These are the three reports from the Anglesey trip which Lewis, Oliver and Niall went to on 14th-16th September.  It was organised by Gareth Field who is the BCU Paddlesport Development Officer for the Northwest. There were 16 people including two level 4 coaches and George.

Niall's Report 

This was my first time sea kayaking and didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that it is in a long boat and out at sea. When we were out there I was really surprised at how hard I found it to paddle in a straight line. I later learned that this was due to weather cocking. That was not the only problem I encountered, it was very demanding physically and I was worn out quickly. We didn’t end up finishing the route because of the strength of the wind. Near to the end we were hardly moving and it became obvious we weren’t going to make it. So we went back to where we had lunch and got out there. More work was required to get the boats off the beach but with teamwork we got them up the “cliff”. The best part of that trip was seeing the seal and looking up at awe at the rock climbers. On the second day we couldn’t go out to sea because it was too dangerous so we went to the inland sea. A bit between Anglesey and Holy Island here we learned more how to control the boat and why we had problems the previous day. I enjoyed the trip very much and I have a new found admiration for sea kayakers as there is a lot more to it then other forms of kayaking.

Oliver's Report

It started with setting up the tent at night, then came the VERY early wake up call. 9 o’clock! We’re teenagers that’s 4am for us! We reached the get in and carried our kayaks through bushes intent on killing us and started the long hard slog to north stack. Once we got there we were rudely awoken by the tidal race and suddenly found out boats turned like play boats at a peak of the six foot wave! We left the wusses (Niall) and went for another run on the race. It was a lot of fun, scary but a lot of fun. We then toured majestic cliffs caves and mad people with no respect for life or height. Head land after headland came and went until we paused for lunch at Abraham’s bosom. We were exhausted and coming up to the next headland was hard. I had my pride stolen by being towed. All that effort was wasted as we had to go back to where we had lunch because of the wind! The day after we went on the inland sea and played on a wave, jumped in the wave and watched our coaches swim (and I quote ‘sea kayaks are easy to roll’). Then as we finally got the hang of our sea kayaks we went home. I’ve learnt a lot, you haven’t converted me into a sea kayaker but I’m interested. 

Lewis' Report 

When we arrived at Anglesey we had to put up our tents but everybody else was lazy and had quick erect tents so we were the last to put ours up. Later on Gareth gave us all hot chocolate for supper.

The next day we left quite early so we could make the right tide times, we did “The stacks” which is a trip from Holyhead round the side of holy island to a bay called Abraham’s bosom.

At the start of the day we practiced some skills like turning the boat around. We set off heading around the first stack into another bay which we crossed. Around the next corner was a tidal race which when you are on it takes you like a river so that was quite fun to paddle. We continued to paddle round another stack and past a light house to where we ate. After eating we attempted to set off to the end but the wind was too strong for some of the paddlers and it was difficult to tow so we turned back and returned to the campsite.

The second day was almost river running in a sea kayak because we went on an inland sea and there was a wave that everybody surfed on.  I think the weekend was a good experience for us and showed us another side of kayaking.

Have a look at these cool images