Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
We decided on a late-autumn getaway to Dubrovnik, perfect for exploring the iconic old town and unwinding a bit. For those who love Game of Thrones, Dubrovnik’s old town is a must-see, and October turned out to be an ideal time to visit, with temperatures still comfortably in the mid-20s Celsius. We spent three...
With the first anniversary of my wife’s mother’s passing approaching, my wife felt it was time to scatter her mum’s ashes, along with those of her stepdad, "Six-Foot-Ten Ken." They had both loved Whitby, so we decided to hold the scattering at sea, just outside the harbour. The plan was for my wife to...
The sea was pretty rough and the sky overcast with rain at times, windy too! Quite a big back eddy had formed which meant I was against the tide coming back, hence why I stuck so close inshore on my return (see my gps track), using the groynes as much as possible to stay...
Holiday Paddle on the IOW. Ok so it's really called Yaverland, but due to me misreading the paper map, it became Jaberland and so it will always be (to me)! The photos and video captured the day really well Distance 10.5 nm Time: 2 hours What a fab paddle...
The photos and video captured the day really well Distance 10.5 nm Time: 3.4 hours Paddlers were: Ashley Si and Si What a fab paddle...
The photos and video captured the day really well. Not including the incident (reported to Canoe Wales - say no more) Distance 20 nm Time: 6 hours Paddlers were: Si and Si What a fab paddle...
The photos and video captured the day really well Distance 11.5 nm Time: 6 hours Paddlers were: Andy Ian Si and Si What a fab paddle...
The photos and video captured the day really well Distance: 9.2 Nm Time: 4h 41m Paddles: Ali Andy Bill Ian Si and Si. What a fab paddle...
The first paddle on the sea of 2024 and it's been a while in coming. What with the weather being dominated by low pressure systems for much of the later part of 2023, I have not been on the sea in ages. With light winds forecast for once, I decided to get up early,...
Friday, 15th September was a wet, wet day. Having been to Campbeltown in the morning to buy some whisky, I decided to go for a quick paddle out into Carradale Bay to see if I could catch some Mackerel for tea. Earlier that morning, before setting off to Campbeltown, I had been walking the...
For todays paddle in Lamlash bay, having made sure I was well outside the "No Take" zone, I had a little fish for some mackerel. My rig is very simple, a weight, with four lures on a hand spool of about 40 meters of mono filament line. On my first cast, I let the...
The Sugar Boat, or correctly named MV Captayannis was anchored off Greenock at the Tail of the Bank waiting to unload a cargo of raw sugar from East Africa for processing at the Tate and Lyle refinery when, on the night of 27th January 1974, a fierce gale caused her to drag her anchor....
Due to lots of non kayaking family related issues (its been a bit of a year!), this was going to be my first trip on the sea since the Isle of Wight circumnavigation in July! Despite hitting my local stretch of canal hard, you really cannot beat a good sea trip for upping the...
Today High Water would be at 10:28 Liverpool (British Summer Time). Hmmm.... Mid Morning HW's always makes for awkward trip planning for adventure seekers like Si and myself, due to the fact that the tide will be ebbing for much of day. For instance, the Stacks flood 4 hours and 50 minutes after HW,...
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...
The weather was set fair for Sunday, so what could be a better option? A trip out to the Skerries. We met up at Cemlyn Bay. A rather large group too, so Si and I decided to do our own thing, separate to the group. Mirco was leading the other group and planned on...
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...
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...
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...
