Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
Sea Kayaking Anglesey is a small company that specialises in sea kayak courses.
Based on Holy Island, Anglesey, probably the best place in the world for sea kayaking, we are able to offer an exciting range of courses whatever your level of ability.
The sheltered bays, stunning scenery and abundant wildlife appeal to those looking for an introduction to sea kayaking, while the offshore islands, rugged cliffs and complex tides appeal to those looking for more advanced conditions.
This variety allows us to make the most of the wind, wave and tide forecasts so we can make sure you always get the most out of your sea kayaking course with us.
Hopefully see you on the water soon,
Phil Clegg
Find out more at: http://www.seakayakinganglesey.co.uk/
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...
I had arranged to meet Kris, Si and anyone else who was interested at the Holyhead truck stop cafe for 0900. Kris had a plan to paddle to South Stack and then to paddle PM tidal race later in the day. As we left the Truck Stop, Kris bumped into a friend of his...
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...
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...
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...
Day 1 Skills with Roger Chandler. We paddled from Cemlyn bay and did skills on Harry Furlongs tidal race before heading towards Carmel head. I saw some Dolphins over lunch and thought I was seeing things. Roger later identified them as Risso Dolphins. This was a tough day with me making mistakes as...
As this was a solo paddle I called up the coast guard on my new DSC VHF radio . This was the first time I had actually called the coast guard using dsc to provide trip details and having prepped all my responses, ready for the coast guard (ie. where departing from,...
Rhoscolyn towards Trearddur (Porth Diana) and back with Phil Clegg, Andy, Khrista and Annette. The wind was slightly NE, force 4 gusting F5. We went out to the Beacon and had a play in the tide race against the wind. A few surf waves were to be had downwind, but then required a huge...
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,...
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...
The Skerries off Anglesey, is one of those magical places in our world. It's not easy to get to, especially from a kayakers perspective as it is surrounded by strong tidal streams. But it is well worth the effort. Especially when the Terns are nesting. I have to say, I have long admired Tern's...
It was a big spring tide weekend, but with HW around midday it was not the best time-wise for getting on the water at 10:30am. I paddled with PL and Abo. Due to the prevailing weather conditions, everyone with a sea kayak on Anglesey seemed to have the same idea. The car park at...
Sunday 20th March. My last day of paddling on my long weekend before heading back to the daily grind. I paddled this time with PL and Brian. Brian had a brand new boat to christen. We decided to paddle from Porth Eilean to play in tidal race as the tide would be ebbing. We...
The day after the four star training with Roger Chandler, I met up with Plum Loaf for a paddle. We decided on paddling to North Stack as the tides worked well for this trip. The tides were Mean Neap tides. Before setting off, I did some more fiddling with my boats outfitting. Penrhyn Mawr when...
Sunday 24th May This recent bank holiday weekend saw me driving over to Anglesey (again) on Sunday to meet up with my paddle buddy. The original plan was to go out to the Skerries, but the wind from the NW had other ideas. So we settled on meeting at Borth Wen, Rhoscolyn at the...
The 2015 Anglesey Sea kayak Symposium has been running for around 30 years, hosted at the Anglesey Outdoors Centre, just outside Holyhead. I had heard about this event many times over the years and thought it sounded like a good idea to get my self along to it. So on the first May bank...
I did my 3 star Sea Kayak Assessment on Friday 20th February 2015 and I passed! The track above is from my GPS. As you may be able to see we had a really good surfing session just off Valley Airfield (all that scribble on the right of the picture). According to my GPS,...
After a very early start (I left home at 05:40) I arrived at Anglesey, just in time to see Rob emerging from his car at 08:30, parked at Porth Dafarch. Rob had traveled over the night/morning before, from Lincoln and spent what was left of the night sleeping in his car under two duvets....
Unfortunately my paddling buddy wasn't feeling very well on Tuesday and decided not to paddle. This was a difficult decision for him as we had planned and discussed the trip to the Skerries the night before. But he said there was no point in him trying to paddle, only to have a problem whilst...
Monday morning saw my paddle buddy and myself meeting with Phil Clegg (of Sea Kayaking Anglesey) at Anglesey Outdoors and deciding where to paddle. After lots of discussion and referencing of tide tables, guidebooks, weather forecasts, surf/swell forecasts etc, a good mug of tea and using Phil's expert knowledge of these races, we decided...
