Typical Irish summer's day

Five of us went for regular Sunday morning paddle around Garurus. It started as a clear day with lots of showers forecast. When it did eventually rain it bucketed down very heavy and lasted the remainder of the time we were on the water. We sheltered in a nearby cave while the lads put on their cags (I was already wearing mine as I'm classed as a shiver baby!). Check out one of the photos and you can see the line of rain hitting the water at the caves entrance - a sort of eddyline of rain.
I practised some more rolling today and I was glad that I still could roll and it hadn't disappeared since last week. Lots more practice required but by the end of summer I should be sorted.
Hopefully the weather will settle down and we can get in some mid week evening paddles.

Another paddle in glorious sunshine

We had out regular Sunday morning paddle in beautiful sunshine. Met in Garrurus at 10AM and paddled to Annstown and back. Bumped into some other people on the water in a mixture of sit on tops and regular kayaks. Pat and Paul spotted a sea otter.
I've finally ditched the Pawlatta in favour of the screw roll. Last week I had trouble rolling with the Pawlatta and decided to try the screw roll. Mick was spotting me and reckoned I was just about there. Even though the roll felt good I didn't quiet manage to come up. I find the extra leverage of Pawlatta is hard on the elbow and I'm now wondering if it was my choice of this roll which strained it in the first place. So this week I decided to totally drop the Pawlatta and concentrate on the screw roll. I gave three attempts and come up each time! I was amazed at how effortless it felt.
The elbow is making good progress - nightly icing combined with my elbow strap (developed by a kayaker www.jacstrap.com) when paddling is proving a great help.

Return to the water !

Well its been about 5 weeks since my last paddle. The weather hasn't been great so I've only missed two trips. It looks like I picked a good month to take a rest with my elbow injury. I did the VHF radio course and passed the exam so my next thing is to apply for a call sign. I also learned how to tie a few knots. The water knot and figure eight knots have now been added to my repertoire of how to get tangled up.
I rested my tennis elbow injury for the few weeks and have also being doing some strengthening exercises. Mick O'Meara suggested using an ice pack on the elbow every night for about 20 mins just before going to bed and that is really helping. I also use an elbow brace every time I go paddling so that should stop the elbow getting any worse and also help it to heal.
We had a nice paddle today and practised some towing and also some rescues and rolls. The water has warmed up a good bit and no longer freezes the face as soon as you go under. We had a good fun in Garurus so roll on more of the warm weather.