Winter Magic Monday, December 17, 2007

On Saturday, the wind dropped and the sun came out allowing a visit to Penrhyn Mawr, my favourite tidal race! Despite the low wind, the swell and big tides made it fairly sporty! I haven't been to the Anglesey races for a couple of months and it was great to get back out there and get covered in sea spray. There was one area of the race that was best avoided as every few minutes a powerful wave would build and break vertically with ear-splitting power. Inevitably I found myself underneath this force at one point and I really thought I was in big trouble. I got away with a sore neck and shoulder, one side of my spray deck slightly dislodged and the feather on my paddle changed from the usual 60 degrees to 30 degrees!

We also went to South Stack and when the tide started ebbing the swell created some almost vertical 2 metre breaking waves. On the way home, we spotted a razor bill swimming slowly in the water. when the bird saw us, it swam straight for Barry's kayak and looked like it was trying to climb on the deck. Barry lifted him onto the kayak and the razor bill sat there for a minute or so. We tried to find some rocks that the swell wasn't breaking over too much to try to get the bird onto the rocks but everywhere was pretty rough. Eventually the razor bill jumped off the kayak and tried to clamber onto some rocks but he kept getting swept off them. We really felt for the poor little thing but there wasn't much we could do. He didn't seem to want to come back on the kayaks so we turned for Porthdafarch and left him to fend for himself.

On Sunday, Barry, Gemma and I went to Bardsey island which was a real treat in December. It was another goregous day at home and we expected an easy passage on calm seas to the island. When we reached Abardaron, a cold winter wind was howling up the beach and we could see alarming whitecaps between us and Bardsey. So much for a nice easy day! In fact the sea wasn't that big, but the wind was a pain! We didn't make it to the usual landing spots because that would have meant battling into a strong wind, and fighting the tide for an extra mile. instead, we landed at a little rocky sheltered crevice that I'd spotted on previous trips to Bardsey. It was perfect, we landed quickly, and were offered a cup of tea by the one family who live on the island in the winter! What a lovely day!