Stand up Paddleboard Coaching

British Canoeing have developed a discipline support module for those coaches who want to be involved with Stand up Paddleboarding and, in my opinion, it is one of the most sensible developments of the last few years.  Allowing existing paddle sport coaches who have experience of SUP, to train so that they can deliver SUP sessions in sheltered waters to groups who are keen to receive some coaching in this rapidly expanding discipline. 

Last weekend Tower Hamlets Canoe Club paid a visit to the Island and took advantage of the opportunity to take part in course.  St Brelade's Bay was the venue but because of the pleasant conditions we were able to include a short trip around to Beauport, taking the opportunity to swap boards and paddles, ensuring that everybody was able to try a variety of equipment.

So if you are involved in paddlesport coaching and are looking for some professional development and the opportunity to expand your coaching remit then look at getting on one of the British Canoeing SUP courses which are running over the next few months.

 Sitting in the middle of Beauport, discussing some aspect of SUP coaching.  A rather enjoyable way to spend a Saturday

 Exploring the possibilities on a SUP

Heading out from St Brelade's

It wouldn't be a course in Jersey unless there was a bit of cliff jumping.

 Towing practice.  (Thanks to Shep from THCC for the botton 3 photos)

Friday morning stand up

It is amazing how a sunny morning with light winds will encourage you to get out on the stand up paddleboards.  That is just what happened on Friday morning.  It was hard to believe that less than 48 hours ago the Island was being battered by a significant storm.

 Heading out on the early morning spring tide.

 With the high spring tide we were able to enter one of the small caves in St Brelade's Bay.  One of the great things about paddle sports is the opportunity to do new things.  I first paddled in St Brelade's in 1969 and up until today I had never paddled into this cave.

 Laurie entering Beauport

Beauport is possibly my favourite bay on the Island and today it looked particularly special when viewed from the stack in the middle of the bay.

Heading through the gap, back into St Brelade's and time to refresh some skills such as rescues and towing.

Daily Picture - 17

Great afternoon today stand up paddle boarding in Tregastel, Brittany, followed by a walk along the coast.  Looking out to Sept Iles, some great sea kayaking days over the years.

Hong Kong Surprises

A quick visit to Hong Kong to visit our younger daughter who has been working there, was a week full of surprises.  There is the constant rush of the urban area but with a bit of effort it was easy to find a different side to this region.

Our first excursion was to the island of Cheung Chau, reached easily by ferry from the Central Piers, on Hong Kong island.  The 10 kilometre crossing taking about 30 minutes.  The central part of the island is well developed and appeared pretty crowded so we made our way to the east coast beaches, with the intention of doing some paddle boarding.

 The first surprise was the presence of shark nets, they can be seen running out to sea from near the rocks.  In 1995 3 swimmers were killed by sharks in 10 days so the Hong Kong authorities installed shark nets on a large number of beaches.  There have been no fatalities since.  This was the area that Hong Kong's only Olympic Gold medalist trained.  Lee Lai Shan won gold in windsurfing at the 1996 Olympics. 

 The southern and northern portions of the island consist of granite hills, just like paddling in Jersey, just the sea was a bit warmer.

 Taking a break with the main urban area of Hong Kong visible behind, hopefully the sharks have taken a day off as we dangled feet in the water.

On another day we visited Lantau Island to see the statue of Buddha at Ngong Ping, the cable car ride is nearly 6 kilometres long and gives great views.  After seeing the statue we dropped down to the village of Tai O, which many people also do.  After a walk around the village we left the crowds behind and headed into the hills, for the Tai O infinity pools.

The first section of the walk followed the coast west and south, fortunately most of the route was in the shade but it was still very hot.

After several kilometres of reasonably flat walking, the trail headed upwards.  Every now and again there were distant glimpses of some waterfalls.  On the walk in we only saw 4 other people.

On arrival at the waterfalls it was obvious that quite a few people had made the effort to walk to this delightful spot.

 The pools provided a great place to cool off, following the heat of the walk in from Tai O.  Technically you are not supposed to swim here, there is a sign saying that swimming is not allowed but I think in reality it can be ignored.

Looking over the lip of the dam.  The water behind is part of the Pearl River estuary
 and it was possible to see the building works for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge link, which went it opens in 2016 will be 50 kilomtres long.

Sunday morning kayaking

It is difficult to imagine what kayaking we could do on the sea, when the Sunday morning forecast was for winds gusting up to 60 knots and a heavy swell.  Fortunately there is an interesting feature which appears in the middle of the sand dunes, during very wet winters.  A seasonal lake develops, although not every winter and it had probably been 15 years since I last paddled there.

Most of the Club members who met in the car park had no idea what they were letting themselves in far.  Putting on paddling kit in a car park in the middle of the sand dunes is always going to be a talking point.

What followed though was an entertaining and memorable two hours. 

 Quite a group getting ready to leave

Walking across the sand dunes with kayaks is always going to attract attention

It wasn't always easy walking

 It is quite a large lake by Jersey standards.

 Some people decided on alternative ways to launch

 It was just a bit of fun when kayaking on the sea was out of the question.

One intrepid person even carried their stand up paddleboard

Stand Up Paddle Boarding

I can't believe that it has been nearly 18 months since I entered my last stand up paddle board race, I am not sure where the intervening months have gone. After a Saturday of bright sunshine and light winds Sunday dawned somewhat differently. Overcast with a penetrating southerly wind of about Force 5.  It would have been easy to bail out but I had committed myself to going.

Bonne Nuit looked calm when we arrived but the cats paws moving across the water was an indication that there was a bit of wind about and so it wasn't going to be that easy a morning.

Wet suits and racing vests on we were ready to go.  The events are organized by the Jersey Paddle Club, which has a really active membership with people out on the water most days.

As a sea kayaker I have considered what are the advantages of getting out on a paddle board and in no particular order the reasons include:

1. General fitness
2. Balance
3. Paddle and blade awareness
4. Better understanding of the dynamics of waves
5. Ease of access.  30  minutes on a SUP is worth it whereas kayaking seems to need longer.

So as the next few months pass and we head towards summer why not consider giving it a go besides being really enjoyable it may have benefits for your general sea kayaking

 Myself and Chester from Absolute Adventures getting ready to race.  I was naively relaxed at this point.

 The start was just under the pier entrance at Bonne Nuit

 Some of the paddlers heading east towards Giffard Bay and the first turn

 The first leg was to the rocks on the far side of the bay, complete a short leg out to sea followed by a long run back to Bonne Nuit, a short leg back towards the pier and then start lap 2!

 At the end of lap 2 there was a shorter circuit around the Cheval Rock before returning back to Bonne Nuit.  This addition meant that although we were quite spread out, it was possible to see many of the other paddlers.  Somehow being out there didn't seem quite as lonely.

5.5 kilometres completed in about 50 minutes, pretty satisfied considering it had been 18 months since my last race.  What is clear is how fast the board designs have evolved in that time.  Entering races again may have some serious cost implications

A downwind run

It is hard to believe that it is May, low cloud, heavy rain and a cold northerly wind, gusting up to 21 knots.  So there are limited choices of activities, but a downwind run, across St Ouen's Bay seemed a real possibility.  Launching from L'Etacq it was just under 4 miles to La Pulente, ideally the northerly wind was going to assist the journey down the bay.

 Leaving L'Etacq at the start of the down wind run.  Our destination is lost somewhere in the murk.

 It was important to settle into a steady rhythm and to try and use the following wind.  There were 11 of us on stand up paddleboards, a pretty good turn out considering the conditions.

 La Rocco Tower appearing.  Our route would take us in between the tower and the shore.

La Pulente appearing out of the gloom. I had only taken 4 swims up to this point.  Not far to the first pint!

OK the pictures aren't great but it was a thoroughly miserable day and I think we made the most of it.  It's hard to imagine an alternative activity which would have been as enjoyable on such an afternoon.  Stand up paddleboarding is a great way to train for sea kayaking, it maintains fitness but more importantly it improves balance and gives a better understanding of motion in the water and the effect of waves.  The other advantage of SUP is that it is not so demanding with time, we were only out for 45 minutes but I can't remember the last time I felt this tired as a consequence of paddlesport. 

Give it a go you won't be disappointed.

New Stand Up Paddleboard

After a day at work there is nothing like heading down to the local beach for some paddle sport.  I have just got hold of a Naish Glide 12 feet 6 inches so was keen to get out on the water.  This evening we headed out from St Brelade's Bay along the south west coast in delightful conditions and it was amazing how many other people we saw out on the water.

I set my GoPro to take a photograph every minute, many were unusable, but it explains the strange angle of some of the pictures.

 Getting ready to leave from St Brelade's Bay.  Voted the second best beach in Britain by Trip Advisor.

 The water was really clear, as we headed out towards the pier.

 John Searson on his racing ski and Chester from Absolute Adventures, two rapidly developing aspects of paddle sport.

 The granite of the Grosse Tete was particularly colourful this evening.

 We did land to see if we could get through some of the caves close to Trespass Point but the tide was still too high.

 Derek Hairon from Jersey Kayak Adventures had also selected this area for his evening group.

 Another view of St Brelade's Bay.

Arriving back at St Brelades after a delightful 45 minutes on the water.  Pity the forecast for tomorrow is not as good.

Back in Action

After nearly 5 weeks without sea kayaking or stand up paddleboarding because of my broken arm I finally managed to get back on the water today.  After a positive result from the doctor yesterday I decided to have a gentle re-introduction to paddling this afternoon.  The westerly force 5-6 and a low spring tide reduced the options considerably but I eventually decided upon a short paddle out from Belcroute.

It is east facing, so reasonably sheltered, and relatively steep so the carry isn't too strenuous.  It was just a pleasure to get out on the water after nearly 35 days of land based inactivity.

In the distance could be seen St Aubin's Fort, it was built in the 1540's to protect St Aubin's Harbour, which was the safest harbour on the Island at the time.  Today it is used as an Outdoor Activity Centre by Education, Sport and Culture for the young people of the Island.

It was just great to be out and I am looking forward to an active summer of paddling and hopefully no more broken arms! 

Looking across Belcroute towards St Aubin's Fort at low water this afternoon.

Hidden Gems of St Brelade

Continuing the exploration of some of the Jersey coastline without my kayak today I walked along part of the St Brelade coastline and discovered some delightful gems.  Unfortunately the haze reduced the quality of the more distant views but there was plenty to see up close.

Having spent most of the last 43 years living in this parish it was interesting how much was revealed in just a couple of hours.  Too often we focus on the big picture and miss out in some of the more interesting details.

I joined the south coast cliff path which offered great views of the cliffs on the western side of Fiquet Bay.

 This is the Boot's family grave above the beach at Bouilly Port.   Jesse Boot moved to Jersey where he met Florence.  They worked hard to build up Boots the Chemist.  One of Jersey's main sports fields, the FB Fields are named after Florence Boot.  He died in 1931 whilst she lived until 1952.  They became know as Lord and Lady Trent.

 This section of road looks unlike anything else in Jersey.

Jersey is split into 12 parishes, each with its own church but the parish church of St Brelade has to be the closest to the sea.  At high tide on springs the waves lap around the base of the walls.  It is one of the oldest on the island, the origins can be traced back to the 5th or 6th century AD.

It was a day of activity on the water.  Stand up Paddleboards were racing, the end of the winter season.  The Polar Bears swimming club were in the water in nothing but their costumes and there were significant numbers of kayakers and sit on tops on the water.

In between all the modern development there is Jersey Round Tower.  It has been converted into a private residence and the front has been modified.

 I found this sign amazing.  I have lived in St Brelade since 1969 but I hadn't come across this person before.  It says:

IN MEMORY OF
CONSTANCE BROWN MBE

1904-1984

WHO BETWEEN 1926 AND 1958

SAVED 22 LIVES IN ST BRELADE'S BAY

 The magnificent sweep of St Brelade's Bay, voted the second best beach in Britain by Trip Advisor. A slow walk along this section of the coast revealed a rich and varied history and a beautiful March morning.