Sunday 19th May Junior Surfing Trip by Amy N

Sunday saw our first junior surfing trip. We arrived at Leasowe Bay car park, which was very busy, but we were all able to park near the beach.

The weather was amazing, sunny and warm with a breeze to keep us cool while we carried our boats onto the beach.

Once everyone gathered together, the juniors and parents got in their kayaks on the shoreline. With a bit of a shove, we were off, paddling into the waves, which were quite big for the younger paddlers. We found the breaking waves and Orla demonstrated how to surf in on them. Clara and Alice followed, and got stranded on the sand! Once afloat, we tried again, this time practicing our brace strokes and trying to turn around before we got to the sand. Initially Noah and Finn weren’t sure about surfing the waves, even so, they got stuck in and we saw great surfing and smiles!

Marcus and Terry were busy, confidently practising their rolls and T-rescues a little further out where the water was deeper and calmer.

Then Alice and Orla decided that we should go for a paddle around a post that we could see sticking out of the sea. Alice led the group and Orla was backstop, making sure everyone was following on.

It was decided that we should raft up, so that the juniors could get out of their kayaks and climb around the raft. When they were finally in a raft, Keith went first and launched himself out of his kayak, onto the raft, which was not very well held together, so he ended up in the water! Then Finn and Clara had a try. But the sea was pushing the raft towards the beach, and the water became very shallow.

Clara took the chance to practise some rolls before we went back to the beach to pack our kit away. Some of us stayed to eat sandwiches on the beach and Clara and Finn made a sandcastle.

It was a really fun, sunny Sunday! Thanks to all the juniors and parents who came along and joined in. Big thanks to Keith for organising and to Eamon and Ben who also joined us, pushing stuck kayaks back out to sea, and advising on how to brace.

We are looking forward to the next trip, which will be the junior weekend at Anglesey on June 7th, this is still available to book using Bookwhen.

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