After about 30 trips over the years in Scotland, Wales, Brittany and locally in rented or borrowed boats, I bought my first seakayak and associated equipment in 2015. A red Valley Etain, christened Chilli by the kids, complementing Aubergine, a Corsica S, and Carrot, a Wavesport Y, already in the garage. Her first time in the water was at Brown Howe, where I didn’t do up my drysuit flies, so ended up with heavy flooded legs when attempting a self-rescue on the lake. Not an auspicious start. Today was her salt-water christening.
Despite only 4 people confirming the trip on the Forum, 8 seakayakers made it to Jubilee Bridge, Walney by 9:00am: Robin, Sten, Angela, Brian, John, Martin, Matt and me. We left 1 car there and travelled in 3 cars to Biggar. The sea was about 800m away so I assembled my plastic wheels for the first time. Are these the only manufactured goods export from New Zealand? They fit in a hatch, but not much room for anything else. It was hard work towing 2 boats on them so I was grateful when Sten came to the rescue with his wheels for the last bit. I was sweating profusely in my drysuit and needed to drink half a water bottle before we started.
The day was overcast and windless with the sea flat like a mirror. Visibility was about half a mile, not a day for crossings without GPS unless you were an expert navigator. Setting off about 10:20am, we paddled South down the featureless Walney Island, pursued by inquisitive seals who popped up near us with increasing regularity. Lots of seabirds.
There was a bit of a current at the South end, where Robin said the waves were often 2-3’ higher than the www.magicseaweed.com buoy in the bay. This was reading about 1’ swell today, but no waves here. We stopped at Piel Island for lunch, and as it started to rain, we regretted paddling past the pub. Then up Walney Channel on a 4 knot current. Lots of activity here:
- A working dredger in the main channel, with drained water cascading over its sides
- A tugboat that crept up behind me as I sought a good current
- 3 racing speedboats burning fuel at about 40knots
- Yachts and smaller boats
The cloud was so low that you couldn’t see the top of the SMITE chimney in the shipyard. We were back at high water around 2:30pm to Jubilee Bridge, where the tide still flows north for a further 2 hours, Robin said. I found a bit of seaweed on the slipway that I could paddle fast up, but fell in as I got out of the boat. Good trIp, still lots to learn! At the next skills session, Robin suggested I try a re-entry self-rescue, rolling up with half a split blade, which would be a scenario with a lost or broken paddle.
At polo the following evening, Robin said the magicseaweed buoy had indicated a swell of 6’ for Sunday. Now that would have been a different trip.
A bedraggled bunch having lunch on Piel Island in the rain
Lakeland Canoe Club 