ron-t kayaking blog
13 June 2014 ............ The Swellies
A 5 metre tidal range at Holyhead meant there was a good chance of a decent wave at the Swellies, and it was indeed quite good.
The wave started right on time, and gradually grew under me - I think my first surf lasted 15 to 20 minutes or so, and I even managed some paddle twirls. Then it started to get harder, and my surfs got shorter and shorter.
Eventually I got to the state that I was really fighting to keep the boat on line - and I just couldn`t keep up the required muscle power for more than a few minutes at a time.
I don`t recall ever having to fight so hard against the water.
Later on I realised that the skeg had dropped down, so I think I was fighting against the skeg.
After I got the boat the skeg got more and more difficult to use, so eventually I did a sort of re-design of the installation, shortened the cable quite a lot, and put some Teflon based dry lube down inside the tube.
It is now so loose that it tends to drop down all by itself, which is a bit annoying.
However it was around then that the playboats started to arrive - first there was one on the wave at a time -
A bit of blasting , I think -
Then there was two -
Then there was three -
Then there was four -
Then there was five -
Meanwhile a cormorant was sunning itself up on the tower - I don`t think I have ever seen a cormorant in the Swellies before - I have had regular sightings of herons and gulls.
Part of the time there was a small but nice wave just off from the side of the rocks, and I got quite a good ride on it - I even managed some more paddle twirls.
After the main wave had died down a bit, it turned into a good green wave for a while, and I had a bit more surfing on it.
So all in all it was a successful evening.
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