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| ANGLESEY
ADVENTURE March 2005 |
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| We
got in the car at half past 9 on Friday and arrived at Nigel Dennis's
place on Anglesey at half past 5. We were delighted by how easy
it was to find. As one local we asked said "It's just up that
road there. You can't miss it." With such clear and easy to
read signs on either isde of an overgrown gravel driveway it's hard
to see how we had already driven past it twice. We collected a couple of hire boats and hunted out a few beers to drink while reflecting on the advice of Phil from the NDK centre "Tomorrow is going to far exceed a five star remitt." Bertie woke us Saturday with news that the force 7 to 8 NW winds had not dropped and the trip plan that Paul and I had put together as part of our homework would be out of the question. Instead we headed across the island to the seclusion of the Menai straights and for a play in the Swellies. |
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| All
was going well, but it wasn't really what we had come all this way
to do. I led the group up with the tide, but as we passed under
the second bridge we were hit by the tide now starting to flow against
us. We decided to turn around and head out into the mainflow. When
the tide turns here it doesn't take any time making up its mind,
it really goes for it. In seconds what had started out like a peaceful
estuary was now a huge scale raging whitewater river. We were travelling
at 4 knots without paddling and the flow had only just started.
We had done lots of work on our river skills and now was the perfect
time to put those small boat moves into big boat practice. The flow was such that every obstacle in the water created a feature for us to play in. I still can't believe I managed to break out of the current and into the tiny eddy behind this pillar with such pin point accuracy. I was then joined by the others as we surfed the wave for a while, four of us one one small wave. |
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| We
played in the eddy fences caused by the bridge feet which was like
playing at Rockley only much faster and much swirlier. Spinning
the boat around on its axis, breaking in, breaking out, my new Mega
Diamante was proving to be a superb playboat! We surfed too on the wave forming around the cardinal mark on Swellies rock. Paul rolled but we managed to rescue his hat. Once off the wave here though, there was no paddling back against the current. The flow was increasing minute by minute. We paddled over to the house that sits on the island near swellies rock. The largest spring tides of the year meant that there was no island left just house. As the water rushed past the building, through their garden, and over the garden wall, we took the opportunity to play in the pourover. |
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| A
stiff ferry glide across to river left was incredibly hard work
but we got there to find a small rocky island providing a couple
of great play spots. |
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| Paul
rolled and lost his hat again. Tom decided he'd put his helmet on
for this wave. |
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| Amazingly
we found Paul's hat in an eddy before leaving. Another close call!
We broke into the main flow which required a lot of speed to get across
the boiling eddy fence and up about 10 inches into the main current.
As we paddled under the last bridge and towards our launch spot, Berties
new wristheld gadget recorde our speed at just above 10 knots! Of course that wasn't quite enough for one day so we put the boats on the cars, kept our wet kit on and headed off to find a tidal race to play in. Our first stop was Trwyn Penmon. On the map this looked the most sheltered of places to try but as we saw and could feel, the wind had moved round slightly and increased. The race in between us and Puffin Island looked fun, but with 6 foot waves, wind against tide, and still two hours of increasing flow, Bertie reminded us that this would be: "Death on a stick" !!! Our race playing plans were off. |
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| We
travelled back up the island to Rhosneigr beach but the weather meant
that unusually there was no surf to be found here. So our sea kayak
surfing plans were off too. |
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| We
retired back to base. If there was no break in the weather we may
need several different plans for the next day. We also had to embaras
Bertie on the evening before his birthday... |
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