It's difficult to know where to start here. Those of you who follow www.jerseybassguides.com will know that during 2011, I have really tried hard to embrace the kayak as a method of taking LRF and HRF to the fish in places that fishing from shore, even skishing and your average boat just cannot attempt. This includes tidal races, eddies, surf, darkness and all sorts of stuff that is destined to make your arse wobble a bit.

Training:

The 3 star training and assessment had been planned some weeks in advance and yes, I had practised, hard. I'd done a ton of self rescue stuff in water that was designated calm to other conditions that wouldn't have been designated anything other than pretty damn rough. This is a necessity because, you cannot guarantee, EVER, that you'll fall in when conditions are anything other than unfavourable. Of course, 3 star BCU sea kayak isn't just about throwing yourself in or overboard, it's about demonstrating linked skills on moderate water of various types.

Pole Dancing:

...        Strange as it might seem, BCU assessor Derek Hairon of Jersey Kayak Adventures (Dereks account HERE ) had brought along 2 long 1" diameter poles to replace our usual paddles. Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself so lets introduce the working party. Derek Hairon, BCU 5 star coach and our assessor for this 3 star test. I'm paddling alongside Andy Benham, writer of 'Kayak Fishing' and a freelance journalist, the weather is pants but, Jersey being Jersey, we were always going to have somewhere to paddle that was both interesting, and fun. I was lucky, I knew what was coming as the paddles were taken away...

This stuff might look stupid but, it really helps with body rotation and forward paddling. You might think, as I once did, "I won't need that", but... powering through the surf, heavy swells and going up through a tide race... You might start to think differently if suddenly you find yourself going the 'wrong' way because your forward stroke sucks.

Surf:

...        Neither Andy or myself were confident in surf. Yes, we had launched in it and both landed in it but, to be fair, we both said that actually, we would normally avoid it. The blank look on Derek's face usually precedes the 'why ?' and, again, the response was, "Well learn to paddle in it then". He had a point of course. So, equipped with helmets and a prayer, we headed to St Brelades to catch the waning swells as the tide dropped away. The wind however, well that was more of a constant but again, Derek got us into a really great training area with just the right amount of surf upon which to train.

Starting out on the small stuff, but, it was to get bigger and more challenging.

Andy Benham about to meet the mistress of the sea. Hard to tame but not impossible.

I've chosen Andy to depict what was actually happening to us both but these pictures show scenario's that were quite short lived as Derek once again talked, and guided us through sequences of controlled launches and landings in variable sized surf. It was inevitable at some point that the handbrake was going to come off and in that initial 2 hour session, I think we learned more than 20, 30 or even more hours would have taught us about bracing, leaning, deceleration and acceleration relative to body position.

We did multiple surf sessions at a few locations and Derek had chose them to carefully allow our progression, to be a learning curve, rather than a slippery slope to carnage. It wasn't long before we had controlled surf landings under our belt and of course, getting out there safely is just as important. It's not for me to discuss the hows and why's of surf, or any other skill for that matter. I'm not the instructor, just the student passing along the info in the aftermath. I will tell you this, learning to handle your craft in even small to moderate surf is a skill that passes to ALL your kayaking or indeed, kayak fishing.

It wasn't long before we started to bongo slide (under control) and my word, the water really shows how powerful it is when it grabs the side of a 13 or 14ft plastic kayak.

Slide it home and stay upright.

You might note the use of a helmet in these pictures and yes, we had no issues with wearing them. When in the surf, rocks, swell or tidal races, the water is mega powerful and thats a big lump of plastic to drop on your head. During these surf sessions Andy and I lost count of how much boat:person contact there was. I have since purchased a helmet for my own use.

Be committed and drive the boat out to sea through the breaking surf. Any other way just doesn't work with any consistency so why bother trying to re-invent the wheel.

Derek was in just the right place at the right time to capture this moment.

Andy surfs home into heavy debris. It really puts the brakes on and might be worth looking for if you were looking for a softer landing.

Rock Play:

...      We headed around the coastline to embrace the full force of what was an easy F5 head wind and decent swell. The rocks were bursting through the water with a display of power as the white water was there, and gone. We had to use our edging skills here to hug the rocks basically as a wind break whilst remembering all the time, the swell was a constant devil on your shoulder seaward.

I've got to say, this section of the day was super challenging and timing rocks that were once covered with 6ft of water and then finding them drying out under the boat mid committment was kinda crazy but, extremely awesome fun. There was one section where I was stuck, bow and stern wedged amidst a gully and suddenly, with little water under the boat, I had to wait, wriggle, balance, wait and finally... I was free.

I'm out. Battered, bruised but not beaten.

These photo's really don't do the sea conditions justice but both myself and Andy were on the edge at times. It was a fact however that the prior surf session had worked wonders for our skills. Andy is paddling the wilderness Tarpon 140 here but soon, it became apparent that there were a few features of that boat that were hindering him. He changed to an Ocean Kayak's Scupper Pro later during the day and the difference, especially in moving waters was quite marked.

These shot's capture the mood of the sea a little better. You've got to really commit to going through swell bound holes and heads like this and yes, you will get thrown about a bit.

The Gullies:

...      After a sizeable late lunch and a long earned break we headed over to the SE coast for the incoming tide. The plan was to shuffle the cars around, leave the cars at the exit point and paddle the coast roughly from Green Island through to La Rocque as the tide built.

Here we are just passing La Hocq as the tidal push really started. It wasn't a big tide in the mid 30's but enough to really make the gullies fill. This in turn created and destroyed eddies and runs and creases faster than I can type this stuff. It is incredibly dynamic. As you can see, this, although the training part of the bcu 3 star sea kayak, it was pretty damn comprehsive and by no means a cake walk. We both said that we had learned alot during these quite intensive sessions and anyone questioning whether you get your moneys worth can rest assured... You do.

This is the state of play as the area turns into a maze of flash flooding rivers.

The light was amazing out there as was the variety of sea birds we saw en-route to the far SE corner of the island.

Last 2 images :: Breaking out of the current and, 'low brace turn on edge' .

The current, though not super quick, is quick enough to capsize the kayak if you don't respect it. You are following the rules of a whitewater / river kayaker out here and even more so on the tidal races that were to come.

We headed in, we'd done almost 10 hours of training in what, 3, 4 locations. The variety was there, the change of conditions were there and we were never in fear of going to soft on the 3 star requirements. In fact, we were often on the high side of the published requirements for conditions.

To say I went home very tired would be an understatement and my knee was ballooned. I hadn't noticed just how bad it was at the time but I reckon I'd knocked it whilst in the surf earlier during the day. I slept like a log after taking counter measures and could only imagine what was to come...

To be continued...