When I was contacted by Dougy and Jacko, about a Bespoke sea kayaking weekend it was great to hear from as i had the pleasure of paddling with them both about 3 years ago and then on one of our Scottish sea kayak expeditions to Rassay and Rona on the East coast of Skye. This time Jackos grandson, Alex and friend of Dougs, Andy were also involved.
Saturday
After a coffee and a chat we got on the Straits, at Menai Bridge.
Both Alex and Andy had never been in a sea kayak before, so i was keen to start gentle and slowly increase the difficulty. The Straits was perfect for this and meant we were out of most of the wind.
Alex above getting a feel for edging the kayak
Oyster catchers were in super large flocks and were quite stunning ...
With some core skills we now paddled on towards the Gazelle, looking at ferry glides and eddy turns as we came across sections of flow and current.
After a 2nd break and this time at the Gazelle, we jumped on the ebbing tide to take the ride back and enjoy some wind against tide and the rougher water that this creates ... Dougy leading out with Alex, doing a super job ...
We then moved into the Swellies, as it was now into the last two hours of ebb, so much gentler and did some longer ferry glides, looking at angle and speed ....
Sunday
John had his party last night, but the 4 of them were well turned out ...
Plan was to paddle the 3k to Puffin Island and paddle round then back eddy hoping against the flow. The light was super with short squally clouds pushing through and even some thunder heard towards Aber and the main land ...
The Great Orme in the back ground ...
Under way, at the sound the wind had more Northerly in it, so the swell was pushing through the sound. We did a few turns and down wind runs getting a feel for the conditions and going through use of skeg, stern rudders and accelerating out of wobble!
All good we then began to cross, South of the central channel marker ...
As we were beginning the last crossing of the shorter channel, the sea was picking up, and I believed that the tide had turned 50 minutes earlier, so we now had early wind against tide ... we turned and paddled into the swell and with the current ... Alex above showing good skills and me getting lucky with the camera!!
Back at Penmon point, we landed and had some lunch and then wandered up to the top to look at the Sound. 20 minutes had passed, since we had crossed back and it was now quite rough, and it was useful for all to see the current, and the eddies from our standing point.
We decided to quit while we were ahead and paddle towards Beaumaris and get an ice cream ...
taking a break ...
On the way, there was a small hail shower and some super changing light ... thanks to Dougy for the ice creams from the red boat ...
Alex and John and a silky sea and moody sky moment ... on the way back to our start point and making the most of the current ...
With Beaumaris now in the distance we were quickly closing on our start point, after a super couple of days ...
roger chandler
www.coastalspirit.com
The morning after!
