Malltraeth Sands...

"Malltraeth means 'salt marsh' in Welsh and flooding was a regular occurrence until 1818, when Thomas Telford built the impressive embankment known as Malltraeth Cob and the river was canalised. Before this the estuary penetrated far inland and almost cut Anglesey in two."The perfect day for a perfect paddle. On the water by 9 am. With the sun shining on our faces and the breeze on our back, we quietly made our way out onto Malltreath Sands and followed the channels that would take us out to sea. Swans, Herons and Oyster Catchers were busy going about their business, swooping and diving all around us. We found a tiny beach to stop for tea and spent a good 15 minutes trying to get my kelly Kettle fired up to boil water for tea... we failed, and so resorted to Philips trusty flask to supply the hot water: Boy scouts we're not! We then continued further along the shoreline rock-hopping all the way. With the tide turning it was time to head back, but not until Philip retrieved an interesting piece of flotsam, making his kayak look as if it had developed some strange growth. We made good time back to Malltreath and arrived at high tide for an easy get-out. Four hours of bliss watching the world go by. It doesn't get much better then this...

Solstice Paddle - a trip in the dark

The Summer Solstice and longest day seemed like a great excuse for an evening paddle and beach fire so the call went out and the (fool)hardy turned up - Mike (cool man) Tildesley, Mike (the paddle) Owen, Graham (does your misses know your here) , Chris (the Ringer) Wright and Andy (anyone for a slingshot) Short. The plan was for a trip from Bull Bay to Llanllianna for a fire and return (late).The trip got off to an excellent start with Porpoises spotted off the Starboard Bow almost immediately. Several small black fins arced gracefully through the water fishing in the ebbing tide.A smooth paddle round to Borth Wen ensued as Graham and Mike O looked to preserve their pristine hulls while Andy looked to wreck his with ill-judged rock hopping in the half light. Whilst the Cybi guys were exploring the caves and gullies of Borth Wen (the brickworks) Chris (the Ringer) finally caught up - he's a slow starter - and immediately 'praised' Mike O for the quality of his paddle, saying something like "ooh where can I get hold of one of those?"With the group formed we ploughed on with the tide to our beach stop and Andy, Mike O and Graham set about dutifully collecting fire wood whilst Mike T emptied half the contents of the Huws Gray yard out of his boat. Whilst the sun set on the longest day refreshments were taken - some focussing on the liquids others taking a more measured approach and eating all the cake. At this point Graham was beginning to realise that he wasn't going to get home for tea (or even for his cocoa), and that he didn't have any signal to let the misses know.
So as night descended and the beer was finished, it was decided to head for home. 'Someone' suggested a 'slingshot' round Ynys Padraig to set us on our way. Unfortunately the ebb hadn't quite abated and the tide was still running round the island. The eddy behind the island was made and the slingshot plan revised - well, torn up and binned - who's idea was it to put us out in the tide race in the dark?

After an interesting ferry glide back to where we had started during which Graham was heard to mutter about "going straight to work at this rate" and "I wish I'd worn me long trousers" we could finally start our return journey. Good time was made close in to shore with the occasional blast of the off-shore wind as we passed the open bays of Hells Mouth and Borth Wen. The highlight of the return trip had to be the phosphorescence (sic) green / blue electric sparkles on the surface of the water as you boat or blade break the surface - a truly magical experience!

Bull Bay was made at exactly Midnight and everyone wished Graham good luck with his misses when he got home before all sloping off home to bed to dream of Porpoises, phosphorescence and tide races in the dark.

roll on next year!

Andy Short

New Years Paddle...

So here we are in 2010. And no better way to celebrate then with a paddle in the freezing snow along our favourite stretch of coastline out of Trearddur Bay. In fact, we were so keen we went out on both New Years Day and a couple of days later. It just goes to show how mad Cybi Kayakers are when it comes to getting on the water. So here's to a great New Year for all you paddlers as we look forward to more adventures out on the open seas in 2010.Pictures by Terry, Philip and Paul.

Things aren't always what they seem!

Last Wednesday Mike Owen, Graham, Andy Short and myself set off from Rhoscolyn on what seemed the perfect paddling day: clear blue skies, an almost non-existent northerly breeze and a twinkling sea.

We headed north-east towards Rhoscolyn Head just at the end of slack water. Paddling against the ebbing tide was easy enough but ahead we could see the water starting to boil between the mainland and the islands of Maen y Sais, Maen y frân and Maen yr Esgyll. As we neared Rhoscolyn Head the sea became quite large and confused. The effects of the outgoing tide, wind on the nose and large waves rebounding off the rocks tested my paddling skills to the limit. Having rounded the head we found shelter in a small bay and discussed the route home.We decided to head directly for the Rhoscolyn beacon. The sea was still quite big and Andy guided us through the islands and out to the beacon. I think the pictures below illustrate how things aren’t always what the seem after setting off on a perfect day.
Many thanks to all the others for a very enjoyable trip. Thanks also to Andy for some very useful tips.

Philip Thomas

Malltraeth to Llandwyn...

Main image: © Novakovski

On Tuesday Mike Owen and myself took advantage of brilliant warm sunshine and paddled from the bridge at Malltraeth, up the estuary and out to sea. Heading south we reached Llandwyn Island and returned by the same route.
Malltraeth Bay is defined by Llanddwyn Island to the south and the headland of Pen-y-Parc to the north. The Afon Cefni flows into Malltraeth Bay via the spectacular estuary known as Malltraeth Sands. Malltraeth means 'salt marsh' in Welsh and flooding was a regular occurrence until 1818, when Thomas Telford built the impressive embankment known as Malltraeth Cob. Before this the estuary penetrated far inland and almost cut Anglesey in two. It is very pretty with fine sands and bird-haunted salt marshes, but no paths along the western shore, although the marsh and dunes along the eastern side are still part of the Newborough nature reserve.
the Llanddwyn Island is really a peninsula and is named after St Dwynwen, patron saint of Welsh lovers, who founded a convent there in the 5th century. Several crosses commemorate her and ruins survive of a Tudor church built on the site of her chapel. At the tip of the island there is a disused lighthouse beside some cottages that once belonged to pilots who guided vessels over the sandbars at the entrance to the Menai Strait.We left at 11.30 am and, with high tide at 1.15 pm, the long paddle out to sea against the tide meant we had to keep paddling to make any progress at all. Areas of the estuary can be very shallow but the deepest channel is marked with buoys and posts. It was flat calm in the estuary with a force 3 – 4 westerly right on our nose. In the distance at the mouth of the estuary we could see what was to come: waves were breaking and the sea became a lot bigger. Mike ploughed on through but my natural caution held me back until I felt confident enough.
The full force of the waves, tide and wind hit us as we turned south towards Llandwyn Island. Llandwyn didn’t seem very far away, but, with the tide still against us it was a hard slog. Sea conditions were reasonable but it was a challenge with the waves coming at us from 90 degrees. The sun was still shining, visibility was brilliant and we paddled on. As we got neared Llandwyn Island the sea got bigger and a landing looked unlikely so we kept clear, turned 360 and headed back for Malltraeth. With the wind, tide and waves now helping us, it was time to relax and enjoy a leisurely paddle back. As we got to the mouth of the estuary, the breakers were still there and we enjoyed a bit of surfing to get us back into Malltraeth Sands. Fish were jumping everywhere and I thought I must remember to bring a handline and try my luck next time.
Right in the mouth of the estuary we found an idyllic beach and landed there for a well earned break. We hugged the bank for the final paddle back to our “put in” point . It was slack water and a very relaxing end to a 3 hour paddle which included a great mix of conditions; some challenging, some exciting and most of all great fun.With hindsight, if I did it again, I would set off 2 hours before low tide to take advantage of the ebb on the way out. Then, after landing at Llandwyn, set off and take advantage of the turning tide for the return trip.

Philip Thomas.

Cable Bay Madness...

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.

Welcome To Stanley...

It’s about time that the white-water paddlers at Cybi Kayakers got a mention on their own Blog site. So on a beautiful sunny Friday evening they all headed off to where the water rushes through… Stanley Embankment. Jay, Buddug, Simon and Dan met up with a couple of fellow paddlers, Ievan and Paul, who were already on the water and all enjoyed a couple of hours playing in the waves.
Here are some pics that tell their own story, along with a video clip that says it all.
(Completely mad, the lot of them!)
Music by John Mayall and the Blues Breakers.