Last day! Had to squeeze another in!

Friday August 14th 2009

A whipped up sea and a dead shark

With us leaving Pencarnan in the morning after another perfect couple of weeks in the best place in the world, we were eager to get that last paddle in.

Looking out the window of the caravan though did not look encouraging, a South Westerly wind had picked up throughout the day, and now the sea looked 'a bit lively'.

As the kayaks were down on the beach, and we really needed them up by the caravan ready for the trip home in the morning, we decided a one-way trip to Porth clais would be best.

Leaving the beach we set off around to St Johns point, I had decided that if the weather and the sea state here was looking a bit dicey, it might be better to go back.

Dad was up front, and he just passed straight through the rough water, I was thinking that if we carried on through the sound and turned East toward Porth Clais, the SW wind would be picking up the sea and potentially give us a hard time.

A grey sky with mist hanging around Carn Llidi, it was slack in the sound, but the water was confused, loads of wavelets coming at us with the wind and the occasional swell starting to build.

Gower Ranger had just left St Justinians with a fishing trip, the boat was being thrown around a bit and I wondered how many 'green' passengers there would be.

You can see the spray from a breaking wave on my bow that is bucking right up out of the water!

It seemed Dad was being thrown around quite a bit as he paddled on into the now seemingly constant SW being funnelled up through Ramsey Sound.

After passing through safely there was a rough ride across to Carreg Yr Esgob, here we got a little rest, but as I predicted, the wind was really starting to batter us, and the swell was getting quite regular.

Passing through the now familiar gap in Carreg Yr Esgob, I could see across to where we were heading the other side of Carreg Fran.

We just had to keep paddling, the waves were big, and the clapotis from the cliffs was making a very lively ride!

The outcome of the last shot of Dad just behind the wave was far better than it looks!

I couldn't take many photo graphs as I daren't let go of the paddle long enough to get it out of the deck bag.

Just after I took the last shot and had put the camera away, I passed a dead shark floating on its back, its head was about 18" wide across the mouth! I thought about getting the camera out and going back, but the swell was big, Dad was now getting quite far away, and he wouldn't have known what is was messing around at, so I headed in.

We reached the mouth of Porth clais harbour drenched, my face was sticky and crusty from the salt deposits and my ears ached slightly from the wind - absolutely amazing!

So glad we didn't turn back at the start.

The tide was still very low in the harbour, so I drove the car down the river bed to load up, back at Pencarnan we loaded up all the gear, all in all an amazing couple of weeks, I've learned loads.

My tide timing has been spot on, the timing estimates have been accurate, but most of all, I have got the first 'self led' Ramsey Sound crossing under my belt! I pretty certain that on a couple of occasions the weather conditions would have allowed a circumnavigation of Ramsey Island, I thought I'd save this for another time though. More time on the water, and the vhf radio course completed, I aim to have done it by this time next year.

A cracking trip, great conditions for a final trip! Glad it wasn't like that all holiday though!