Rough Water Handling

Having done a little bit of kayaking ,being foolhardy , I wanted some wild stuff so went for a course called rough water handling, a weekend course in north Wales

Did we find rough water ? By heck we did.

Actually I was scared stiff with the three foot high waves in the tiderace, particularly when the others disappeared in the troughs. Expecting to capsize at any moment I wondered if the others would notice as I was at the back of the group

We stopped at this tiny little island with its strange tower , there were many seabirds so it was smelly and noisy ! The other guys managed great in the rough

There were some interesting caves accessible only from the sea

Next day we paddled down the Menai Straits with the tide for six miles. The current was strong as you can see, but we had some fun. In the picture on the right is Ross who is a level five coach and writes for a national magazine.

Our instructor Roger enjoyed playing in the Swellies, the water was fast!

Pulling the boats up this little slipway just past the bridges was a relief for tired backs , arms and bums!

sea kayaking

Some Sea Kayaking

The 27 April 2010 found me on Anglesey for the start of five days of sea kayaking .You never know what the sea has reserved for you so we had full satety gear including pumps and flares .All the guys on the course had some experience of kayaking

As you can see we used Capella boats made in good old Nottingham . One of us had a Scorpio (me actually). We found lots of rock gardens and sheltered coves to play in. Out of the cove the wind was stirring up a swell

           On the beach at glorious Llandudno discussing the plan, we felt a little out of place

One day we launched from the north beach at Llandudno and paddled round the headland.Slightly more committing as the cliffs are very high for three miles on the north side, so for our lunch break the only place to stop was halfway up a cliff. That was not easy climbing the cliff with five kayaks,but you fell the landing was soft!!

Next day we went to Puffin Island seen here below .When the tide is out you can walk there,but when its in there are often strong currents and tideraces. The island is home to many seabirds, but not many puffins! Some seals followed us for half an hour, maybe we looked edible

Another day we went to Point Lynas on Anglesey north coast and parked up the boats in this little creek .

We tried various self rescue techniques in the sheltered area ,even in calm water its very hard to do this,heaven knows its twice as hard in the rough stuff.You have to get back in the boat as fast as possible as the cold  water saps your strength in seconds ,and in minutes you could be dead !!

Welsh Wales

Having done 15 years of rope climbing, a change was needed so:
In 2010  I started  some serious kayaking early on. This is me on the left on a white water course run by pyb . It was a five day residential course , accommodation was in Capel Curig , but due to low water levels we paddled at Llangollen every day except the last, when we went to the river Trewyn near Bala .which was an hours drive down winding bumpy roads in a  minibus . It was huge fun although being march the water was as cold as it could be and falling in took your breath away literally .There were only three of us on the course which was a fine number

One day we paddled along this canal which for some reason ran next to the river but slightly up the hill !!. From the end of the canal we could access more of the rapids on the river Dee . Here we are doing a seal launch. Can you believe it only rained once in five days in wet Wales !!!