The PSK Hub – Performance Sea Paddling Stuff
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 …
Day 2 – Llandudno to Llanfairfechan – 17 km Today was to be a shorter day and so afforded us more of a luxury to look around. The aim was to arrive at the county boundary line at around high-water slack and then reverse direction to tootle back to the get out at Llanfairfechan. As …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Conwy – Day 2”
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”
Day 6 – Porth Dinllaen – Morfa Dinlle – 28 km Back to early starts, 08:00 OTW, with slightly slow arms after the Llyn Padarn TT yesterday. The wind has dropped off, but it has taken the blue skies too. We start from Porth Dinllaen in a dead calm, with a 12-14 mph breeze forecast …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Gwynedd – Day 6”
Day 4 – Abersoch – Porth Colman – 37 km We finished at Abersoch and had to head home for a few days, or so we thought. But, we had Bardsey Sound to paddle through and February just did not bring any weather that made that a good idea. It was late March before we …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Gwynedd – Day 4”
Day 3 – Criccieth – Abersoch – 25 km We stayed not too far away in Porthmadog last night. Even with the necessary car shuttle, the relaxed tide timings meant we had an easier start today – OTW after noon! By contrast Criccieth was flat calm today and we headed out for a steady paddle …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Gwynedd – Day 3”
Day 2 Barmouth – Criccieth – 25 km The forecast was for a stiff breeze from the S, increasing as we headed N, and with only a little swell. The plan was to follow the coastline to Mochras/Shell Island, staying far enough out to avoid any surf, and then straightlining it to Criccieth – with …
Continue reading “The Coastal Counties Challenge – Gwynedd – Day 2”