The idea behind this trip to Cable Bay ( Porth Trecastell ) was to get out into some rough water so we could practice some rescues and towing skills. Only, this time, the waves got the better of us. By the time we had battled our way out to the entrance of the bay we were riding 5 foot breaking waves. Mikes famous last words were, “ forget about rescues, let’s just practice staying in the boat!” And that’s when it happened; a steam train of a breaking wave came crashing down on top of us. I was swimming while Mike was rolling: well done that man!
After my pathetic attempts at emptying the kayak of water Mike eventually hauled me back into my water logged boat and handed me his pump. After just three goes the handle came off in my hand. “Shit!” not what we needed at that moment in time. Luckily I also had a pump, one that worked, and proceeded to try and empty the cockpit of water, but by now the tide and wind had taken us back into the bay and we found ourselves drifting onto the beach. This had always been part of our plan, and that should anything go wrong, the wind and the tide would be our friend and bring us back home safely. On another day the wind and tide could easily have been our foe; something I wouldn’t have wanted to mess with in these conditions.
It was great fun, but with important lessons learnt along the way: Know you own limits, use your head and stay calm, and check that your kayaking gear WORKS! before venturing out onto the open sea.
I normally put a sound track to these video clips, but this clip has one all it’s own.
Paul Mattock
Check out a higher res version at our 'YouTube' link.
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