Because sea kayaking is still (just about) a small sport, real pleasure can be had from introducing others to it, showing them your favourite coast, and suchlike. It’s a bit like letting friends in on a big secret. I’ve been conducting an ongoing long-term indoctrination campaign to win hardened Thames Valley white water playboaters over to sea paddling, and the latest success was Alice, who visited us this weekend.
Getting Alice sea kayaking was problematic, as she is very small. So small in fact, that almost no WW kayaks fit her, and they tend to be a lot smaller than sea kayaks. Luckily, we happen to have the loan of a miniature sea kayak right now (Valley Avocet LV) and this proved to be perfectly scaled.
Alice took to sea paddling right away, all good. We did however have a minor mishap today, when the wake of a large Condor ferry broke over us at Old Harry Rocks, without warning. Thankfully, it turned out that Alice can roll a sea kayak as well as a WW boat …
Alice just got engaged. Splendid.
