Welcome To Go Sea Kayak

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!

Sunday 29 January 2012

Too Fresh For Rescue's (part 2)...

After yesterday's awesome paddle & early rise I could have happily stayed in bed this morning. instead I was up at 07:30 to meet Pete & Gareth who wanted to run through some rescues.
Hmmm, been here before, they'll soon change their mind when they put their pinkies in the water, & they did :D
Instead we chose to do some towing & see what else turns up. As it happened some good opportunities arose to teach reading the currents.
I pop off for a warm up Whilst Gareth & Pete get ready. A reasonably high tide is showing at the fixed cardinal mark.
 The ladies are finally ready ;D
 A quick look at the old harbour wall to warm up.
 Barry Island.
A nice bit of flow at the tip of Nell's Point. I explain to Gareth that this is why I made good progress staying closer in whist he worked up a sweat further out.
 Smoother in the lee of Barry Docks entrance.
Then on to Bendricks rock, amazingly a fisherman had trapped himself intentionally on this small rock that can be accessed at low water.
With some nice flow, (a little more than I think they were expecting) it was a good location for rock hopping & experimenting with turns in a dynamic environment. Gareth was having fun.
 A good place for scraping your hull too.
 Time for Gareth to practice some towing.
 "Yeah, If you could just take me back to the car".
OK, so he wasn't falling for that one :D

More tidal tips on the way back as I sat in the swirly flowing water off Nells point easily leaving the other two behind who were working hard just out of the main flow. Well I did say follow me :D
I waited for them to catch up, Gareth was first & surprised how fast we were going without paddling. Gotta love the Bristol Channel...

Danger Mouse...

Up at 5AM today to get to Stuarts by 7AM & hitch a lift in his van to meet up with Noel at Llangennith in the Gower.  Then off to Hill End campsite to drop off Stuarts van & squeeze our kayaks onto Noels car roof for the drive to the start point, Oxwich Bay.
I think we were all giggles arriving at Oxwich to perfect conditions bathed in beautiful early morning light.
The forecast looked calm enough to risk  using my Canon 5D MK2 so I did, though its fair to say your certainly more twitchy in the boat holding a 2 grand camera in your hands :o
A short hop around the headland & were were on our way to Port Eynon, a place I have very happy camping memories from my Wales exped.

Stuart at Culver hole, supposedly a medieval dovecot though I prefer pirate stories to pigeon fanciers tales.
Breathtaking scenery as we near the Worms Head.
A quick beach stop & Stuart starts the debate of 'why the hell haven't we done this before?'.
I've only paddled her once & I promised myself a return paddle, which I've now done, though Stuart has got a point, think a few more Gower trips are on the cards :D
Dumb & Dumber, though not as dumb as the pr*ck with the camera :D. Nice headgear Noel ;D
Leaving the beach we spot what look like huge waves out on the Worms Head & they look to be breaking pretty far out but it was just a play on perspective tricking our eye's.
The tip & West side of the Worms Head finally gave me some play time with some fun swells to play in right next to the cliffs, I was a happy bunny. I played in the rocks, popped into a cave & smiled at the seal's & probably amused Noel & Stuart with a couple of close calls in the rocks.

We ended the day with a tentative surfing session, the waves were only small 2-3 feet, occasionally just over head height. There was no wind so these were all swell, powerful, steep & dumping into the soup, a bit scary.
The first one I caught picked me up like a rocket, as it turned me side on I looked up to see a curler about to dump on my head. I did not expect to stay upright? lucky I guess.
I was a bit more nervous after that but we all had a play & caught some fab waves finally packing up after I did an inverted bongo slide :D
Back at Oxwich & the sun was starting to set, I've no idea how we were out so long as it ain't that far for a paddle. Just trying to prolong a fab day out I spose...

Oh, & in case you were wondering why the post is called danger mouse? I saw a video of surfing mice & had the Danger Mouse theme in my head whilst I was catching waves ;D

Sunday 22 January 2012

Reluctant Surfers...

With only one Glam Boaters free this weekend I decided to cancel the more gentle planned trip & go look for some action with Stuart (sorry Pete).

We decided to meet at Aberthaw & decide from there where we were going to paddle. Arriving at Aberthaw it wasn't looking inviting at all. Good F5-6 conditions & slight to moderate sea state but it was very messy & gusting. The long portage to the LW mark put us off too so we headed off to look at Barry Old Harbour.
Despite the idyllic looking beach scene it's actually bloody windy & I was fancying having a day off. Luckily Stuart was with me so I had to give myself a kick up the Arse & get on with it :D
It's good to paddle with friends when your feeling lazy.
Looking out at the surf from the car was disconcerting but I was soon keen to go once I was sat in my kayak.
We were planning to paddle to Rhoose a short distance away & follow the turning tide back but it was pretty choppy out there so we decided to practice surfing which was interesting as I'm a bit of a coward in surf that breaks onshore & Stuarts not a huge fan either.

Pic by Stuart...

I couldn't turn around into this wave so I ended up back-paddling. It looked bigger from where I was sat?
 I wonder if Stuart was thinking he should have done something else today?
 Riding up on a small wave.
These were breaking quite far from the shore & the occasional set were pretty big. I took a big one in the face paddling out & was quite glad I hadn't caught it going the other way.
Surfing in, Image By Stuart...
Stuart Having Fun Paddling Back Out...
In The Soup, Image by Stuart...

I think the day out did us both good practice wise, we both caught nice waves & buried our bows surfing in on a few. I even ended up bracing with my paddle above my head which was quite amusing.


The waves were pretty decent but not huge which was good for me as I was practicing my edging & leaning on the waves & trying to get a feel for the surf & some semblance of control.
I think kayak skills are important in surfing a sea boat though ultimately when you catch a wave you submit yourself to nature & Fortuna as you will be quite out of control riding in. The skills are there to minimise the lack of control & minimise the capsizing & hopefully get you sunny side up again when Poseidon is laughing at you.

I'm glad I got off my arse now ;D


Sunday 15 January 2012

Brass Monkeys...

I met up with Gareth (from the Glam boaters) today with the intention of paddling from the Knap to Ogmore. We met up at the Knap, locked the kayaks to the post's in the image below & headed off in the cars so we could leave one at the other end.
I wasn't 100% sure about the trip plan as it was about 18 miles & would probably be finishing after dark & pushing against a little tide as it started to flood at 16:30.
Driving passed Aberthaw I looked at the sea & saw plenty of white horses. If its like that here it's gonna be worse at Ogmore? I pull over & discuss a change of plan. With gareth in agreement we now headed to Llantwit Major, left his van there & headed back to the kayaks.
 Despite the sunshine its actually pretty nippy.
 Nice & calm here though I know what's coming.
 The waves start picking up at Rhoose & we start having fun.

 All calm again for a little bit.
 Starts getting messier again at Aberthaw.
 Quite lively at the tower.
 Then calm again?
 Then more yeehaa!
 We start working hard trying to surf the waves & both got some nice runs :)
 Leaving Aberthaw my mind turns to pictures.
I should be keeping hold of the paddle but instead I practice one handed low braces with the camera in the other.
It kinda bugs me that photos never really look like what you were paddling in so I persevere trying to get a good shot as the waves pass under me & toss me around.


 In the trough between two waves, I was having fun.
So was Gareth & I heard occasional shouts has he caught waves in his Delphin.


Almost there & one last attempt at capturing the choppy sea, still doesn't really show how lively it was. Despite the wind & tide on our backs we spent the whole trip trying to keep a consistent paddle stroke but the conditions were having none of it. It wasn't huge, just messy, choppy & fun. Good practice.
Me at the end of the trip trying not to look cold ;D Cheers for the company Gareth, it was a good day out :D
I think I'll have a couple of days off paddling as I've done three in a row now & 4 this week. I'll soon get bored though...