Menai Straits - 12th June 2011

Second day of coaching from Olly Sanders.

The weather deteriorated quickly on the sunday morning and as forecast the wind got up to strong easterly (F6+) with persistent rain, so we made for the shelter of the Menai Straits to continue practice in the vicinity of the two bridges and the Swellies.

We started off by doing general boat handling under the Menai Bridge, breaking in and out of the flow between the bridge pillars then we progressed down through the swellies to do some more tows.

After lunch we then started the "wet stuff" doing rolls, t rescues, self rescues, scoop rescue of injured/weak paddler, along with watching Mary do an excellent re-entry and roll.

All in all a good weekend, and it was nice to use the tow lines including the deck mounted tow that I have just rigged on to the boat. It illustrated some tuning of my gear is needed - mainly to have a longer "short" tow length set up on my waist tow.

About 4km paddled, not including all the ups and downs in the eddies though!

The Skerries - 11th June 2011

First day of a weekend of coaching with Olly Sanders running through rescue scenarios.

Given the conditions - F3 W wind and a tide ebbing till about 13:30, it was decided to do a short trip along the north coast of Anglesey launching from Cemlyn Bay heading west.

In the eddies and small race around West Mouse we did some towing practice (single tows, towing a 2 man raft, 2 boats in line tow of a 2 man raft). We were going to head for Carmel Head, but since John had never been out to the Skerries, Olly decided we should change our plans and head out to them instead.

It was a beautiful day and once we were getting near the Skerries we started seeing the puffins and other birds that nest on the island. It was so much different from when I was there earlier in the spring with very few birds.

We landed in the small natural harbour and had a quick lunch outside the lighthouse.

The island is a nesting place of terns - arctic and common, and they are very protective of their ground nest sites and attack you when you approach. Wearing a hat is highly advisable... or follow a taller friend very close!

We bumped into a few other parties of kayakers at the lighthouse - Justine and Barry, plus the very tall Mark Pawley... who suffered a nasty attack and gained an impressive war wound!

After the ornithology interlude we got back on the water and by this time the flood had started and a reasonable size race was forming on a rock outcrop on the W side of the island giving us a good venue to practice more rescues, towing and general boat handling.

After about an hour of this we turned and headed back to Cemlyn. On the water for about 5 hours. About 16k paddled.

Rhoscolyn - 4th June 2011

With a decent weather forecast we had a family trip to the beach at Rhoscolyn. I was given permission to bring the boat along so I managed a couple of short sorties out around the Beacon on one paddle and out of the bay and up to Rhoscolyn Head and back on the other. The bay was very busy with kayaks of all shapes and sizes, including various members of the North West Sea Kayakers. I did a few rolls and gave Gavin a lift!

About 9km paddled.

Macclesfield Canal - 31st May 2011

Back on the canal hoping to clear out a few cobwebs from a day in the office, but didn't feel 100% with a bit of a headache. Paddled out from Clarke Lane in 56:02 at Higher Poynton Marina. Did not feel like pushing it on the way back so I enjoyed the evening sunshine at a more leisurely pace, returning in 1hr 5min.

Just as I was entering Bollington on the return I think a kingfisher flew over me. This would be great if so - I've not seen one on the canal since before the severe cold weather of Feb 2010. The canal has been frozen for weeks at a time over the last two winters and this has a devastating effect on the kingfishers, so I hope they are making a return.

Anglesey Sea Kayak Race - 22nd May 2011

This was the first running of this event organised by Open Adventure and Adventure Elements. The original plan was to race from either Trearddur Bay or Benllech in a loop, visiting electronic control points on bouys covering over 20km in distance. However the weather was not playing ball and strong SW winds put paid to any thought of using the exposed coastal locations and the "plan C" location of a race in the Menai Straits was used.

I'm sure a number of people were disappointed with the thought of racing in the Straits, but in the end it turned out to be an excellent location.

The start was by the Anglesey Sea Zoo and 4 surf skis, 21 solo kayaks and 4 doubles lined up for the mass start. After the traditional 3-2-1-Go there was a mad scramble to get boats into the water and spray decks on. John Willacy and Nigel Jones set the pace on the first section of the race heading down towards the two bridges. Initially the conditions were very windy with small surf pushing us downwind.

A little more shelter was had once the field passed Y Felinheli and it was on to the two bridges and the notorious "swellies" - the tidal rapids. To add interest to the race, the organisers had set up three electronic controls in swellies that had to be visited in a set order, forcing us to loop back on ourselves. The first was just "downstream" of the Menai Bridge, the second was by Church Island and the third was back up below Pont Brittania. You could opt to miss out the electronic controls, but this incurred a 45 minute penalty. This loop was very entertaining for spectators and the paddlers had to fight their way back up stream using eddies close in to the shore or just fighting their way back up the main flow.

Once around this loop is was a straight race down past Bangor Pier and finish at Gallows Point. This started off sheltered but soon became more exposed with more surf and wind on our backs.

Nigel Jones on a ski was first followed by John Willacy in his Taran. First lady back was Justine Curgenven.

As far as my own race went I wasn't comfortable in the downwind/surf sections. I was struggling to get any rhythm and only made up time/places on the more sheltered sections. Maybe this was down to lack of practice in surf, but also the small integral rudder of the Epic is not very effective in these conditions (it is out of the water frequently). I was overtaken by Justine in the Swellies and nearly retook her approaching Bangor Pier, but as the wind and surf picked up again I dropped back finishing 7th kayak in a time of 1:46:38 - 20 minutes behind the leaders.

The event is expected to take place again next year, and hopefully with better weather will attract a larger field.

Macclesfield Canal - 13th May 2011

Repeated the round trip to Marple, but this time paddling the Xplore. Did it in exactly the same time as last time. Paddled out slower (61 minutes to Higher Poynton), but much more steady on the return. Out and back in 3hr 55min, 30km paddled.

Brereton Lake - 12th May 2011

Practice rescue session in sea kayaks with the Macc Canoe Club.
Performed self rescue, 'all in' scenario, T rescue and landing on rock swimming in with boat.
On the water for just over an hour.