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OK, that title is a bit overdramatic! We paddled to the Skerries on Saturday against the tide, but it wasn’t that difficult on a fairly small tidal range!

The sun shone as we hugged the shore from Cemlyn to Carmel Head. I always enjoy ferry gliding across from Carmel Head. The varying depths mean that the speed of the tide & sea state change in strips, like lanes. One minute the sea was gently rolling underneath us and the next minute we’re in confused breaking waves behind the Platters (but in less tide). A southeasterly wind was kicking up the waves close to the Skerries and a healthy swell made it quite sporty paddling around the top of the island against the tide. We couldn’t get too close due to the waves smashing onto the rocks.

There were a few seal pups on the island so we landed on some rocks away from the beaches and huddled under our Hilleberg windsack out of the wind. We headed back via West Mouse and finished off with a few rolls in Cemlyn bay!

I’m excited to share the news that some fantastic wrapping paper designed by Shawna Franklin arrived at my door today.

The orca whale print is from one of Shawna’s gorgeous linoleum block prints. The design has been made into exclusive wrapping paper only available at Cackle TV. The high quality paper is 100 % recycled so it’s environmentally friendly too.

From today, we are offering customers in our UK/ Europe / Australia store the option to have your DVD(s) wrapped in our exclusive wrapping paper.

If you want to send someone a gift, we can gift wrap your items and add your own personal message, making your present even more special. There’s no need to worry about the recipient finding out how much you’ve spent because we won’t include the price anywhere .

The cost is just £2.95 per order, no matter how many DVDs you buy.

Once you’ve chosen your DVD(s) from our store, then just select that you want gift wrapping (this option is at the bottom of the store), and type your personal message.

We will offer the wrapping paper for sale in the near future, once we work out how to post it economically!

Shawna has created lots of gorgeous artwork which is available to buy as prints or greeting cards from Body Boat Blade.

Thanks to Madie Murray for making the wrapping paper the right size for the printers.

I just celebrated another 21st birthday, & what a lovely weekend it was. It was the perfect excuse to visit friends on Bardsey island, one of my favourite places anywhere! On Saturday, the swell and wind made the crossing to the island just the right amount of ‘exciting’. I had plenty of energy to use up, after a week indoors editing! Barry and I paddled around the island, admiring the swell booming against the rocks. We passed a few dozen seals, either lounging on the rocks or curiously watching us from the water.

We stayed overnight courtesy of the Porter family, the only family to live on the small island all year round. It was great to see them all again – the first time for over 6 months! Thanks for the delicious dinner, the lovely cake and the glass artwork that Rachel made for me. We enjoyed a bottle of wine that Barry and I helped to make in Sicily a year ago! Thanks to Francesco for bringing a bottle over for us! In the evening we walked around the lighthouse end of the island with Rachel, who was counting the number of new seal pups being born on the island. We saw 4 pups – all born in the last week. 

Sunday was a beautiful day and we climbed up the top of “the mountain” on Bardsey. There was very little wind, but the sea is rarely still here. It’s always great to look down on the tide swirling and colliding in the Sound below. The ebb current was getting up to speed and funneling in different directions around the island, kicking up white caps over shallow areas.

After buying a few Christmas presents home-made by Jo out of willow, we waved a cherry goodbye & headed away on the last of the ebb tide. Instead of heading straight back to Abadaron, we detoured to the Gwylan islands in Abadaron Bay, stopping for a snack break besides the rocky islets. Lunch was back on the mainland, a bit further round towards Hells Mouth beach, where we enjoyed some toasted marshmallows provided generously by a family we found relaxing on the beach! The paddle back to Abadaron, delving into caves and gazing up at slabby cliffs was really interesting. What a lovely day exploring an area close to home that I’ve not taken the time to poke around in…

Happy days!

While in Japan with Sarah Outen, I decided to make a “This is the Sea 5” DVD. For some reason I’ve been fighting any urges to make a 5th DVD in the series, probably because I didn’t want the format to become tired and because I felt like taking on some different challenges. Well, it’s now been 3 years since “This is the Sea 4” came out – & in that time I’ve made an open canoeing DVD and I am nearing completion of my first instructional DVD, “This is the Roll” with Cheri Perry & Turner Wilson. I’ve enjoyed these new projects but I also feel the time is right for another ‘inspirational’ seakayaking DVD. While I could try to ‘invent’ another exciting format, it struck me that “This is the Sea” is a very popular series with a good reputation & I regularly get emails asking when the next one is coming out…. so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. With that in mind, I decided that I’ll work on a “This is the Sea 5” for release in 2012. I already have some material for the DVD – and I have plans for other segments.

Over the last 2 days, I made the most of the fact that the very talented paddler and thoroughly nice chap, Paul Kuthe , was on my home turf for the UK Storm Gathering. I’ve admired Paul’s surfing skills in the DVDs “Pacific Horizons” and “Eastern Horizons” (available in our UK/ Europe/ Australasia store) and was keen to film him in action. Paul agreed to spent Saturday filming with me. The forecast was pretty grim – southerly winds gusting up to 40 knots, and rain. Not ideal for filming and the larger tidal races on Anglesey were out – too windy for that. In the end we headed to Cable Bay, near Rhosneigr where Paul joined some board surfers in the line up for the fat, chunky waves that were rolling in there. The waves were very wind-driven and not super clean, but a headland protected the bay from the main blasts and Paul got some great rides.

On Sunday morning, Barry, Paul & I were up early and on the Swellies wave in the Menai Straits for a 7am surf session. Paul is tired from a week of teaching, training and finally passing his 5 star assessment (not to mention a bit of socializing) but he dragged himself out of bed not really knowing what to expect. He  jumped straight on the wave and was ripping it up! A few minutes later, he appeared back in the eddy with a big grin on his face saying, “I wish I had one of these 15 minutes from my house”.

Also over the weekend was the first “Swellies extreme seakayaking race” organised by “Kayak Essentials“. Paul and I missed the main race because we were filming & didn’t know where the course went, but we rushed back for the ‘mass start’ race and I enjoyed trying to go as fast as possible down the fast flowing Swellies, eddy hopping and paddling around buoys. It was a lot of fun and I hope to compete in the whole event next year. Thanks to Webby from Rockpool kayaks for the photos of Barry and I on the course.

This week I am working on “This is the Roll” which we hope to release before Christmas. The DVD has taken Cheri, Turner & I months of filming, planning & editing in 4 different countries (Sicily, Wales, Scotland and Canada). We hope it provides clear and well thought out instruction, as well as lots of examples of Cheri & Turner teaching students to roll. I’ll write more on that in the next few weeks.