Just bought myself a Kayak

[Lund]

Yes, that's right, £77 later and I own a boat!



Going to buy myself a life jacket and have some fun. The West Kirby Marine Lake & North Wales are on my doorstep, so why the hell not!

Anyone one here canoe/kayak?

I'm not new to kayaking, but I haven't owned one. I have previously kayaked through the Ardeche & Pont Darc, Dordogne etc in France and most recently done a little white water rafting on a stag in Wales.

Can anyone offer any advice/do-able routes around North Wales for a bit of weekend fun?

Captain Lund.

[Lund]

Centurion07 said:

Get a rechargeable electric pump. It can't quite reach the pressure required for mine but it does a good 80% of it which is a lot of effort with the manual pump!

I've got one and a pump action manual one!

[Lund]

Inflatable Kayak with Oars, Pump & Carry bag - £80

Helly Hansen buoyancy aid - £15
Bluewave Kayak Helmt - £20
Draper dry bag 10L - £10
Gul neoprene Kayak shoes - £10

Total: £135. Cost effective Kayaking & ready to go!

[Lund]

Off paddling in the morning. If you don't hear from me, expect the worst!

[Lund]

theshrew said:

So come on what was this blow up jobby like then ?

Did you go to Kirby ? Nice spot I take my dogs for a walk there sometimes.

It was brilliant! Kayaked down Llangollen in the white waters, it didn't half take some stick. Looking to go kayaking again Monday bank hol!

[Lund]

theshrew said:

Thats certainly more interesting than Kirby lol

It must be pretty good if you could do that on it. Great stuff quite fancy one myself.

Honestly, it really took a battering & was doing everything those plastic Pyranha kayaks were doing. Only real issue was that the seating position is a little high, but I'll deflate the seat a little more next time. Also, it was filling with water in heavy rapids as it was coming over the top which throws it off a little. Other than that I'm really amped to do it all over again tomorrow!

[Lund]

Centurion07 said:

Fairly sure inflatables aren't supposed to be used on white water...

Keep an eye out 'cos I don't think it will take too much to stab a hole through it.

I'm fairly sure of that too! But it still performed never the less! I didn't get away uninjured though. Tore my thumb on a rock - ouch. Think I'll invest in some neoprene gloves.

A passer by took a photo of my friend going over the edge and shouted over his email address:





And yes, he made it!

[Lund]

HereBeMonsters said:

Are these new inflatable ones any good? I went on one about ten years ago in Spain, and it was utterly crap as it was too wide to be able to put my paddle in to get any purchase in the water.

I can't recommend one enough! Not had any issues getting the paddles into the water, but I guess that depends how tall you are?

[Lund]

Burrow01 said:

Just ordered one based on this thread and the positive reviews on Amazon - hopefully it should arrive in time to take it out at the weekend

YES!

[Lund]

Ali_D said:

Just seen this thread - kayaking is great, keep it up.

The picture of the guy going over horse shoe falls concerns me though. Unless the water is very low don't ever go over the horse shoe bit as it can lethal, if you come out the shape of it means you'll be sucked into the middle. It has a strong tow back and the middle is too far away from the bank to perform a rescue easily. River left is the best place to go over as its a nice slope rather than a straight drop.

Certainly will do! With regards to the horse shoe fall, it's not so bad. It's very shallow at that point and the flow is mild compared to other stretches of the river.

We find serpents tail is a little more tricky! I have capsized twice, but only as a result of being pulled in towards the narrowing section at speed, you tend to lean away from the rock and ditch it! Once you're in you're in. There's no saving yourself until the narrow section opens back up. You've just got to lean back with your heels down to reflect the rocks.

I haven't yet braved town falls on the right-hand side at the bridge. My friend did in the Sevylor, but it could quite easily go terribly wrong! I've been down it in a white water raft though, which wasn't so bad.

I think we're adrenaline junkies!

Edited by Lund on Sunday 26th October 01:46

[Lund]

Bought a roof rack:



& a plastic TEK 240:



Itching to get back out again now. And yes, the Llangollen run is dangerous I take the chicken run at tower falls!

What we do is drive to the end point, leave a car there. All pile into one car, & drive to the start point. Just don't do what my friend did and leave the 'end car' keys in the 'start car'. A very wet taxi drive back up river!