ron-t kayaking blog

26 July 2013 .............. The Swellies

It`s been an interesting few days, as I`ve been to the Swellies for the first time - or more accurately - for the first, second, and third time.

On Tuesday the low tide height at Holyhead was 0.5m at 17.30, the subsequent high tide height was 6.0m at 23.45, so the tidal range was 5.5 metres.

There was a very hard and swirlie eddyline coming off the big patch of seaweed at the South Cardinal rock, which flowed right past the edge of the wave, and there was no way to cross it and get onto the wave and be pointing in anything like the right direction, so the only way to get to the wave was to cross the eddyline higher up, and drift down onto the wave. The wave itself had a strong diagonal current.

I got a few brief surfs, but the wave soon became shorter and deeper and quite gnarly, so I gave up.

A couple of people in river boats came and went, but apart from that I was the only one there.

On Wednesday the low tide height at Holyhead was 0.4m at 18.15, the subsequent high tide height was 6.1m at , so the tidal range was 5.7 metres.

The eddyline from the seaweed was much softer, so you could slide onto the wave from the side.

There were a few other sea kayaks there, so it was interesting to compare how the Isel performed compared to other boats.

For the first hour or so I think I was about equal in what I could to do compared to the others, however after that I was struggling whilst the shorter boats, with more volume in the bow, were getting better - I think they were an Avocet, an Atlantic LV, and a Romany.

I can`t say how much of this was due the boats, and how much was due to the difference in skill levels - but they were obviously better at it than I was.

Maybe I should add that the wave and the subsequent rapid below it were by now far more chunky than I would ever normally paddle solo in, I was getting a bit outside my comfort zone, and wouldn`t have been doing it if they weren`t there. Much as I like doing it, paddling solo all the time does sometimes have its disadvantages.

After a while there was a sort of migration up to the wave forming beside the South Cardinal marker - again, for the first bit I was keeping up on it, but increasingly I was struggling.

On Thursday, the low tide height at Holyhead was 0.5m at 19.00, the subsequent high tide was 6.0m at 01.15, so the tidal range was 5.5 metres.

I was on the water earlier than the wave, so I paddled up the Anglesey side, then did a ferry glide across to the island with the house on it - it didn`t look like a fast current, but I was pushed to get across to the island.

Paddling up the side of the island was again hard work, as you are very definitely going uphill. Once round the top of the island it`s a great ride back down the hill on the other side to the South Cardinal marker.

The wave was just starting to form when I got there, and I played there for a while, and got a few short rides. But increasingly I was spending more effort in stopping the bow getting washed round to the left than I was in staying on the wave, so it was time to go, just as the sun was about to dissappear over the hill.

When you are up on the hill on the A5 looking down on the Swellies at low tide, it looks quite unattractive, with loads of mud and seaweed. But when you are down there in a boat, it all looks much nicer, and it appears to be good place to go and play.

I want to go and see what the wave beside the cardinal marker is like at Neaps, or away from Springs - it is definitely a static wave as it forms over the rocks - maybe at lower tidal ranges it would be a bit more user friendly.

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PS - you can`t have it all ways - different boats behave differently in different conditions - the above mentioned shorter boats with more volume in the bow may have appeared to perform better in the extreme water at the Swellies wave, but having paddled all of them, I still think my Isel is a better boat for the kind of sea I`m going to be paddling solo in. I personally find the Isel the easiest of any boat to do a self rescue in, it fits me nicely, and I prefer the way the longer hull with lower volume ends behaves.

I think I need to lengthen the rear overhang, and I think my Isel would benefit from a bit more rocker over the length of the hull between the overhangs, but this would involve some serious cutting away of the existing hull, so it is not something I would do lightly.

In some respects it would be nice if it had chines, as it would be a bit more responsive when I wanted it to be, and would carve better. But on the downside, it would then be less forgiving and more twitchy just when I didn`t want it to be. As I said, you can`t have it all ways.

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