Conwy Ascent - 20th June 2015

Annual race up the river Conwy (with the incoming tide), followed by a more leisurely tour back again. Finished second sea kayak, although there isn't much difference between some of the racing K1s and the more sporty sea kayaks, so it's a bit of an arbitrary classification. Conditions were a lot more benign than last year, and the tour back was in pleasant sun shine.

At the finish

Rounded off the excellent day with a fish and chips supper in Conwy!

Fish and Chips supper!

Brereton Lake - 18th June 2015

Another greenland rolling session. Managed a number of successful rolls on my left hand side, but all requiring a forward sweep to finish. Main problem seems to be not being able to bring my body and head out of the water last with no discernible hip flick. No success with reverse sweep/pry. I think I overdid all the rolling and have strained my back!... perhaps I'm getting too old for this.

Macclesfield Canal - 14th June 2015

Back on the canal for a bit of race training (I've got two races coming up in the next two weekends). Paddled from the MADCC boathouse to Higher Poynton Marina and back again. Not exactly been training much this year due to niggling injuries, so understandably a bit slow.

Brereton Lake - 11th June 2015

Another greenland rolling session at Brereton. Still can't do much more than a basic right handed roll, left side roll very poor, looking like I've got no hip flick and no drive with my left leg. Need to go back to basics and develop some better body action. Not sure if my back likes being contorted too much though...

Bull Bay to Dulas Bay round trip - 7th June 2015

It was nice to have a decent weather forecast for a change as we headed for Anglesey.

With high tide early afternoon, a "there-and-back" trip was possible to avoid the inconvenience (and waste of time) of a car shuttle.

Bull Bay

Ready for launch

We set off from Bull Bay just after 11am and made our way E on the flood and the first point of interest, the small island of East Mouse. The flow around the island created an eddy on the E side that we could rest in, with the main flow causing some boils and small waves. After a strenuous circumnavigation we re-entered the flow and continued on our way towards Point Lynas.

Leaving East Mouse with Point Lynas in the distance

Point Lynas juts out into the E flowing flood, and creates a tide race that kicks up some waves and confused water. We picked our own routes through the race and then turned SE towards Dulas Bay. We now had the flow against us in the form of the large eddy created by the Point, and progress was slow, only compensation was the occasional surf on the swell that seemed to be going in our direction.

A Turnstone feeding on the shore

Roger Barker

Alan Armstrong

With stomachs rumbling, we started to consider where to take lunch, and we opted for a small shell covered beach near the N end of Dulas Bay. It was pleasant sitting in the warm sunshine waiting for the tide to turn to facilitate our return trip.

Idyllic lunch spot

We headed out to Ynys Dulas to see what wildlife we could find, and we were greeted by loads of gulls who were nesting on the small rocky island. Once round to the E side, the resident seal population swam amongst us.

Ynys Dulas

A snoozing seal!

Playing in the rocky shore of Ynys Dulas

The ebb was now building as we headed back to Point Lynas, and when we arrived a decent wave train gave us some entertainment. After a couple of surf runs, we explored the small caves in the W side of the Point and then made our way back rock hopping along the coast to East Mouse and then a final sprint across the bay back to the small village of Bull Bay.

Caves on Point Lynas

About 23km paddled. Paddling with Alan Tonge/Alan Armstrong/Roger Barker from Macclesfield Canoe Club.

Brereton Lake - 4th June 2015

Another rolling session, but this time I was more prepared - I had an airbag to try some of the greenland floating exercises, a nose clip, plus my gopro mounted on the front deck.

I did countless right handed standard rolls, plus a few storm rolls. I tried a "pry" but failed, and any rolls I tried with the paddle starting on the back deck failed.... I think mainly because my forward finishing position is not very good (head comes out too early).

The airbag I was using made the floating exercises easy to do. The main purpose is to get the shoulders lying flat on the water, then sliding the torso up on to the back deck to practice the finish portion of a back deck roll.

Left handed rolling pretty poor - looking at the video I'm not sweeping the paddle wide enough and then the finish is lacking hip flick or drive with the lower leg.

Final left hand roll of the evening failed, and then I couldn't come up on a right hand roll because the boat wasn't fully capsized. So I did a wet exit and then did a re-entry and roll.

So a mixed session, need to work on all the rolls and try and figure out how to do the pry/reverse sweep roll. Must also force myself to keep practising on the left!

Teesside Whitewater Centre - 31st May 2015

A change of scenery - I enjoyed the chance to paddle the artificial white water course at the River Tees Barrage with the Macclesfield and District Canoe Club. A 300m course runs in a loop with many drops and wave features to practice my rather rusty white water skills. I'd not paddled and played in such conditions for nearly 30 years!

Punching through the bottom stopper

The water level is maintained by four large Archimedes' screws that pump water back to the top. Alongside the screws is the ultimate luxury - a conveyor belt that takes paddlers back up to the start! This makes it possible to have continuous runs of the course without leaving your boat.

Approaching the conveyor belt, with the Archimedes' screws to the left

riding the conveyor belt

Playing in one of the waves

I can still breakout!

Dropping into an eddy alongside a "hole"

playing in a small stopper

I surfed and played in a number of the features, perhaps slightly gingerly. In the past (in the 80s!) I have played in such conditions and rolled regularly, but my confidence in my white water roll is not as solid as it used to be. Hopefully the Greenland rolling I am doing at Brereton Lake will re-tune my rolling so I'll be more confident next time.

Thanks to Alan Tonge for the photos.