lofty Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Where to begin? The third year for us and a different one this year. Firstly without Cam, who died nearly a year ago, giving rise to the renaming of the shield in his memory. Secondly a new venue. This decision has given me some real concerns but it proved to be the right one. I've watched every weather app for a week on an hourly basis, and knowing the bay well enough to know that Southbourne would be carnage, I opted for Sandbanks as I judged it would be a calm launch and landing, and even with the strong winds we should be relatively safe closer in. You buggers headed for the horizon giving me the jitters. We were really happy to have Heroes on the Water present, as this meet has evolved into a bit of a fundraiser, and I have to thank everyone on the day for their generosity. It was also extremely kind of Chris on Kingfisher to be our guardian today, and also lay on the floating catering. I had loads of guys come up to me on the beach and ask me to thank him for his efforts.He gave 100% commitment to us and I can't thank him enough for being our safety boat. He arrived on station as the first kayakers launched. I don't have any photos of that because I was hiding in my car from the rain and 30mph winds that were gusting , pretty much all day. Well there's a surprise.Worse than forecast by all sources. By the time Starvin rocked up at least the sun was shining down on his upturned cheeks. He was our final competitor to enter, making a record 31 spring fresh kayak anglers take to the bay today. I sat on the beach with Suzzie and Shiv and the kids and it was nice to see Barto , Maver, lucky john,and Greenbanks wander down and put extra dosh in the pot. Top chaps. Then Josh from Bournemouth Canoes arrived with a nice paddle they donated to the HOW raffle. Thanks Josh, a generous gesture. Around 1 the first of the hardy returned to the beach, and I started to relax. A plaice had been caught. I had three goals I wanted to achieve personally. Get everyone safely launched. Get someone's name on the shield. Get everyone safely landed. First two of these achieved and more and more fish were bought to the table.In all honesty, although the fishing was hit and miss, some catching loads and others not a sniff,and no monsters were caught, more people had them than didn't, and in the end 6 mm seperated 1st and second place. The beach quickly started to fill up with very windswept and interesting faces, and kayaks galore . I always love to see these photos so here's a few Si Mark Trev Josh Bri The final kayaker was escorted safely in and we stood down Kingfisher The Cam Clearie Shield was won by a relative newcomer to kayak fishing, Steve McCullough from Cornwall, beating a formidable and respected field of kayak anglers. Steve Henry came a close second . http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/plaice%20chase%202015/AC672174-3E9F-40B9-B21F-CC03480449FE.jpg and Dave Harrison winning the paddle. http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/plaice%20chase%202015/54E9EBD3-2F1F-47A9-B3A7-6B024081A68D.jpg I tried to get photos of you all landing until you came in thick and fast. I'll post these on another thread Apologies if I've missed anyone. THANK YOU ALL. Here's to a great summers fishing Lofty Kingfisher 126, Hooky, Greg and 13 others 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niggle Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Great to see all those kayaks out there today,some very hardy souls even ventured to the swash which unfortunately kicked up a bit.Well done Steve on organising and to Kingfisher as excellent support,you must of been pleased with such an excellent turn out and a great touch doing it in Cams memory lofty and Kingfisher 126 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Well done Steve and helpers! Yes, watching the weather in the lead up to a comp you have organised is always a testing time! Looked lovely from the cliffs, almost mill pond close in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Well done Steve and helpers! Yes, watching the weather in the lead up to a comp you have organised is always a testing time! Looked lovely from the cliffs, almost mill pond close in! Looked nice from the beach.Apparently it wasn't Kingfisher 126, Stuie, Leicester Fisheagle and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher 126 Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Not a problem Steve, any time. Great set of guys, a few going quite a way out until it started to kick up. Some had up to 15 fish when we were chatting to them, one guy caught 3 fish while we chatted with him! We had a dangle at times which produced a plaice of a few oz's. The guys have a serious amount of kit they use and I have to say all were fully kitted out for safety. Well done Steve on organising, it will only grow and grow. niggle, Stuie, Martin.C and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisE Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 What an excellently organised event! lofty 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Brought the Grandkids down to watch but had to go into work first so we were late and missed it Very well done Steve. Jim lofty 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty Posted April 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 From someone grateful for your long arms Martin.C 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty Posted April 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Kingfisher at 5 minutes Rob, Maverick Martin, Hooky and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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