OP Sea Kayaking

April 8

Our first week back from spring break, we went sea kayaking at Trearddur Bay. Before leaving the Conway Centre, we each selected a kayak and adjusted it to fit our legs. We also picked a paddle, and learned that there was a difference between left and right-handed paddles.
We experience a heavy downpour on the way to our site, but the weather cooperated quite nicely the rest of the day. When we arrived at Trearddur, our planned launching point was under construction, so we had to find an alternate. After unloading our gear, Chris parked the minibus next to the ‘pay and display’ machine in a car park down the road. We learned later that he must not have paid and displayed, but he paid in the end with a £60 ticket.
Once we got our gear sorted out, we climbed in our boats down by the water and attached our spray decks. After inching our ways out to sea, we quickly learned the skeg was helpful for increasing stability. The kayaks we used were built for maneuverability so they were a little tricky to control at first. Chris taught us the easiest way to row by making us try all the wrong ways. We tried holding the paddle with a wide grip, a narrow grip, paddling while leaning back and while leaning forward. We finally settled on a happy medium.
When passing through a narrow, shallow opening we learned to look around and time the waves so we didn’t end up getting caught up on the rocks as the water level went down. It took me a few tries, but I finally got the concept down pat. After what seemed like an early lunch break, we explored a cave by Scooby Doo’s house. We learned that it’s best to enter a cave backwards, so we could keep an eye on the sea. If there were a huge wave coming it would be best to see it coming so we don’t get pummeled into the rocks. It’s also easier to paddle forwards to get out of trouble than backwards.
After a few more shallow passes, we had our first capsize of the day. Korey got caught a bit sideways as a big wave toppled him. He was able to exit quickly, and remembered to leave his kayak upside down. Chris helped him flip it over to keep it from filling completely with water, as the rest of the group kept our distance. Korey was riding pretty low due to the excess water aboard, and was forced to go ashore to empty it.
To conclude the day, we played some games. The guys dominated the first two games, even when the girls managed to nearly sink our battleship, quite literally in fact. We were given a tough task in the chariot race having three people instead of only two. The extra weight and limited room to paddle proved costly as the girls managed to redeem themselves slightly.