Kayaking The Bitches Wales

This place was a large part of Dave's paddling history. It is the Bitches off Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, on the south coast of Wales.

The Bitches are a series of rocks pushing out from the Ramsey Island back to the mainland.

When the tide is turning, the different tide heights at the top and bottom of the island create a tidal flow a bit like a river.

Dave paddles a WW Rotobat out onto the main surf wave

In the photo above, you can see the rocks just under the water. Dave is paddling into one of the main flows to catch one of the surf waves.

The photo was taken on a long telephoto lens from the cliffs on Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire.

The usual route to get to the Bitches is by paddling from the lightboat station at St. Justinians. It's shown here:

When in full flow, the tide race runs from the bottom of the map to the top through the gap between the island and the mainland.

It is a tough old paddle to get to the Bitches especially in smaller play kayaks.

And timing was key too. The tide had to be flowing in the correct direction and you had to paddle over before the high tide.

It's usually paddled over a couple of hours before high tide. That way, most of the flow was out of the main channel and it makes it slightly easier to cross.

The route was to paddle up to the edge of the mainland and then ferry glide across to the first outcrops of the Bitches rocks.

Often the ferry glide would be choppy and you had to be careful not to drop too far down or you drift past the outcrops and have to paddle back up.

Paddling back to the mainland was even more tricky. Your ferry glide had to be bang on so you approached the mainland as high up as possible so you could drift back down to the lifeboat station. Drop too low and you would round the headland which was a disaster.

It was 100% commitment.

The legendary Andy Middleton, founder and Director of the TYF Group, was an early pioneer of kayaking at the Bitches, Pembrokeshire. His outdoor centre, TYF Adventure, is based in St. David’s and his personal involvement in rodeoing and kayaking at the Bitches is etched in stone.

The rodeos were new to kayaking and featured some key names at the time including Shaun Baker and Andy Middleton. The rodeos meant paddlers could show off their water skills by surfing and looping the kayaks.

Andy went one step further with his signature move – standing up in the kayak and surfing - a pioneer of SUP perhaps??

It was jaw dropping to watch and showed his incredible kayaking skills.

Being at some of these rodeos and camping on Ramsey Island were exciting trips and always ones where new friends were made.

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