A Star Too Far...

Saturday the 7th of April saw me meeting up with Nick Cunliffe of Sea Kayak Essentials & Mark Tozer for my 5 star sea leader assessment on Anglesey.

Day one & after some chart tasks in the paddlers Return we then headed to Soldiers Point to start our skills assessment day. There would be leadership too but the emphasise was mainly skills. It was to be myself & Dave being assessed today, joining us on the water was Michael who was helping to make up the numbers as one person was unable to make the assessment.
Our route for the day took us around North Stack & down to South Stack before returning to our start point, a long portage back to the cars & an hours rest before making our way to Trearddur Bay for the night paddle.
I must admit that my preconceptions of taking some bearings off some buoys was a long way from what was expected. Mark would basically point to a location on the map & ask me to lead the group to that spot. And he wanted to know how far it was & how long it would take, bearing in mind it was pitch black. Hmmm, this wasn't going to be easy & after some success I screwed up quite badly by overshooting my target by 10 minutes of paddling unable to see my error. My brain seemed to stop functioning by this time. I got us back to where I should have gone, eventually but not without certainty. Definitely something to work on.
We finally finished about 22:30 & I was eating my tea at 23:30 before meeting at 09:00 for day 2. Oh & I'd have to get my tidal planning done before meeting up, hmmm, no lie in then :S

Looking At North Stack... 

Dave Breifing Us Before We Paddle Through The White Stuff At North Stack...

All Calm Again By Parliament House Cave...

Turning & Rolling Skills At South Stack...

Bumped Into Barry Shaw...

Needed A Pee In Parliament House Cave...

Day 2 & we met up at Summit To Sea before relocating to Church Bay for our leadership assessment. Michael was with us again today & we were also joined by Anne. Assessing today was Sid & Mark.

We didn't paddle too far today, which was a relief but there was plenty within our route to be assessed on.

Our route took us to Carmel Head, out to West Mouse & on to Hen Borth before returning to our launch location later in the day.

Again I made a couple of stupid mistakes today but I will learn from my mistakes & not make them again, (hopefully).

Heading Out Of Church Bay...

Tide Race At Carmel Head With The Skerries In The Distance...

Exploring A Cave At Ynys Y Fydlyn...

We all met up at the Paddlers Return for the de-breifing & verdict. As I'd suspected it was a fail but thanks to Nick, Sid & Marks comments I know exactly what areas I need to work on & I've no doubt whatsoever that I can pass next time so long as I pull my finger out & actually practice the techniques that I've learned.

Evan though this was an assessment I actually learned a lot about leadership & navigation. Mark kept apologising for giving me tips but I really appreciated his advice & it will no doubt help me in the future.

So thanks to Nick, Sid, Mark, Dave, Michael & Anne. I had a fab weekend whatever the outcome :D