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Welcome To The Go Sea Kayak Blog...
This Blog is A Record Of My Personal Adventures And Wonderful Kayaking Lifestyle. It Is Also A Taster Of What You Can Expect If You're Adventurous Enough To Tag Along. Why Not Get In Touch And Join One Of Go Sea Kayaks Guided Trips On The Beautiful Mediterranean Island Of Sardinia, You Won't Regret it!

Friday 29 April 2011

4 Star Training...

On Wednesday the 27th of April I headed back up to Anglesey for two days of 4 star sea leader training with Adventure Elements .
The first day we started working on leadership, rescues & towing as well as being shown how & why the sea flows & creates eddy currents in the way it does & how these affect the water around headlands.
The Other Students, Simone, Graham & Kayak Steve were great company & made both days enjoyable & a good laugh.
On the first day our instructor was James who thankfully explained things really well & gave me plenty of things to think about & work on not to mention a great explanation of why the tides run for longer than the standard 6 hours.
I did take my camera but forgot to pop the freshly charged batteries in it (LOL).
We paddled from Bull Bay on the North of the Island & followed the coast east on the ebbing tide to Porth Wen, returning on the flood. 
It was I fab day but I was bloody freezing after the rescues we did in a tidal race...
Day 2 & we were in Cemaes Bay, again in the North, under the watchful gaze of Wylfa nuclear power station...
 A quick debrief with Dave leading today & we were off...



It was lovely & calm to start with but as soon as we pushed around the headland the sea really picked up as the powerful back eddy we were in felt the tide & wind. The conditions were just above the remit for the 4 star leader & made ideal if slightly twitchy practice...
After  a while we turned towards middle mouse, just as a bearing to get into the main flow, you can really sea the difference having the wind with the tide makes & my sphincter was able to stop crushing walnuts :)
After surfing a few swells on the way back we head into a quiet part of the bay for another debrief & explanation on the flows & eddy currents that we just paddled through as well as a look down from the cliff-tops to really enlighten us. There was a lot of emphasis on flows & eddies currents & I felt I learnt a lot.

 Time for some rock-hopping...
After a few rescues amongst the rocks we make our way back & try to remember all that I've learnt. A final debrief & a talk on equipment & we were done.
A fab couple of days & really helps set me up for my Wales challenge, after which I hope to do the 4 star assessment though I'll probably do some more training first...

Monday 25 April 2011

Rescue At Sea & Lessons To Be Learnt...

Supposedly this was meant to be an easy, relaxing paddle to Flat Holm Island & back, but instead became a day of change, hard decisions & drama...

Setting out from Sully, our group now down to three as one paddler had family commitments & another misunderstood the meeting time.
We decided that as we were all reasonably experienced to change our route & head first to Steep Holm Island 7 miles out & then across to Flat Holm Island. Myself & Stuart have made the trip several times & Richie has been to Flat Holm a couple of times & is no novice to kayaking...

A quick roll to prepare myself...








We all have a play & a warm up before heading out. These first few images from the shore courtesy of Scott who couldn't make the paddle but is probably glad of that (LOL)...




An uneventful paddle to Steep Holm though Richie did complain of aching arms so I swapped paddles with him as mine's a lot lighter. We breifly discussed cutting the route short & heading for Flat Holm instead but Richie was happy to carry on...
We stopped briefly to paddle through the rudder as the tide was just the right height...
Nearly time for a rest & I think we all needed one by now...


Upon leaving Steep Holm things really went down for Richie, he was throwing up & not able to paddle despite giving his best. None of us had a tow rope so I tried to contact tow him as I wanted us to land on Flat Holm & deal with the situation there though he didn't have the energy to hold his bow alongside with his legs & kept drifting out.
We scratched our heads trying to think what we had available to improvise a tow just to get is the couple of miles to Flat Holm but had nothing that would work.
By now Richie was complaining of pins & needles in his hand & feet which made me nervous & I knew that I'd have to call for help.
Despite having recently passed my 'short range radio' license exam I must admit that I didn't handle the call very well. I was reluctant to class the call as a 'Mayday' which in hindsight I should have done & I didn't evan use the paraphrase of 'Pan Pan'. I made a routine call to the coastguard on channel 16 & explained our situation. I think I evan neglected to ask for help, leaving them to guess what we required.
During the call 'Cardiff Sea Safaris' were thankfully listening & in the area & came & gave Richie a lift...
That left me & Stuart waiting for the coastguard with a spare boat. As we were intending to make our own way back we couldn't afford to drift to far from Flat Holm so we improvise a short tow with the string from my GPS case. It wouldn't of worked with Richie in the boat & it did snap on the first attempt but at least we were making progress.
It got a bit hairy towing as we now had wind against tide conditions & the sea started picking up quite a bit. The coastguard soon arrive & took the empty boat from us which I'm very grateful for as it was my spare kayak & they've no obligation to rescue equipment. Top blokes!
They offered us a lift but we decided that we were more than happy to carry on despite the tide now being at full flow, about 8 knots I was later told...
Despite having to go upstream to reach Flat Holm I knew that such a large Island would have a big lee from the main flow & that was what we were heading for so that we could paddle into the shore...
Looking out from Flat Holm it didn't look to promising, the tide was ripping & there were lots of white horses & some big waves.
I knew that there was little chance of hitting Sully unless we turned against the flow & ferry glided across. We literally had to aim for Penarth to hold a course for Sully but this had us side in the the waves most of the time.
Approaching the Wolves it was clear just how fast the tide was running. There was large breaking waves rising over the Wolves to our left & we were drifting side on to the at alarming speed. We paddled hard hoping to pass the end of them but the tide was too fast & we were pulled in & having to surf & bongo slide several miles from shore.
I was preparing my roll in my head as it was looking quite likely that I may need it. A big wave passed me, I was looking up at it, then another, I looked behind & saw another one bearing down on me, I caught this one & it pushed me out of the rough water & into relative calm in comparison, I watched Stuart, waiting for him to emerge & I think he had a grin on his face (LOL), think he's getting the hang of surfing!
Passed the rough water I take a shot of the Wolves, leaning in the flow. It was quite an eye opener to see the land shooting past behind the buoy as we finally had a visual reference of how fast the tide was flowing...

We arrived back at Sully two & a half hours overdue & the causeway to Sully Island had uncovered by now.

A few call's later & we learnt that Richie was taken to the hospital for tests but was well enough to later make his way home.

I know I should of handled things better during the day, I've recently passed my 3 star sea award, foundation safety & rescue & my SRC course so I'm a little disappointed with my performance but I will learn from this.

So what did I learn from today?
*Well, firstly I must get a tow rope!!!
*I need to be more decisive as I was hesitant to admit that we needed help.
*If I could go back I would have made a 'Mayday' call & let the coastguard downgrade it if need be.
*I must work on my radio communications & also specify what help that I require.

I've heard it said that when you think you need help, that is the time to call & I couldn't agree more.



To view our route with time info click here, this map is only available for seven days. after this time please view the map below...

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Feeling I'm Being Watched?

More of a test than a trip, it was meant to be a trip to Flat Holm but the forecaster fancied themself as a budding Michael Fish!
Heres the outlook, Wind, Easterly, F1-4 becoming 2-4, 18-21 knot gusts. Sea state, wavelets. I would have said F4-5 easily? And the 14.2 metre tide was making things rather confused around Sully Island.

You may notice the 'spot messenger' on my deck, thats the main reason for the trip today as I need to test it in preparation for my 'around Wales trip'. Click here for my tracked route. You'll notice how high the tide is as the map looks like a walking route (LOL).
This online map is only active for 7 days, after this time please view the map at the bottom of this post...
 A taste of whats to come as I round the West side of Sully Island...
 Calm by here but further to my right I can see messy 3 foot standing waves, I give them a wide berth...
I sat on the tip of Sully Island for about a minute thinking about Flat Holm but I could see waves rising like black shadows breaking the clean line of the horizon. I decide instead to head for lavernock & have a play there, It might be quite messy but at least its closer to the shore...
The water was coming from all directions as I pass back towards Ball Rock. Flow from the causeway, swell from the sandbar & a strong breeze just to make it a bit more messy...
 I did say it was a big tide, this is the beach at laverknock...


The sea came up to the tops of the cliffs on the back of Sully Island, almost making a second Island. Never seen it this high here before, a bit of a treat...
Perched on a steep bank about four feet from the water I chose to slide into the sea & make my way into the eddy on the far side of the causeway for some rolling practice & then a cup of tea :D

Monday 18 April 2011

Lazy day...

Firstly can I apologise for the 'colour popping', as a professional photographer I despise 'colour popping'  
but I was a bit bored & thought I try & do it subtly...
After about a month of paddling nearly every day day in preparation for my 'around Wales challenge' I've started to get a bit lazy. Yesterday (Friday) was stunning & perfect in every way but I needed a day off & this trip I had to force myself to get off my arse & get out...
Not sure where I was going except that I was at least going to go to Aberthaw, Thought I'd sneak onto Stuarts patch while he wasn't looking...

Nice & bumpy rounding Rhoose Point & onto Aberthaw, not the 'slight' conditions in the previous nights inshore forecast. Hit a little over 6 knots passing rhoose & I was using a very lazy paddle stroke...
I was expecting confused water at the cooling tower as that's what I found last time I came here but it was surprisingly calm, a few standing waves to play on & some bobbing on the way out but not what I was expecting after rounding Rhoose Point...

 Needed a pee :D

I carried on along the coast stopping just short of Llantwit Major, I had fancied going to Nash but I could see big ass waves down that way so was happing landing here instead...


An uneventful paddle back despite the following sea's. I caught a few swells by Fontygary hitting 7.8 knots on one wave (yehaa). A nice paddle but now for the tedium of rinsing my kit & spreading it all over the van to dry, wish it was warm enough to paddle naked :D