Category: Trip Reports Page 6 of 77

Nothing compares to the calmness of a coastal wintry scene. Shafts of angled sunlight cast a soft golden glow across the beaches and rocks. Once the Autumn gales fade the sea becomes oily smooth, but without the intensity of high summer, these shores are quiet and utterly peaceful.

Photo: Sean Jesson

Leaving Rhoscolyn and heading for South Stack was almost spooky with gentle swell surging amongst the rocks. Penrhyn Mawr broke the silence and North Stack presented its usual set of challenges.

Photo: Sean Jesson

We completed our circumnavigation of Holy Island by taking the ebb out of the Cymyran Strait and cruising past Silver Bay back to Rhoscolyn. It seemed that the oily smooth waters were just as we had left them.

The next day, Sean and I headed off to Church Bay aiming for the Skerries. This is where the contrast between summer and winter would be greatest. During the summer months the skerries is a madhouse. Thousands of sea-birds nest here; mostly terns and puffins.

As we arrived, The Skerries were all but silent. The neap tide meant that even the rushing sound of the sea was muted. We avoided the seals because there were young pups among them. One of two of the bravest came to check on us. The only sea-birds were a handful of cormorants and the occasional rock pipit. The remains of the summer vegetation now dead and broken littered the ground. In winter this is a bleak and desolate place.

My wife, Cristi and I just returned from a 4 day trip out to Cumberland Island on the Georgia coast. Cumberland is a partially developed barrier island administered by the National Park Service. Access is by ferry or kayak from St. Mary’s, GA.

Cumberland is home to miles of beach and salt marsh as well as a dense maritime forest of live oak and saw palmetto. The campground at Sea Camp offers full amenities for hike-in campers, and backcountry camping is available by permit.

We launched our kayaks at Crooked River State Park near St. Mary’s and had a chance to give the new P&H Flat Earth sails a good shakedown. This unique kayak sail system allows for simultaneous sailing and paddling and definitely gives you a boost–even in light air.

P&H will have sails available in the US and Europe starting in 2014.

Sailing down the Crooked River on the way to Cumberland Island National Seashore.

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Friday evening traffic was kind enough to allow me a jam free journey to the north Yorkshire coast for the Sea Kayak Expedition Gathering. On my arrival I was greeted with a hot meal and a beer (Always a good start). As night fell on Friday evening there were tall tales and ghost stories round the fire just to make sure we all slept soundly in our beds.

In the morning everyone split into different groups for workshops on trip planning, fishing and foraging for wild foods.

At lunchtime the organisers laid on a fantastic spread of food cooked freshly on the beach. Fried fish, malt loaf fritters and stewed fruit re-replenished our energy reserves for the afternoon incident management sessions. The local RNLI lifeboat crew from Staithes joined us to try different techniques for rescuing kayakers.

After dinner I showed pictures and footage from last years expedition to east Greenland finishing off with the film Gino’s Greenland. After that there were workshops on emergency boat repairs by Howard Jeffs and navigation & trip planning by Kim Bull.

Sunday was more about journeying with everyone splitting into smaller groups focusing on boat handling and navigation on the move. As we entered Staithes harbour we were once again treated to freshly prepared food before completing the final leg to finish in Runswick Bay.

Many thanks to Ang, Steve, Sophie and the rest of the crew at East Barnby Outdoor Education Centre for a terrific weekend. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

 Here paddlers are assembling before the start. I’m the one in the dark boat in the far background. Conditions are about perfect and the seals and terns are ready and waiting to ambush us in the vicinity of the island.

 This is where we went.

 I couldn’t take pictures during the event, but this is the prizegiving afterwards. I won the women’s prize paddling my lovely lightweight carbon kevlar Cetus LV but I think I’m going to have to do a bit more training before next time as there wasn’t much gap between first and second.

Last weekend saw around 250 paddlers descend on the Sleat peninsula of Skye for the Scottish Sea Kayak Symposium. The weather was kind to us and it was good to see so many folks enjoying the sunshine, the coaching, guided trips and just general banter.

The first session I attended was on forward paddling technique.

Next was a session all about balance. Gordon Brown led us in a range of crazy stunts that had us soaking wet, but by the end of the session, very much more balanced in our boats. Here I am proving how stable a Cetus LV is.

And here’s Kevin trying out a Cetus HV.

And here’s me again, paddling SOT style.

Greenland rolling was a popular session with many people wanting to explore traditional skills.

This was a session on self rescues.

More rolling practice.

 After the main event, there were four days of guided journeys. Rowland and I led this group on an otter spotting journey from Kyleakin towards Plockton and back. Sadly we didn’t see any otters but had fantastic views across to the distant Cuillin.

 Found an adder lurking in the grass of an abandonned village.

Always a magic moment when an otter sits still long enough to take a photo.

 On Thursday, Rob and I led a group on a journey from Elgol into Coruisk and then round the island of Soay before returning to Elgol. The scenary was stunning and the weather couldn’t have been better.

 This was a great chance to put my new Cetus LV through its paces and I’m pleased to say it paddles just as well as it looks.

Last week I had the opportunity to paddle around Cumberland Island off Georgia’s Southernmost coast. Cumberland is an Island with lots of history and a pretty diverse set of scenery to accompany it including salt marshes, giant sand dunes, wild horses, old mansion ruins and beautiful Live Oak and Saw Palmetto Maritime forests. I checked with a few Guided trips in the week long range and altered those to make for a 3 night trip. I decided to leave from Crooked River State Park. The planned day of departure there were Tornado Warnings and 12-14′ surf so I spent an extra day getting acquainted with St. Mary’s and took a trip over to the neighboring Jacksonville to grab some last minute items from REI and Black Creek Outfitters. The next morning I took off with the tide from the Crooked River launch site. First night was the Brickhill Bluff campsite on the Northwest side of the Island. Following sand bars and salt marshes the whole way out in protected waters I was able to see numerous small sharks along the shoals and a dolphin or two.

The campsite at Brickhill Bluff offered multiple spots with great views under huge Live Oak trees with plenty of flat ground to set up your campsite at all spots. There were obvious signs of horses being in this area so I didn’t want to set up in a possible horse path. I’m glad since I was awoken in the night to three horses casually eating the grass behind my tent. I was able to hike around some of the trails in that area before cooking dinner and heading in for the night. I was anxious to see what the North side of the Island would look like the next day as that would be the beginning of the harder part of the day. The plan was to ride out the tide and that I did doing 7 miles in a hour before hitting the Pelican Banks round the Northernmost side of the Island. The tide was low enough that I had to go about 3/4 of a mile off shore and the Southwest wind was really starting to pick up and I felt it quite a bit out there.

Around the shoals I could see ominous skies matching the brutal wind kicked up in my face. This went on for another 15 miles building from 15-20 knts head on with little to no let up whatsoever. I made 2 stops to check my National Park Map to my chart to try and figure best where my campsite actually was. Huge dunes lined the Northern tip and stretched the entire 17.5 mile Atlantic coast aside from the inlet at Christmas Creek which was another haul way out off shore to get around the ever present shoals. Most of the Atlantic was smaller 2-3′ foot swell due to the offshore wind but Stafford Shoals was kicked up a bit, at least I knew the Stafford campsite could not be more than a mile away. When I finally reached the Stafford pull out, poorly marked with only a 6 foot black and white post) I walked up to the Dunes to find the inside flooded from all the previous days storms. I decided, even though not technically legal, considering I had not seen more than 1 other person the whole day to just set up camp on the beach. The site turned out to be spectacular and I had no visitors aside form one interesting hiker that gave my only conversation for the day.

The next morning I awoke to a beautiful sunrise and no wind! I made some coffee and hit the water leisurely with Sea Camp set as my destination, around the South side of the Island and in a bit. I reached the North Jetty of the entrance to Cumberland Sound which sticks out 2.5 miles into the ocean and decided to surf in to the beach to consult the chart. The tide was rushing out for another 4 hours and submarines are found to produce crazy wakes near the mouth of the Pass so I decided to portage the boat around the jetty.  Adding 5 miles of questionable paddling did not seem like the best option. I pulled around to a nice sandy beach with a shady spot under some trees to relax after and easy morning but hard day the previous day. I was in no rush and was also waiting for the tide to turn around. 6 wild horses stepped out from the woods and trotted casually down the beach next to me as I watched the coast guard running drills in front of Fort Clinch in their Defenders and MLB’s. Around slack tide I took off again towards Sea Camp and had a low key paddle in to the dock. Again I had a long portage to get the boat over to the bluff where there was a path up and then about a 10′ hike up the berm. I unloaded into the carts they have there and hiked the almost mile into camp.

The next morning I spent hiking to see the Dungeness Mansion Ruins site which has Thomas Carnegie’s old estate among many other ruins and buildings from 100 years back. Horses roamed the grass fields here as wild turkey grazed as well. I was again in no hurry as I was waiting for the tide to turn again. After noon I hiked back to camp and got ready for departure around slack again. Reversed the portage of the day before and then headed off with the tide back to Crooked River for what turned out to be one of my favorite trips so far!

Photo: Bill Vonnegut Paddler: Bryant Burkhardt

The Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium organized by Matt Palmariello and Sean Morley continues to be one of my absolute favorite events to attend.  It, along with other recent rough water instructional based symposiums, are continuing to grow and shape the sport in exciting ways.  The students and coaches these events draw always make for a high energy and enthusiastic atmosphere that is intoxicating and contagious as hell.  Safety and FUN is the name of the game and it shows.  What a BLAST!   

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