The PSK Hub – Performance Sea Paddling Stuff
Getting started again. It’s just coming together now, it’s starting to feel good and I can see the benefits, I’m pleased about that. But it doesn’t start out that way, no siree. At the beginning of the training year it’s all quite unpleasant, demoralising even. It hurts and you wonder why you bother. If you …
Continue reading “Training Week 8 – Nobody Said It Would Be Easy”
Welcome to the Performance Sea Kayak Hub. Here we aim to provide a wide-ranging collection of sea-paddling interest, information and insight, with a Performance bias! Hopefully a place of long-term paddling reference and inspiration in this short-term world. Read of sea-kayak records, long-distance expeditions or historic first-attempts. You can consult paddling guides, learn training-tips or …
The Holy Island Lap The circumnav of Holy Island (Anglesey, UK) demands the usual tidal planning required of a short circ, but here the 32 km lap also brings a few added challenges: Accurate timing is needed to enter and leave the Inland Sea, the tidal window is only a few minutes wide. Get it …
As I mentioned on the lap of Holy Island last week, there is a trick to getting round the island efficiently. The crux-point is the tidal window at Stanley Embankment. This in turn dictates the (usual) counter-clockwise (CCW) direction of the trip, as the embankment-timings match you with the CCW ebb tide. So this means …
Continue reading “Holy Island Circumnav 2021 – The Wrong Way Around”
Holy Island lies to the immediate west of the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, UK. It is separated from Anglesey by a shallow ‘Inland Sea’ , created by a couple of short(ish) embankments that in turn link Holy Island to the Isle of Anglesey. I like paddling the lap of Holy Island; it’s short enough …
Continue reading “Holy Island Circumnav 2021 – Record Attempt”
Anglesey The Isle of Anglesey lies just off the coast of North Wales and is a popular spot in the UK sea kayaking world. The island brings many facets of sea kayaking: cliffs, sandy beaches, tidal rapids, overfalls, islands, sheltered waters, crossings and more. It also has some of the fastest tidal flows around, this …
Recently I posted a photo on the Strictly Sea Kayaking facebook page and this prompted a question from Steve Macfarlane on the subject of the rudder. I thought the reply may interest those rudder-equipped paddlers out there. Rudder Release. If you compare the photos we can see that the paddler has moved the boat rearward, …
This was a day of strong easterly winds that coincided with the flood tide in the Menai Strait – together these make for some great waves, just beyond Menai Bridge and some excellent downwind fun! This is previous footage, it was filmed a few years ago but I’ve always wanted to edit it a little …
A gentle surf of the Swelly Rock wave in The Swellies, Menai Strait, North Wales. The rock is positioned mid-flow in the channel, and on the early part of the flood provides a nice surf wave. The wave rises and falls through a regular ‘surge’, and steadily changes as the tide fills the channel, until …
As Storm Eunice caused mischief across the UK, we found ourselves experiencing unusually high water levels at Menai Bridge. So it was time to go for a nosey around the place, dodging the wind along the way…