A blustery Paddle from Cemaes

The weather forecast promised that Saturday would be the best of the weekend, so five hardy members of NWSK set off from Cemaes bay to blow the cobwebs away. It was another chance for me to get to grips with my new camera. I've mounted it on my front deck so all pictures are going to include a triangle of boat complete with spare paddle. I'm also trying out a new paddle holder from Reed. Normally I carry my splits on the back deck of my boat but a few problems recently have led me to experiment with them on the front deck. At least I can see if they are coming loose.
Here we are waiting for Jimski to get launched.

 As we head out of Cemaes bay the camera captures this insignificant little splash. Not desperately exciting but I just like the picture. I'm hoping for better things in the future but it's fun to find out what the camera can do.

 Rounding the corner out of Cemaes bay the island of Middle Mouse came into view. As a group we had opted for a more challenging trip and the sight of an island sitting in the middle of a tide race was more than we could resist. We made the short hop across to middle mouse, then misjudged the speed of the flow and ended up missing the upstream end of the island and had to about-turn and make for the eddy downstream. Unfortunately as usual the picture doesn't do justice to the water conditions.

Another picture with water on the lens but I couldn't resist this narrow gully.

  

In all we paddled about 20km from Cemaes Bay, to Middle Mouse and on to Bull Bay for lunch before returning by a more direct route to Cemaes. As we approached Bull Bay were became aware of a mayday call from a small boat at a location very close to ours. Visibility was pretty poor and we were unable to see the boat in question. Fortunately another group of kayakers were able to relay VHF messages between the boat and coastguard and provide information regarding the boats location. This was another great example of the value of carrying a VHF and informing the coastguard of intended whereabouts. As we left Bull Bay we saw the conclusion of a successful lifeboat rescue as the small boat and crew were brought ashore.

Our trip ended with a blast into wind of about force 6 as we turned the corner into Cemaes bay. It felt good to have managed an exciting trip in blustery conditions.