Assisting at a Sea Kayak Award day

• Distance: 10.6 km
• Strava

Sarah and I helped Paul with a Sea Kayak Award day for 5 Tynemouth paddlers.

In the morning they practiced towing and edging. Paul pointed out that pushing with the top foot helps lock in the edge - which I hadn’t realised. Saw the couple statue for the first time as we paddled into Newbiggin for lunch.

At Newbiggin we had a wander up to the marine centre, had a chat with some locals and went to see the blue plaque commemorating Craig & Stu’s Around Britain paddle.

After lunch we found some rocky inlets to practice rescues. I watched Kane & Stephen do toggle tow rescues whilst the others did a two-person swimmer / boat rescue. We were hoping to do self-rescues in the bay, but the shallow water and building wind created some choppy conditions not ideal for learning new skills.

I had one failed attempted at a roll in the chop. We had a quick debrief in the pub across the road. Good effort from all the paddlers. They’ll be signed off in no time.