Those of you have read some of my previous posts may be aware of my fear of open water… I still maintain I watched the film Jaws too early in my childhood. But I made a rational decision that there may not be too many great white sharks hell bent on vengeance in the North Sea and kept everything crossed that this rationale would not come back to bite me on the bum, literally!

So on a fresh springtime Sunday morning last May, (yes I know, I forgot to post this last year!) I roused myself at 6am to make it in time to my very first kayaking class at Cullercoats and I might add it’s only because I was using public transport that I needed to get up at such a horrendously early time, normally I walk everywhere, but this was a shade too far. So, swim suit on and sense of adventure lagging behind me, I ventured forth.

Meeting my friend outside CBK Adventure we are warmly greeted by a lovely member of staff who hands us our wetsuits, points out the changing huts and so begins the challenge… putting on the wetsuit. Honestly, it should be an Olympic sport in itself. At one point I thought I’d just need to buy the suit from them and forever wear it as a second skin as I didn’t think I’d ever get it off again! And, hello, why on earth is the crotch area at my knees? I did feel fabulously like an extra from an action film once I was all kitted out though.

We meet our instructor Simon, who looks very much like he stepped off a Viking ship, in fact, from what I can tell, many of the team look like they regularly battle for a place in Valhalla, I think it’s the beards. We have a quick con-flab and then we grab our kayaks and make our way to the sea.

Now at this point, I’m actually beginning to relax a bit, I’m feeling ok. A practice session sat in the kayaks on the sand passes easy enough and then, after a sharp intake of breath as the cold water hits your feet and ankles, we’re finally on the water. I’m paddling out a little deeper and then I make the mistake of looking down. Oops! The water is beautifully clear and some might like that kind of thing, but all I can see is big tufts of seaweed which could be hiding any matter of sea monsters (I am a drama queen, there is no denying it, I’m only about 20 metres from the shore!) but there’s something about seeing seaweed that just sets me on edge – see first paragraph… Spielberg you’ve got a lot to answer for!

I’m trying to concentrate on what the instructor is telling me, yet all I can think about is the kayak bouncing a little on the ripples from other paddleboarders and swimmers and hoping that I don’t fall in, or worse freeze up with fright and of course, is there anything in that seaweed??

But I calm myself, a few deep breaths and the realisation I just shouldn’t look down and suddenly I feel good to go. I’m paddling forward, I’m paddling backwards, I’m correcting, I’m over correcting, I’m correcting again and I can come to a sudden stop, tick, tick and indeed tick. I was suddenly having a really good time, if not for the fact that I like to be good at things and trust me when I tell you, I am not good at kayaking… yet. But I’m certainly doing a lot better than I ever thought I could. Just getting into the water was a success for me.

The 90 minutes just seemed to vanish and as we were heading in we had to practice falling out of the kayak and getting back on. Erm… what now? Me. Get in the water? Ha! But he wasn’t actually joking, the idea being if we ever went out kayaking by ourselves we need to know we can actually save ourselves should we somehow fall into the water. So, I’m beginning to break out in a cold sweat and also about to throw a childlike tantrum so I wouldn’t need to do this, but my 2 seafaring partners all had a go, so I couldn’t be a wuss. I slip into the water and pretty much bounce straight back in the boat again, I perhaps impressed some with my stealth like movements and maybe I’ll now try out as a navy seal, because obviously I’m a professional now! On the other hand, should I see video footage of me, I think, to others, it may have looked a bit different than the graceful movement in my head.

And then it was over.

And I loved it. Being out there on the water gave me time to just “be”. I smiled a lot that day thinking of what Martin would think of me being out on the open water. I think he’d have been suitably impressed with my effort as the last time we were in the sea together I made him swim on the deepest side as he was absolutely convinced that punching a shark on the nose would do the trick and we would be safe. But there was also the time we were in the sea on holiday and I got caught coming into shore with waves bashing me left, right and centre, turning me upside down and leaving me red faced as my bikini went awry and Martin was standing on the beach, literally crying with laughing so hard at me! These were the memories that (excuse the pun) flooded over me as I paddled around in my kayak on the North Sea.

My friend and I enjoyed the lesson so much that we immediately booked again for another lesson! So if you are pondering a new hobby for 2023, I’d heartily recommend kayaking, it’s a lot of fun, gets you out in the fresh air and for me, pushes me well out of my comfort zone!

We used CBK Adventures in Cullercoats – Tyne & Wear

(This is not an advert – we paid for our lesson, completely independent review)