since been back in wales me and james have spent quite a lot of time sea kayaking all over the place getting back into the swing of things, geting ready for big NZ mission, and mostly just cause we love it.
we have had some truley great trips, sadly i cant write you down a story for everywhere we went ... you would most definitely get bored! But heres a few stories from the three trips i found the most memorable.
(PLEASE NOTE: not every paddle we go on is as epic as these ...sometimes we do enjoy flat calm conditions!)
A grim saturday very early morning we were driving down to pembrokeshire, the trees were been blown sideways and the car wipers were on full swing as a moonsoon amount of rain coming from the sky......
why were we not going river paddling!?!?!?
well it was more awesome .....
skomer, skokholm island hopping
We arrived in a tiny place called Dale in the west of pembrokeshire where we spent a few minutes sat in the car not wanting to open the door in the horizontal rain ....
eventually we got changed inside the warmth of the car, then manned up to get outside in the grim weather and quickly get sorted to get on the water!
We stormed off, paddling at speed to warm up, following along the rocky coastline. It didnt take long till we were exposed to the full pelt of the fiesty force 5 southerly whipping in! WHOOOSH! ok now we were awake!
With the strong south winds bought an exciting swell, which as we rounded St.Annes Headland on the southerly point, created some very exciting conditions with tidal movemnt reacting with the conditions causing overfalls all around. We were laughing and grinning and having a great time as we paddled through the large crashing waves, difficult to keep sight of each other, but we new each other would be fine! the heavy heavy rain thumping on our heads throughout provided a great atmosphere.
as we cleared the bulk of the crashing madness, we rafted up, as best we could to make a plan.
the initial plan was to scope out the conditions as we rounded this headland before commiting to accepting the crossing to skokholm and skomer island...
we had a steady force 5 wind that was due to increase to force 7 by the end of the day (AGHHH!!) a 'definite lump' in the swell ... and about 300m visibility with the heavy grey rain...
We concluded we had a 'little bit of spice' to add to the trip ... but it wasn't quite a 'flaming vindalloo'.
we decided we were definitely capable to cope with the conditions together, and yes it would get 'increasingly firey' as the wind picks up, but together we been out in these conditions more than enough to know wht will occur and knew we could handle it ....!
we checked the tidal flow, pointed our bows about 4km south of skokholm island and paddled into the mist, an exciting moment ... hope we worked it out right ... wouln't want to get lost at sea with these conditions and no visibility!!
it didnt take very long at all until the land behind us vanished in the shit visibility, and we were paddling on our bearing into nothing, the strong wind breaking the large swell side on to our kayaks drenching us thoroughly with salty waves! really an edge of our seat feeling of apprehension at this point ....
we had concluded on a bearing to follow together, but we both kept paddling off in different directions, causing us both to get a little stressed, given the conditions and seriousness of messing this up with the increasing winds ....
Obviously we both thought we were right and that the other person couldn't follow a bearing!!
Anyway, after a more civil conversation, getting out more handheld compasses for proof, we concluded james compass was spot on, and my compass was a good 20degrees out .... great!!
about an hour later we got sight of land at skokhold island as we had nearly arrived, our plan had worked we breathed a breath of relief.
we quickly realized we had to stay pretty far away from shore with the large swell breaking big waves onto the south side of the island!
the island looked very ominuous, the steep walls towering up with sea spray crashing off high up into the air.
I would have loved to be able to land and explore it ... but today was not the day for that for sure!
as we followed the island round and paddled up the west coast, some strong tidal activity and a headland caused overfalls and breakers all over.
it was great fun dodging the waves, with many crashing on top of us, great fun keeping us on our toes the whole way.
as we paddled up this coast, the wind started gusting very strong, making us keep low and holding on tight to stop the wind ripping out paddles and capsizing. The wind was now gusting pretty hard, trying to trip our paddles from us and pull us over if we lifted our paddles too high ....
we we got to the north of the island we found a little bit of shelter by the cliffs away from the strong wind, shoved a few chocolate bars down us and decided what to do next.
the wind was definitely picking up now! it was strong for sure, looking out to sea and seaing streams of spray ripping off may of the waves confirmed this..
'looks exciting!' we concluded, 'better get to skomer before it gets even more excitung hey!?'
As we left the shelter and pointed north into the shitty vis it didnt take us long to be fully exposed to wind again.
the wind had definitely picked up and was pretty firece actually! trying to communicate was difficult now.
we were going bang in the direction of the swell And the wind now.
As we surfed down the waves we could here crashing noises all around us, hoping the wave we were flying with wasnt going to explode on us! .... often it did though ... but we survived with some manic bracing!
conditions like this are what I love to paddle most at sea: Enough to keep me on the edge of my seat and holding my paddle very tight, but enough for me to still be in control of everything, mostly, just.
Flying at a great speed, skomer island soon came into sight, and yet again we reassured ourselves we wanted to keep distance from the lee shore with big waves building and crashing, the spray flying meters into the air was enough to confirm this!
the wind was increasing even more and gustng very viloently requiring quite alot of concentration to keep on track by now.
we followed the shore round, where the headlands created a exciting mis of water, the odd rock and booming dumping breaker we had to avoid.
we carried on together, surviving and enjoying it thoroughly untill we rounded to the northern top of the island
here we were met with a flat calm sheltered sea .... and almost complete shelter from the wind!
We loosened our grip on our paddles and shoved a couple more chocolate bars down. Off we continued along this incredible coast enjoying some calm after the storm.
We got close to crossing the 'little sound' and 'jacks sound' when james spotted a break in the cliffs .... that appeared to be a long thin caveway leading through the other side...
despite the big booming noises coming from the big swell flying through the other entrance james been james couldnt resist popping inside ... and before he knew it he couldn't resist inching closer and closer inside .... me following!
the heavy swell coming through and sucking back out the other side made this passage 'difficult' to say the least! s the swell surged strongly into the cave, it was smashing up big time sending spray high into the cave.... then creating a narly ledge drop on our side, then as the swel sucked back out, it created a legde drop on the other side, before flying back in again and doing the same.
as we watched it, it seemed there was one specific moment with hard forward paddling you could make it through against the tidal flow... and if you didnt ..the consequence would be rather bad!
for all my river paddling friends who like to tell me sea kayaking is a boring old man sport! i would grade this cave rapid a solid 4+ rapid!!
getting it rong would have been very very bad, not an option really considering where we were
As i watched james inch closer and closer , I was trying to imagine how i would rescue him if it fucked up .... I couln't see a way of rescuing without getting enialeted myself .... so he better not fuck it up i thought!!
i watched tentatively as james managed to time it perfectly and make it through epic free to the other side!
i studied the next swell set ... and with a bit of a heart pounding moment .... paddling frantically past the ledge drop against the tide.. i got through to join him!
it was like a different world having crossed through this cave, leaving the calm flat waters of the north side, we were now been pummelled by the firece wind and heavy swell on the exposed south side!
we crossed the little sound and jacks sound which was flowing fast to the north ferrying on the waves, ending us up on the headland, where we were met by sheltered flat waters again, phew!
we paddled a phew km around the cliffs on some enjoyable flat water, excitely talking about how epic that day was ... and then finally pulled in to land at a sandy beech at martins haven!
getting out our kayaks, we realized it was freezing outside!! We did a quick 7km run together to warm up back to the car ... and swifly managed to find a pub and get a beer ... or three!
BISHOPS AND THE BITCHES
after a comfy night sleep in the car we woke up, drank some coffee and were then rearing to go for round two on the sea!
forecast: 'wind, swell, tidal races, crossings = going to be spicy again!'
we drove to whitesands bay, a little beach on mainland next to ramsey island enjoyed completing the crux of the day: getting dressed into wet kit in the rain and wind, it was lovely.
We dragged our boats down the beech and launched through 4-5foot surf, getting a few slamings faces full of salt and drenched! we were now awake and ready to go!
we paddled together along the coast on our right, the swell increasing with size
we negotiated our way past some interesting conditions forming on st.davids head and got passed the breakers to make a plan..
we decided to cross over to the bishop islands.
the wind was 4-5 westerly, we would be battering into it for the first bit, but we had a good 3 knots of tidal flow assisting ur directionish ... and the wind would help us back eventually.
a quick plan and bearing was made and off we pointed away from the island, hoping everything would work and we would drift onto it! visibility was much better today and we could just about see the island before we set off, reassuring. however, we could also see a lot of white surrounding the island, slightly worrying considering we were about 6m away, must be some carnage going on there for us to see it this far away!
well lets go investigate we decided
soon after we got going we realized the flow was a bit quicker than expected against the wind, so had to paddle a bit harder and change the angle!
swell, wind, tide, random shallow patches, created a fun sea to paddle in today.
adjusting our transits and bearings as we went, the tidal flow seemed to be speeing up and slowing down.... we guessed the depths all over would have caused this, interesting to see first hand.
as we ferried nearer to the island ... we could tell it was going to be narly!!! the tidal flow was now strengthening close to its peak ... add that to a mix of wind and swell and you have interesting conditions!
we could now see big overfalls forming off the east side, and even bigger off the western side ...
we approached the east with caution and then proceeded a mad ferry glide through the massive breaking waves to get to a calm, but boily and fast moving eddy.
now the tidal flow was about its peak!!
The waves were BIG about 3 meters(+)!? or maybe they just feel bigger when your flying down it!
......some breaking hard in places you would not want to me....... but actually the front one was big, sometimes steepining, but mostly clean, epic and ....... totally surfable!!!
we spent time breaking out the eddy trying to get a wild ride on the biggest wave at the front ... occasionally flying down it and hoping it wouldnt dump over us! we totally knacered ourselves out in a very short period of time, but it was wicked!
we hopped our way down following the island south west, where we met the 50m break between the island. the tide was hooning through, probably about 6 knots and again some big waves exploding!
We both managed a mad ferry glide trying to surf across to the next eddy .... falling deep in the troughs between the waves, trying desperately to keep on track and paddle fast. My luck a big one broke over me!! causing me to poo myself a bit, brace hard ..... but as usual, survive!
we kept following down to the western point of the island .. and decided what to do now .
the conditions between us and the next island to the south 'daufrich' looked interesting... there was lots of white ....
tidal flow was fast, and we would have to be on it to make it across, missing the island and ended up elsewhere wouldn't ave been ideal!
we made a plan, fixed some transits and started off , waves coming from many sides making it hard to keep straight we were holding tight the whole way across!!
we successfully made it through the wild waters to an eddy on the west end of the island!
from here we cautiously followed round to the south facing side, met with a big swell breaking heavily all over reefs.
the flow was still flowing fast , and we had to make it back to ramsey island.
however, as we looked out to sea, the sea looked chaotic to say the least, big breakers everywhere!
checking out the tidal chart that evening when we got home confirmed why, the whole was across the sea bed changes significantly in depth, shallow patches all arund, explaining the fat the sea looked so chaotic with the current wind swell and tide!
we calculated the tidal flow, there was about 4 knots pushing us to the south of ramsey island...
but we made sure we could still make it ...
As we paddled towards the northern end of ramsey island we soon felt the full extent of the conditions, it wa actually very epic.
In the first 5 minutes we totally lost sight of each other, and was difficult to regain eyes on each other with the waves breaking up and down all over the place. We made a consious effort to stick close to each other, but this was difficult as waves were picking us up and we were flying down them almost crashing into each other! There were a few very very shallow patches causing extremely dangerous thumping waves we needed to keep away from, but it was very difficult to see, as even when we rose on top of the waves, it was hard to see anything, as everything was up and down all over the place totally irregular. It was keeping us well and truley on our toes!! Occasionaly we could hitch an awesome ride on the waves and fly at great speed down the waves, but lots of the time the waves were just breaking on us!!
we tried to pick a tansit to aim for , but in reality this was hard to keep straight and we seemed to be zigzagging all over the place heading vaiguly in the right direction!
was very hard to keep on track!!
however, checking our transits as we went made sure we were stilll on track and werent gunna miss ramsey island!
the sea was one of the most wildest seas ive paddled in for a long time, it was comparable to some of the conditions we experienced off bluff on the south coast of new zealand! staying upright was difficult and i almost had a bit of a sore hand from gripping the paddle so hard, that dosent happen often!
anyway we survided and got to ramsey island! where we relaxed and excitely swapped stories of brreaking wave encounters whilst easting a few chocolate bars!
follwing ramsey island southwards, we found a cave that led as a shortcut through! it was exciting with a big swell coming through the south eastern entrance ... james had an 'interesting moment', i then took the pussy route round the side!!
we paddled up the east facing side of ramsey island and stopped for a lunch break by the famous bitches tide race. It was now just past slack water, so we waited around to see how the bitches would build ...
it was cool to watch the flow build quicky in front of our eyes
where we got on and had a good hour play on the waves!
we then flew northwards with the tide and back to whitesands bay happily landing through a bit of surf, with just the memories of the days epics left with us as we looked back out at sea smiling, still able to see the white spray from teh bishops island over 6km away, proving in our minds the waves must have been as big as we thought!
TO THE SKERRIES .... .IN THE DARK!
after a pleasant morning paddle with our friend reece round the stacks, we were pondering what to do next ...
crossing to the skerries seemed like a cool idea ....
crossing to the skerries at spring tidal flow in the dark with no moon ... would be an even cooler idea ...
we convinced our mate reece it would be fine, midly epic, but fine! he put full trust in mine and james decision and we all decided to go for it.
sitting in mcdonalds we figured out the tidal flow, and decided as it was going to be exciting anyway, we might as well make it fully exciting and go for the crossing in the full 6 knot tidal flow. we have both crossed out to the skerries a few times so have a relaitively good idea of what we would encounter given the flow and the prevailling force 4 conditions, some exciting waves, but nothing completely chaotic!
we drove down to a little beech a few km south of church bay where we found an easy launch, cooked some dinner and set ourselves up with glowsticks and glowing balloons for the night paddle, packing our boat full with tents stoves and warm layers preparing for the possibilty of anything!
It got totally dark and about 8pm we set off into the pitch dark, lit up with our glowing balloons ...
it wasnt long till we paddled out of the bay into the open sea, paddling on our set bearning.
James was in charge of navigation (to save arguments on which way we were paddling, and any compass differences) and I was keeping close looking our for our mate reece, who had never paddled in the dark before, let alone in exciting conditions like this! it was a good combination!
depite not having a map myself, i trusted jameses navigation, and was using the stars and lighthouse as transits to ensure we were ferrying in a straight line and heading the right way ... never used stars as transits before, but it was working perfectly ....that was untill the cloud chugged in and blocked out my star of choice!!!
anyway as we progressed, the swell was picking up, hard to judge exactly in the dark how big it was, but it was big enough to lose sight of each others balloons between waves, we ensured we kept close enough to manage.
soon enough as we were paddling i started to hear the crashing noises of breaking waves ahead of us.... quite ominous in the dark .....
the crashing noises got louder, and then we found ourselves in a tidal race! james kept the navigation on track and i stayed next to reece, who i imagined his eyes would be on stalks at this moment! it was pretty exciting ferrying across the waves and managing to surf them in the dark! actually very exciting! something i need to do more of!
this was an incredible moment, as we encountered phospherence flying off the waves and our paddles as we paddled, absolutely magical! phospherence are little tiny sea creatures, that release emmisions of light if they feel a disturbance in the water near them, as they think the disturbance is a predador, and the light emmisions are supposes to atract bigger predators to eat their percieved predators, crazy and interesting stuff, and amazing to see! especially when surifng through a tidal race in the dark ... this is a moment i will never forget!!
the speed of the flow creased now as we were getting closer to the island, so james changed the angle of ferry and we paddled a little faster! we then decided to go with the flow a little bit to make more distance, and cut into the eddy at the back on the island ... before we knew it, we heard a loud crashing noice, flicked our headtorches on, and there was the skerries a few meters in front of our boats! wahoo we had made it!!!!
reece happy to be alive!
we landed in the inlet, stretched our legs and ate a few chocolate bars, before realizing it was about 5 degrees, windy and we were freezing!!!
we decided to get back in our boats swiftly and cross back to mainland .... reasuring reece the flow would now be decreaasing and the sea conditins would be less narly ... well we hoped anyway!
again, james was on navigation, so we followed his lead, pointing due south to carmel head ...
not long after we set off we heard big crashing noises to our left, eek! theres a shallow patch marked on the chart as a dangerous shipreck just south of the skerries that usually provide some overfalls with any form of slght wind ... well here we were, about to get towed by the tide into them!
as the noises got louder i flighed my headtorch on, looked left and saw a large wave about to break ... oh dear its quite big actually i thought ... and then it broke on me!! i braced hard into it as it crashed down ... looking and laughing at the balloons on my boat getting washed around by the wave, wondeing if they would help or hinder the roll that was enevitably about to occur ... anyway i survived and didn't roll! we continued paddling faster south and quickly gained distance through the tidal waters towards mainland. we made the call to stay away from land and use the tidal flow to help us along the coast eastwards quicker, meaning the conditions would be more lump/exciting, but we would get there quicker.
as we were paddling, use of transits revealed we weren't making as much distance as we thought we would ... we came to the conclusion the tide had changed earlier than noted .. hmm ..., stupid tide
we made a new plan, to paddle south into the eddy and follow the coast up here.
as we followed the coast, the swell was breaking on the rocks and it was difficult to judge exactly where they were breaking.
we went for the headtorched off option, and used our hearing to navigate around the breakers, quite an interesting way of navigating that i havent used too often. its amazing navigating like this in the dark, you become really completely in tune with the sea and your surroundings navigating purely off hearing in the pitch black ... i became able to tell how big the waves were, how far away, and where the rocks were.
we were all pretty knackered at this point and this half an hour or so of paddling seemed to really drag! but did keep us all on our toes as freak waves would unexpectly break a little further off the rocks than we expected!
finally we reached the final headland, where the tidal flow was now definitely against us! the sea once again became lumpy with the tidal action, and we had to put in a hard puch to gain distance into the flow, about 2-3 knots we reckon, whilst keeping far enough offshore to avoid the breakers ...
eventually we gained the eddy on the other side, and instinctively paddled into shore where we left reeces van ...
we got out of our boats, glad to have survived!!!!
knackered!!!
within a few minutes we were mildly hypothermic, it was freezing!!
boats on roof,, kit off .... we collapsed in the back of the car and slept well!
so there we go, well done if you managed to read to the end of my dyslexic sea ramblings!
whats the point of writing all this!?
im not sure maybe i guess i want everyone to know ...
SEA KAYAKING IS COOL!!!!!
it is not a boring old mans sport!!
its adventure and its awesome!!