Whilst looking through thousands of slides last week, as I was trying to sort out a talk for a 60th birthday celebration, I came across a number of slides which brought back memories of sea kayaking over the last 30 plus years.
Also makes me think about how sea kayaking images have been lost as we have all made the switch to digital.
Holyhead Harbour at dawn towards the end of August 1980. We are leaving for Ireland. All was going well until 2 kayaks the same colour as ours were washed ashore under South Stack, resulting in a search being launched. We were located by a helicopter, followed quickly by a lifeboat. It took the edge of our trip so we returned to Holyhead.
Crossing to Bardsey in July 1981. The hatches on my new Nordkapp were held in place by string. My kayak was one of the first to be fitted with the new hatches, unfortunately the compound was unstable resulting in the rims collapsing inwards. Valley were great and replaced the hatches without question.
A welcome beer in Carteret, France. There were significant restrictions placed on kayakers who wished to paddle to France but in April 1984 we were given permission to cross from Jersey to France, by the French authorities, and here we are celebrating our passage to our nearest neighbour.
Surfing at St Ouen's in 1985. KW7's were the craft of the day. Still a great general purpose kayak.
Pete on a rocky beach in northern Norway, in August 1986. We only had 2 days in 4 weeks when we were unable to paddle because of the weather. We were heading towards Nordkapp.
Beachy Head Lighthouse in 1986. Probably the most dramatic headland on the south coast.
Cap Frehel is one of the largest headlands in northern Brittany. We paddled the length of the north Brittany coast back to St Malo before jumping on the ferry back to Jersey.
Its not everywhere that Osprey's nest on navigation marks. Penobscot Bay, Maine 1995.
An arch on Gola, off the north west coast of Ireland in 1996. Exploring the uninhabited islands was a great way to spend a couple of weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment