Penrhyn Mawr - 6th November 2011

Setting out from Porth Dafarch the autumn sun was warm and welcome. Three groups of kayakers had already departed from the bay while we were getting ready and throughout the day we bumped into them and other groups making use of the glorious sunshine and calm conditions. It was nice to be on the sea again, after a few weeks of just paddling on the canal.

Will Herman rock hopping

We paddled out along the coast, doing a bit of rock hopping and exploring inlets and made our way around to Penrhyn Mawr. The NE flow was only just starting and there wasn't much turbulence or waves to play on so we carried on around the coast and had a lunch stop on a rocky/pebble beach in "Abraham's Bosom".

Mary Erasmus @ Penrhyn Mawr

After a pleasant lunch in the sun we paddled back round to Penrhyn Mawr where the flow had increased sufficiently to kick up some waves and fast current to play about in. A couple of the groups we had met earlier were also playing in the race, though conditions were fairly friendly due to the lack of any significant swell and the moderate tide.

Aled Williams

We bumped into Aled Williams in his new boat - an 18ft racing style kayak called the "Pace 18" that he has just put into production with Tiderace. It looks a fast machine, so hopefully they'll be even more racing kayaks at the sea races next year. We played on the tide race for at least an hour, then headed back to Porth Dafarch to land just after 4pm. More photos on flickr.

Heading Home

Packing Up

Macclesfield Canal - 30th October 2011

Clarke Lane <> Adlington Marina.
Out in 39:30, then toured back in a leisurely 50 minutes. Bored with the canal!

Macclesfield Canal - 22nd October 2011

Clarke lane - Higher Poynton Marina.
Out in about 55:00 (GPS turned off by itself), back in 58:50. Boat delays and a headwind on the return slowed me down somewhat.

Macclesfield Canal - 19th October 2011

Night training paddle, Clarke Lane - Adlington Marina. Out in 39:28, back in 39:45.
Scariest moment was meeting another paddler coming towards me with no lights either.

Macclesfield Canal - 9th October 2011

Usual training paddle, Clarke Lane <-> Higher Poynton Marina.
Out in 54:50, back in 54:15 including some boat delays.
Must sync up better with the Macc CC and use one of the K1s. Left wrist has been feeling a bit sore, so need to keep an eye on it.

Puffin Island - 2nd October 2011

Relatively short paddle from Benllech to Trwyn Y Penrhyn. 18k paddled, SW wind F3-4, slight sea. Went around Puffin Island around high tide, so no real tidal action. Stopped to watch the seals on the N end of Puffin. Approx 3.5 hours on the water.

Hilbre Island Race - 1st October 2011

This was the first time Liverpool Canoe Club had organised this race, so it was not widely advertised to keep numbers under control and to see how it goes.

The race started and finished at the public slipway at the south end of the marine lake at West Kirby. There were two options on race length, either a shorter 4km race around Little Eye and back, and a long race of 8km going around all the islands and back to the start.

Conditions were somewhere between slightly choppy and calm, with a southerly breeze. I was averaging over 10kph on the outward leg and more like 8-9kph on the return upwind leg.

There were 21 starters in the main single kayak class of the longer race, and I came in first in a time of 51:48.

The 3rd boat back was a canadian canoe paddled by a team of two. They looked pretty impressive and I later found out they are world marathon "masters" champions!

Preparing for the start