Just For Fun...

WHOOPS!, How not to seal launch :)

Another short trip as I take Peter from the Glam Boaters (a Different Peter to last weekend) on a confidence building paddle.

I was looking mainly at just building on time on the water though we did do a little work on his paddling stroke (important in a sea boat). Other than that I just pissed about & went looking for waves :)

A lovely start, though I had the feeling the conditions would get worse as the wind turned against tide.

 All calm at Nells Point, hopefully this will change on the way back.

A quick rest and a few rolls at Jacksons Bay. Annoyingly my greenland roll that worked fine in the pool using a Roto Bat wouldn't work for me so I practiced my C Roll instead.
After an unintentional roll on the way out of Jacksons (Pissing about again) we continued towards Sully.

 Giving way at the entrance to Barry Dock.

It was getting lumpy at Bendricks Rock & the wind was building & soon to turn against the tide. Predicting rougher water & with a few races to pass I decided to abort Sully & head back just incase it got a bit too big for Peter. I've scared enough Glam Boaters recently (LOL).

Whilst Peter tried to stay out of trouble closer to shore I went wide & found some fantastic waves to pound through. At Bendricks I went into what looked like a good swell with three waves on it??? never seen that before.

Apart from some fun at Bendricks, Nells Point & Friars Point it was surprisingly calm on the way back (Grrrr). It was a good paddle & Peter did great & seemed to enjoy it too.
Time for a coffee ;D

Three Little Pigs...

Three Little Pigs, Guinea Pigs that is. After failing miserably to drown Peter on Sunday I thought I'd try again with Scott & Haydon this time :)

Both Scott & Haydon had yet to have done a proper sea trip & I wanted to do something special to (Ermm) break them in??? if thats an appropriate term (LOL).

The forecast was for North Westerly 3-4 & I was planning on going one way from Ogmore to the Knap if Stuart was available to be my second should things get a bit hairy as the tide was huge & the area in question a little dodgy at times.

Stuart was free & suggested Llantwit Major to the Knap. Sounded good so with the car portage arranged it was game on.

It was quite bumpy with some surf at Llantwit, not as much as I was hoping for though.

The tide was shoving us along nicely & we had the wind on our backs too. I was really enjoying this & looking forward to the white water at Aberthaw Tower. I decided not to mention this too Scott & Haydon till we were almost there, He He He, naughty Taran ;D

I wish I'd set the video up for the far side of the tower now as it was literally like a white water river. We were on a 14 metre tide at full flow & it just goes a little nuts as it wraps around the tower. Scott, Haydon & Stuart all went wide at this point but after my 4 star training I was feeling confident & ploughed straight through the middle, YEEHAA!!!
I evan practiced a roll in the dying embers of the white water with Stuart keeping an eye on me. Twice a wave pushed me back under but was third time lucky as I kept my head well low (Phew).

It all went very calm after the tower, evan Rhoose point only had tiny waves to play on. Me Scott & Haydon stayed out wide while Stuart went in to explore the shore. I'm used to Stuart wondering off so thought nothing of it as he lagged way behind. Turned out he was pushing against a big back eddy (LOL). Looked knackered when he finally caught up :)

After a few rolls & a fab seal launch, (couldn't resist) it was time to head back to my van in Llantwit.

Found a fab spot to camp for the night & an awesome sunset too. What a fab day...

In At The Deep End...

Today I decided to take Peter from the Glam Boaters to Flat Holm. Although he's a decent kayaker with a good roll it would only be his second trip on the sea.

The forecast was for North to Northwesterly F3-4 becoming F4 with a slight sea. I considered changing the route to one following the coast but I reckoned he'd be OK in this & it was calm at Penarth when we left.

 All calm to start with.

 Getting bumpier as we near our destination.

Things started to really pick up about 1 nautical mile from Flat Holm with some decent standing waves in places as the last of the ebb pushed against the wind.

Time for a rest & explore. I do my tour guide bit knowing quite a bit about the island after so many trips there.

Things were quite bumpy leaving the island & just got worse for most of the trip back.
The predicted slight sea was now a moderate sea state with swells reaching about 2 metres. The swells were messy, breaking and hitting us side on as we battled into a force 4 headwind, this ain't the introduction I had in mind for Peter.

We were drifting on the tide as Peter struggled to to keep pace so I popped him on a tow line to give some assistance though told him to keep paddling. This worked a treat as we were now up to pace.
I was pushing hard to try to pass the left side of South Cardiff Buoy, it was touch & go & I couldn't cut it too tight as Peter was on a tow.
I didn't get a chance to see if we'd make it, the line went tight, Peter was over.
Fair play to him though as he'd made a few attempts at his roll but eventually took a swim. The waves were over a metre at this point so its easy to see how his roll failed.
I did a quick X-rescue to get him back into his boat & we were back underway. We'd drifted past South Cardiff Buoy by now & still had a long hard paddle to Penarth with Peter still under tow. Despite lots of heavy breathing & burning muscles we eventually reached Penarth without further incident.

Back at Penarth you'd never know how rough it was further out? I took off the tow in the calmer water & let Peter make his way in without assistance though I think he was paddling hard under tow as the line rarely went tight.

It turned out to be quite an epic this trip & the thought was always in the back of my mind that a Pan Pan call might have to be put out but luckily Peter did great & coped well with the conditions.

We'll make a sea paddler out of him yet (LOL)...

A Very, Very, Busy Boy! (Club Trips & 4 Star Training)...

Hmmm, 9PM Thursday night I get a call asking me If I can video a wedding the following day? Sounded fun so I did. 

It was a rather spectacular wedding & they had Stavros Flatley & Paul Pot performing in the evening.

 I left the wedding around 11PM & got to Pembrokeshire for 1:30AM ready to meet the Glam Boaters the following day.

I wasn't sure whether to do the Pembroke weekend as I was due in Cornwall for 4 star training on Monday morning, but there were a few novices so a helping hand might be needed.

Day 1 ~ We all met up at Newgale Saturday morning & due to weather conditions decided to head to Parrog near Newport Sands.
Some of the club members had never been on the sea before so we needed somewhere sheltered so they could enjoy their first salty paddle.

Carol & Gareth rockhopping.

Andy the club coach watching them through.

We didn't go far & ended the day with some surfing practice with some good clean waves coming in. I think we all enjoyed the surfing & with little incident :)

Day 2 ~ Solva today, we were hoping to get everyone out to Green Scar rocks & do some rockhopping outside of the harbor. It was clear once we were there though that we would probably have some swimmers so we played it safe & explored the harbor instead.

We did give them some excitement in the bumpy stuff by paddling out to Black Rock. I saw Peter do a good low brace, all good learning :)

I left Newgale about 3PM & started the bloody long drive to Falmouth for my 4 star training with Sea Kayaking Cornwall. After a quick shower in Cardiff on the way through I finally arrived at the Sea Kayaking Cornwall HQ at 10:05PM & camped in their car park for the night.

I chose to do some 4 star training with Sea Kayak Cornwall as I wanted to some surf training & I wasn't to be disappointed.

Day 1

After a quick rescues session at Swan Pool, (in the sea not the lake) we then made our way to the North of Cornwall to find more testing conditions.
Before we launched from Godrevy Jeff gave a briefing & also explained that briefings should be given away from an area that could cause an adrenal reaction. I think he's got a great sense of humour as we were all stood on the cliff top looking wide eyed at the bloody big surf, (Nice).

I was given the task of getting everyone on the water & landing them all in the surf a little further along the beach. I think I demonstrated how not to land as I took a tumble & swam in after my boat (LOL).
Once we were all ashore we all went back out for some surfing practice. The waves were pretty big & had a lot of power, certainly the biggest I've been in :)
I was doing OK, catching some waves, shooting forwards & finishing on a bongo slide that I was sure would have me swimming???
I finally finished with a spectacular capsize & got spun around a few times before I could get out of the kayak. A fab learning curve & I'm definately not going to shy away from surf in future.
Everyone did great & steve, one of the students evan manage a couple of rolls in the surf. Jeff was doing pirouettes on the waves & looked quite at home, I definately need a lot more practice.

It was all grins after the surf as we headed back to the vans. you can just see the surf we were in at the back of the image.

Day 2

Again on the North Shore, we launched from Portreath. Rockhopping & leadership were the goals today.

Jeff suggested stopping for lunch right by a beautiful secluded beach, should of known he'd get us swimming our boats onto a small rock in the bay instead.

Finished the day with some Surf rescues at Portreath & caught a good wave too.

Day 3 

Classroom day for the coastal navigation & tidal planning training. This is a requirement for the 4 star leader assessment & no paddling was required. I did learn a few things though it was quite basic & I think most of us already knew the main bits. We were with Simon for this lesson & he did a fab job explaining things & evan managed to make me understand vectors where so many books have failed.

I did get out for an evening paddle though. They had a large group of people hiring kayaks for a Wednesday evening paddle & Sam & Tim, (two of the 4 star students) & myself volunteered to help out. I was quite surprised to be given a group & told to be back for 8:30PM. Hmmm OK, should be fun. At least my group all had some river experience & weren't novices.

To warm up I set them too edging & soon had my first x-rescue to perform. Jeffs training was coming in useful. I think its good to see people capsize on edging practice as their really trying.
We made our way along the coast from Swan Pool to Pendennis Head before heading back in the dusky light.
Back a little early I threw them in the deep end a bit with some cross bow rudder practice :) after one capsize who rolled up, (forgot your name but well done:) I then set them some stern rudder practice.
Before getting of the water my group wanted to practice their rolls, wasn't expecting that & well done to all for trying. Thought I'd better get them off the water before the coastguard turned up, a great night out.

I had planned to paddle around the Lizard on Thursday but with a South Westerly force 4-5 occasionally 6 with a moderate sea I decided against it & after 5 busy days of kayaking I think I needed a rest...

Oh, and Jeff & Simon from Sea Kayak Cornwall were fab & I would definately recommend them.

I think I got what I need to go for my assessment though I will have to work hard on my skills & practice my leadership too. Time to rope in a few guinea pigs from the club ;D

New Website Ideas...

Heres a couple of designs I've been working on for the new 'Sea Kayaking Adventures' website.

What do you think? Would love some feedback. Cheers, Taran...

Mono

Simple

Testing Times In Cardiff Bay...

Monday club at Up & Under & I blag a test in a Valley Aquanaut as its on my shortlist as a fleet boat when I start running tours. I'm also looking at North Shore Atlantic RM & am looking forward to getting a demo to test.

Overall I was well pleased with the handling of the Aquanaut. I know the bay is to calm for a proper test but I was impressed with the easy edging ability, not dissimilar to my Nordkapp & I found the Aquanaut easy to roll too. Definately a contender.

Cheers to Scott for the images :)

Not Strictly Necessary To Test Seal Launching :)

Cheesy Does It... 

A good Turn Out Tonight...

Frivolity...

With a windy forecast & low water in the middle of the day I settled for a skills practice in the bay with Stuart.
A few rolls & a visit to Up & Under to blag a cup of tea & discuss my new fleet of kayaks. Whilst there Elan persuaded me to launch from the ramp which was bloody good fun, just need to find a bigger ramp now :)