Grand Slam

As the Welsh rugby team prepare for their encounter with France,Taran, Jules and I head towards Aberavon Beach for our own surf encounter, little did I know I'd be having my own grand slamming a few hours later.

The surf at Aberavon was smaller than expected (Phew) but nevertheless provided us with some good fun.  I wanted to explore some surfing skills and get used to the characteristics of my boat in this environment, Jules was going to meet up with us later on.

A feel for the conditions and a grand stand view of the mess coming towards me, I tried to capture some of the larger green waves before they broke but they just looked flat when I viewed them on the computer.

After an hour of messing around Jules arrived and got stuck straight in. Jules catching some air time on the lip of a lovely wave.

As the water wasn't too cold I decided to actually swim in the water and see if I could get some shots from that angle. Taran was out of the water messing around with his big lens and new camera, so Jules had to be the model on this occasion. After I told him what I was planning he said I was mad, maybe, but lets give it a go anyway.

 The result....see nothing to worry about.

And right there for the action.

I get back into my boat and start having a mess around.

By accident I make a very late take off and my bows start to pearl,

Going vertical, yeee ha

With no chance of a recovery I try to do a pirouette. (Looking at this pic now I can see that my body an boat are rotated in opposite directions, I think I needed to use the the other blade to pull the boat around. Any thoughts anyone?)

Just about to crash, and the next wave lining up to get me, better be quick with the roll.

Aberavon is a lovely beach that seems to go on for miles and miles and was a superb location for todays paddle, clearly waves don't have to be massive to have fun in a seakayak. Today I simply wanted to improve my basic surf skills, but I left with a taste for getting the boat vertical who'd have thought.

My thanks to Taran as usual and Jules for capturing my grand slam moment.

Celtic Adventures

It all started with a text, just a simple one to Taran congratulating him on winning a very nice new Valley Etain. A few texts later and I'd swayed him to join me on a trip down west. I'd been wanting to do this part of the coastline for some time now but I hadn't envisaged doing it quite the way Taran had. His plan involved me, yes me, CAMPING, and in March. (It was only a few weeks ago that I made a comment about camping in February brrrrr and here I was weeks later contemplating it myself). There followed a frantic rush to get bits of camping kit I remembered having, but were now lost around the house after years of non use. Eventually I managed to sort my gear and began to pack my boat, camping wasn't going to be the problem, sinking was, my boat was that heavy.

  Seconds away from the moment of truth, it could be a very short trip indeed.

Amazingly it floated, and I began my first adventure in the Celtic Sea. By the time we had got to this point I was beginning to get used to the weight of the boat and the different handling characteristics, good job really because we would be paddling dirrectly into the wind from now on.

Approaching Caldy Island. And I notice Taran has put his helmet on, mmmmm always a cause for alarm, something going on that I hadn't noticed.

Nope, nothing going on, he just wanted to get out of his boat quickly after landing on this stunning beach. I've never been to Caldy before, it looked amazing but there was no time to explore today we had to crack on.

On leaving the beach we were once again exposed to the wind on this dramatic coastline which really epitomised the rest of the journey.

The colours in the rock layers were also very striking.

Eventually our home for the night comes into view.

After setting up camp I get an imprompttu lesson in bushcraft from 'Ray Tyla', that is after he'd stopped laughing because I'd brought a pillow with me, oops, apparently a camping faux pas on a much larger scale than bringing a suitcase.

 After a good nights sleep (the pillow made the difference) we set off into the eerie mist that had decended overnight,  shapes began to loom up just on the verge of vision making it a very atmospheric paddle.

Taran finds a cave to have a play in.

We decide to stop for a break at Manobier, thankfully not much surf there today. Somehow though we both manage to catch the same ride in, I could see what was going to happen so I break left and we both avoid a collision.

The Norman castle at Manobier, constructed in the 11th century, with the stone fortifications added in the early 12 century.

We continue on from Manobier, the mist has lifted and the sun has come out happy days indeed.

 Approaching St Catherines Island, to tired to go around so instead we decide to go through it.

A welcome break for a quick coffee and some chocolate on the beach at Tenby.

And shortly afterwards we arrive back at Saundersfoot, both totally shattered. I thorougly enjoyed this adventurous paddle a first for me on so many different levels, thanks Taran for planning this one I certainly wouldn't have been as ambitious.