North Devon a Swell end to Summer

Having got back from my Italy Norway adventure mid UK summer season I managed to get myself a end of season job at a Skern Lodge in North Devon. I was employed as a paddlesports and land based activities instructor. Due to the supreme placement of the centre after work I was able to whiz down to the local beach Sandymere, Westward Ho! every other evening to go surf kayaking, swell dependent.

 Before this employment I had played a lot in the surf however this has always been in creekboats or playboats. Luckily Skern Lodge is also a Mega Kayaks demo centre which allowed me to borrow a full carbon Mega Bullit S. Having never used a surf specific boat before the first few waves were very exciting. The speed and distinct difference between front and back rails lead me to throwing some spins I had no intention of pulling off. After some top tips from superior colleges and a better understanding of wave selection I was loving it and hooked. My style is still very much whitewater, stay in your box based, but it was great to keep my paddling fitness fresh. Now i've just got to get used to paddling a whitewater boat again as I'm heading back to work in Nepal until January.

LOW

Month three has come to a close. Hopefully this will bring rain, as we need it badly. My personal paddling time in Japan for the past month has been pretty poor due to low water levels. This is a massive tease as there is a few great venues that I could really do with a session. Plenty of park and huck man-made waterfalls with deep pools, surf waves, holes all that would be a great for pushing my ability.

Biei Creek, Hokkaido

So far the best time I've had, as ever, has been visiting the ocean. The day I had surfing the waves on the Pacific was a real blast. Like normal, at first we got a few strange looks as were foreign and then when I got the kayak out the car the eyebrows and gasps increased. But like usual the Japanese people were friendly and I even got a few "Tsegois" from the surfers I would cruise past. "Tsegois" basically politelly means "Fucking Awesome". Bring on the rain!

Pacific Ocean, Hamaastuma, Hokkaido

Freedom

The last month seems to have sped no doubt this was because off of the boating the team has been doing. To start off the North West saw a superb amount of swell come its way so we had a few sessions at Northshore and St.Bees. mostly were very windy but good waves to be had especially by Mike who was on his new long board which due to its size had no trouble catching any wave he wanted as if he had an engine.

Photo of Alex by Bob, Trib into the Rawthey.

 Next the rain came and saw us going a spate run of the Lune where actually most of the rapids were washed out however this lead to the formation of some pretty sweet wave chains and huge areas of boil which is always entertaining. On this day we also did for the first time as a team the middle section of the Rawthey. Now this run was pretty poor in our opinion. It needs a ton more water then guidebook suggests as it was very scrappy in places even though we were paddling it at a "high" level. Look out for a river wide tree that must be portaged about an hour into the river.

Bob running End of the World Rapid, Scottish Leven.

This poor experience was soon forgot about though as we nipped upto Glencoe for the 10th, 11th, 12th to see what Scotland had to offer. This was the first time for me paddling in Scotland and I can easily say it was some of the most challenging, scary, exciting, technical boating I have ever done. We had a great crew of people, Pete, George, Bob, Fiona, James, Sam and myself all were able to push ourselves on the rivers and we all saw our own bit of carnage. Luckily everyone came off easy and managed to only aquire a few solid bumps and bruises which we are all grateful for.

In the super stout SUNNY three days we got on the Orchy, Etive, Alt A'Chaorainn and Scottish Leven all of which I hope to repeat in the future. Anyone that is looking to get up paddling in Scotland I highly recommend getting in touch with a local boating crew as it saves on having to inspect every run and allows you to crack on at a good pace allowing for more rivers!!

Sea Stoke #1

Due to the supreme weather we are experiencing at the moment the surf on the West coast has been pounding. Even though with the abnormal weather circumstances Magic Seaweed's predictions have been pretty accurate allowing myself and company to select the days we venture to the coast. One day predictions came up as 8-12ft waves. Mike and Thomas went and had a look at this at North Shore for kicks and even had a dip, with their boards for half an hour. When the picture bellow was taken they had retired but those foam piles are easily 8ft high, monsters.

Northshore, The wall on the left is 20ft high!

My weeks surf experience was at Silecroft where Pete and I stuck with our playboats. The experience of surfing the juicy waves we encountered was so thrilling. These beasts we encountered had the power to easily back loop us if we let our guard down and due to the foamy sea surface rolling technique and timing had to be spot on but at the same time, it had to be done hastily so not to be smashed by the next incoming wave.

On this outing you really had to earn your waves but it was well worth it as blasting down the faces and carving to keep in the power pocket was so rewarding especially if Pete and I decided to nab the same wave and then it would often become a freestyle king of the wave medly! Were definitely need to get get a bigger crew out next time. I'll probably post to the Whitewater Aptitude facebook page next time we plan to get out, keep and eye on it. 

Above and below are two photos I quickly snapped of Pete using my Canon 600D from the beach towards the end of our session, I really need to get back into the habit of using my real camera more.

Sea Stoke

For the past fortnight the rivers have been rising slowly and there have been a number of after work missions to Brick Chutes on the River Leven. But with fast approaching early nightfall in the evening these sessions are going to eventually come to a close. Low levels on days off have meant I have taken to the sea again with friends to get our fix of whitewater and the surf has been pretty big on some days which has led to some amazing rides and definitely some progression in my boat control on waves and confidence on the water in general, just in time for winter boating.

Above is an image taken again by my GoPro HD mounted on my custom kayak mount. On the left of the image Bob can be seen taking flight off of the back of a wave. A superb effort considering he is in a Pyranha Shiva.

Change It Up

After purchasing my Wavesport Project X (Yellow) a few months ago I ended up neglecting my Fluid Detox (Red) for a while. This came to bite me back when I took the Detox out for a spin on the Kent making me feel very unstable and uncomfortable, this was really disheartening. It felt like something had changed with the boat, it hadn't, I had just got used to my playboat. I over the past two weeks I have done some re outfitting to my Detox adjusting the hip pads, foot-plate, seat position, seat height and thigh supports and after a few on the fly tweaks on the beach at Silecroft. I am now torn between what boat to take out on the water especially in the places I have focused on over the past fortnight.

Brick Chutes

Due to no real amount of water in the rivers again, the only options we have had to get out on has been the River Leven or the Sea. The Leven has been at a great level for playing on Brick Chutes where the river has been lit well into the evening by a close buildings security light. The chutes create a boxed-in green wave then below a standing wave that is pretty tricky to surf for a sustained amount of time due to its ever changing dumping state. This dumping wave has been great practice and has lead to some unintentional nose dives and stern stalls.

Backbarrow Bridge Rapid, Medium Level

Also on the river is Backbarrow bridge rapid, I have a grudge with due to its tricky nature. The line changes on it every time I run it and I always have to have a look quickly to escape the banter from fellow boaters and focus myself. Recently I've fared quite well and ran it three times styling it once, plowing into one of the bridge walls once and going over once because of the last wave, no swims though.

When venturing to the sea and surf at Silecroft, this has been when the decision of what boat to take has been most challenging. I can't take both boats along with everyone elses as my little car would not make it up the hills! What the predicted conditions are going to be heavily impacts my decision. If its looking like super small time between waves and messy I take the Detox just for ease of getting off the beach and for the fact it can surf really well in most conditions. Then if its looking cleaner I take my Project X so I can focus on attempting spins and getting bounce which both usually leads to eating mouthfuls of sandy water. The above photo was captured on my Gopro HD Hero1 on my custom kayak mount.

Weather: Showers

So the past month has again been pretty dry in general with rain falling but not enough to keep the rivers at a substantial level. Therefore this month I have been checking out the surf again on the West coast of Cumbria. I've been quite lucky with the conditions and predicted when the bigger surf was coming through, with the help of Mike who has been accompanying me on his board. The sea waves have provided a great force to practice my surfing on and with the size and less predictable nature when surfing them it will hopefully have helped to improve my surfing when it comes to the standing waves of the rivers when the water comes back.

 

Above are two video snapshots from some video (GoPro HD Hero, 720p) that I took of our first venture to an area called Silecroft which turned out to be a fantastic. The swell was quite messy but manageable with waves ranging in steepness and height. Some steep easily 3ft faces at times which were great to watch roll past and even better for surfing and blasting across even getting some bounce.

Travel Writing #5 - St. Bees Surf Kayaking

 

St. Bees beach apparently occasionally can get some pretty big surf with the right conditions. The surf is a beach break with the best waves produced when the tide is coming in, after strong westerly or south-westerly winds have died down. This information came from Magicseaweed.com a site I have used regularly when pursuing surf in the sea. Magic seaweed was saying there was going to be a 4-5ft swell coming in on this day. In the morning we had arranged to meet to catch these conditions and we did exactly as planned. However, what we got was a big menacing surf with short intervals, not ideal for learning or developing skills. Tom and Mike ventured into the white water first, both new to surfing on boards they were thoroughly challenged. After a few attempts they came out seeking advice but nothing I knew about surfing or the sea would help on this occasion. They struggled to get themselves and their boards over the whitewater that came after the waves had broken, being pushed back again and again. What they needed was PADDLES!

 

Luckily on this day I had anticipated these conditions and brought all my gear. Having watched Tom and Mike get thrown about for a short while I was intimidated by the waves. From the car park you could still hear the roar as each wave broke. I sat by myself in my kayak on the pebble beach for a while composing myself, trying to get in the right mental attitude for going straight into whitewater that would push me to my limits. Tyler Bradt, an accomplished whitewater kayaker, said in an interview

"Successful whitewater kayaking is 50% mental and 50% skill. Holding your nerve in and staying focused in these whitewater situations is key to applying your skills to the water your on at the time."

As a warm up exercise I envisaged myself crashing through the waves moving my arms in the motions I would need to perform. I imagined this in slow motion like you would see in the latest viral online whitewater paddling video. In my head I go through multiple waves speeding up the actions each time I go though a wave, this wakes up all the muscles needed for paddling. I also remind myself of the steps need to surf the waves back in. Paddle fast to get to the same speed as the wave, throw your weight forward to drop in then lean/edge in the direction you want to travel along the wave.  I must look pretty stupid doing it but it’s my thing.

 

After a short time of composure I moved into a position to quickly enter the water. I discussed with Tom and Mike that I was going to need a lull in the wave size to get out. I picked my moment, "Now Now Now!" Tom and Mike thrust me down the pebble beach and into the water. Straight away I was met by breaking waves or "the soup" trying to push me back onto the beach. I fight through it, getting out, this was the easy bit that I was pretty comfortable with, coming back in on the waves the right way up, is what I struggle with. Due to the messiness of the waves coming in it was hard to judge where was a safe place to sit and select a wave to catch, so I caught the first one I was prepared for and it turned out to be a monster.

For my ability in surf kayaking this wave was “pretty stinking big”. Due to my positioning, I didn’t need to paddle fast to get this one. Nor did I need to put my weight forward to drop in. Due to the size and steepness of this monster, coming down the face of the wave I had to lean as far back as possible and pull my legs up so not to nose dive. I managed to stop myself from nose-diving and surfed the wave straight until it broke. I then comfortably "Bongo slide" in the soup, nearly ending up right back on the beach and into the groyne! Luckily I avoided these. I paddled out once more and selected a further wave to catch.

After the thrill of successfully blasting down the first wave this second one was not so big. Whilst I paddled out for a second time and after my potential close encounter with the concrete and wooden groynes, I argued with myself as to whether to carry on in this sea state. This second wave was my last of the day. I decided to surf it right into the beach where my extraction team was waiting. With no life guards on the beach and Tom and Mike unable to swim or surf out through the waves I decided to call it a day as if I had come out of my boat in the waves I would have been in a pretty bad place with no way of being rescued, a place I didn't want to be and if I battled with concrete groynes, well I know how that one ends!  Although my session was short I'm massively chuffed with my effort successfully surfing one of the biggest waves of my life, even more to my delight a passer by managed to get the snaps of me, something that doesn't usually happen.