Wembury beach to Newton Creek SUP
Planned on an early start on Saturday to catch the best of the tide and weather but a call from a sleepy Paul at 07.00 meant I had time for a good wake up coffee
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| HasBean coffee to start the day |
As soon as we pulled into the NT car park at Wembury we knew this was going to be a good day, perfect conditions for a paddle.
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| Wembury Bay. Perfect. |
Boards inflated and off we go, a very small swell to start but wary of the forecast and conditions that would get slightly worse.
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| Big board, big shadow. |
High tide means less to look at on the shoreline so straight to the River Yealm
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| Heading East to the Yealm. |
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| Looking back at the Mewstone framed by the river mouth |
Glassy conditions all the way upriver, slight tail wind and assistance from the incoming tide made for good progress up river with a slight detour to the Ship Inn, sadly closed.
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| Swapping sunglasses. these float. |
After paddling as far as we could up river we started back, slack tide by now but a stiff breeze to contend with and a bit more property envy, no wonder this is an expensive place to live.
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| I'll take any of them |
The glass stopped at the river mouth
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| End of the easy paddle. |
And then the hard work started, onshore wind and swell of 1 to 2 feet makes for a fun paddle, concentration required.
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| Pushing through the swell. |
Definitely with the right board for the conditions, the 12'6" Red Paddle Explorer is built for exactly this, Paul on a 10'6" ride struggled a bit but it's always a pleasure to kick back and wait for him to catch up.
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| Easy life. |
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| Usain who? |
Back underway and I decided that further offshore was best.
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| Back underway. |
Bigger swell and sort of reverse surfing at times, up one wave then drop off the back of it into the next.
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| Nearly, but not today. |
With the wind picking up and skies darkening it was time to get back
And with a small crowd on the beach best not to mess up getting to the beach, perfect timing for once, getting the timing right with a bigger wave and riding it onto the beach jumping off at just the right time for the camera and the crowd.
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| Surfing into the beach |
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| Tidy dismount. |
No falling in for me today but not so much luck for Paul who took a few spills with his inshore route. Another fantastic paddle in a beautiful part of the world
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