Tide table

Sea Kayaking Anglesey Summer - Skerries Drama.

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• published: 23 Jun 2013
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Where to begin? Briefly summed up, Me and Matt, camp out on the Skerries, encountering all kinds of wild animals, and Matt calls out for a Helicopter rescue for Me, who he thought had gone missing..........but I hadn't. Lessons learned? but that's of course!! We planned this, previously, Jon, and Phil had gone home, so we got up, the weather was good to go, so go, we did. We put in at Church Bay, Welsh name, Porth Swtan, utilising the flood tide to Ynys Fydlyn, seeing if the weather looked like it would hold out, then went for it. We discussed, the 'Ferry angle' i.e. the direction to paddle, to compensate for the tidal stream flowing sideways, across us. Imagine shooting an arrow at a target with a very strong crosswind, you would need to aim to one side, and allow the wind to blow your arrow on target. We set out at the same time, but I think Matt was more determined, and concentrated harder, I meanwhile got distracted, deleting a scene from my camcorder, having put it away whilst still recording (Again.) So I basically gave up on making it, and was further distracted by the Porpoise, and Puffins, Terns, and Gannets. I eventually made it, and was 2nd guessing whether Matt would come down this side to meet me, or go around the back. The furthest thing from my mind, was that he thought I was lost, because for 3/4 of my crossing, I could clearly see him, and assumed he could see me. I was further distracted by the Skerries wildlife, and by the time I got to the lighthouse, I was beginning to wonder if Matt had rescued somebody, or been involved with the commotion somehow. When I finally conversed with him, I was stunned with disbelief. Not much harm came out of the situation, as the helicopter was already out, and practising winching 'Casualties' up, only a couple of miles away. Nontheless, the situation was rather sobering, and makes you think if it had all been for real. I thought, that because I could clearly see Matt, that he would see me, this was clearly not the case, and the obvious need for some communication is now required. The other mistake I made, was not allowing an hour on for the tide tables being in G.M.T. Having just returned from Devon, and using a Tide Table adjusted for B.S.T. The fact that I've used Lavers Liverpool tide tables for over 20yrs, is an example of how simple mistakes can be made.