A Local Journey

Put in above the city of Hull on the river of the same name. Headed down through the industrial heartland, not a pleasant place. Broke out of the river into the Humber and headed east down towards the docks. Progress was rapid in the ebbing tide. Past the P&O Ferries and Saltend Jetty, making progress to the sleepy village of Paull were I aggressed.

A bit of a naff video I put together of the journey..



The following day I jumped back on at Paull and continued down a glassy Humber.



Spurn eventually comes into view



Around the turbulent Head..



..and back up the promontory on the seaward side



Before landing at the small seaside hamlet of Kilnsea





35 nautical miles covered, average speed of 7knots and a top speed of 8.2knots, not a taxing trip but pleasant enough and there for the doing.



Thanks to the lovely Fi for taking photos and being my land support :-)

4* Sea Leadership Award

Finally, on the second attempt, I achieved my goal. Its been a bit of an emotional and soul searching mountain to climb but yesterday, with the assistance of Nick Cunliffe and James Stevenson, I was granted the 4* star sea leaders award, a benchmark I've desired for a long time.



What is enjoyable to me is that I am now acknowledged at a level in the sport that I am happy with. I'm now free to get on and enjoy everything that is sea kayaking. I am keen to further my training, but in many different ways, Greenland rolling looks fun, proper expeditioning is quite desirable, and 5* training will be on the cards. One thing is for certain, further training is going to be fun and everything I learn will be a bonus, a whole world of opportunities feels as if its been opened up to me.



But just as importantly I feel I have now found a coach who I can work with and whom understands me, the future is looking exciting.

Solo Blast Around Filey Brigg

With a big ebbing tide the Brigg was always going to have a little lift on it.







A quick run down to Old Horse Rock and Gristhorpe







Before returning on the first of the flood, a bit of rolling and fooling in the bay completed a lovely day.

Caught Out In Home Waters

We put in last Sunday at North Bay, Scarborough. forecast was for winds to build from a south easterly direction to force 4 or 5 with accompanying swell to raise to 5'.

Five of us broke through the smallish breakers in North Bay and headed north, first towards Cloughton, then on to Hayburn Wyke. The sun even came out for a while making it a beautiful winters afternoon on the water but the black clouds were always on the horizon.



We carried on under Stainton Dale, with over an hours worth of ebb left and at least three hours of daylight we were in no hurry to turn around.



With no warning the easterly breeze picked up, a constant breeze, not gusting, just constant and slowly increasing in strength. We were now well down Stainton Dale with no get outs and the sea was building, we chose to turn around and head back to Scarborough.

Within no time the sea had built up and huge swells were now peaking and breaking, the two Scarborough lads took off in front, I stuck with Fi who was tiring and Dave stayed beside us. It was soon clear we were not going to make good headway and landing back at Scarborough just wasn't going to happen. The tide had not yet started flooding and probably a good thing with the opposing winds. I said to Dave, "we've got to get off at Hayburn Wyke". He agreed.



Progress was slow and the closer we got to Hayburn Wyke the bigger the swells got, some breaking quite substantially over the shallower ground. We saw the Scarborough lads heading into the Wyke, at least they were still both in boats. Dave was ahead slightly and went for a landing, I briefed Fi and stayed as close as I could. The rest of the guys had got in and with dignity in tacked mostly. I gave Fi instructions to 'back paddle' as the huge waves hit, she did good. Eventually we hit the surf zone, I was picked up and surfed in before turning side on and ungracefully bongo sliding the remaining twenty yards or so into the huge boulder gardens that make up the Wyke. I looked back, Fi was out of her boat but holding onto it, she was flushed out on the next wave and she grabbed my outreached paddle. We were all safe.



The next hour and a half saw us hauling out boats up through the woods of the Wyke and to the pub car park, it kept us warm.







In summery, lots of mistakes but on the plus side lots done correctly too. I'm not going to go into details, anyone who reads this will have their own opinions. I've been through it in my head lots of times and even Dave wrote a list which was very useful. A useful incident that got us thinking, evaluating and most importantly  got us thinking about complacency.

The beer afterwards did half taste good though.

Essential Learning on Anglesey

Back from a wonderful few days on Anglesey yet again.

First day was spent trying out a demo Rockpool kayak out of Bull Bay in the snotty seas, I think Dave has found his next purchase.

Day two was spent furthering rough water rescue skills on the north coast with top UK sea coach Nick Cunliffe of 'Kayak Essentials'.

Finally, after feeling totally beaten up we spent the Sunday on the Menai playing between the bridge supports on the large 9 metre tide.

Just a few simple photos of the weekend as the camera didnt come out much...



Nick explaining the 5 Essentials :-)

Coble Landing, Filey to The Sands, North Bay Scarborough

Sunday dawned another beautiful if a somewhat cold day. Dave was keen to have a play in his new Delphin. A lunchtime launch to get the last couple of hours of ebb, the Brigg end was looking quite lumpy but with a wide berth it made for a fun crossing - on to Scarborough.

Dave and his new boat







North Bay and a bit of swell running, time for a little fun







Unfortunately on more that one occasion we both ended up swimming, what fools but great fun.

Humber in January

We store the boats on a farm which is right next to the Tidal River Hull. On several occasions I have put in here and headed upstream to Beverley but never downstream. Today was to be that day, albeit a very last minute decision.

Heading down towards the city was uneventful and quite dirty and somber to be honest, steaming outfalls from chemical works are really not very appealing, I wouldn't want to be in the water here. It wasn't until the city centre when things got better.



Out into the Humber, cutting out into the main flow, a good 4 knots of tide here... The Deep



Grabby eddy lines everywhere, easiest thing I found was to just power through them..





Paull Lighthouse










Down towards Spurn, keeping an ear on channel 12 - Humber VTS, this brings home to what really is a busy waterway and with major tidal flows and grabby, devilish eddies everywhere this waterway needs respect. The Taran did me well, very fast, the Nordcapp would have been more forgiving but the Taran punched through the last of the ebb as I turned to return to my pick up at the village of Paull.

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men.........

Charts bought, tidal diamonds examined and route planned, Sunday looked like an ideal day for a play in the upper Humber over low water - what fun could be had messing between the mud and sandbanks, following the last of the tide down to the Humber Bridge, a play around the supports and then back up on the flood.

Launch point had been located, a pontoon from behind the pub at South Ferriby, near the entrance to the River Ancholme. Others had landed here over high water to visit the pub. Up early, over the Humber Bridge and down to the pub carpark, the tide was ebbing fast between the south bank and Reeds Island.

Problem....the pontoon had been removed for the winter and was laid on the bank, now there was 20 ft of deep treacherous mud between us and the water.  Well that was that, no other safe access point could be found.

Not to be beaten, it was a nice day, the River Ancholme was close by but still, straight and quite boring, lets go find the Trent, it has good flow, certainly not as challenging as the Humber but could be fun.

Down to Newark and a put in just above the weir in the town for a push upstream...

Want a race?



A little bit of breaking in and out in the moderate flow.



Fi admires a weir..





It could have been very easy to have turned around and gone home but it turned out to be quite a nice chilled day in the best of the January weather. and about 18 kms covered.

New Year on Anglesey

A few lovely chilled days on Anglesey with friends, a perfect way to start the New Year.