My last day in Anglesey on this visit and my first day in my brand new Explorer. Justine and I had a morning paddle out of Porth Dafarch into a lumpy sea.
Penrhyn Mawr was intimidating rough. For me it is the biggest I have ever seen from my kayak or it has been a long time since I have seen it this plucky. Swell running into the race at an angle against the current. Feisty was the word that Justine used. Justine went into the thick of it to catch some waves. I was happy to paddle at the rough enough edges and not surf. My built-in 'safety valves' on the setting: a bit too intimidated to play. Someday I will find the 'override switch'...
We continued towards and around South Stack and towards Parliaments House Cave. Justine got hit by a nice zipper-wave reflected off South Stack. Very chunky water. Returning under South Stack bridge against the full flood was a work-out. With some luck I got two surges that helped a lot. Justine had to try a different channel. We could already mentally prepare for what was waiting at Penrhyn Mawr's Chicken Run.
Many years ago I 'blew myself up' at the Chicken Run only to see Dale make it through seemingly effortless. I than had to pull my kayak over the islet to the other side... The 'secret' was reading the water in combination with brute force. Today helped extra by the completely smooth unscratched hull of my new kayak. So it was spared dragging and scratching.
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