Riding On Giants..

A bit of a last minute paddle this & a day late some might say as the day previous saw the biggest tide for 25 years! Where I'm from that equates to a Giant 14.7 metre tidal range :)

Unfortunately the day of the big one was far too calm for playing but the following day looked far more promising! With an unsettled forecast secured we headed to Nells Point tide race :)

 Ready for launch!

 Gareth Jenkins contemplating the race.

 Then going for it!

 Elan Rhys Winter was getting stuck in too!

 And having far too much fun!

A bit blurry but you get the idea :)

So that was it, another fab day out but one without many pics as I was keeping a firm grip on my shaft!

Jacksons Bay Quickie...

With no work today & some lovely weather it seemed a good time to meet up with some friends for a bit of messing about in sea kayaks :)

Stuarts recently got into gimp'ism! To the uninitiated thats 'Greenland rolling' where it seems compulsory to wear rubber fetish gear?

Rather worryingly the fetish gear was on loan from moi!

We all met up At the old harbour at Barry with the intention to mess about with rolling & rescues.

Left to right we got Simon Ford, John Petty, Steve Pearce, Stuart Yendle & Chris Kitch :)

I'd brought my 1970's Valley Nordkapp project boat.

Simon brought his brand new Valley Nordkapp for its initiation to Poseidon.

As well as rubber gear Stuart also likes to paddle with a plank of wood, a pretty nice one admittedly :)

Conditions were perfect, could it be summer?

We soon round the two headlands to reach Jacksons Bay where our shenanigans commence.

Stu seems to want to add stick throwing to the list?

Its a fab spot to chill out here so we did.

I get in the water for some low camerawork.

A fab couple of hours & now just a gentle paddle back to the vans remaining :)

Post by Go Sea Kayak.

Shipwreck Shenanigans...

I was hoping for some fun today & was heading to my favourite local tide race, Nells Point for a play! The forecast was F2-6 with a moderate sea state so it was possible, hopefully?

I was meeting Chris Evans & Andrew James for todays splash & we all met up just before 11:00 at the old harbour in Barry to be greeted by disappointingly calm conditions.

Oh well, I'm sure we can find something fun to do, rescues & roll I reckon :)

Chris pondering suitable insults to shout at the fishermen?

Andy hits the water too & its time to go.

We head out out across the old harbour & Whitmore Bay to be greeted by a calm tide race as we had expected when we launched. It was so flat I even forgot to take a picture to tell the story!

So we headed into Jacksons Bay for some rolling, rescues & Shenanigans. You'll have to see the accompanying video for that ;)

It was lovely at Jacksons though so we chilled in the sun for some time before heading back out for some more silliness :)

Before long Chris was assuming his usual position!

To be fair he was trying to do a 360 on the back deck ;)

Yours truly, cheeeeese.

Chris makes me paddle the snotmobile whilst he tries a proper kayak!

We head out to Bendricks Rock to see if there's any rougher water to be found?

And we find some small standing waves on the causeway.

It was a pretty fab day out after all & I'll try & get the accompanying video online later for'ya.

Born Again Kayaker...

Chris Kitch was putting the feelers out a few days ago looking for people to paddle Barry to Penarth on the weekend. Sounded good to me so we made the arrangements & met up at Penarth to leave a couple of cars there for our return.

The start point was Barry old harbour again :)

 I'd brought my newest lady for a play!

 My shipmates consisted of Chris Kitch, John Petty & Steve Pearce who hasn't paddled for the past year!

Nice to see him back on the water :)

 I think the unnatural angle of Chris' skirt indicates he's excited about something???

 Steve prepares to enter the choppy waters after a years abstinence.

He does well & we soon reach Nells Point with a good force 4 on our backs.

 Passing Barry Dock/Harbour.

 Sully Island was awesome in the West Side race with chaotic waves just over head height! I was the only one to go that way though, the other opted for a portage across the causeway which was a good idea.

Before long we were all back at Penarth in the now calm waters on this East facing shore :)

Crash Test Dummies...

This short trip was inspired by Chris & John from my local club the Glam Boaters. Their rolls was coming on were in the pool so they fancied trying it outdoors & in some rougher conditions. The outdoors part was easy, the conditions were idyllic though & not as forecast?

Another Chris & Sean were joining us too, tempted by the elusive bumpy conditions?

Ready for the off but we're a boat short? Wheres Chris from the club? late as usual I guess :p

We headed out of Watchtower Bay about 20 minutes before high water & made our way around Friars Point & headed into Barry Island for a wee surf!

Oh, whats occurring? the surf really was wee but i managed a capsize trying to back-surf (LOL). 

The plan was to let the ebb pick up speed & head to the race off Nells point as its usually quite tasty an hour into the ebb. Not today though, flat as hell! But we did practice some rolls & rescues there too & informed the Nells Point Coast Watch of our intentions to avoid them calling the Coast Guard!

So we pull into Jacksons Bay for some fun :)

Before a gentle paddle back thoroughly soaked :)

Just a short route, there & back but a lot of fun :)

Open Relationships...

So I was meeting up with Noel today & he was going to introduce me to his new lady, a tiderace xtra HV, not sure what the HV says about her?

Anyway being a liberal minded person I was hoping he'd not be the jealous, possessive type & let me take his lady for a ride? :)

We met at Penarth & took one car to the Knap so as to do a one way trip with the wind & tide! Always a good idea.

The new lady was looking good & raring to go!

 Smuggius Giticus!

 'Whats occurring?' as we pass Barry Island.

 Passing Barry Harbour.

Then onto Sully where we hope to finally find some action!?

 I should have had some kick ass pictures here as we both nearly got pasted in the tide race off Sully Island!

I asked Noel the switch my go pro on & paddle just off my stern as we headed through the race but Noel set the wrong function on the camera so no pics.

Instead all I got was this snap in the calmer race off the back of the Island.

 We stopped for lunch & giggled like schoolgirls over the kicking we had in the race. The waves were only 3-4 feet but they were steep, breaking & crossing each other, thats why its my fave local tide race :)

 Noel contemplating another run through the race? maybe?

 He played it safe & let me go play by myself, this time with the camera on the right setting!

It was smaller this time though but still fun :)

 After my play I met Noel on the water & we headed for Penarth. The Rannies race was flat so no more action shots there.

 The paddle to Penarth was uneventful! evan the sun came out. That wasn't forecast?

 Landing at Penarth & I finally got my hands on his new lady when Noel had his back turned :)

She's a big girl & her hips are hard chined but she edged lovely which i didn't expect. She felt pretty quick too & rolled nice & easy. I'd love to paddle her in the rough stuff, maybe next time?

       On dropping Noel back to his car we were treated to a gorgeous sunset!

A perfect end to a very pleasant day :)

Our route from the Knap to Penarth on the flood tide.