The PSK Hub – Performance Sea Paddling Stuff
Frustration Loop. The session was a dozen laps of Ynys Gored Goch in the Swellies. Paddling on the flood, each lap of the island is around the 4 mins mark and means a challenging climb against the flood tide at the top of each lap. Today the stiff W wind also complicated the climbs somewhat. …
Today Storm Eunice was blowing through. Should I paddle or not? I took some time to think it through… Today the water was intriguingly high for a mid-spring tide (only a 9.3m) – it’s not often you see the wheely-bins afloat! There was plenty to learn and new things to see. So to see I …
The Boss and myself have an early start to make the tide for a play session in the Swellies. This time we are joined by Roger Chandler of Coastal Spirit. We start with a play on ‘Boily Wave’ for a wake-up and then move on to ‘Snowdonia Rapid’ which is running quite nicely. Then as …
Continue reading “Video – Early Doors – Surfing The Swellies”
by John Willacy Here we are having a little fun in the sun, using the friendly wind over tide conditions on the Menai Strait in Menai Bridge, UK. We are trying not to get ‘owned’ – that is when a boat glides smoothly by, leaving you in its wake… The day brought neap tides, but …
Continue reading “Video – Owned – Menai Strait Wind Over Tide”
The Bay Morecambe Bay is a large bay in the north-west of England, it separates the counties of Cumbria and Lancashire and drains a number of rivers. It dries extensively to form large expanses of sand and mud. These sandflats are notorious for soft mud and quicksand and in many places the incoming tides move …
Continue reading “Morecambe Bay Crossing – The AA Route Planner Race”
by John Willacy Penrhyn Mawr is a tide race on the W coast of the Isle of Anglesey*, UK. The flooding tide, a rocky headland and a number of shallow reefs work together to form the often impressive tide race. It is a popular moving-water paddling spot in the UK sea kayaking scene. Here I …
If you like to keep your deck free of clutter, here’s a simple Taran tip for a lightweight paddle park to prevent wandering blades in those breezy admin moments. Wrap a few turns of insulation tape to a diameter ~14 mm. Then loop the elastic over your blade shaft and by stretching one side, slide …
by John Willacy Relaxing on the Cardinal Wave, post-training with The Boss. After a sess around The Arches, on the Menai Suspension Bridge, we dropped down for a warm-down surf on The Cardinal. The Cardinal Post creates a strong v-wave on the ebb, with a second wave perpendicular to the flow sitting behind. The V-wave …
For the Easter weekend we returned out attention to the Coastal Counties Challenge. Part of the aim of the challenge is to stretch paddler’s outlook (including our own) to sections of coastline that don’t always get so much attention. And so it was with this trip – Rhyl to Llanfairfechan. At first look it seems …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Conwy – Day 1”
Day 7 – Morfa Dinlle – Llanfairfechan(ish) – 37 km We start our final day under a glorious sky, 0900 OTW and it’s a nice warm day – thin-cag time! There is a gentle, clean swell running in on the beach and we partake of a couple of easy runs up by South Sands, before …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Gwynedd – Day 7”