Beware of an 'iding in March

Thanks to Richard Berry for the photo

I recently received a kind invitation to go along to a surf development day held at Aberavon Beach.

So I dug out and dusted off the old surf kayak and brought it out to show it the light of day. Seems ages since we last danced on the waves.

Nice to catch up with a few people I haven't seen for a while.

Sure was a good work out. (I think).

Man Flue - kill or cure

Suffering from the tail end of a second bout of some lurgy I wasn't too sure if it was a wise move to partake in exercise. However, as the aches had gone away, I couldn't resist getting some fresh air in to my spluttering cough heaving air pipes when Stuart invited me to join him  Taran, Jules and Andy on a short trip along the coast starting from Llantwit Major.

Time and Tide wait for Andy:)

We convened at the beach to get on the water with an hour left of good tide before the flood began, unfortunately by the time Andy had extracted himself from the frozen depths of the valleys we were left with only half an hour before the tide turned. We'd have to get a pace on to have a chance of rounding Nash Point before it became futile. There would be a short hard paddle to get us past Nash and in to the slacker water that would enable us to make progress against the flow towards Southerndown.

Looking west from Llantwit Major beach toward Nash Point

The sun was out, low winds and calm waters - game on for a workout - heads down to Nash.

Stuart passing St Donat's

Taran landing just past Nash Point for a refuel and recharge after battling against the flow

Paul approaches Cwm Nash

Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bach

Taran enjoying playing on some of the breaking waves on the ledges

Yeeee haaaa! We have lift-off

The Heritage Coast

Rounding Witches Point and into Dunraven Bay, there is quite a bit of nice surf to play with.

Taran and Jules' sedate arrival at Southerndown with Stuart and Andy waiting for a big set out back!

Andy (left) and Stuart ride the same wave in

Big smiles :)!

Time for a coffee and sandwich

We all land for a short break to drink warm drinks and eat some grub. Then it's back out through the surf to ride the tide back to Llantwit Major.

Thanks for the invite Stuart, really enjoyed the paddle, was good to meet up with some of the expanding local sea kayaking community.

Great Day out - definitely a cure!

Cockney Visitation

Paul comes down to South Wales for a spot of chilly post Christmas paddling in the surf at Porthcawl. More about it here.

At least we got out for a few hours - didn't go far, just played in the surf

Loaned Cetus from P and H

P and H have kindly sponsored both Paul and myself for the circumnavigation of Britain. While they build my boat they have kindly provided me with a demo Cetus to start paddling with. The boat they are building will be the new Cetus HV, slightly different to the original Cetus, but that's for another time.

Some more pics here.

Playing in the soup with the Cetus

very refreshing!

Storm Gathering 2011

It's was three years ago that I last ventured up to Anglsey. The island is situated at the north westerly tip of Wales and has some exceptional tide races to lure paddlers to play. It was stormy then, and it promised to be stormy again for the 2011 Storm Gathering. With the weather blowing a good southerly F6-7 there was to be no playing out on the races, and with pretty much everywhere having rough water and high winds I decided that a spot of surfing would be just the ticket to get me into the groove.

Rhosneigr for a spot of surfing

Surfing the plastic Cappella was fun - but turning around in all that wind was a bit of an effort. I took the opportunity to try out a P&H Delphin, it was a surf specification version. Shorter than the Cappella and with an excellent fitting seat and a lot of rocker it was just the job. Turning in the wind was so so easy, and surfing it was the most fun I've had in a long boat. I loved it so much I didn't want to give it up for the rest of the session. (Sorry Kate).

Surfing the Delphin in a bit of wind!

Oh dear, think I want one

I think the cheesy smile says it all

Surf pics thanks to Kate Dufus

Six Cardinals of the Severn

Setting out from St Donats

Combination of a spring tide, the prospect of another gift day for sea paddling, and a wonderful understanding wife, were the ingredients to go play on the Severn Estuary.

The proposition was to just ride the Severn tide down for most of the day and back again, just to see what happened. Richard was interested. So we left St Donats with approx. 3 hours left of the ebb.

To add a little interest and to break up the monotony a bit we came up with the idea of following a line of cardinal buoys that seemed to have been placed in a perfect position just for the job, that also led us to a fairly large sand bank (nice place to stop for a bite to eat we thought).

Heading past East Nash along the Glamorgan Heritage Coast

East Nash Cardinal taking the strain at Nash Sound

Sticking our noses out towards Nash Point we are making a good 5 knots towards the Sound without dipping a paddle in. We clock up about 8 knots as we paddle past the East Nash Cardinal.

Next up is the Mid Nash South Cardinal.

Richard a few miles offshore at the Mid Nash South Cardinal 

Mid Nash South Cardinal

This trip now becomes a case of joining the dots, as we head on a bearing from buoy to buoy. Each one is approx. 4 nautical miles away from the other so to begin with we can't see them. We head on a bearing to where we think they are. It becomes a bit of a game to see who can spot the next match stick on the horizon first. At about 3 nautical miles away one of us normally spots them. Then we have something to aim at rather than paddle on a wish. At about 3/4 mile the head markings normally become clearly visible - this is with the sun behind us on a perfectly clear day.

Richard spots a single gannet up in the sky, and then below it a porpoise.

We sit and watch as it trawls for fish.

Magic to watch.

Porpoise trawling the Bristol Channel

Before very long we arrive at West Nash cardinal.

West Nash Cardinal

Next hop is over to the South Cardinal at South Scar.

South Scar Cardinal at Scarweather Sands

This is where we had planned to stop for our lunch. There is no sand bar to be seen. We have made good time and the tide has not turned yet. We see plenty of waves breaking over the sand bank and decide to take a closer look.

Seeing some interesting rough water we decide to head over to the waves breaking over the sand bank

The mast/tower thing is or was a monitoring site for an offshore wind farm which has now been shelved.
Some very tasty waves are seen and we have a little play in the rough water.

Surf spot some 5 nautical miles offshore - no boardies out here to drop in on

I can only imagine that this spot must be the gateway to some neptunous hell on a rough day!  Some 100m further on and all is back to an oily flat calm sea . . .

Given the good time we have made and we still have an ebbing flow, we decide to continue on towards the West Weather Cardinal.

West Scarweather

We stop here for a lunch break. Slack is approaching. While munching away I notice on the chart that there is one more cardinal, the Ledge South Cardinal, a few nautical miles away. A pity really to have come this far and not bag that one as well. So we decide to give it a go. We put our backs into it and manage to reach it despite the tide having turned.

The Ledge South Cardinal - time to go home

We both look at the chart and think it's a job well done. Only need to paddle all the way home now.

With all the sights taken in, we don't bother to stop on the way back. Just make a B-line for Nash Point.

Passing Nash Point lighthouse before the final slog around to St Donats

For what could be regarded by most as a pointless boring paddle, this has been quite an amazing days paddle.

37 nautical miles (69 km) covered in just over 7.5 hours - channel riding at its best!

69 km round trip

Positively Barmy 1.1.11

After the Christmas Eve afternoon paddle the temperatures today were positively balmy. With the smallest of swells running a few of us managed to get out for our traditional New Years Day paddle - this year for a surf rather than a paddle out to Tusker Rock.

After a couple of hours we felt as if we'd burned off enough calories to justify a pint to welcome the beginning of a New Year

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year full of paddling fun and adventure!

Thanks to Chris E. for the photos - who was feeling a bit rundown after the New Year's Celebrations - and regretted not getting his kit on.

Hywel

Nige

Chris "I stopped drinking at 7 this morning and still went for a surf" Constantine

The Surfing Hamster - moi

All the best for 2011!