But it’s alright for a hard paddle, bit of surf play or sailing! The plan was hatched – we’d rig Tim’s Scupper Pro to take a Pacific Action sail (six holes) and head north to Gorleston to blast down the coast to Lowestoft for a nice cold beer. A plan if ever I heard one ;D The only thing that wasn’t ideal was the tide time. An early start is not good for a birthday so we kept our fingers crossed that the wind would be stronger than the tide.
Arriving at Gorleston we unloaded, rigged up, kitted up and carried the yaks down to the shore. The sea was going berserk! The cauldron by the harbour wall was spiking wildly with clapotis reaching heights well overhead! Tim’s new Mysto and my Yak Board weren’t with us and with sails on we decided not to play in it but instead to launch through the shore break and head on out.
The exciting start continued when we saw that there were some bloody good surfing waves to be had and Tim took the first one all the way in to the shore. I drifted past the break while filming but did pick up a less impressive wave that bore me down towards the beach before I turned sideways and swung around it as it formed a peak, a semi circle manoeuvre that I found rather impressive even though it was nothing to do with me! Playtime over we headed out and flung the sails up.
Off we went! The sea was big and messy, very confused and we’d take off in one direction, skid around and head somewhere else, skid and be heading back the original way! Then, a stroke or two of the paddle and we’d pick up a wave and surf it as well ;D
No sitting back and taking it easy like on Sunday, I was making constant corrections, bracing and supporting with the paddle and changing the position of the control lines which I was using cleated today.
Tim was leaving it as set and paddling as well, disappearing off to the distance all the time unless disappearing below the waves between us. It was pretty bloody good bumpy out there.
Reaching Hopton, we came ashore hoping that Steve would be bringing us some coffees – poor bugger had a disaster and couldn’t join us to try out his own PA sail sadly. Tim surfed in and I followed, surfing in under sail power. Tim came out to grab me as I surfed on in; it was doable!
Steve hadn’t made it so after looking at some of the video already taken and clearing space on the camera we launched again, initially together but I grabbed the wrong thing and removed some bungee from the kayak and had to get things sorted again which allowed Tim to get in position to film me coming through some damned good surf ;D
We then called in our intentions to the Coastguard knowing that we were going into the roughest part and set course, via a wide berth of the sea wall, for Lowestoft. The sea really picked up after a few minutes and with Tim now carrying the camera there was little chance to dare use it. The waves were bigger, closer, coming from all angles and occasionally breaking and we had loads of fun using the skills we’d acquired playing in the cauldron at Gorleston over the last few months. We assumed we’d need to furl the sails and rely on paddling alone for the run down to Corton, where the sea defences ended, but were able to continue sailing.
It took a surprisingly long time to transit this area and so I took a reference point (no GPS today) and rechecked it regularly. Calling across to Tim to ask the time it was clear that we were now unlikely to make Lowestoft in time to avoid me getting my arse kicked from my wife and he would have to dash back to his family later than intended as the wind was starting to drop and we were now in the full run of the ebbing tide. We were sailing hard, paddling mildly and just about creeping forward and as much fun as it was it was clear that we’d have to head in short of our destination and make other arrangements and so we headed for Tramp’s Alley at Corton. This lies just south of the sea wall and the waves dropped off considerably – we could have actually anchored and fished inshore here now. No matter, we landed, hauled the yaks up to the road and tried calling Steve to beg a lift back to my vehicle ;)
Bugger. Answerphone. For the next half an hour we failed to get hold of him and so, dressed in my black baby romper suit I stood by the roadside, thumb out, trying to hitch a ride while Tim took the piss and looked for cab numbers on his I-Phone ;D To say the expressions of the drivers were amusing would be to understate things – clearly the thought of being picked up (even though this is a renowned dogging site) were ludicrous.
We were relieved when Steve finally answered and came down to give me a lift back to the launch point where, I noticed, the sea had flattened right off. We were lucky we launched when we did! Running back to pick Tim and the yaks up we then headed back to mine for the beers I’d placed in the fridge earlier to chill down. I think I could get used to this WAFI lark!
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