Playing at the Swellies

club: tynemouth
course
anglesey
sea
Published

October 19, 2025

Day 2 of training with SKUK adventures. The SE wind was F6 gusting F8 today so out four groups all headed to the shelter of the Menai.

Me, Paul, Sarah and Gordon went with Steve Jones. I’m a comfortable river paddler, but I gave it a go and some of the skills came back to me from many many sessions at Halton rapids. I definitely felt rusty though! The thing that helped the most was remembering to smile and enjoy it rather than stressing about getting it perfect.

The bit I was most proud of was paddling upstream to “Sarahs’s rock”. I found a few eddies and chose a line which made paddling upstream a bit easier than the others.

We made the most of the swellies by playing all morning and having a late lunch. After lunch we did a little loop of the island and then did the long carry back up to the church. Sarah did a little interview for Stu and then we headed to the White Eagle. Lovely course - we’ll be back next year.