Anne's Sea Trip

I met up with Anne and Francis at 11:00 in the seaside metropolis of Seaton Carew. No-one else had been in touch, so it was just them in the double and me.

The sea looked OK, not too rough, not too calm; weather forecast reasonable; light winds - no excuses then. Boats unloaded from the cars and carried down the beach, we were loading all the day's goodies when a dog ran up and dropped a rubber ball at my feet, I ignored it, it looked at me as if to say "please throw the ball", I ignored it more, it peed on my boat, I wish I'd thrown the ball!

Eventually off into the sea, heads down and paddle out through the surf. The sea was breaking on some rocks, which Anne assured me was a fossilised forest, but which looked uncannily like a pile of rocks with breaking waves on it. We cut round the shore end of the reef in shelter before turning and heading out to the headland at Hartlepool. Off the point, the sea was very choppy and confused, with lumps rather than waves coming from all directions, but it settled down a bit as we move north. After about half a mile or so of paddling on the seaward side of waves breaking on the reefs against the shore, we managed to find a lunch stop on the beach.

The tide was rising so lunch was interrupted by dragging the boats further up the beach.

During the stop, the tide had turned, and the sea was much more settled, with a regular swell coming from the west. It always seems much easier paddling into waves, rather than having them come up from behind you, so the return seemed a bit more relaxed.

Back round the headland we took a quick look into the harbour. Unfortunately, the tide was too low to be able to get through the sea lock into the historic quay, so we turned and headed back for Seaton Carew.

As we headed back we paddled just behind the surf line, fairly close to the beach, and there were one or two bigger waves which sneaked up and offered us the chance of being trashed in the surf. Anne and Francis put on a wonderful display of uncoordinated wobbling when one hit them, I was so taken by their performance that I didn't see its brother sneaking up, and only narrowly avoided a swim. We moved a bit further out after that.

Eventually we pulled in to the beach where we had set off to round off a very enjoyable day.

Thanks Anne.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Anne's Sea Trip

Pete Bridgstock