Passage to Dunmore East Paddle

We decided to have a decent estuary paddle and paddle from Passage East to Dunmore East. We invited lots of people but in the end only myself, Joe and Mick turned up. We met in Dunmore at 0830 and organised car shuttles back to Passage. Tide was going out so we had a south flowing current and a south easterly wind (upper F3). Conditions were a bit choppy. The current certainly helped our speed and were averaging about 8.5km/h down to Duncannon. The previous week myself and Pat did the same stretch against a north flowing current and our speed was only about 4km/h.
There were some really heavy showers when we were in the middle of the estuary and we also had some nice waves to cut through.
When we got back to Passage we were able to appreciate the effects of "wind over tide". At this stage the water was dead flat and you could actually see the current flowing up the river. This combined with a southerly wind flattened things a lot - wind with tide. Its great to see real world examples of things you're taught (unashamed plug for www.seapaddling.com)
I seem to be developing some sort of tennis elbow pain in my right arm. I suspect I strained something during the rolling sessions when I may have muscled some rolls. I'm going to give it a rest until the end of May and not do any paddling. Hopefully this combined with some physio will get me sorted.
I'll update the blog with progress on my elbow condition!

My first roll in the sea!

Today we had a nice paddle from Kilfarrasey to Boatstrand. Total distance covered was just under 12km so this is all helping build up the paddle miles for longer trips this summer.
We stopped in Annestown on the return journey and I decided to try a roll. I've had mixed success at our pool sessions using a mixture of pawlatta and screw rolls. I could do with a bit of a confidence boost. I put the head under water and used Kens boat for some Eskimo rescues to get used to the cold. After 4 or 5 dips I could feel a headache from the cold so I decided to try and roll. Pass or fail I would only do it once. In case the whole thing went pear shaped and I had to get out of the boat we were close to the beach.
I went under, tried to roll using the pawlatta and came up first time! Oddly it seemed easier in the sea despite all the gear - I suppose it does help the buoyancy. It was also a good test for the new Chillcheater dry gear. The first time I went under I had forgotten to zipper up the neck so a small amount of water came in. With the neck zippered it provided a good seal and I was bone dry.
All in all a good day!

Brownstown Head Paddle

After an absence of several weeks its great to be back in the sea again. We had rolling classes in Splashworld and also organised some sessions ourselves. These took up Sunday evenings for the past 6-8 weeks so it was difficult to get in our regular Sunday paddles. Good to see that everyone managed to roll and all it takes now is braving the cold water in the sea (I'll wait until May!)
Today's paddle was 14km and took us from the pier in Tramore past Brownstown Head and almost as far as Ballymacaw. We stopped in Goats Cove for lunch and then headed back.
Mick just got his boat and was pleased with its first sea trial. I got a chance to play with my new GPS (courtesy of Aldi) and we still can't agree if we should use miles, nautical miles or kilometres. Next paddle is scheduled for Easter Monday so lets hope we have as good a day weather wise.