Anglesey sea kayaking - 3 star training and assessment weekend

The InterMediate sea kayaking course is aim at developing 3 star performance skills and from time to time, I blend a 3 star training and if candidates have suitable experience, an assessment as well.  Steve, Mandy and Simon were on the weekend for further experience and Ian and Elinor, were on for training and assessment.  While Tavi was on the weekend to observe and assisted (yes, that largely means being rescued) as part of my support towards a leader's progress and development. 

Well for August it felt more like late October!  After coffee, briefings and tidal planning we headed off for Rhoscolyn.  The tide was on the flood and with light winds but a reasonable swell, we were likely to get conditions, we needed for the course.  Elinor and Steve below ...

Steve and Ian ...

Elinor ...

We worked on eddy turns, ferry glides and putting this into surfing  .... assisted and self rescues, in the calm of the big eddy and if individuals wanted, to have ago in the flow as well.

Simon below ...

Many really getting to grips with it and feel comfortable ...

Ian above and Tavi below with Simon on the Sunday at hells Mouth on the North coast of Anglesey.

Sunday was an A-B trip form Cemais Bay to Bull Bay, and out to Middle Mouse and even more rain today!!  Rocky rescues, anchor tows, rafted tows and contact tows and then more rock hoping and close quartering.  At the Brick works for lunch there must have been 20+ other paddlers, who had also decided, that the North coast with the current weather forecast was the best location ...

Trecastle Inn at Bull Bay for hot drinks and the Chief brought out two big plates of left over roasted potatoes .. a result and just what we all needed.  A review of the weekend, with congratulations to both Elinor and Ian for passing the award and action plans, wrapped up another purposeful and enjoyable weekend, despite the weather ...

The next InterMediate sea kayaking course is:  14-17th September (mid week) and has 3 places left; 19/20th September (3 star train/assessment) and has 3 places left and then the 3/4th October - 5 places left.

The Winter sea kayaking programme then kicks in with 3 further dates to keep you active and focused over the colder months.  When the Spring arrives, skills are strong and confidence is higher.  Dates are:  7/8th Nov; 6/7th Feb and 12/13th March 2016.  remember that the more course dates you book, the cheaper you get a course!

For more information, on a Winter weekend have a look at my website here or email me at roger @coastalspirit.com

Enjoy it out there,
Roger

Blue skies, Waves and the Skerries - InterMediate Plus Sea Kayaking

InterMediate Plus is for those paddlers that have 3 star skills, are moving towards paddling in a Moderate environment and are keen to develop 4 star skills.  Its a perfect course for those who are 4 star leader trained.

Abi, Jon, Dave and Katie made up the team for the weekend and after coffee, chats and a look at the forecast.  Point Lynas  (PL) was the decision.  The race at PL, tends to be much more playful on the ebb, although it works mainly after the first 30 minutes for two hours then it starts to ease.  Above with a F3/4 NW wind and swell, reflecting back of the headland and below, with the gentle beginnings of the race.  Katie is in the main frame ...

Abi below and the race beginning to pick up and now we have the start of wind and swell against tide ...

This is Katie about 1.5 hours into the ebb, as the race got more explosive ...

Dave  ...

And Jon ...

Some top balance form Abi and super reactions ...

We decided to head around on to the East coast and make our way up to Ynis Dulas, using the back eddies and see the seals ... before jumping on the remains of the ebb tide ...

The following day, Katie had already expressed her wish to get out to the Skerries and with a lighter wind and swell forecast we headed out from Church Bay on the Flood tide, for about 1 hour due West. Once we clearly had South and North Stack in line, we paddled more NW and dropped on to the Skerries.  It was good to see some of the terns were still about ...

Self and assisted rescues and messing about in the last of the flood tide, with a super back drop of the island and light house ...

 

 

We landed in a small bay away from the terns, soaking up the sun and the beauty of our location, before another play in the now Ebbing tide and big ferry glide back to the main land.

Once back and loaded up, we sat down for tea and for some the mighty cream and strawberry scones ... it would just have been so rude to have posted a photo ... yummy!

Great weekend folks, with some super conditions.  So whats next ....

InterMediate sea kayaking course, is aimed at developing 3 star performance skills: 14-17th Sep (4 days and during the week and 3 places left);  19/20th September (weekend and 3 places left) and 3/4th October; 6/7th February and 12/13th March 2016.

The next InterMediate Plus, aimed at developing 4 star leader skills is: 10/11th October (and is part of a 4 star leader training) and 7/8th November (4 places left); 23/24th Jan  (4 places left); 27/28th Feb (4 places left) and 26/27th March 2016 (5 places left).

Thanks,
Roger


www.coastalspirit.com
roger@coastalspirit.com

BCU level 5 coach sea

explore. dream. discover

Caves, Arches and Cliffs - Orkney, Scotland.

When originally thinking about a journey on Orkney I had immediately thought of crossing to Fair Isle and on to Shetland.  When I started really planning, it was about 100 NM and the ferry back only went 3 days a week!  The reality was we would need more time and a settled spell.  Based on how the weather was behaving so far this year, a settled spell was unlikely!!

How about crossing the Pentland Firth, a paddle around the Island of Hoy and paddling beneath some to the steepest cliffs in Europe or something else ... After the festival the weather was F5/6 and it looked like we had 3 may be 4 days of fair weather.  The plan was to set out from Stromness and paddle up the West cost of mainland Orkney and hopefully take in the island of Rousay too.  This meant we could pretty much paddle straight from the Stromness campsite and keep things simple as long as we didn't leave to late, as the tide would be against us in the sound and at maximum of 8 knots, our chance of moving against this would be slim to nothing!!

Above looking across to Hoy and the ferry left of Olly ... and below as we left the protection of Hoy a significant swell made our journey exciting and atmospheric ...

Its a truly stunning section of coast which i will be back for one day, when there's less swell running ... There was an amazing knife blade of rock ...

and then on to Yesnaby cove and sea stack ...

The bay below was the Brough of Bigging, and time for a brew and lunch.  A super protected little bay that could work well as a camp ...

More stunning riddled cliffs continued and then a coffee at Skara Bray (well preserved Neolithic  settlement, which was revealed after a big storm and very high tide, which blew away the dune system. It had been buried for over 4000 years!!)  ... and then on to camp .... a great location perched up on the cliff top, with a super view, flat grass and a good fence between us and our neighbour!!

The following morning was not inspiring.  After a good F5/6 overnight, we had no rush to exit.  A relaxed and steady start was the plan and then on to Birsay, to find a cafe  ;)

Birsay cafe was in a super little shot, great coffee and good food, allowed us to drip dry and warm up.  Forecast was for the sun to appear ...  ;)

Around Brough head and the swell eased and allowed us to get closer into the Geo's and caves.  This one was really special and had a load of limestone features in the back ...

Oyce, as the guidebook mentioned provided us with another useful leg stretch and marginal egress.  Great for lunch and a break before heading off to cross to Rousay.

As we left the mainland of Orkney, the sun came out ... we headed North of Scabra Head were we had paddled 6 days before (well worth paddling in this area) and keen to get to Sacquay and Saviskail head before they started to ebb ...

Rousay's coastline had felt less committing, with more places to get out, despite picking up the swell, with the many reefs and low rocky shelves.  Another perfect place to explore again with less swell running!

We landed at Nousty Sand, with 5/6 seals hauled out on one of the sea weed covered areas.  Watching us as we watched them.  A couple disappeared and watched from further out ... what a magic spot  ;)

It was super nice to sit out, cook up and soak in the evening ... The following morning was bright and dry with a f4 SW, hat would help us across the bay, but would eventually become a headwind.  I told Olly about another cafe that I had read about on Egilsay, an island to the west of Rousay.  After all we were on our holidays  ... well  .. opps, wrong island it turned out!

With wind again tide we just got on with what we had to do, taking the rough with the smooth  ... but with the end insight ...

It had been a super trip and it had really opened my eyes to the potential of Orkney and its many surrounding islands.  I'm sure I will be back and next time with a Coastal Spirit sea kayak holiday ... watch this space  ;)

Nice one Olly ...

Roger

explore.  dream.discover

roger chandler
info@coastalspirit.com
www.coastalspirit.com

Paddle Orkney - Sea Kayak Symposium and some pre paddles

It was about 16 months ago when I looked across to Orkney from the light house on Duncansby Head and said to my self ... 'I need to go and paddle over there'.   On returning home I soon came across a link to the Paddle Orkney Symposium and was then in contact with Nick Blowfield, the organiser.  I had my place on the weekends event in 2015 and something significant to look forward to.

Oliver Sanders was also working on the event, so the plan was to go up earlier and get a couple of pre event paddles in, so we could get a better feel for the area.  11.5 hours drive, shared with Sonja and we got lucky with 10 minutes to go at the ferry terminal.  They were happy to transfer our morning ferry ticket to the evening, so we were on the way to the islands.  Over 70 islands make up Orkney and it was clear as we crossed how big and vast the area was.

The following morning we had met up with Zoe and a N F5/6 so we headed to South Ronaldsay, and Burwick to explore the cave's, arches, Geo's (long gullies) and get a gentle feel for the flow ...  the clarity of the water was amazing.

The following day the winds were gentler so we headed out from the top of South Ronaldsay at the Churchill barrier and down the East coast.  From Newark Bay it really started getting interesting ...

The above was a super blow hole just before Halcro Head.  The following head land was very impressive, Old Head.  This flowed for 10 hours in a Southerly direction and had a speed of 6 knots. After 8 hours it was still going like a train and despite a small swell running the race was pretty messy!

The Friday before the event we managed to get out on to the North coast from Evie to  the small island of Eynhallow.  Eynhallow Sound and the narrow channels either side flow at 7kn and we had the last couple of hours of the flood.  Nice flow but not much action.  We headed over to the bigger island of Rousay, for some super caves, arches and exploring ... 

A couple of the caves and arches were fairly active ...

On our return to Evie sands the ebb had begun 50 mins before, it was due to begin, so we had a paddle into flow and a gentle breeze.  While changing in the car park I looked back on our paddle and was amazed and the white water that was now being created.  Wow ... ok this was a venue that worked mainly on the ebb and picked up conditions fast!

That evening we went across to the Rugby club, met up with Nick and signed up for our work shops.  A coastal journey which was between Olly, Kate and my self.  We pitched two trips for the participants to choose. One a longer 20k trip as an A-B and with less exploring.   And another 9k with more exploring and an A-A.  Newark Bay had good parking, so the plan was into a gentle breeze to begin with and down to Wind Wick and catch the increasing wind back, perfect!!

I had a super group, who were just so happy to soak up the surroundings, exploring the occasional cave, reversing into gullies and watching the Fulmars glide on bye.

The cave above had some super Stalactite's and limestone features .... and below a gentle following sea, to help us on our way ...

Back at the Rugby club Nicks wife had made scones for a delicious cream tea ... fairplay.  They certainly went down well.  Food followed for every one in a big hall, which was tasty and enough of it and then into the bar for drinks.  A couple of talented local guys played some super tunes into the evening and winded up a lovely day.

Sunday and the last day of the symposium and i signed up for rough water paddling, with Kate and Olly again.  Stromness head and sound we headed for.  I had a middling group so we went over rescues, rolling and self rescues, before lunch.  We managed to move up the Sound and get a good vantage point to look down and across the race.  It was impressive.  Again it had turned 40-50 minutes early and during this time it had been gentle, with a fair swell rolling through.  Every 10 minutes it changed.

We started with a run through and then worked in two teams of 3.  One in the eddy, while I worked the other team through the edge of the race again.  Back in the eddy we swooped over and we were off again.

We headed back to the Rugby Club, for more tea and cakes and then another super meal, drinks in the bar and a talk from Olly on his Arctic adventures wrapped up the day.

It had been a super weekend, which had been well organised from my perspective,  with a good mellow atmosphere.  Well done Nick and his team.  Next year is Shetland and 2017 its back to Orkney.  Its a long way, so spending more time up is worthwhile and it also means your more likely to get some settle weather.

Roger

roger chandler
info@coastalspirit.com
www.coastalspirit.com