Follow Those Buoys 03-07-2011

With the forecast good and the tides being reasonably large Springs Eurion and myself decided to use the last 3 hours or so of the ebbing tide to see how far we get along the line of buoys that mark the Nash and Scarweather Sand Bars.

We are swept past the lighthouse at Nash Point between 7 and 8 knots and hardly have time to take a picture of the East Nash Cardinal Buoy before being propelled down the Bristol Channel.

In well under an hour we are paddling past the Mid Nash Buoy just over 5 nautical miles into our paddle.

After another 4 nautical miles in very quick time we are at the West Nash Buoy after seeing a group of Porpoises a couple of times on the way.

We have to make a slight alteration to our course to reach the South Scarweather Buoy as the tide is trying to take us out past it.

We were hoping to be able to land on Scarweather Sands but all we could see were breaking waves, we decided to have a closer look.

There was no sand to land on just near perfect surfing waves. I had a close call on the above wave being more concerned about taking photos, no damage done though just a thorough soaking.

It was a bit strange to be nearly 5 nautical miles from the nearest land and to encounter near perfect waves, especially as today there was no swell, I bet it is pretty awesome out here when there is some swell.

In 15 minutes we are back paddling on a glassy flat sea, hard to see where those waves had come from.

After nearly 3.5 hours on the water and just over 16 nautical miles paddled we arrive at the West Scarweather Buoy.

The tide is still ebbing so we decide to paddle onto the Ledge Buoy which is 4 nautical miles South of Mumbles Head. The last 15-20 minutes were a bit of a slog as the tide has turned but we make it.

It is now just the small matter of paddling back which seemed to be more of an effort and at times we didn't seem to be making too much progress.

Although it seemed slow we did the paddle back in just over 3.5 hours I guess we must have just been getting tired.

An amazing paddle of just over 37 nautical miles (43 miles or 69 kms) in almost 8 hours making the most of the tidal power of the Bristol Channel. Thanks Eurion for the invite and for the additional photos.

The Things I Get Myself Talked Into!!! 09and10-04-2011

In case you were wondering there is a photo above, it is the view from Atlantic College across the Bristol Channel to Porlock, I think!

With this being the 200th post on my blog I thought I would do something different. So when Eurion said it was an ideal night to paddle from Atlantic College on the Welsh side of the Bristol Channel across to Porlock on the English side and then back who was I to disagree.

Along with Paul from Atlantic College, myself and Eurion left the slipway at 9.15pm and paddled out into the darkness.

Halfway there I think! The conditions were ideal with little or no wind and a clear sky and although it wasn't much of a moon it was quite bright.

After just over 3 hours of paddling with the tide first taking us East up the Bristol Channel and then for the last hour or so taking us back West we landed on the pebbled beach at Porlock much to Eurion's delight.

Eurion shared some photography tips with me as I experimented with my camera in the dark, first looking at the South Wales coastline and second at the moon above the pub. They don't really do it justice but Eurion had his large one (camera) so check out his photos.

After just over an hour and a half in the bivvi bags my phone alarm went off, 3 o'clock and time to get going again on our return leg.

The wind had picked up a little on our return paddle and after scaring numerous sleeping gulls on the water the sky started to get a little lighter.

Over the next half hour the sun rose slowly above the picturesque Aberthaw Power Station.

The Nash Point Lighthouse which we had paddled toward on our return leg got larger and our destination of Atlantic College came clearly into view.

Eurion informed the Coastguard we had arrived safely, though wires were slightly crossed as they thought we were going to paddle back to Porlock! I politely informed Eurion that I would give that one a miss!

We finally make landfall after about 3.5 hours of paddling finishing a round trip of 24 nautical miles. A slightly different way to spend a Saturday night/ Sunday morning, nice idea Eurion and thanks for the photo of me landing and cheers to Paul for the company, hopefully next time we meet up we will have more time for a chat.