2017-04-06 Five Star Training – Day 4
A trip to the Skerries practising leadership navigation skills with a great group of paddlers.Another fabulous paddle with lots of learning from James Stevenson...
2016-10-28 Rhosneigr to Rhoscolyn and back
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,...
2016-10-20 Rhoscolyn Solo
The start of my four day weekend saw me doing a chilled out solo paddle from Rhoscolyn down to the Airfield for a bit of surfing, then back up to the Beacon. The weather was excellent with light winds and a clear blue sky. Near to the Cymyran straits there were some fairly reasonable...
2016-10-09 Penrhyn Mawr Again!
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...
2016-10-08 Penrhyn Mawr with Brian Cunningham
Although it was neaps, Penrhyn Mawr outer race was rather pleasant with some good surfs to be had. Middle wasn’t that good for surfing, but good for skills etc. Managed a Reentry roll in the outer flow along with some rolls. My first roll was incredibly slow and I had to pull the boat around...
2016-07-31 The Skerries from Porth Camaes
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...
2016-05-08 Puffin Island
Sunday saw HW Liverpool being at 12:59, so we decided to paddle out to Puffin Island. This paddle works well for getting home at a reasonable time, as it is err... "sort of" on the way home! From studying the guide books, Cruising Anglesey and Welsh Sea kayaking we could see that leaving from...
2016-03-20 Porth Eilean to Ynys Dulas and Back
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...
2016-03-20 Porth Eilean to Ynys Dulas and Back
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...
2016-03-19 Porth Dafarch to North Stack and back
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...
2016-02-28 Cemlyn Bay to Bull Bay
Paddled with Plum Loaf and three ex-marines, so plenty of banter!! We ran a car shuttle, leaving one car at the start and two cars at Bull Bay. One of the marines was fairly new to sea kayaking, so we needed to ensure he was ok with the trip. Setting off from Cemlyn Bay...
2015-12-13 Anglesey Weekend – Surfing at Cable Bay
This video says it all really. Fun times... https://youtu.be/iBLo4rrDI4k...
2015-12-12 Anglesey Weekend
When you've made plans for a weekends paddling in Anglesey and the weather turns really bad, what do you do? Well, there is always some messing about in tidal currents at Four Mile Bridge. This was about the only place on the island we could have found to paddle in the 50mph plus winds....
2015-10-28 Kerrera – Gylen Castle
Setting off from Oban Harbour on pan flat seas, I decided to circumnavigate the island of Kerrera. I've circumnavigated Kerrera three times in the Oban Sea Kayak Race, but this time I would take my time and enjoy the sights. This day was the lull before the storm, with high winds forecast for the...
2015-10-26 Oban, Lismore, Shuna Island, Castle Stalker
Setting off from Oban harbour, less than a hundred meters from our apartment, this 16.5 miles solo paddle proved to be a great days paddling despite the weather not being at its best. The wind dictated my direction as it was blowing F4-F5 from the South East. Also the tide, for once, was on...
2015-08-30/31 Paddling into the wind and tide… Arisaig
The day after the Oban Sea Kayak Race I headed to Arisaig with the hope of being able to get out to the islands. The weather looked like the wind would be easing for a couple of days at least, before picking up again mid week. Soon after setting off I realised that a...
2015-06-20 Simon’s “Long Paddle” – Whitby, Staithes, Whitby
With my regular kayaking buddy away in Canada, I decided I needed a paddle and ideally a "long paddle". I contacted the kayaking email group to see who was up for it. With it being Father's day on Sunday 21st June, Saturday was deemed to be the best day for those allowed out. So...
2015-05-24/25 Anglesey Again
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...
2015-04-18/19 Olly Anglesey Coaching Weekend
Saturday 18th April Once again after a very early start I arrived at Anglesey Outdoors for 9:00am on a Saturday morning. This weekend, organised by Sabina Neall, saw twelve "East Coast Sea kayakers" meeting together at Anglesey Outdoors for a coaching weekend with Olly Sanders. It was a big tide weekend and we were...
2015-03-08 Filey to Cayton Bay and back (in the rain)
On the drive up to Filey, early on Sunday morning the weather looked really promising. The sunrise was spectacular, lighting up the scenery to the point that if you had taken a photograph, people would say it was photo-shopped, the contrast and strength of the light was so strong. What also made for a...
