Northumbrian & Borders sea kayak symposium
Published: 2006 | Written By: Alan Jary
After a day of travelling, we finally arrived in Coldingham, a quiet village which is approximately 15 Miles from the English/Scottish border on the East Coast of Scotland. We arrived at around Tea-Time after a relative hassle free journey up the A1, the only tailbacks we really encountered was on the Acle Straight. Rob Randall arrived around a couple of hours later whilst Paul and Sue Scheller, Dave and Sarah Cassell arrived later into the night due to work commitments.
Base Camp would be at the St. Vedas Hotel which sat directly behind the beach overlooking Coldingham Bay, although us hardened Waveney boys and girls would camp out in a field a few hundred metres away, as other paddlers also stayed in a the nearby Youth Hostel. Nearly 100 paddlers of all abilities both professional and volunteer came far and wide for this event. The hotel would be where everyone would rendezvous at 0900hrs every morning and at night would be the place where everybody would sign-up for the various activities that included trips, which were highly sought after as well as skills clinics.
It would also be a place where everybody would socialise with fellow paddlers having a beer or two. I immediately signed us all up for the Bass Rock trip, although we were forewarned that the wind and weather conditions for the weekend were not too promising with harsh conditions forecasted. Prior to arriving we all agreed that our primary aim was to go on all the trips if possible.
After a windy night spent in the field, we met at 0900 in the hotel bar where we were informed the Bass Rock trip after an assessment of the weather forecast was given the go ahead.
After a short journey up the coast road to a nearby beach with a few minor navigation problems, we launched from the beach and stuck close to the shore initially. We manoeuvred into a Pirate’s bay where the coaches outlined the plan.
The Instructors were very cautious in their approach and because of the Force 7 North Easterly wind initially felt that we probably wouldn’t even make the crossing, and would have to turn back half way through it. They decided to give people an alternative to go paddling around in the various rock formations down the coast beyond the wind or to continue. The majority of us decided we were up for the rock crossing. Dave, in his twin canvas Kayak with Sarah decided to elect out of the crossing and go rock hopping further down instead.
On the way out it wasn’t for the faint hearted, the spray was in my face, the wind was against us as the waves were going up and down like the clappers and I decided to stick as close to the group as I possibly could. I felt slightly insecure at times. However no one grumbled and we pushed on to the 300ft high rock, the home to approximately 60,000 gannets as well as an unmanned lighthouse station. We were also informed that their used to be a small prison on the rock as well. We circumnavigated it, and managed to take a break in a position of shelter to the screeching of the birds. Nests were perched precariously on the edge of the rock. On the way back we headed North West back to the shore where we managed to have lunch on the beach about a mile away from where we first started. It was slightly easier on the way back to shore.
The Level 3 Instructor was very impressed by the way in which we all handled it and described it as a 5 Star Crossing, although he was slightly gutted when he discovered he lost his £200 Radio from his buoyancy aid. It was still early afternoon so we decided to push on and have Tea and cakes another half a mile away in the next village. This was easier said than done, with half the group myself, Rob, Paul Scheller, and Paul Jary included heading back, conditions were extremely difficult at this time with the both tide and force 7 wind against us. The other half attempted to press on, and they had one capsize so abandoned and turned back likewise. On the way back we had the wind and the tide behind us and surfed back in little time. We seldom needed to paddle at times, as the sky clouded over and it rained. We arrived back at the beach where we started, and the guys who tried to push on further arrived back half an hour later.
In the evening we headed down the village pub ‘The Anchor’ for a meal, and arrived back at the hotel for signing-on time. I immediately sprang into action with the pen again signing us up for the Farne Islands trip, however this was looking unlikely. Afterwards there was a very humorous presentation from three lads who paddled around the UK coastline starting in Wales, this adventure nearly turned to tragedy when up the Highlands of Scotland in extreme conditions when one of the guys dislocated his shoulder and capsized, but nevertheless all three pressed on and completed it within the 80 Days they aimed for.
After yesterday’s excitement, and second windy night in the field in which we were regularly ensuring that the tent wasn’t blowing away, the Farne Islands’ trip was indeed cancelled so we needed to find an alternative. With the same instructors as yesterday they devised a trip around 10 Miles, starting at Coldingham Bay and finishing up at Burnmouth Village further south, stopping near Eyemouth. The weather was very good though we still had a rough sea and the wind, although on this trip we used it to our advantage. We set off at a steady pace about 1030hrs. The sun was shining and the weather was good. We broke into the surf and gradually Coldingham disappeared from view. As a bit of challenge we moved closer in shore for the first few miles to do some rock-hopping. There were many different rock formations of all shapes and sizes, some were simple to negotiate but others demanded a bit more judgement as it was quite a tight for the boats to fit through.
Our instructor was giving us various hints and tips about negotiating these rock formations, basic skills such as a little bit of edging and ruddering came into play here. As we pushed on down the coast, the height of the land above sea level became more apparent, far higher than what we’re used to. We had lunch on a pebble ridden Beach cut into the rocks just along from Eyemouth and explored the various things that had been washed up and eroded. This was somewhat a more relaxed affair compared to yesterday. We pushed on down the coast, getting closer to Burnmouth, and we found a pair of caves to explore. Divers were also in the area exploring the rocks and caves. We advanced into them until the point where they narrowed.
We headed into Burnmouth, a small fishing port. We decided to disembark just up from the harbour because of previous tensions between some Kayakers and the harbourmaster. This trip was the most relaxed of the entire weekend. After arriving back at Coldingham and getting cleaned up we ventured back to Eyemouth by road to get some Fish and Chips, and in the evening we watched a quick presentation from two paddlers who paddled around Greenland and completed the last leg of the journey on Bike up an Ice Mountain. What amazed me about that picture of the ice cap was how the landscape looked fairly temperate but just behind it lay this mountain of ice.
This was going to be one of the most difficult trips that I have encountered, yesterday was a mill pond compared to what we were going to encounter today. After another windy night in the tents we assembled as usual at 0900hrs. Dave, Sarah, Paul and Sue decided to head home whilst myself, Rob Randall, and Paul Jary stayed. The original intention was to paddle down the coast from Pease Bay about 8 Miles North back to Coldingham with Nigel Dennis, one of the top paddlers in British Sea Kayaking, a Level 5 Coach who’d paddled around the entire coast of Britain in one go, who now runs his own internationally renowned Kayak Business.
We ferried the Boats up to Pease Bay, courtesy of Nigel’s mini bus, through a Holiday Camp that was very handy for ablutions. The Sea looked very rough. We all launched, as we did the waves broke over our heads. One guy got cold feet (not literally) and felt that the conditions were too challenging for him, Nigel Dennis tried to coax him onto the water, but he elected to stay behind. This delayed our start by about half an hour but we quickly got acclimatised to the conditions with the waves breaking up over us, under us, and beside us.
The wind had changed direction, the tide was against us. It was a challenging to say the least. We paddled as hard as we could, and at one stage I felt a bit sea sick. The waves were lapping up around us and a few times I nearly lost my balance. This was getting hairy, and many others felt the same. There was absolutely no shelter from the coast and there were no beaches or anywhere to land. Nigel Dennis and one of the guys who done the Round Britain in 80 Days trip were very strong paddlers and had no problems on the water at all, “just working off the hangover” was the phrase he used. These guys were used to this kind of swell. Nigel took the decision to curtail the trip at a beach cut into a cliff at St. Abbs Head.It was a hard slog to say the least. I was offered a tow at but I didn’t want to “bottle it”, one or two others took the opportunity. After around 6 miles of paddling we headed to the beach. I was one of the last in. So after the slog, to get to the road at the top we had to carry the boats up a very steep hill where we waited for the minibus and trailer to arrive to pick us up and take us back to Coldingham. It was tiring but I felt good after I done it. Anyway we headed back to the hotel and field, got cleaned up and headed down ‘The Anchor’ for a bite to eat and a couple of pints. Speaking to Dave Cassell afterwards he did say to me that although having to leave on the Monday he’d also taken all the conditions into account when considering the trip. Cheers for warning us mate! But in all seriousness it was interesting to paddle in these conditions and experience the power of the sea ourselves. In short the weekend was very challenging in places and really pushed us out of our comfort zone compared to what we are normally used to, with regards to wind, tide and weather conditions. When the next Symposium happens it would be nice to see a bigger WVCC contingent.