Midlifekayak

Had a meal and a few beers with some friends from work on Thursday night.  Only one week into my sabbatical but there were a few comments about just how relaxed I looked.  I did let on I was still getting up at 4.30am every day out of habit, but instead of finishing reports or proposals I was either editing my new blog or out for a run or a ride on the bike.  They were horrfied!  Truth is, I have always loved the mornings.  There is something quite special about being up when you think noone else is.  A chance to steal a march on the world, the ultimate “me time”.

“So what are you up to tomorrow morning?” they asked.  Well I was planning to be up at 4am and heading off to Slapton Sands in Devon to go for a couple of days paddling with Geoff who I met on the Isles of Scilly.  A nicer guy you could not wish to meet.  Tanya climbed out of bed as well to help me manouver the kayak out of the front garden and onto the Landie and to see me off.

Geoff lives in Bristol so we met up at the bottom of the M5 and headed off into deepest Devon.

On the way down the A303  I had caught the shipping forecast at 5.20am on Radio 4.  “And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at 0505 GMT today……..”  there is always something very comforting about the shipping forecast despite the fact that it might contain a warning of an approaching hoolie for some poor lone yachtsman (or seakayaker).

After the general synopsis , the announcer read out the forecast for each area around the British Isles.  Wonderfully evocative names – Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Tyne, Dogger, German Bite…….I was almost in a trance until I heard Portland – “Southwest veering west, 5-6, occasionally 7, showers, moderate, good”.   11 words and a lot of information. It told me: the wind direction and how it would  change through the day – along the shore line at Slapton Sands to start with and then becoming off shore later; the strength on the Beaufort scale – a strong to fresh breeze ie. 24-30 mph and higher if it did reach 7; the sea state would be around 6 ft waves; and visibility would be over 5 nautical miles.  I had checked ‘Magic Seaweed’ the night before to check swell conditions also – only 3ft from the south west with a period of around 3 secs so not much power but combined with the southwesterly wind would help to make things interesting.

If I had been heading out on my own I would have delayed the trip for 24 hours or settled for a paddle up the Dart. But seeing as there would be two of us to affect a rescue should it be necessary it was probably going to be perfect conditions to test two intermediate kayakers.  And so it proved to be.

We launched just by the memorial to the troops that perished during Operation Tiger – a training exercise for the D-Day landings that ended in tragedy when attacked by German U Boats.

We headed north east along the coast towards Dartmouth as the tide was still flowing in.  So we had the benefits of all the elements – wind, tide and swell! It was a little tippy as the waves started to break around us so we got plenty of bracing practice and caught a few waves between us.  My Garmin Etrex suggesting we ht 9.4 MPH at one point.  Staying together was also interesting to say the least.  As we each caught different waves at slightly different angles we zig-zigged across each other’s bows.  Lots of concentration required but after a short ‘catch our breath stop’ at Blackpool Beach we headed round the corner into Dartmouth.  Across the bay we could see a cruise ship was busy ferrying passengers into town.  The relatively small ferry craft were really getting tossed around – must have been an uncomfortable ride.

The relative calm of the Dart afforded us sometime to explore a little and take some photos – and of course get a cuppa to go with the sandwiches we had packed.

By early afternoon we knew the tide would start to turn so would follow us back down the coast to Slapton Sands.  We also knew it would be against the wind and swell and so whilst the kayaks would feel less tippy in a head wind it was likely to be a real slog on the way back.  We had hoped the winds would have settled by the afternoon but of anything they had gained in strength.  Heading out of entrance to the Dart it was a case of heads down.  We were making around 1.0 MPH!! It was going to be a long paddle back.

We shouted above the wind to each other that surely it’ll be better just round the corner and we plodded on.  There were a  couple of rocky outcrops ahead and we aimed to shoot between them and hopefully weaker winds.  Progress was painfully slow.  Geoff was just ahead and just as he was about to bisect the rocks the wind seemed to pick up.  I had been avoiding looking over at the land as it would be demoralising to see the lack of progress but I couldn’t resist and glanced over at the cliffs to see that we were effectively static.  Later we realised at that point that we had both thought about turning round.  A nice cream tea and a taxi back to Slapton was very tempting.  But neither of us really wanted to turn round in these tippy conditions and that combined with a little male ego drove us on.  We dug in and after about 20 mins made it past the rocks.

The wind did settle a little but stayed a constant force 6 for the remaining 5 miles or so.  We stopped for a breather at the end of Slapton Sands.  Geoff landed first, vertically on a rolling wave and then had some fun wrestling himself and kayak onto the beach.  The warm cup of honey and lemon that Geoff had brought along was very welcome.  The last mile or so was a straight forward heads down slog.  The Etrex recorded the painful fact that we had taken 2 hrs and 52 mins to complete 6.4 miles.

We were both pleased to have tested ourselves in some reasonable conditions but one of those days that you definitely enjoy immediately after you finish and not during the paddle!

We felt we deserved the pints of Butcombe and Proper Job and a great meal at the Tower Inn later that night and we looked forward to a gentler ‘skills’ session along the Dart the next day.