We are still practicing our skills for our trip to Scotland, so once again found a wet and windy Coniston Water was our destination today. Again we paddled around the south end and used the sheltered bay for practicing our different paddle strokes.
Sunday13 April 2014
Having spent yesterday practicing paddle strokes today was another day for building up stamina. We paddled down the length of Coniston Water and back again. The weather was very windy and at time the water was equivalent to sea state 2 (smooth) but it felt like anything boot smooth. A couple of times when travelling 90 degrees to the wave direction I felt like I was going to be tipped over, the kayak was unloaded so easily pushed about by the waves. I managed to stay up right more with luck then skill, bracing strokes still need a lot of work! We both agreed it was good practice and I can’t remember having ever paddled in such rough conditions even in the open canoe. In fact I'm sure, since there is no way we could have paddled the open canoe against such strong winds that we had on the way back.
I have taken recently to having the VHF radio with us on Coniston, there is a Coastguard repeater nearby, which means you can hear the weather broadcast. As well as the coast guard you can hear the ferries which operate on the lake and the yachting club reporting their plan for races. This gives us an idea of what the larger vessels and fast yachts are doing. Also since I paddle with it fixed to the outside of my buoyancy aid I’m making sure it does not interfere with any strokes. As if we had not had enough excitement with the weather, on the way back the radio started alarming as it had picked up a DSC (Digital Selective Calling) urgency broadcast (PAN PAN), one level down from an emergency broadcast (MAY DAY). There were no details given in the DSC message apart from the MMSI number and we could not detect any follow-up voice message on channel 16. No further alarm was received so it was either cancelled or acknowledged by the coastguard.
Well that’s probably the last outing until we head to Scotland in a weeks time.
No comments:
Post a Comment