RNLI / SWKA Training Day | Grant Harris

The South Wales Kayak Anglers (SWKA) was formed in 2009 when a group of like-minded guys with a passion for fishing got together at a local pub for a chat.
Six years later, the SWKA is boomings and is in fact the only officially run Kayak Angling Club in the UK.

Myself and a dozen other members of the SWKA arranged a demonstration morning with our local RNLI, to go through what we Kayak Anglers actually do when out and about on the water.
Really key points for them included how we set our anchors up, how we do self rescues, and for us we learned what we can do (if anything) to keep our selves and others safer when out at sea.

On a lovely sunny Sunday morning in Barry, we all met down the beach around 09.30. It was good to see so many of the guys turn up, with kayaks of all colours and size.
All of us had our usual dry suits and PFDS on, and prepared ourselves to spend a bit of time in the water as well as on it.

After a few minutes of banter with each other on the beach, the RNLI boat came into view. We dragged our kayaks down to the waters edge, and were meet by the small RNLI rib and it's crew. After a quick briefing from them, and making sure we were all on the same radio channel, we got our kayaks ready and paddled out to the larger RNLI boat which was anchored further out in the bay.

Dave volunteered his services for the self rescue demo, and Phil paddled off to show how we anchor up in a couple of different ways. The RNLI seemed impressed, as most of us had a good understanding of what we should be doing, how to do it, and what to do if it goes wrong.

Soon it was time for me to practice my self rescue technique, with a little help of Colin ("Chick") who helped me off with a gentle shove. So glad I had my drysuit on while bobbing around in the Barry sea. It took me two attempts to get back on first time, but on the third time I nailed it.

After about an hour or so the tide turned and there was a litte chop on the water, with a small wave braking on the beach. A few of us went for a play in the surf, while the rest of the group made their way back to the beach.

We had a few photos taken for the SWKA web site, and all went back up to our car for a coffee and a chat.

All in all a fantastic day!
 

Why I'm Buying New Kayking Shoes | Callum McCue

On the 27^th of May 2015 I broke my leg and ankle whilst paddling out in Italy. We were right at the end of our first run of the middle Sermenza, when I hopped out of my boat to inspect the last rapid, I slipped off a wet rock and fell about four feet into a shallow pool and came down on a jagged rock that was just under the water with my right leg. I felt the immediate pain of what I thought was my ankle dislocating. I realised that my foot was completely turned around so facing behind me and set about wrenching my foot back around to face the right way, so I could at least get back into my boat. 

   The rest of the crew arrived on the beach, helped me to my feet and I then immediately realised that this was far worse then I had thought. The boys were great, we got my leg splinted up using a roll of duct tape and 2 pieces of a spare split paddle to hold it firm, then they set off in opposite directions to find the easiest way out. A group of Czech boaters caught us up at this point and set about helping me and the others crawl over the 500 yards of huge boulder and then carry me up the extremely steep path to the top of the gorge (no mean feat being as I'm 6'7” and was about 18 stone) which took around three hours. They then went back down the gorge to paddle the rest of the run to get to the normal get-out where our shuttle driver and my new fiancée Rhoswen (we got engaged the previous morning, at the foot of the top drop of the Egua) who immediately came to collect me. 

After an operation to screw my ankle back together a couple of months in a cast and enough time spent playing on the Playstation for a lifetime, I am just about walking without crutches -well more stumbling about. I've been back in the boat a few times and looking forward to the next paddling mission to Scotland, before coming home for the final operation and more time laid up.

I believe that this probably wouldn't have happened if I had been wearing suitable footwear for the environment that I was in, something like the Astral Rassler or Palm Gradient boots. Not only would I probably not have slipped but the additional support offered would have saved my ankle. Unfortunately I have size 14 feet and extremely long legs, meaning I can only fit the thinnest of neoprene boots (that are only really suitable for playboating or beachwear) inside even the biggest creek boat available. I am hoping that Astral's new Hiyak boot will be a suitable compromise in terms of support and grip verses size .

Finally I need to give a big shout out and huge thank you to Jon Leadley, Joe Sheppard, Roy McHale, Jack Andrews, Rhoswen Jones and the Czech crew whose names I have unfortunately forgotten in the moment. Also a big thanks to Chris Williams (aka Taff), Elliot Harrison and Steve Marfleet for the many phone calls and keeping my spirits up whilst being stuck indoors over the past few months. Cheers lads the beers are on me!  

Exclusive Viking Kayak Agreement

Escape Watersports Limited

01656 745774

sales@escape-watersports.co.uk

Exclusive Viking Kayak Agreement

  Escape Watersports & AS Watersports to exclusively distribute in the UK

Today Escape Watersports and AS Watersports announced a collaboration to exclusively distribute Viking Kayaks in the UK. Viking Kayaks are manufactured in New Zealand and Australia and sold worldwide. Viking kayaks are designed by avid kayak fishermen. 


First delivery is due early 2016. For all pre-orders you can contact us on:

sales@escape-watersports.co.uk
01656 745774

Or pop in and see us at our South Wales showroom. (Find Us)

About Escape Watersports: EscapeWatersports is a leading paddle sports retailer in the UK. Founded in 2011, Escape Watersports is an independent paddler owner and run canoe, kayak and stand up paddle board shop. Escape prides itself on supplying products from top brands and offering independent unbiased advice.

About AS Watersports: AS Watersports is the largest independent paddle sports retailer in the South West. Established in 1982. They have a full range of boats, gear, accessories, along with tuition and hire all with good expert advice and information from friendly knowledgeable paddling staff.

About Viking Kayaks: Viking Kayaks is a designer and manufacturer of kayaks based in New Zealand. Viking Kayaks manufacture the elite range of Viking sit-on-top kayaks. 

 

 

Gareth's Road to Recovery

2014 started out great. Lots of sea, surf, and white water paddling ,with a healthy dose of motorbiking thrown in for good measure.

However, the end of 2014 wasn’t too great.

Having participated in a few exciting UK track days with my bright Yellow Yamaha R1 motorcycle, I decided to ship it off to Spain for a week long racetrack holiday at the Almeria Circuit in Southern Spain.

It is September, the weather is very hot (40c at times) ideal for a few beers and some pool time before we set the bikes and kit up at the track. Day one on track went very well with a scenic setting surrounded by mountains. Day two saw me complete the citing laps in the morning then it was full speed ahead, well, until I entered turn No.3, a very long left bend and half way through it my rear tyre decided to slip out from under me, it re-gripped (otherwise known as a ‘High-Side’) firing me straight up into the air like a rocket.

So after a bit of bouncing and sliding across the tarmac I finally stopped and found my bearings, got up onto my feet and noticed the bike was quite a distance away from me in the gravel. I started walking to the bike, about halfway my walk started turning into a limp followed by not being able to put weight on my left foot. The bike had miraculously stayed on two wheels and fell on its side when it ran out of momentum causing very little damage to itself. The track marshal sent an ambulance to take me back to the pits where I was checked over, everything appeared fine apart from a slightly tender ankle.

The next few days saw my leg got blacker and more swollen and I had to use crutches which I borrowed from the hotel. The foot was still not very painful but safe to say that I couldn’t ride for the rest of the week. We finally flew back to Bristol airport after and great week away, despite the slight mishap, went straight to Morriston Hospital in Swansea where X-rays diagnosed a broken ankle, a nasty displaced Talus bone fracture (the ‘ball joint’ bone your foot and shin attach too) and a snapped Lateral Malleolus (bone that sticks out the side if the ankle). An operation to insert Titanium plates, screws and pins etc followed.

The next 3 months consisted of no weight bearing, x-rays, and watching Storage Hunters on Dave. The following 3 months consisted of swelling, burning skin and physio.

In February 2015 I decided to get the pushbike out (quite rare) and make use of the Swansea Valley cycle network as I found cycling was so much better than trying to walk anywhere.

Then in April 2015 I finally got to go paddling. I took my Ride Surf Kayak to Rest Bay, Porthcawl for some fun 2ft waves (which was well overdue!) followed by some very rusty paddling on the Tawe, CIWW and surfing. My confidence was growing again after each session.

It is now November 2015, I am making the most of being mobile again and participating in my favourite discipline of surf kayaking as much as possible. Also the cycling has progressed into a full on addiction to mountain biking, not what I thought i’d be doing one year on but the ankle feels great.

Ace of Spades First Impressions - Eddy Mead

So after having a paddle in the Ace of Spades last Friday at CIWW, these are my initial thoughts about the boat.

The boat looks pretty big, with lots of volume packed around the cockpit front and back, this helps the boat re-surface really nicely when paddling through features.

It does handle like a large boat, and the rails are extremely soft and not catchy at all.
I think for a beginner/intermediate, it would be very good to learn in.

The outfitting is comfortable and well thought out, and obviously with the blow moulded shell it is extremely tough and stiff.

It hasn't got a huge rocker, but if driven it is quite a nippy boat and boofs really well.

The Ace of Spades does what it says on the tin. Tough, friendly, but will get you through sticky situations!

First test run of the Ace of Spades kayak.
The Escape team had fun testing the Ace of Spades at Cardiff International White Water on Friday.http://bit.ly/1Ko8Vi6What will you score Eddy Mead for this manoeuvre?
Posted by Escape Watersports on Saturday, 24 October 2015