Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
My plan was to paddle across Gareloch to the house, opposite my house, and then head south towards Rhu Narrows, around to Kilcreggan, across to Helensburgh and return. Except, once on the loch I realised the wind was somewhat stronger than forecast and heading south for me was not going to be a good...
A week on from moving into my new house, I finally managed to get out on the water. It was most odd kitting up in my driveway, before walking with my trolley a few meters to the slipway to get access to the loch. I guess I am so used to packing the car...
Solo kayaking in my Taran from Whitby to Staithes - and back. Although due to a file corruption error on the GoPro Max, I only have footage of the Whitby to Staithes section and a little clip on the return leg. Conditions were not easy, due to large sets of swell coming in every...
After such a brilliant time in Looe yesterday in the Taran, I wasn’t ready to head home just yet. I booked into a campsite for two nights, giving myself a full day to make the most of paddling before driving home early Friday morning – and crucially, avoiding the dreaded Friday afternoon traffic. Eddystone...
First Date with a Rockpool Taran I’ve had a bit of a hankering for a Rockpool Taran for a while now — probably made worse by scrolling through the blistering times that Taran owners post on the Performance Sea Kayak pages. For the last few years, I’ve been paddling a Tiderace Pace 17 Tour...
A nice little trip around Bardsey Island (Ynys Enlli). I've been eyeing up Bardsey Island for a while. Now I was staying in Aberdaron and the weather was looking good, I had my chance. I had looked at the tides and studied various tidal stream atlases. But I had another parameter to account for,...
With temperatures set to soar well into the mid-30s in the East Midlands, we decided to head for the coast—somewhere cooler, with a nice sea breeze. Five and a half hours later, we finally arrived at the end of the Llŷn Peninsula in Aberdaron. There had been a bad accident on the M6, and...
Friday 6th June A quick paddle from Helensburgh Leisure centre. At first, I didn't have any plans on where I would head too. But on getting into my boat, I decided to head into the wind and against the ebbing tide. Low Water wouldn't be for a few hours so at least I would...
Monday 6th May I was up in Whitby visiting an old friend, with also the cheeky intension of getting a sea paddle in. Having looked at the forecast before setting off, I decided to take my surf boat along, as well as Tiderace Pace Tour 17, AKA "the Carrot", just in case the conditions...
So you may (or may not) be asking how come I've only logged one sea trip so far this year, and it is now April? Well, it's been a bit of a funny 2025 so far, with lots of family stuff happening. Mainly clearing and selling houses, and hopefully moving to Scotland, once we...
With high pressure in the forecast and little to no wind, I knew it was time to head out for some long-overdue sea kayaking. The year has been disappointing in terms of weather, so the chance to hit the water was too good to pass up. I recently visited Whitby for the Scatterings, so...
Another cold very grey day, saw Si, Keith and myself heading to Borthwen. We paddled out to Rhoscolyn Beacon, through the various tidal races, until we ended up looking at a rather sizeable race, just off the Beacon. Although it looked almost inviting, we all acquiesced to decline having a go. Firstly it was...
As you may, or may not have noticed, having bought the "Carrot" (An Orange Tiderace Pace 17 Tour) at the end of August, I did not take her to Anglesey for my paddles with Si, Wenders and Tom. I guess I wanted to check her out first, without rushing. Besides paddling in the Pace...
Another beautiful day... Tom Carlisle joined us today and once again we decided to head for Cemlyn Bay for the tide assisted push across the top of Anglesey. I also needed to get off home at Lunchtime, so we decided to paddle to Porth Wen (The Brickworks) , where I'd then paddle solo, back...
After our longish paddle yesterday, we were so stoked up and the conditions were once again perfect, Si and I decided to do the same trip again. But this time we planned on passing Point Lynas and heading around towards Ynys Dulas. Due to having other commitments Wenders was unable to join us. Once...
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...
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...
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...
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...
