Humber Over Low Water

Decided to try a little experiment and that was to be put in at the Humber bridge over low water and travel up the river with the incoming 7 metre tide. The idea was to paddle around and over the sandbanks as the tide rushed in over them. I was also interested to know if any headway could be made against the tide by picking your route carefully back towards the bridge.

Watching the tidal flow consume protruding sandbanks in seconds was a real eye opener, the flow simply raced over them creating fast and turbulent water, the noise was immense.

We finally ended up at the small town of Brough. For the return journey we hugged the north bank and to our surprise we made great time plotting our way along back eddies that seemed to encompass the whole north bank.

Really enjoying getting to know our local water, the Humber is a challenging and technical river deserved of respect but its becoming quite a fun place if not the most scenic water I've ever paddled. And landing back near the Humber Bridge over high water was quite pleasant, another foot of water and we could have paddle straight onto the pub patio.

Sam & Stu in a Canoe

Finally talked the daughter into a day on the water, a lovely pleasant chilled out day.

1st Day of Summer

With a high pressure system over the UK producing such mild and sunny weather we arranged a paddle with both Hull and Scarborough friends. Launching from Sandsend beach we headed north towards Runswick.



A brief stop under Kettleness



Were we tickled a lumpsucker fish from its environment



and returned to the water unharmed



On our journey we bumped into Steve on his paddle board



Dave enjoys a blast in the Taran





A beautiful day with good friends

A Day Fishing on the Canoe

Took the lad on one of our frequent trips on the top reaches of the River Hull. The pike weren't interested but a blank was saved with this nice escapee rainbow trout.









A lovely day on the water and the last chance of the 2011/12 season.

A Guiding Honour

The tragic death of a paddling friend prompted two local lads to take on a mammoth paddle to raise funds for the Great North Air Ambulance - 160 miles from source to sea - Jason & James decided to paddle the full length of the River Ure, Ouse and Humber down to the sea. I was privileged to accompany them on the final leg of their journey.









Shattered and hurting the lads made the best use of the tide..



I'm really pleased to say that with only 20 minutes of tide assist left the lads made it to their destination, the North Sea, well done Jason and James.

A Local Trip that was there for the Doing

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 poor 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





30 nautical miles covered, average speed of 7knots and a top speed of 8.2knots with tidal assist, 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.