Blue sky sea kayaking ....

This was the advanced sea kayaking weekend, called Perform which focus on the skills, techniques and development towards the 4 star sea kayak leader.

Zoe, Gary, Andy and Pat were on this weekend and despite some snow all made it to Anglesey, in good time.  

Coffees, weather forecast, planning and discussions on venues was done in pairs, with a couple of people turning up with a plan.  The North coast starting at Porth Eilian and towards Bull Bay, and then either on to the Brick works or back, eddy hoping as we went was the jointly agreed plan.

Now we couldn't just get on and not look at the Point Lynas race ... that would be rude .... so we paddled round the headland and in the blue sky, the race looked great.    So we decided to work this area for a while ...

Zoe setting off for a run down the race ...

Pat and the first time he had used a Greenland stick in rough conditions ....

Andy Taking a run down ...

Zoe in some super sun shine and the tower of Ynis Dulas, can just be seen ...

A few tasks were set in the buddy teams  ... and then some surfing ...

We decided to head up the race and look for a place to land.  A rocky landing provided the answer and a break for lunch

The clouds had been forming, with the blue sky disappearing and the wind strengthening.  So we eddy hoped and with short navigation legs worked or way towards Dulas bay and into wind.  It was then suggested to paddle out to Ynis Dulas, which looked clearly in the wind.

The wind was funnelling right out of Dulas Bay, providing exciting conditions .... and focusing attention.  Round the back of the island we took briefly some shelter, before heading back across the sound and on towards Point Lynas ...

The last push from the headland back into the bay was particularly  strong with winds at F5 and occasional gust of F6.  It had been a super day with some great conditions and Winter sunshine!


Sunday - forecast F6-8 SW.

After a reflection on the previous day, we headed to the Straits to work on contact tows - push/pull and tandem rafted tows ... and to gain some shelter!!

The team above, from left to right - Andy, Zoe, Pat and Gary.

After a short break for some food we got back on a took a down wind run towards the Gazelle Inn, using the wind against tide ...

And then turned to paddle back into wind ....

A welcomed sunny break ....

With some time on our hands a run into the the Swelies, ferry glides, eddy turns and positioning, finished a super Winters weekend sea kayaking.

Roger

roger chandler
www.coastalspirit.com

sea kayak courses
+
sea kayaking north wales

Stacks of Snow ..

Four people had managed to make it to Anglesey for the first sea kayaking weekend of 2013, with Coastal Spirit.  That was Keith, Jon, Richard and Douglas. This was the Xplore course, aimed at Intermediate paddlers.

We started with coffees and a couple of bacon sandwiches, while in pairs various options were pondered.  The course has a number of aims, two being to assist a paddler towards the 3 star award or developing 3 star skills and becoming an independent paddler.  Rhoscolyn was decided upon due to various options, swell or current, but concern on road access re snow was high!! So Treardur Bay to Rhoscolyn and back made sense ...

 

As we left Menai Bridge it soon became clear that Anglesey, had a lot of snow .... 

And Trearddur Bay was a good option ....

Keith below, and the beginning of a super bright, fresh day ...

Jon and Douglas going back over a pull, contact tow as we experimented ... it was just a super back drop and I hadn't really seen Anglesey quite like it .. it was beautiful ...

There was a reasonable swell, so we kept out from the edges ....

At Rhoscolyn, (the small bay before), time for some lunch, before heading out to the islands and the beacon ...

As we headed back, the sun came out .... and we went over single in line, rafted, tandem and assisted rafted ... before landing and heading back to Menai Bridge ..

Paddling the Stacks had been mentioned on Saturday, based on the weather holding, hence conditions improving.  We were also one day before being spot on neaps, so much gentler flow .... with the planning done either the night before or earlier on that morning as soon as we met we were off.   heading for Soldiers Point, keen to see if we could get Jon's car parked up ... and we could. All in the van we headed off to Porth Dafach and this is were the fun began ....

... close to the brow of the hill, on the main road, i parked up, put the handbrake on, switched the engine off ... Jon got out and .... immediately said the van is sliding back!! I started the engine but couldn't go forward only backwards and not straight!  I just couldn't get purchase on the ice ... we took the trailer off and chipped at the ice close to the wheels and all jumped in ... we were soon at the top, on a flatter section.  It was now time to see if we could push the trailer up the hill.  We removed 5 kayaks and between us we soon had it back on the van.

It looked super calm and after a few carries we were off and heading for Pen rhyn mawr ...

Rich above coming through the main race, which was 1 hour before main flow and fairly gentle ....

Keith above, as we head off towards South Stack ....

Id never seen South stack with some snow, looked great .... and super sunny ...

Gogarth Bay, looked even better .... lunch was Baltic, and only as long as for Rich to finish his pot noodle ...mmmm, it did look good ;)

A couple of caves and Wen Zawn, before heading into wind and the final section to Soldiers Point .... with the Irish Ferry on the way out.

Big thanks to Jon for the use of his car in the shuttle and what a super weekends Winter paddling ...

Roger

roger chandler
www.coastalspirit.com

intermediate sea kayaking
+
winter sea kayaking courses