First sea trip on our own

Today Tina and I ventured out onto the sea all on our own. For our first trip we kept things simple by launching from Roa Island (east side slip) and staying close to Foulney Island. This is an area I windsurfed many times in the late 80s early 90s. The wind was from the south west, so the idea was that if we had a mishap we would be blown onto Foulney Island. This also meant that when we launched small waves were breaking on the slip and we had to be quick to stop them breaking over the cockpits before we got our splash decks on.

We first headed north into the bay formed by Roa Island and Foulney Island causeways, we then paddles along the side of Foulney Island for a short distance. Although the waves (not that big) were coming on to our sides, they were also more on the bow, we handled the kayaks quite well. However once we turned around and headed back, we both agreed that it was a strange sensation. The waves from behind and to one side lifted us and seemed to have more effect on the kayaks handling. Well that’s what today was about experiencing different conditions.

We had a few more trips around the bay either side of lunch before calling it a day. We may not have gone as far as I had planned but it is all great experience.