Wetter than an Otter’s Pocket...02/11/08

I still had a few Ragworm left over from Thursday’s trip out off Gorleston and wanted to use them rather than let them go to waste. I should have launched on Friday – it was lovely – but I had to be elsewhere doing other things and so I decided on Saturday morning for a sessions. When Pinkfoot phoned that night we decided that Hopton, between Lowestoft and Gorleston, was the place. Reports suggest loads of codling and cod too were available a few hundred yards out…it had to be done.

I was up early and after coffee headed north to the launch point. Just before arriving I got a text from Carl – he wasn’t coming having checked the forecasts – when I arrived and looked at the sea I couldn’t blame him; it was unfishable. The wind was howling, the tide was running, the whole sea was choppy and had white horses as far as the eye could see and the surf was around 4ft and strong. I didn’t even unload the kayak.



I intended getting the Yak Board out later and going for a play back home but just ended up losing the opportunity once too often before the rain came. Ah well, there’s still Sunday…

Up early again. Halfway through my coffee I went into the conservatory and noticed that it was raining. That’s me out then. I read for a while and then when the girls got up I fed them, got them dressed and we went down to the car boot sale – I needed some leads and there’s a bloke who sells them out dirt cheap – with the subsequent plan being the wildlife park next door to create havoc in the play area. Two problems here – the first was that the tackle guy wasn’t at the sale and the second, after a forty minute wait, was that the play area didn’t open at the same time as the park. Seen one lion you’ve seen them all, and when you’ve seen all the ones in one place a hundred times there’s no point hanging around so we went back home.

Enough is enough. The rain had stopped half an hour after I’d first seen it. I was going out again. I got kitted up and drove back to Hopton thinking things would be better. They were and they weren’t.



The surf was lower by about a foot but the tide was higher, almost up to the wall and so a nose-down launch off the wooden slip would be needed. This would mean water constantly being over the bow and front hatch area. Worse was that the time between waves was short and they were breaking in about the worst spot for the launch. I didn’t hold out much hope but it looked manageable past the surf zone and there were loads of boats out a few hundred yards offshore.



I sat there and tried to get the measure of it. I couldn’t deploy the rudder at launch because of the slipway so would have to paddle straight out – no problem providing that there wasn’t a strong current or wind problem. It was clearly shelving steeply too and the waves had a lot of power in them so I’d need to make good headway to counter the backwards pull. I’d also need to time things to avoid the worst sets and the waves breaking over the front if possible.



My first attempt saw me make little progress – because of the angle the nose was straight down and the waves were dumping onto it. The cockpit was filling with each dump and the drainage through the scuppers stood no chance – especially with a transducer through one of them. I retreated. Unloading the rods I decided I may as well try again so put them back. I should have stuck with my original decision as it turned out. I got out to where it was breaking under good control but with the cockpit full of water and then a big wave came in and dumped right in my lap. I was knocked off and the kayak flipped onto its side, the next wave pushed it back over when I’d righted it and I righted it once more, grabbed my paddle (it’d escaped my grasp but was nearby) and went back up the slip. I’d snapped a rod. It was clear that I wasn’t getting out from here. Back up the slope I went and loaded up – the Rag would have to go in the freezer as emergency bait and I’d have to stick to Yak Boarding.

Back home I grabbed the Yak Board out of the van along with a Carlisle 197cm White Water paddle – my usual paddles are too long and the blades are too narrow so I’d borrowed one of these too. I’d never tried a proper white water paddle with it and wandered down to the beach. Some surfers were about and I found a clear spot a hundred yards south of my normal spot. Bloody surfers always take the best part of MY beach. I wouldn’t mind so much if they spent less time sitting in the water and more time surfing. (I am practicing to be as intolerant of surfers as they are of kayakers…does it show?)

Out I went, taking some big waves in the lap that would have probably flipped me off the Prowlers, launching over some and down the back with a thump, easily staying head on as the responsiveness of the yak and the catch of the paddle makes manoeuvring a piece of cake. I got out to the launch point and waited for one…here it came…

…I paddled hard and caught it…I was on it’s top and surfing…I paddled a couple more strokes and dropped down onto the face and took off…lean back…paddle up…paddle to the rear to rudder…to the left to brace…to the rear to spin and head back out…lovely!

The third time I wet out was fun. I timed it wrong and took a breaking wave full on in the chest and face. Imagine just brown and white foam coming at you and lifting you bodily, in a seated position, off the board and out of the thigh straps still holding your paddle at a good speed! I grabbed the yak and went out again. Surf five was a bit low, slow and unexciting so I tried for another decent one to end the session on. I couldn’t catch a decent wave! Finally after a few attempts I got on one and came in all the way. I went home well pleased – and pleased that there’s already some fish in the freezer!