This was the third day of a Bespoke sea kayak course for Rich and Franks first day although I had paddle with both of them before. In fact one year ago, with their respective partners they had done a Discover sea kayaking course and one year on they can both roll!!
The third lighthouse for Rich, was at Penmon Point, just across from Puffin Island and with Frank joining us today, it was the perfect trip. Penmon Sound would provide current, eddies, eddy streams, bird life and seals in a stunning situation. It was also the first time out there for Frank.
Frank above crossing a gentle left -right flow and about to move into an eddy. We did a few circuits and then crossed to the red central channel beacon and began our journey round the island.
Saw a fox in the distance wondering along a beach and quite a few Eider ducks, a male one above ... ever wondered where your eider down feathers came from!!
and we saw some of these little fellows, in fact more Puffins than Seals!
We then landed on the island for lunch and waited for the sound to build. We had crossed about 1 hour before high water slack, and now it was beginning to ebb. Because of the reef extending from Puffin Island, the first couple of hours after high water tend to provide rougher water. This was what we were waiting for! We did a run across to the red central beacon and used the eddy, with Rich working on ferry glides, holding position and using speed to gently surf his kayak forwards, while Frank worked left and right eddy turns ... both to great success.
The photo above I posted on facebook, as Rich had learnt to roll with Cheri & Turner, of "this is the roll fame", over the weekend and my job was to put him into a more dynamic context ... well
as you can see, first time up and nice and smooth he does it ... no dramas!
BIG thanks to Rich for pulling the dates together for this bespoke sea kayaking course and I look forward to paddling with the four of you at some point in the future.
roger chandler
www.coastalspirit.com
bespoke sea kayaking course
sea kayaking north wales
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