Tandem Toping a Welsh adventure May 2014

Myself Mark and my 7 year old son Jack headed off to sunny Wales early Thursday morning for a boys weekend of kayaking fishing and camping after arriving at the campsite we set up base had something to eat and then loaded the car back up to get to our fishing spot as the campsite is cut off at high water we had to plan our trips carefully as the launch site was a good drive south of the campsite and the road is closed for a few hours either side of high water on the bigger tides

we eventually got the kayaks down on to the beach a very tiring slog but the conditions were perfect for the mark we were planning on fishing anything other than perfect would have been a non starter as we had a 7 year old with us safety as always is paramount


we had quite a paddle out but in great conditions also joined by a small pod of dolphins after 45mins or so we were anchored up and Jack was getting stuck into his mini Sharks like a pro



After watching Jack bagging up I was starting to get concerned of a whitewash until my rod lurched and baitrunner started to sing I didnt think the first run was going to end but it did and as soon as the second run developed I engaged the reel and the fight was on after a rather hectic fight and having to ditch the anchor after being towed backwards into it we were back under control and soon got a glimpse of a large Tope in the depths



10/10 for young Jack who remained cool as a cucumber even when the Tope was crashing it tail and swiping the underside of the Kayak making a hell of a racket and also whilst I was dealing with it on board just inches away from his back




Not sure of the weight but was a lot bigger than last years estimated at 30lb but would guess in the 40-50lb range Target achieved and possibly the 1st tandem Kayak Tope in the UK
Shortly after Mark was into a Tope causing all kinds of trouble for him but will let Mark give his own report

The other planned trips were aborted by coastal mist so we had fun crab potting and dogfishing at the campsite also a great place to play in the strong tidal flow out of the harbour in a safe environment








Managed some shots of some sand gobies (I think?) and a snakeslock anemone what a difference a change of perspective can make to a photo



I couldn't be prouder of this little fellar well done Jack

worn out

A great weekend away

Video of the Tope

 

Andy

Anglesey February 2014

Just back from an excellent 2 days on Anglesey NW Wales paddling the Menai Straits and also had a days relaxed rockhopping at Moelfre on the NE coast of Anglesey, I was kindly invited over by Ken and Fi and we were fortunate to be lead for the 2 days by Jim Krawiecki along with Ken Oliver we couldnt be in safer hands as part of this trip we had the privilege of a tour around the Rockpool Kayaks factory at Holyhead very close to our accommodation at the outdoors centre  will stay here again very affordable and everything you could need

Supper at the outdoors centre

 

 

Some fun on the Menai Straits

 

 

Managed to get some pics at South Stack on the 1st night some rough seas and big tides here

 

 

Trearddur Bay below looked an awesome place in these sea conditions and I would have loved a paddle here but the group wasn’t up to this level just yet

 

 

 

 

 

The second day we had great conditions for a relaxed paddle from Moelfre to Red Wharf Bay

 

The fun started immediately hehe!

 

 

 

 

Dinner break

 

 

 

 

A couple of short Videos below one Courtesy of Mark Dowse

 

paddling at Anglesey north wales from mark dowse on Vimeo.

I will definitely be heading back over here and need to work on my paddling a lot too

Anchoring a Kayak

Hope this is of some use just thought I would share my method for anchoring in my view it is a very safe way to anchor a Kayak either to a conventional anchor setup,drogue,pot buoy or even another anchored Kayak angler
First of all I have a pad eye fixed bow and stern


with the anchor trolley line running between the two on small pulley blocks attached with a short length of shock cord I also use a small S/S p clip to stop the line from straying into my foot wells and I have a small clamcleat riveted onto the bond strip so I can lock the trolley off bow or stern and a small S/S carabiner

Then onto the anchor system I use a 2 part method firstly the anchor dive reel Buoy and loop of floating rope

Probably worth mentioning I use a bridle type setup on my anchor so if snagged a paddle uptide will usually get the anchor to trip/pull out inverted and saves messing with weak links I have not found I needed any chain at all to hold position but do understand that some of you do need a length of chain to get a good bite from the anchor

So once I'm over the position I want to drop anchor I drop the anchor over the uptide side of the yak and let the dive reel spin until it hits bottom then manually pull out a further 2 times the water depth being careful as to not get any warp wrapped around the (in my case STEALTH's Fixed) rudder! Then lock the dive reel off and dump the lot over board with the Buoy attached to the dive reel and a large loop of floating rope
So now you have your equivalent of a pot bouy exactly where you want to fish onto the second part I have a winder with a length of floating rope on it with a rope float and S/S carabiner on one end

This threads through the carabiner on the anchor trolley and the trolley is then locked off at the stern with the tag end of the rope tied off to my side handle of the yak using a 'Highwayman's Hitch' knot


Once I'm in this stage I can paddle back up to my buoy and clip onto the length of floating rope behind the buoy with the caribiner on the end of the floating rope thus anchored from the stern securely but in the reassuring knowledge that one pull on the tag end of the highway mans hitch will see the rope slide through the anchor trolley carabiner jettisoning the full set up to retrieve at my leisure useful for quickly paddling over to photograph a mates fish or dash to shore for a pee break




Obviously once you get the hang of this and depending on speed of tide you can do this as a one part method and it is very fast and safe to deploy but I've demonstrated the 2 part aimed at anyone new to anchoring their Kayak its also the method taught at the BCU run course at Runswick and it was the one method that Ken Oliver and Kim Bull helped me Iron out as I used to just have a quick release clip instead of the Highwayman's hitch but small changes can make all the difference when things start to go wrong.
Now onto hauling the anchor I use two different methods depending on conditions the first not much tide or swell and the anchor not snagged simply paddle back to the anchor buoy get it on board and put the warp around the sole of my foot and haul and reel I can help maintain my direction with the rudder pedals as I do this and if things go wrong I can throw the lot over the side as the Kayak isn't connected to it at all

The second method I use if its vital to stay bow on to tide wind or swell or if the anchor is snagged solid is to put the warp through the carabiner on the anchor trolley and lock it off at the bow and haul until over the top of the anchor or paddle up to it or beyond it to break it out only small problem is that if the worst happens you are connected via the warp to the kayak but a simple cut through will see you safely free again


Just my way of doing things wont work for everyone as with all things but has served me well 
 
 
All fittings and great advice from here: http://wet-and-wild.co.uk/water/anchoring

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