Other July Activities

Well, most of July was very wet so most of my climbing was done on my home wall. Due to the rain, I did manage a fantastic solo run down the Upper Dart in my kayak with perfect levels and lovely sunny conditions. During the last full week of July the weather finally improved, and I was finally able to get outside again for some Deep Water Soloing over Torquay in the sunshine. I scored several great sessions over the Meadfoot area where I got some mileage in on the long traverses, before beasting myself doing laps on the Aqua Marina wall. Berry Head re-opens on 1st August following the annual bird ban, and I'm hoping we get some dry days through August and September so I can get some training in on the quality routes there, prior to our proposed DWS trip to Mallorca in late September. Fingers crossed! On the last weekend in July Elisabeth and I went to Anstey's Cove, Torquay for a spot of Coasteering, and had a fun-filled afternoon scrambling and swimming along the coastline, as well as plenty of adrenaline-filled jumps off the cliffs into the sea along the way. 

Having conquered most of the top-quality DWS routes at Berry Head last summer, I am hoping to get to Lulworth Cove in Dorset and bag a few of the three-star classic routes over there too, before we jet off to sunny Mallorca - the mecca for DWS in Europe, with tons of steep pocketed limestone over warm beautiful waters in the sunshine. Can't wait! :)

More 3* Sea kayak Training

Pure Liquid Kayaking ran another BCU Three Star Seakayak training course over the weekend of 21/22nd July, based in the Torbay area. We were blessed with glorious sunny weather and light winds for the duration of the two days. This meant that the rescue session at the end of day one, following the skills part of the course, was welcomed with open arms - it was a chance to get wet and cool off a bit. The second day provided perfect conditions for our Brixham to Kingswear trip, that we had planned the previous day, with sunny skies and very light winds. We broke the journey up with a little bit of cave exploration at Berry Head, some rescue and towing practice, plus plenty of navigation exercises and some superb rock hopping along the way to practice those skills. Catching the first push of the incoming tide up the entrance of the River Dart was welcome relief at the end of a top quality trip. 

Thanks to Jon, Paul, Tony and Stuart for being such good students and making the weekend a very enjoyable one. 

3* Sea Kayak Training Course

Over the weekend of 7/8th July, Pure Liquid Kayaking ran a BCU Three Star Sea Kayak Training course, based around the Torbay area. The weather forecast for the weekend was not looking good, with a huge low pressure approaching bringing very wet and windy weather. Fortunately the worst of it hit during the night and into the early hours of Saturday, so by the time we'd covered sea kayaking equipment and looked at the effects of wind, swell, tides, etc from the warmth and dry of the Ibex club hut, conditions had eased considerably by the time we got on the water. First we looked at edging the sea kayaks, before working our way through the BCU syllabus of sea-kayak-specific strokes and techniques. After a spot of lunch, we set off towards Berry Head where we worked on applying those skills into a rock-hopping journey amongst the rocks and narrow gaps between them. After poking our noses out into the lumpy conditions near the Head, we headed back to Breakwater Beach where we worked our way through all the rescue skills. 
On the Sunday we were blessed with much better conditions for our proposed trip from Brixham to Kingswear, with lighter westerly winds and blue sunny skies. After some tidal planning exercises and map and compass work at the club hut, we set out on our journey from Brixham in pretty much perfect conditions. Around the Berry Head to Sharkham Point area the group did some navigation exercises working on their map and compass skills, with a brief forray into the big cave en route. After a spot of lunch at Long Sands we covered different towing techniques, before  finding some superb rock-hopping areas where the group explored the narrow gaps and inlets whilst further working on their manoeuvring skills in their sea kayaks. After some more navigation work along the convoluted coastline, we arrived at the Mew Stone. The section of coast from here to the entrance of  the River Dart estuary was fully exposed to the prevailing westerly winds, which had now increased considerably. After a few kilometers of slogging away into the wind we arrived safely into the protection of the estuary, and finally Kingswear - our destination. Hurrah! 

All in all, the weekend went really well, and we were able to cover all the neccessary skills and criteria in the syllabus in a nice varied and interesting way. I was blessed with a fantastic group of paddlers for the weekend, whose commitment, focus and enthusiasm was hard to beat. It was a pleasure working with and coaching such great bunch of paddlers, so a big thank you to Dave, Elaine, Richard and Tris. 

June Update

Well June has, I believe, possibly been the wettest on record since 1890! As such, climbing outdoors has not featured heavily in our list of activites, although I did manage a few nice Deep Water Solo sessions over Torquay on the rare dry sunny days we had. Thankfully, with my own bouldering cave, I was able to carry on training in the warmth and dry! 
With all the rain, you'd think I'd have managed to get on the river again for some kayaking action, but this was not possible due to work commitments and other issues. 

However, we did manage a couple of lovely sunny days of surfing down Cornwall, scoring some superb clean chest-high waves at my favourite spot just south of Newquay. It was fantastic to get back in the sea and enjoy the pure freedom and excitement that I get from riding decent ocean waves. Stoked! :) 

May Update

After a hectic and intense month of sea kayaking, and having finally got my Five Star Sea award in the bag, the rest of May has been spent chilling out and doing what I fancy. This mainly consisted of climbing a lot, plus a rather nice surf session shredding and carving it up in my Marauder surf kayak with good friend Jonathan Cowell. As the weather was mostly hot and sunny for the latter part of May, I was able to get out and do some bouldering, plus a fair amount of Deep Water Soloing. I climbed a couple new DWS routes at Berry Head - Soul to Soul, and Deep House, as well as scoring a few superb sessions over Torquay - climbing the Plimsole Line and Watchtower traverses, plus beasting myself doing laps on the Aqua Marina wall. On the very last day of May I spent a few hours climbing on London Arch, Torquay, trying a 7a+, and taking my first splashdowns of the season. It was good to fall in the sea again, despite the water still being a tad cold and getting hit by a hold snapping off! Oops! 

As for June, well I'll carry on with my theme, and see where the fancy takes me. Hopefully it'll involve more DWS, and more splashdowns. ;)

Sea Kayaking and BCU 5* Assessment

The last four weeks or so have been really hectic for me, after I'd finally got round to booking my Five Star Sea Kayak Leader assessment with Nigel Dennis at Sea Kayaking UK in Anglesea, North Wales. Trying to juggle Navigation work, night paddling, rough water paddling and kit preparation, ontop of my climbing training and regular paid work was very tiring for me, and before I knew it I was off on the long drive North to Holyhead in Wales. I had a few days prior to the assessment, up there, that I spent surfing and playing around in the powerful tiderace of Penrhyn Mawr in my Xcite, as well as night paddling around Holyhead Harbour, just to get used to the area and prepare myself for the assessment itself. The weather came in really bad for the assessment, and day one saw us leading groups in 5*+ conditions with F5-7 winds and big seas. It was a tough day, but we all returned safely at the end of the session, and met up later that evening for the night navigation exercise, that went very smoothly indeed due to the wind luckily dropping right off for us. Day two was the personal skills day with a bit more leadership thrown in and some scenarios to put us through our paces. The wind had eased to a F4-5 providing much more reasonable conditions in the tidal flows at our chosen location for the day, and the day went really well for me not only in the paddling, but also on returning to Anglesea Outdoor centre where I was told I had passed the assessment. I was so pleased, and relieved, to have finally gained my Five Star Sea Kayak Leader award. Woohoo! :D Now, safely back in Torbay, it's time to chill out for a bit, before hitting the climbing training once more in preparation for this season's DWS. Can't wait! Bring it on! :)

North Coast Sea Kayaking

Having sea-kayaked the entire South West coastline from our home in Brixham, down around Lands End and back up to Clovelly in a series of multi-day trips, we wanted to extend this to Minehead and incorporate the dramatic and remote coastline where Exmoor meets the sea. On Friday 30th March conditions were looking reasonably favourable for the weekend, with little in the way of Atlantic swell and only light to moderate Northeast winds, so after a last-minute decision to go, and some frantic packing of kit, we set off in eager anticipation of the journey ahead. We set out from Clovelly early Saturday morning under grey skies in a brisk wind. After a few hours we made it to Westward Ho! where we stopped for a hot chocolate and some food, before pressing on up the coast past Saunton Sands to Croyde Bay. I was surprised how many surfers were out in the fridgid 1-2 foot surf - must be crazy!? Next stop was Barricane Beach, north of Woolacombe, where we had a brew up and some more snacks to fuel us on. Once safely around Morte and Bull Points we pulled into Lee Bay, where we decided to call it a day and set up camp for the night at the back of the beach. After a long day on the water we slept like logs that night! Sunday morning was cold, but with the advantage of clear blue skies, and we set out at first light to catch the best of the tide for the first six hours. It was going to be a long day as we needed to cover 55km in order to make it to the van in Minehead! Oops! We only made a couple of very brief toilet stops in the first six hours of paddling, as we passed Ilfracombe and Lynton, finally landing just beyond the towering cliffs of Foreland Point for some proper food and a much needed brew up. It was a long slog from here, against the tide, up past Porlock where we arrived totally shattered at the north end of Porlock Bay. I stumbled out of my kayak feeling really light-headed and realised we needed to get more food (and Tea of course) down our necks to fuel us on the last leg to Minehead. We also had a good long much needed rest waiting for the tide to turn too. Late in the evening we set off on the final stretch with the tide with us again, and thankfully almost no wind for a change! This made a big difference, allowing us to cover the last 8km in just an hour and a half, even with our tired and aching bodies! We were so glad to have made it, and in the daylight - just! The only question now is; "Where next?" ;)