4* Sea Kayak weekend

The whole weekend started with a phone call on friday morning. It was Laurent the Hairy Frenchman asking me if I could possibly pick his car up when I got into Leeds - another logistical nightmare, since i was transporting myself and all my paddling kit for the weekend by bike and train. More faff to be endured, I loaded Sleipnir up, packed my rucksack and set off on my wobbly way across Ingleborough Common to Settle to get on the train.

[much faffage later...]

Friday night was a long theory session. Despite being a competent land navigator, I had very little idea about tides, bouyage, Admiralty charts and the like, all of which are fairly essential for sea paddling. So a lot of coffee was consumed, charts dug out, books researched and I started to get the gist of it all. Enforced route planning from Duke of Edinburgh's award came back to mind, albeit with tide calculations instead of climbing stats, and no idea what the naval equivalent of Naismith's rule was. We planned a trip from Sandsend to Runswick Bay and back (east coast, near Whitby), nicely taking into account the change in tide, so it could be adequately demonstrated what paddling against the tide was like. Much planning and Post-It notes later, we went off to get a beer...

Saturday morning dawned with a thud, as it often does when you're sleeping on a sofa. Laurent arrived early as always, and we loaded the car up and headed off. It was nice to see Bertha, the rudderless yellow fibreglass supertanker, again, having not paddled her in 4 years I was a little nervous. And since the last time was on a lake in my first year of uni (fresher prank), getting used to a sea kayak hull took a little doing. Getting my fat bum in the cockpit also took some work (why can't they make them like my river boat?).

The world was a happy sunny place when we arrived at Sandsend and started kitting up. I was slightly fearing becoming a 'boil in the bag' Pyro as I pulled on my dry cag and trousers, but there was enough of a breeze to keep me cool, and a couple of practice rolls showed I could cool myself down if necessary. We set off north, taking bearings, noting transits and points of interest, stopping at lobster pots to check tidal drift and pondering what we'd do if that silly idiot up there fell off the cliff. Padllign along to Runswick bay was quite smooth, a little bit more exciting when Laurent decided to get me a practical demonstration of an overfall (not a very big one, but enough to scare me a little) and a nice smooth sideways landing at Runswick bay marked lunch time. Coffee, ham and taramosalata sandwiches and a Nutrigrain or 2, a bit of scrambling on the cliffs and then we set off back.

Getting back to Sandsend was fine, nice current with us all the way, blue skies and sun, and then came the obvious ending to the day - the obligatory 'rolls, rescues, bailing and sculling' session. I now know for certain that I can't hand roll a sea kayak. Close, but no cigar...

2 hours biking on the moors, fish and chips and a few light beers on Saturday night and a good amount of sleep (well, good for someone kipping on a sofa) and it was time to head for the sea caves at Flamborough. Myself, LynneW and the Hairy Frenchman pootled off in search of the York Uni boys. Bertha had been replaced with something a little more manueverable, but since I needed to paddle long boats it was a very 'old-skool' Prijon Hurricane. The boys hadn't checked the tides properly, so a bit of car-park faffing was done while we waited for there to be enough water to get through some of the shallower caves. we all paddled out in formation, looking out for the Guillemots, Puffins and Cormorants that inhabit the cliffs at Flamborough, mainly so the York boys didn't get their nice shiny river kit 'dirtied'. Some of the caves are really narrow, and I had a bit of a hairy moment when a freak wave caught me and I nearly ended up pinned across the tunnel. Who would have thought that stern rudder works upside down as well?

A lovely paddle out and round, in and out again lead us to a very nice place to sit and have our lunch and a bit of a cliff jump. Backflips all the way. And then it was time to paddle home, to get an ice cream, to try and unzip Laurent's drysuit as we pushed him in, and to organise a strangely successful impromptu barbeque back in Leeds. More beers, sleep and then back into work, a very tired, but now 4* qualified, paddler boy.