Catching Up.

   A run of days of light onshore winds made it possible to get down to the coast twice this week - to catch up with some kayaking that I'd been deprived of by weeks of fickle weather in the winter and spring.  Both trips were early morning starts, to beat the heat, with The Twist (my inflatable kayak) which was bought solely for short paddles on the sea in the summer.

   On both occasions I was afloat by about 0730h., back on the shore about 0930h. and home again before the hottest part of the day.

   On Monday I went to Garrucha, paddled the full length of the seafront, entered the harbour and mooched around in there for a while before retracing my route back again.  A bit of an easterly swell hitting the beach made getting afloat a bit tricky - but was achieved without mishap.  I was not so lucky landing on my return!  Fortunately, at that time of the morning, there weren't too many people around to witness some floundering around at the waters edge.  According to my GPS thingy I had paddled about 5 kilometres.

   Only one big ship was in the harbour - the Oslo Wave 2 (registered in Singapore) was loading gypsum.  This vessel, a general cargo ship of 12993 gross tonnage, had docked in the early hours of that morning - amazing what one can find out by just Googling the name of a ship.

   While I was mooching around, a Danish yacht (a large, sleek, fancy looking, plastic thing) left the visitor's berth and headed out to sea, passing near me.  The youngish, fit-looking crew of bronzed Nordic yachtsmen showed little interest in an old guy in a tiny inflatable kayak - so I didn't wish them 'bon voyage', as I would have done if they hadn't ignored me.

   On Wednesday I went to Mojácar.  There was still that easterly swell, so I went to a spot on the seafront where I was certain I could get afloat, and ashore again, without mishap.  In a little bay, created behind a stone and concrete mole, there  is almost always calm water, whatever the sea is like on the seaward side of the mole.  A pleasant couple of hours was spent paddling both ways along the shoreline.  There was very little wind when I set off but that freshened later, giving me an opportunity to practice using the drogue I always take with me.  It was very restful drifting slowly, held head to wind, along the coast with the drogue deployed.  The only mishap on this trip was the loss of a sun hat when I gust of wind whipped it off my head.  Despite frantic attempts to fish it out of the water I eventually had to watch it spiralling down into the depths.  Should have worn the one with the chinstrap!  Another 5 kilometres was covered in this occasion.

   Yesterday, when in a newsagents in Albox, I spotted a postcard, an aerial view, of the exact place where I had paddled on Wednesday :-

 
   The seaward corner of that little bay, just behind the mole, is a perfect spot for getting afloat when it is difficult to do so on an open beach.

   The last time I took my kayak to this spot was Thursday September 7th. 2017.  Several more photos of this place are on the blog of that date.

'The Twist' goes to Mojácar,again.

   At the extreme southern end of Mojácar beach, past the last of the hotels, bars, shops etc., and where the seafront road swings inland and starts to climb into the mountains, there is another little sheltered bay created behind a rock and concrete mole - much the same as the one I went to with The Twist a couple of weeks ago.  This was my kayak paddling destination early yesterday morning - to try a new spot and to try out a recent birthday present.

I reached there at about 0745h. and there was already quite a contingent of sea anglers fishing from the mole.  I was glad of the shelter provided by the mole for launching as there was a bit of swell coming from the north east  and a bit of a breeze from the same direction.

Clear of the mole the sea was quite choppy.

The birthday present was a kayak drogue - sea anchor, sea sock, drift anchor, parachute brake are also among many terms used for this bit of kit, but I'm sticking with 'drogue', as it's the shortest.  I'm familiar with drogues being used on yachts and motor boats in heavy weather at sea, but I'd never come across a kayak drogue and, for the sort of quiet paddling I do, I did wonder whether I would ever use it.  So I did a bit of research and discovered that drogues are used quite regularly by sea anglers fishing from sit-on-top kayaks - mainly to slow down their drift across fishing grounds when it gets a bit windy.  This was a bit of an eye opener and, although I'm not an angler, I could now visualize occasions when I might want to use a drogue in open water.

This is the kayak drogue and towline as received.  It was labelled as an 18 inch (457 mm) drogue which is the width of the large end when folded flat.  When opened out it is like a very large fabric funnel.  The loop at the smaller end is for the attachment of a trip & recovery line.

Update (several days later):  I've only just noticed that the loop of webbing at the smaller end isn't actually showing in the photograph!  It is there, as seen in the next one.

My internet research revealed that a kayak drogue, just used to slow down drift, doesn't necessarily need a very long towline.  So I rigged mine on the end of my 4 metre long bow line (the blue one) and used the line supplied with the drogue (the black one) as a trip & recovery line.  Drogues, when no longer needed, tow through the water easier pointy end first.

The first trial with the drogue wasn't a great success, as there wasn't enough wind to cause my kayak to pull hard enough to open out the 'funnel'.  Later, when the wind freshened considerably, it worked very well as rigged.  The Twist was almost stationery in the water with the bow pointing up into the wind.  It was a very comfortable feeling and I think that this drogue will become a standard bit of kit on both my kayaks.

Recovery of the drogue, pointy end first.  Apparently, among kayaking sea anglers, the jury is 'out' regarding whether a trip & recovery line is really necessary.  It should be possible to just paddle forward, pick up the float on the towline and just lift the drogue straight out of the water.  That would avoid the possibility of the trip & recovery line fouling the drogue and preventing it from opening - more experimentation is obviously needed in the way the drogue is rigged.

After about 1½ hours of pleasant paddling and messing about I was back on the beach.  The shelter from the mole was again welcome, as nearer to the car park the bigger surf would have made landing tricky.

From this point northwards, there is at least 5 kilometres of hotels, apartment blocks, bars, restaurants, clubs and all the various shops which make up Mojácar sea front.

The Twist is not a 'thing of beauty' but she is nimble, responsive and feels safe.  That odd looking bow lifts reassuringly over swells and waves.

The view to the south, from where I was parked.  This proved to be a nice place for kayaking.  Just a bit removed from the main tourist drag, a decent car park (if you get there fairly early) where it's possible to park close to the water and a nice stretch of coastline to paddle along if the conditions are right.  I did get as far as that biggest rock sticking out of the sea before the wind freshened too much.

The view to the north from where I was parked.  People are now starting to arrive on the beach.

As I was packing up, this sea angler, on a sit-on-top kayak, came paddling in.  We had passed each other within hailing/waving distance earlier on and had exchanged greetings.  I hadn't been the only kayak on the water that morning.