Is it me??? 12/04/2008

Back down West Wales last night and brought the wind with me, so I have been informed, before I arrived the sea was calmer and the wind was lighter. The inshore shipping forecast, not that I really needed to look at it, was W or SW 5 or 6 decreasing 4 at times. I decided to paddle over to Whitesands and out to St David's head, and possibly manage to go around the head as the tide was ebbing. At least then if I find it harder than expected I have the tide with me to bring me back. On reaching Whitesands and paddling out towards the head, I realised it was a much larger swell than was at first apparent, which my wife also confirmed to me on my return as she was watching through the binoculars.

Whitesands Bay - Now you see it

Now you don't

On reaching the Head there were very large overfalls and as a result I decided to use the Southerly flowing ebb tide to take me down towards Ramsey Island.

South Bishop in distance

I headed on a course for South Bishop to allow the tide to bring me down onto the north end of Ramsey Island. Even with the wind against me I managed a top speed of 6 knots. I broke out of the tidal flow into the relative shelter of the NE point of Ramsey Island and paddled down towards the Bitches.
The flow was starting to ease off now so I was able to paddle back and forth through the arch by the jetty taking the above photo in the process. I didn't risk ferry gliding straight across from the Bitches to the mainland so I paddled northwards for a few hundred yards before starting my return journey, which turned out to be a good decision as the tide then brought me down to the point adjacent to the Bitches and into the calmer water of the mainland coastline.

On the paddle back it looked like it could be a good sunset but before the sun got too low it hit a bank of cloud.