Solva to Porth Clais 14/08/10 With Glam Boaters

Morning Trip Day 1

I left for Whitesands in St Davids Pembrokeshire in the early hours to meet up with the rest of Glam Boaters club. I arrived at the camp site just as they were leaving for Solva.

Lime kilns at Solva harbour
We unloaded the boats and left the harbour at high tide.


Exploring the caves near Solva.

We left the shelter of the south facing cliffs and headed for Green Scar, one of three small islands about 1km from the entrance to Solva harbour. Forecast came in on the radio, force 4/5 sea state slight to moderate.

We were greeted at Green Scar by some Shags and Guillemots who didn't seem to mind us getting too close.

Once around the tiny island and it was a battle into the Northerly wind back to shore. Here's me trying out my video on my new camera. For some reason the video doesn't fit the blog so double click it to open in you tube, if anyone knows how to sort this let me know.

After a tyring slog into the wind we land on a small slate beach for a quick breather.

There were 8 of us in all, this time all in sea boats.

More caves....Even though I've done this stretch of coast previously it was nice to be able to get close up and explore this time. Last time I was here there was a big swell and I had to view the cliffs from a distance.

Mount Rushmore of Pembroke?? There's definitely a couple of faces there.

Ship wreck.

How many kayaks can you fit in a cave!

The geology in this area is pretty impressive too.

Playing in the surf.

Posing!

Our next beach invasion was at Caefai Bay where I camped a few weeks ago. I try out a role with the camera at this bay.

Leaving the bay we carry on around to Porth Clais where we left our pick-up car. Before we land a few of the guy's couldn't resist getting out of their boats and launching themselves off a cliff. The boy who jumps second in this video was only young and was doing back flips and everything.


Richie doing a mid air pirouette!

With all that exploring and cliff jumping it was low tide by the time we reached Porth Clais, which can only mean a long walk up to the car park. As it was spring tides the walk was extra long!

It was back to the camp site for some lunch and to pitch the tent before a late evening paddle at the blue lagoon.

New Camera At Last!!

I finally ditched my non water proof digital camera which is on its last legs and bought an Olympus Tough 6020 waterproof. I took a very short trip out of Llantwit Major in some very choppy waters. I stopped off at the next bay to have a little play with it before turning back.

Finally some action shots. These are taken from video still, I haven't mastered taking photo's while on the move.

Splash down!

Bow underwater.

Heading back to Llantwit.

It was a big spring tide this next few days, and at high tide there was no beach left.
Can't wait to get back out and get some decent shots for a change.

Flat Holm in a Wedding Dress

Alarm goes off, 4am, what am I thinking! I head on down to Sully to meet up with Taran and Richie for a paddle out to Flat Holm. Taran was wearing a lovely wedding dress, for charity apparently but I think that was just an excuse to wear a dress and a pair of stockings! He was doing it for a good cause for Ty Hafan Children's Hospice.

I arrive in darkness while Taran is putting on his skirt over his...well.. skirt!

Launching at 5am the lights from the Wolves buoy and light house flash in the distance.

We reach Wolves buoy in no time as the sun starts to come up.

Finally the sun peaks just above the horizon. By this point my camera was buggered again and all I could see was a white screen so apologies for the poor photos.

Never before approached Flat Holm at high tide, it looked very different from being here previously.

Lining up out matching coloured boats on Flat Holm. Taran was in a Pyranha Orca and Richie was in a P&H Capella.

Scary!

I climbed into my boat on the pebble beach and with my weight the kayak started sliding into the water. I managed to keep myself from going completely arse over tit as I scramble with my hand on the sea bed. My Venture Pump broke AGAIN!! (I'm on my third one now) as the washer inside snapped. Not recommend, although Up & Under kindly replaced it each time.

Exploring one of the caves, normally this cave is halfway up a cliff when I've come here at low tide.

Passing the light house. Heading back we notice the flow of the ebbing tide taking control as we pass the Wolves buoy a little further south than on our initial journey.

We make it back though on the right side of Sully Island.

Taran then decided to go for a swim.

Good day in perfect conditions and back before I would normally wake up! We spent the next four hours up on the wall by the Captains Wife already planing our next voyages including Steep Holm, Ireland and France! Someday maybe.

Check out this video and also the BBC web site.

Old Man in a Boat

I took my dad down to Up & Under for a demo evening. Being an avid mountaineer and a lover of the great outdoors I wanted to try an get him into the 'new mountaineering'. He has dragged me up mountains all these years so now it's my turn.

The last time he paddled was about 15 years ago so we popped him in a slightly smaller Venture Flex 11. I mean while was a bit gutted the only sea kayak I wanted to demo, P&H Scorpio, had recently been sold. I jumped in a Dagger Alchemy which is classed as a tourer like my Easky. I was really surprised with it's handling. It turned with ease and was really stable. Its only 14ft so it lost a bit in speed.

Like riding a bike my dad seemed to build up his confidence and got the hang of things. I tried getting him in a longer boat but he wasn't having any of it. More interested in talking to a fellow kayaker/walker about climbing in Skye. I'll get him out at sea one day!

Sully to Penarth 25/07/08

Myself and Ian went for an afternoon paddle launching from the pebbled beach next to the Captains Wife at Sully. We made our way toward Penarth on the last of the flood tide. Conditions were a bit lumpy around Ball Rock Bay and Lavernock Point as expected.

Looking on to Flat Holm
Forecast came through on the radio force 3/4 possible 5 which could be seen further out to sea toward the two holm islands. Around to the other side of the points though the sea was perfect with a gentle swell.

Approaching Penarth we passed some idiots throwing stones at us. You would think being out here on the water you could get away from them.

We land on the jeti opposite the RLNI station for a quick break before taking the ebbing tide back. I check my GPS and it reads the fastest speed at 24kts! Then when I get home another record is set at 30.2kts!! The only thing I can think of is, it's either when I was paddling with a following tide and sped up for a split second on the back of a wave or my GPS is buggered. It's been pretty accurate until now.

Heading around Ball Bay we headed once again into the overfalls which was much more fun than having them wash up over your back. Into Sully sound I was surprised how little (if any) current there was. I thought the tide would rush through here, especially on a big tide.

We landed on Sully Island before having a race back over the sound to the cars.

Whilst packing up the cars the sun was fading leaving a stunning view over the channel toward Flat and Steep Holm. The moon came up just as we were leaving glowing really big just above the horizon. Annoyingly since I got my camera soaked in Fishguard I'm left with giant smudges on every picture. I've done my best to remove them in these. An excuse to buy a new waterproof one I think.

A 6.29nm trip and a top speed of 30.2kts, I wish! I could outrun most boats at that rate!