Well it was a good job we booked the campsite in advance.... After last year's scout around for spaces in St Davids, we arrived in Dale to find that our campsite was inhabited only by a small caravan in the corner! A whole field to choose from, well off the beaten track. Unfortuately the weather descended into thick mist on Friday night, which continued into Saturday. So a trip out from Martin's Haven round to St Bride's Bay was in order. The fog made life entertaining, and a reasonable swell meant that at times it was hard to see all the group - even at the top of the waves! Some of the group had fun rock hopping, and we all made it through the small surf into St Bride's Bay for a well earned lunch stop. After some discussion we decided to head out to explore Stack Rocks after lunch. Unfortunately Mitch hurt his shoulder whilst rock hoppping so plans were changed and we headed back into St Bride's Bay. We abandoned three of the party to wait on the beach, whilst the rest of us paddled the 3 miles back accross the bay to Martin's Haven to get the cars. After discovering that strange things happen to the tidal stream east of Wooltack Point, what should have been a straightforward paddle back ended up being a 3 hour trek. Interest was provided by several huge tankers parked up in the bay waiting for the tide to turn, and by Andrew performing acrobatics on the back of Dave's boat, whilst his kayak was emptied after a leaky spraydeck left him sitting in a mini bath-tub! But eventually we arrived at Martin's Haven and drove back to retrieve the injured from St Bride's!

Sunday dawned brighter, if somewhat breezy. We had hoped to circumnavigate Skomer but after meeting some friends of Dave's who warned it would be too big for our group the other side of the island, we changed tack and headed out round Wooltack Point through Jack Sound to explore the water to the east of Skomer. Jack Sound was great - nice bouncy waves and a fair flow in the spring tides. As some of us went for the biggest waves and tried to linger in the tide race others tucked in around the corner where some rocks and caves provided alternative entertainment. We dragged ourselves off the waves and joined the others, where some large waves and swell made rock-hopping a sport for the intrepid. Paddling his newly acquired tippy fibreglass sea kayak, Dave took advantage of all the still water bits to see how tippy the boat really was - excellent rolling practice, but slightly disconcerting to those watching! An extra large freak wave almost capsized Keith (saved by a high brace!) then rolled on towards Vicky, who being closer to the rocks found her boat crashing into hard things and her head underwater (also crashing into hard things... one way to test your helmet folks...). Sensibly bailing out after scraping noises made rolling impractical she gave the two Daves good excuse to brief Judy (trainee Level 3 Sea kayak coach - although deciding against it if required to rescue people in BIG waves!!) on how to deal with capsizes in waves crashing into rocks!! All sorted, we headed on around the coast to lunch on the beach at Albion Sands. Lunch over, it was time to head back out through the surf (almost incident free...) and back around to Jack Sound, around Wooltack Point and home to Martin's Haven.

Monday was a lovely day, rockhopping around the coast south of Dale. Sunny weather, relaxed paddling, what more could you ask for? (Okay, apart from the force 5-6 wind we had to paddle against to get back into Dale at the end). Pembrokeshire is a lovely place to paddle, and it was nice to explore a different area. Shame we didn't make it out around Skomer Island, but who knows, maybe some other time!

Many thanks to all who made the weekend's paddling possible. To Dave Brain for his leadership, coaching and facillitating. To Keith, Vicky and Dave who drove up, and to all of you who came for a fun, friendly Bank Holiday's weekend paddling. Dave P wants to thanks folks for helping to carry his long long sea kayak around the shores of Pembroke, and I think the ease with which he paddled into Dale against all that wind has inspired one or two others in the club to join him in the sea kayak revolution.... Long pointy boats certainly have their place in this sport of ours!! Watch this space for further sea trips, camps and events.