Devon (7th-12th May, 2015)
May 2015
As I have a couple of BIG sea SUP challenges planned for this year, I decided that I should get down to Devon and meet up with my very good friend, (and SUP mentor), Carl Sawyer for some sea training.
The first day we paddled out from Budleigh Salterton into a very angry sea. I managed to stand on the board twice, but only for a few seconds each time. Much too lumpy for my limited skills.
2 days later we went over to Exeter and did a 17km paddle from Exeter to the Turf Locks and back. It was a glorious day, and a great workout/paddle.
Then a couple of days before I was due to fly back home, we went for a paddle in the sea at Exmouth. The sun shone, the wind blew and the waves came from multiple directions. This was a tough paddle, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I started off with a 20 minute paddle with Carl’s wife Maria, before Carl took over from Maria and we headed out to sea for an hour or so. It seems that I did better with the waves behind me. I did come a cropper a couple of times whilst trying to ride waves coming from one direction, but getting wiped out by waves coming from another.
All great fun and good training! And thanks for the photos Carl!