The PSK Hub – Performance Sea Paddling
The Beacon Sess. Last night we took the weekly group session out of the Menai Strait and headed for Rhoscolyn Beacon. The Beacon sessions are always a firm favourite: a change of scenery, different flow patterns and different courses of course. A change is as good as a rest as they say. Though I doubt …
Continue reading “The Rhoscolyn Beacon Session – Training as a group”
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 …
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”
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”
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…
Easy Downwind Video. The Menai Strait is a natural tidal channel that separates the Isle of Anglesey from the mainland of North Wales. The tide runs through the channel at reasonable pace for a good few miles, and is quite fast in places. All of which gives a variety of options for moving water fun. …
Two lines of footprints in the sand, leading to the brink of something we’ve been planning for a long time.
Trepidation and excitement play tag at the waterline.
The sea looks bleak in the moonlight and it’s such a long way. I know the early
euphoria will mellow to dogged grind, and that will stale into slow motion pain.