Well Thursday finally arrived and after the last few days of wet, un-climbable, weather I was keen to get back in a boat and top up my sea skills. Thursday is our practical day at College and for the last few weeks we are completing a module in 'Alternative Pursuits'. These alternative pursuits include both sea kayaking and surf kayaking and today my group was sea kayaking, yayyy.
As I headed for college this morning the sea mist was still exceedingly thick and I didn't fancy our chances at getting the opportunity to paddle today and I also didn't like the thought of being stuck indoor doing written work either, and it was looking like an 80 - 20% chance in the written works favour. However upon arriving at college it was good news, the mist was to clear around 11ish and we were told we were boating!
To give the mist a chance to clear we had an hour long tutorial from our college instructor Luke. The tutorial covered about the effects of the sun and moon on spring and neap tides, equipment specific to sea kayaking and coastal and tidal navigation. Its always good to cover these topics before setting out and gives students the opportunity to ask questions about such subjects before committing to a practical session.
After the tutorial we collected our personal equipment, group equipment and grabbed our sea boats and left the college grounds, next stop Brixham (Fish town). When we arrived at the harbor we simply unloaded the trailer, got kitted up, outfitted our boats and finally got on the water! Whilst in the harbor we played about for a while letting every one get used to the boats as not every one within the group had been in a sea kayak before. Everyone responded well to the feel of the boats and after spending time dusting off the 3* skills we set off on a paddle along the coast to Elbury Cove.
As I headed for college this morning the sea mist was still exceedingly thick and I didn't fancy our chances at getting the opportunity to paddle today and I also didn't like the thought of being stuck indoor doing written work either, and it was looking like an 80 - 20% chance in the written works favour. However upon arriving at college it was good news, the mist was to clear around 11ish and we were told we were boating!
To give the mist a chance to clear we had an hour long tutorial from our college instructor Luke. The tutorial covered about the effects of the sun and moon on spring and neap tides, equipment specific to sea kayaking and coastal and tidal navigation. Its always good to cover these topics before setting out and gives students the opportunity to ask questions about such subjects before committing to a practical session.
After the tutorial we collected our personal equipment, group equipment and grabbed our sea boats and left the college grounds, next stop Brixham (Fish town). When we arrived at the harbor we simply unloaded the trailer, got kitted up, outfitted our boats and finally got on the water! Whilst in the harbor we played about for a while letting every one get used to the boats as not every one within the group had been in a sea kayak before. Everyone responded well to the feel of the boats and after spending time dusting off the 3* skills we set off on a paddle along the coast to Elbury Cove.
Me and Briony on the water, still looking quite misty...
Whilst we headed for Elbury Cove the group were constantly working on their skills and paddled well as a group with some good banter along the way. The conditions were extremely calm throughout the day with the water resembling glass and the wind minimal, although this was nice for paddling I prefer choppy water, surf and big swell just to make it more interesting!
Whilst paddling along the coast the group were also rock hopping and getting a feel for the slightly less maneuverability of the boats compared to the boats we usually use on the river. Rock hopping involves moving between and around rocks which are not joined to the land, quite spicy and technical in big swells. The best of the rock hopping today was a large cave with just enough water passing through it to make the cave paddle-able. Whilst the majority of the group made it through poor Briony got wedged in the cave and had to make a hasty retreat backwards to exit the cave, unlucky Briony hahah!!
POV photo of me entering a tight maneuvering spot
After some rock hopping we made our way to Fishcomb cove where the group stopped for a quick bite of lunch and a drink. After lunch we set off and headed towards Elbury cove passing the 7 sea quarries and scouting out some of the climbs that only Mick Fowler would be interested in as they are basically composed of brittle rubble!! On the way to Elbury Cove we also had a brief encounter with 'fluffy the killer seal', those of you who know me will know by now that seals hate me and will go out of their way to give me a bloody hard time. This I suppose was not such a bad thing thing as I paddled as fast as my arms would allow to dodge 'fluffy' and made Elbury cove in record time. Whilst at Elbury Cove we had to demonstrate 'Advanced Skills' in a sea kayak in order to gain our distinction criteria in our alternative pursuits module. I chose an Eskimo roll as my skill and and cracked one out with no hesitation as I didn't want to hang about just in case 'Fluffy' made a re-appearance!!
Me demonstrating an Eskimo roll
After demonstrating some advanced skills we chose to make our way back to the harbor. By this time the wind had slowly picked up and we had to remain consistent with our forward paddling in order to out do the wind. We stayed at roughly 5kph the whole way back to the harbor, not a bad effort I think. Whilst back in the harbor Briony, for whatever reason, ended up swimming and made a few unsuccessful attempts at rescuing her boat, much to the amusement of the local population. After this slight embarrassment Matt capsized and had to show Briony how to truly rescue a boat, bragging rights for Matt and a red face for Briony.Once we had de-kitted and sorted the boats out we made the drive back to college to hose down the kit and boats and be debriefed by Luke.
All in all a banterful day on the water...
Photos and video curtosy of Matt Woodmore
Also congratulations to my mate Dave for passing his Moderate Water Endorsement (SEA)
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