Special feature - The North Stack race, Wales
Two tidal races, sea stacks and breaking seas. That pretty much sums up the infamous run between Soldiers Point and North Stack, eight miles of adrenalin kicks and euphoria on the west coast of Wales. This run is one of the most popular sea kayak route in Wales and is the training ground for many of the best paddlers in the world.
Soldiers Point
Soldiers Point is a small beach covered in round rock pellets sculpted by the sea. It is beside the Holyhead breakwater and as a result, here the ocean never sleeps. There is always surf, so launching takes some maneuvering. The best trick is to push the kayak out through the first breakers and dive after it, hoping that your chest will hit the deck and that your butt will be in a good position to drop into the seat. There are skerries scattered outside Soldiers Point and they can be avoided or used as a play spot all depending on your mindset.
When I looked out to the sea at Soldiers Point I thought to myself, no way, I’m not going through this mess. But I soon forgot all about my anxieties as I took on the first breaker, clearing the skerries and seeing what lay beyond. Fresh wind in my face and the taste of salt on my lips I was ready for what ever the sea would throw my way, or so I thought.
When outside the surf zone I saw the high cliffs leading to North Stack. The sea is always lumpy in this part, clapotis forms as the swell hits the sea cliffs, rebounding them back and lifting the kayak as on top of a pyramid of waves. It is two miles of these bouldering seas until North Stack rises out of the ocean.
Penrhyn Mawr Tidal Race
What lies beneath North Stack is a race, no everyday tidal race but the races of races. I knew I was close to it, I did not see it, I heard it. It was like a big roar, deep like a thunder. Then after a minute or two I saw the first whitecaps and all of a sudden I was in the whitecaps and the race just popped up. Big standing waves, like a surf zone but no shore.
The North Stack tidal race is formed by an underwater ledge; when the tides pick up they race past these ledges and form big standing waves. The size of the waves differs depending on the size of the tide, and this time I was visiting on a big spring tide.
Penrhyn Mawr Tidal Race
There are two ways through the North Stack race, the safe one is just beside the cliffs and leads straight to an eddie at the end of the race. It is no picnic as the clapotis is very big, a result of the race hitting the sea-wall. The route for the more adventurous souls is straight through the middle. Here the waves are the biggest and the most fun to ride, if you capsize and come out of your kayak, be prepared to ride out the race before getting back in your cockpit.
Penrhyn Mawr Tidal race
I did not know any of this when I paddled into the race right smack in the middle. I did not go for the middle because of courage, rather it was blissful ignorance. When I hit the first waves my heart went thumping like never before, I remember it like a car crash, glimpses and cuts like in a movie. The second wave caught me off guard and capsized me, skidding sideways down a wave in a seakayak is the ultimate test and on that spring day I was not ready. I felt my body pulling back, until I lay flat against the deck of the kayak. At that moment everything in my body screamed, get out, get out and out I went. Somehow the race did not look as big from being in the water, I held on with one hand to the lines of my kayak and the other hand clenched the paddle. After a short while my friend came by and pulled me out of the race and I was able to reenter the kayak.
Safe haven
A little shell-shocked, I paused for while getting some rest, not for my body but for my mind. I had to tell myself that this was fun, better than working - after all its just water. After a moment of pep talk and serious commands to my soul I went on.
After the North Stack Race the seas are much calmer. The paddling takes you through narrow passages and along high sea cliffs with seabird colonies and rock climbers that come to these parts from all over the world for the spectacular climbing.
After all the excitement of the race and the overwhelming beauty of the rest of the route, it was a relief to paddle in to Treardur Bay, a beautiful, sheltered, white beach, a safe haven.
Story Snorri Gunnarsson
Photography Ari Benediktsson
Some links to awesome photography from Holyhead kayaking
Jonathan Walpole
Axel Schoevers
