Essexbuoy and his family had been invited up for the weekend a while back and with the weather looking rubbish the original intention of a session of fishing and a family paddle to the pub complete with picnic was abandoned. However, I took advantage of Andrew once again and slung a couple of demonstration Yak Boards into the back of the van on Friday night in the hope that they may come in useful.
Saturday afternoon saw strong winds and a snotty sea here and after kitting up the children in wetsuits we wandered down to the beach. Steve was fully protected in his drysuit and deciding at the last minute that the discomfort wasn’t worth it I went down in T-shirt and wetsuit trousers, my wife in wetsuit too. Steve and I had a Yak Board each and my two paddles – my fancy Enchantment Carbon and my basic Day Tripper. In this instance the day tripper would be the superior paddle as the stiffness and the shorter length was closer to what was needed although neither were right for the job – a large power face and short shaft are apparently the way to go for this kind of paddling.
It was hard graft walking against the wind but we headed up to the end of the stretch between the groynes and Steve and I launched into the waves. It wasn’t surf as such, just a broken, messy dump and frankly it was all over the place – like a washing machine really. Still, it’s a giggle anyway and the worst that can happen is a bash on the head with a Yak!
Well, we both managed to get in and get out a little way before being dumped out of the seat. I re-entered and had a reasonable – but short – ride back in but Steve had to stop as with no back rest and previous back problems it wasn’t advisable to try and continue. However, I persuaded my wife to have a go and although she expected to make a fool of her self she was keen to have a go:
“I don’t have enough skill but it looks fun and I’ll try”…game on!
Out we went…
She fell off after a bit and then got back on before riding it in.
I came in too to remind her of her PFD – we’d both mentioned it and both subsequently forgotten it. Then we went out again
There seemed a certain point past which we couldn’t get without being dumped so we both played a bit closer in where the water was really churned up.
It was just great fun and we both had a couple of decent runs in to the shore and a few more poor ones.
The great thing was that you would see a wave coming and could instantly turn 180 degrees and go or correct your bearing with a stroke to take a wave face-on. The buoyancy and width allows you to leap over the top of waves and with the thigh straps you can pull it about with your body – with practice you can really push this and at one pint I was well-over balanced and expecting to flip but stayed in and settled back down again. VERY responsive.
Of course the children wanted to play and who were we to refuse?
Here’s Harry, Steve’s youngest:
Eloise and I:
Eloise going edge on (without tipping)
and Eloise just before she was flipped out
and finally the yaks before we left.
Now, I’ve never been allowed a Yak Board of my own. The Kea for the children was being thought about for the future and my Prowler 15 and Trident 15 are tolerated but no longer welcome in the garden (I put them on the van one day and came home to find trees planted where they’d been). However, not only has a Yak Board been ‘agreed’ to, a second has been demanded!! Amazingly I’m being encouraged to spend money on kayaks :D That’s right – I paid for my first one myself and paid half of the second one I bought which was for her to use plus anyone else who fancied a go (that’s the one I sold to Norm a few months later when I got the Trident). This time I think the joint account is paying for them – she was even disappointed when I said I had to bring these ones back on Monday.
Now, how should I rig one for fishing…
No comments:
Post a Comment