P&H Custom Sea Kayaks Blog

I recently visited the sunny and sheltered shores of eastern Anglesey. Its good to know that some things don’t change much. Puffin Island was buzzing with thousands of cliff nesting sea birds and its waters surrounded by inquisitive seals.

Photo: Kev Robinson

The Arctic and sandwich Terns have arrived and their hovering and plunge diving for fish is as entertaining as ever.

Click here to view a 2 minute video clip

Heading southwest down the Menai Strait we passed Beaumaris before the tidal stream picked up and carried us swiftly towards Menai Bridge and the Swellies.

Photo: Kev Robinson

The currents in the Swellies have a fearsome reputation amongst mariners but with the right skills and knowledge the waves and eddies can be great fun in canoes and kayaks.

The music on the video is from the album ‘Aurora’ by Michael McGoldrick.

Sunday saw the fifth annual seaquest race at Ravenglass. Seaquest is a cross between sea kayaking and orienteering, with 20 checkpoints arranged around the three estuaries at Ravenglass (West Cumbria, UK) You have three hours to visit as many as possible, in any order, to win points, but risk losing points for returning late.

I entered in a Cetus LV and I’m convinced that the designers at P&H have included a sneaky little propeller, as I won the women’s race and would have been third in the men’s. I even managed to beat a few epic/taran racing kayaks.

It’s a hard job but someone has got to do it!

With the excellent tides and opportunity for a film crew and speed boat, we obviously jumped at the chance of a P&H and Pyranha photoshoot at the famous Bitches tiderace in Pembrokeshire.

Setting out just before sunrise meant we got to see this awesome sight, and arrived at the race as it was building, giving us plenty of time to set up the equipment and get everyone used to the features.

With a full range of the brand new play boats from P&H and a rather lovely Carbon version of the Pyranha Molan we were armed with enough toys to really get the most out of the day.

Yes that is the very first Carbon Molan, paddled by Bren Orton.

So the tide built and we moved into the middle of the race (a nice big boat really helps here) to get some shots of the Aries, the composite version of the Delphin, both designed to be quick, manoeuvrable and surf big green waves like an absolute dream.

Nigel Robinson from Sea Kayak Guides was our host for the day, setting up logistics and putting us up fir the night, chatting here to Bren about getting on the wave.

All in all a dam fine morning out, and we were back in time for breakfast!

Film coming soon!

Canada’s Mountain Equipment Co-op has been a big partner with P&H for the past several years. If you are unfamiliar with Canada, it’s a place just north of us here in the United States but is a real, live foreign country. Funny, because they look just like us and are utterly indistinguishable from their southern neighbors aside from their preternatural ability to be polite. Even crossing the boarder, it is obvious that the Canadians have a different world view when they ask, “Where are you going? Where are you from? Oh, how’s the weather down there? And is your Mom doing okay? You should call her more often! Have a nice, responsible time in our native land and don’t forget to try your french fries with gravy!” And that is precisely why a U.S. born lad like myself is so excited when June comes a’ callin’. You see, I have been going up to MEC’s Paddlefest for some years now and it is always a great time! The students that I teach are great; the instructors that I work with are top notch; The city is beautiful; and MEC knows how to put on an event!

Paddlefest is located on Lake Onterio at Sunnyside Park, June 11-12th with classes and boat demos going nonstop from start to finish. The classes are reasonably priced so that anyone can come down and have a go at a watersport but that doesn’t mean they skimp on the instructors…no, siree! They get some of the best Canada has to offer…and then they bring me up for comedic value. I personally think it’s because they find my “American” rants funny and charming like watching a small boy throw a temper tantrum in a department stop. And every year the list of phenomenal coaches gets longer and longer. It’s simply the best fun you can have in a boat in Toronto!

And this year, as an added bonus to say thank you to all of the instructors who help out, Lizz “The Raptor” Burnside will be bringing me (Kelly Blades) and Michael Pardy in the Friday before to do a private lesson.

So, if you live anywhere in the English or French speaking world you would indeed be a damned fool not to come over to paddlefest and join us all for some great paddling, stellar instruction, and bushel baskets full of laughs!