2019-11-23 Porth Dafarch to Rhoscolyn

Rhoscolyn Beacon

Saturday. Si and I met the others at the truck stop at 9:00am in Holyhead. We were joined by Ashley, Matt, and Gareth. Due to the tide, predicted swell and anticipated weather - a strengthening SW breeze, we decided to paddle from Porth Dafarch to Rhoscolyn and back. We didn't get to see much sun during the day, but at least the breeze did not pick up as expected. A good paddle all the same. I had a close encounter with a couple of seals in a cave. I was doing really well, as unfortunately my batteries ran out on my GPS - serves me right for forgetting to turn it off and leaving it running in my day hatch, and I had also forgotten to reset my watch on my buoyancy aid to GMT. Whoops! So what time did we really get of the water yesterday? Hmmm...

At the end of the day Ashley asked me to take part in her study on paddle lengths. This involved paddling a Sea Kayaking UK Explorer with a paddle set at various lengths, going flat out for 15 paddle strokes, stopping and repeating. It was quiet good fun and took about an hour to complete. The Explorer was interesting to paddle. Reminded me of my Etain, with quite good secondary stability, but also a much higher deck than the Valley Etain or Sirona.

Anyway, from the point where my GPS died, I have "guestimated" our route back to Porth Dafarch. It looks like we did about 12 Nm (not including the study)

An Excellent days paddle with a great bunch of paddlers!

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