Llantwit Major to Tusker Rock

I finished work about 6pm yesterday and immediately started
packing my gear to head off to West Wales. Weighing up the
weather and the time it would take to get there I called it off
last minute. Instead I settled for a paddle out from Llantwit
Major an hour or so after high tide and take the spring ebb
toward Porthcawl.

Immediately I was accelerated to 7kts across Llantwit beach
over the underlying rocky outcrop which extends out from
the beach. I headed into a westerly wind which made it feel like
quite a task to paddle even though I was making a steady 5-6kts.
I thought that low angle paddle I tried out last week at the Welsh
Kayak Show would be nice now.

In no time at all I was at Nash Point. There was no trouble
reaching the East Cardinal Buoy today as I flew past at over
8kts! The buoy straining at it's moorings.

The waters seemed much calmer now along the cliffs reaching

toward Southerndown after the confused racing currents around

Nash Point.

Last time I was here myself and Mick were paddling around

this rock!

And the water was near the roof of this cave blowing

out jets of water. I reached Ogmore by sea and could clearly

see Tusker Rock so I made a short ferry glide over for some

lunch.

It was only 13:30 when I reached Tusker and low tide wasn't

until 15:00. The rock is absolutely littered with bit of iron from

the ship wreck. This tank made a pretty eerie gargling sound

as the tide drained out of it's holes.

In no rush I sat down to have my lunch and a cuppa. As I starred

aimlessly at the rock I noticed it moving. It was covered in

thousands of sea snails all moving around like chess pieces

in quick little bursts.

The tide had now uncovered the larger parts of the wrecks

by now so I decided to explore this living museum.

The bits of iron were literally becoming part of the rock as

limpets, muscles and coral all hung on.

This looked like an old chain perhaps for the anchor?

I originally left my boat where I landed I now had a small

walk to launch again. I was surprised how big the rock

actually was, probably because it was such a big spring tide.

I spent an hour on shore and still didn't get to the far side.

Looking out toward Ogmore by Sea.

As I left the tide had already turned. I could just make out

the mid nash buoy some 4 or 5 kilometers off shore so made

a bearing for it. As I got further out the sea was a bit choppy.

The tide was only now carrying me at 2.5kts. I thought by the

time I get there the flow will be in full force so made a beeline

for nash point.

Flying past the east cardinal buoy this time at 7kts.

Landing at Llantwit Major beach with a bit further to walk

than earlier. A good day out at 30km or 16.5 nm. Top speed

on my GPS 8.2kts! Going home now for a long soak in the

bath to sooth those aching muscles!

Thanks to anyone who reads my blog. Met a few people at

the Kayak Show last weekend at Up & Under, was a bit shocked

when people were asking if I was Stuart. Thanks guy's, and sorry

to disappoint but the sheep didn't jump! Cheers.

Flat Holm Island 18/04/10

Mick an myself headed out from Penarth slipway an hour
before low tide for Flat Holm Island. It was spring tide so
I knew we were in for a bit of a ride. Forecast was force 1/2
3 later. This was Micks first proper trip. It was a bit hazy
today, only the top half of the island in view.


We passed wolfs south cardinal buoy in good time as we made
a steady 4.5 kts. A little to close however, I would have preferred
to have been a little further north at this point.
We reached Flat Holm in spot on an hour and made our way
clockwise around the island.

No chance of taking the short cut through here today. I
attempted to get close to see if there was a way through
but got beached on a rock, good job I got a plastic boat!

Steep Holm in the distance.

The southerly wind hit us head on around the south of the

island. There were a few good races and standing waves

for us to contend with, but all good fun.

We landed by the slipway and stopped for a wonder.

Looking down the south west corner.

The sea gulls were going absolutely nuts and they were

everywhere, it was like a scene out of the horror film 'Birds'.

I nearly lost an eye taking this shot! I managed to avoid

getting crapped on though, Mick wasn't so lucky. They seemed

to take a disliking to his hat and jacket!

Victorian Cannon nicely painted by the birds.

We explored these WW2 barracks? or ammo stores??

It was pitch black inside so I took this shot with my flash

to give a view down this corridor. Mick found a torch so

we headed on down in the dark.

I hope this is a fake! Either way not a nice thing to find in a dark

underground bunker on a island!

Mick exploring a WW2 generator shed enclosed in a gun battery.

We left Flat Holm about 5:30 the spring tides now in full

flow. As we left the shelter of the cove the now force 3 wind

whipped around the island making it very difficult to lift our

paddles.

As we made our way slowly back we were passed by the Bay

Island Voyages boat. Struggling on, the boat came back to ask

if we were OK. Must have thought we were nuts. As we chatted

we were doing 3.5kts with the current. He offered us a lift as

he thought we would end up in Newport with this current.

For a moment I doubted myself and increased our angle of

attack. We were rarely doing over 2kts as we pushed into the

oncoming current. I thought to myself this isn't right we should

be using the current to aid our journey back. Almost back at the

Wolf's buoy I decided to trust in my calculations and lessened

our angle. Our speed almost instantly tripled making steady

progress back to Penarth.

We landed back at Penarth at the end of our 9.5nm trip in

1 hour 15mins, bearing in mind we probably spent 15mins

talking to the guys on the boat. In all quite an eventfull trip,

one i'm sure Mick enjoyed and will remember!

Volcanic Sunset

I set out from Gileston beach next to Aberthaw power station
to see if I could get some snaps of the sun setting. With all this
volcanic matter floating about in the atmosphere it's supposed to
be really vivid. Well it doesn't happen to often to went to see
what all the fuss was about.

It was really calm waters and was spot on high tide so launching
wasn't a problem. I headed out for a spit of land just by the
water outlets of the power station which were now submerged
in the spring tides. This caused some very strange water with
little whirlpools which turned my boat slightly as I went over them.

As I got closer to the cassion I could see I was getting pushed

eastward . You could here the water gushing around the cassion

at some pace. Even though it was spring tides I didn't expect

to be putting up a fight at slack water!

Not getting anywhere fast I decided to ferry glide back toward

the beach, the water kicking up a bit again over the water

outlets. There were a few oystercatchers scourging in the

mud along the spit in the dimming light but as usual fly off

before I can get the camera out.

You could clearly see the eddy line from the moving water

to the motionless water in the shelter of the bay.

As the sun started to set you could see a definite dirty orange

looking line across the horizon. A few scattered light clouds

in the sky now to pick up the colours would make these pictures

perfect.

The sky turned a very vivid orange and made everything

in the foreground really stand out.

What a stunning evening!