Ian’s boat has a misadventure – a valuable teaching experience

After a very windy night, the wind dropped as forecast and the weather and tide were suitable for a return trip from Dale, round St Annes Head to West Dale Bay. We chose to paddle against the tide from Dale, to avoid launching or landing at Marloes which is a well-known surf beach. We were also near neap tides and there is very little flow on the flood tide. We rock hopped along the coast paddling in back eddies and against the last of the ebbing tide to reach St Annes Head on slack water for a gentle paddle around the headland, followed by more easy rock hopping and exploring on the way to West Dale Bay.  

There was little swell on the way into West Dale Bay and what appeared to be gentle swell.

After a very windy night, the wind dropped as forecast and the weather and tide were suitable for a return trip from Dale, round St Annes Head to West Dale Bay. We chose to paddle against the tide from Dale, to avoid launching or landing at Marloes which is a well-known surf beach. We were also near neap tides and there is very little flow on the flood tide. We rock hopped along the coast paddling in back eddies and against the last of the ebbing tide to reach St Annes Head on slack water for a gentle paddle around the headland, followed by more easy rock hopping and exploring on the way to West Dale Bay.  

There was little swell on the way into West Dale Bay and what appeared to be gentle waves on the beach, so we were looking forward to an easy landing on the sandy beach.

That’s not quite what happened.  A few meters offshore and unfortunately close to Ian, I was picked up by an unexpected and powerful breaking wave. This didn’t give me enough thinking or reacting time, so instead of capsizing I shouted at Ian. Ian had time to edge his boat which meant I ploughed into the bottom of his boat rather than him. Ian had also put his paddle on seabed to make it less likely that he would crash into Ella who was capsizing from the same wave on his other side.  Protecting Ella but lowering the chance that his actions would lower the impact. We got out the water a bit wet to inspect Ian’s boat. I wanted to the ground to swallow me up as there was a sizable hole in the rear hatch. 

Ian then remembered that his repair kit was in the van, which was a bit worrying until Andy Bond, said he had his. Its good to have prepared paddlers who put into practice what they learn from sea kayak online videos, https://www.onlineseakayaking.com/

The area around the hole was dried and sealed inside and out with flash band tape. We also put air bags in the rear hatch to help maintain buoyancy if the patches should start to leak. They didn’t, to the extent that Ian was happy to rock hope on the way back, mostly sensibly, and paddle the next day with the repair. 

What is more frustrating is that when we landed on Freshwater West Beach earlier it the week, there had been substantial surf and we had watched the wave sets for about 10 minutes to ensure we landed at the optimum time, kept well apart and discussed back paddling and the need to capsize to avoid collisions. We were also wearing our helmets incase of any unexpected landing problems. 

So lessons learnt: 

• 1. We needed to spend a longer looking at the beach before landing. Even then, its not certain that we would have noticed danger as there was very little swell and the few powerful waves were breaking within a few meters of the shore. It was not an obvious surf beach. However, it we had noticed them we could have managed the landing in the quiet part of the wave set, or staggered our landings, spatially or temporarily. 
• 2. If someone is surfing into you edge your boat away from them to reduce the risk of damage to the person if not the boat. 
• 3. React quicker, capsizing could have prevented or minimised the collision. 
• 4. Get a more comfortable helmet with a peak and wear it more often to reduce risk during unexpected events. 
• 5. The group should have checked before leaving that somebody had a repair kit. We were lucky, and I suspect there will be a rush on flash band tape at B&Q. 
• 6. Ian is lovely when you put a hole in his boat, well at least the first time.  

Sent from my iPhone

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