Aber Kayakers – Carry on up the Dyfi
Apparently there wasn’t any water in the rivers at the weekend. So, rather than cancel the planned whitewater development day with Aber kayakers I suggested a trip up the Dyfi Estuary instead. The weather was after all forecast to be glorious and the tides were perfect.
Sunny Skies
Sunday did indeed dawn still and sunny. However, it was pretty chilly at minus 1ºC when I first checked on the sea. It soon warmed up though and with an Easterly forecast I had a few contingency plans in place. I know what Ivor our local katabatic wind can do when an Easterly is forecast, so a few additional plans are always worthwhile!
High Tide was around midday so the plan was to set off from the beach opposite our house at 10 am, head north to the Dyfi Bar, cross the estuary to Aberdyfi and then continue upstream with the incoming tide. We could then stop at midday for lunch as the tide turned and retrace our paddle strokes (once again assisted by the tide) back to where we started.
The Motley Crew
Everyone soon assembled. I carried my surf ski across to the beach, Ro, Pete, Imi and Tanya were all in sea kayaks and Matt had a very efficient-looking inflatable kayak. The wind had yet to materialise so the sea was dead calm.
Although, looking up towards the bar I could see a darkening of the water suggesting that there was some wind troubling its surface in the mouth of the estuary.
Off to Aberdovey
We were soon on our way, I picked off a few little waves as we made our way north in the sunshine.
The going was easy. As we left the beach behind we turned right a little and headed directly for Aberdovey. I made sure we stayed in the channels. The tide was high enough not to worry about running aground on the sandbank, but the tidal assistance would be greatest in the channels.
As we emerged out from the shelter of the dunes it was clear that there was indeed a stiff breeze blowing down the valley. Matt struggled a little to keep pointing in the right direction in his inflatable boat so Imi tethered him to her boat and gave him a tow into the relative shelter of Aberdovey. From here we all hugged the coast as we headed inland.
Abertafol
My plan had been to head all the way to Glandyfi, but the strong headwind and mixed boats meant that progress was slow. Plan B had always been to stop a little earlier for lunch. The wind was getting quite strong at times. The weather station at our house registered 28.5 knots so it was probably touching 30 knots at times in the estuary. I decided therefore that the target would be the lovely pebble beach at Abertafol so that became the new target.
Pete decided that slogging into the wind was no fun so stopped a little earlier than that but the rest of us made it to the shelter of the beach where we stopped for a relaxed lunch in the sunshine. The journey back once the tide had turned would be mainly powered by the wind!
Back to Ynyslas
Indeed, once back on the water the going was a huge amount easier. I couldn’t resist heading off on a bit of a downwind run, catching the little wavelets as I went. I did double back a couple of times so as not to get too far ahead of everyone. I was then able to lead everyone across to the channels at the mouth of the estuary where the lifeboats were out on exercise.
We rounded the point and once again entered into the shadow of the dunes where things became a lot calmer once again. Back at the beach we all packed up and headed back to our house for tea and muffins that Anna had freshly baked for us.
Not quite ‘Whitewater Development’ but at least we all got out on the water and had a good day. Here’s the route we took.
