sea kayaker, resulting in a very nasty cut from his neck out...
