Seakayakphoto.com trip index 2009

For those who would like to follow the thread of a single trip, I hope this index will be useful. Unfortunately the Google "search this blog" function is not working properly at the moment so the link may not recover all the relevent posts.

2009 running total distance: 890km

December:
The Cumbraes, Firth of Clyde, 27km
The Mull of Galloway tide race, at full belt! 21km

November:
Sannox synchronicity: Portencross to Brodick, Arran, 31km

Maidens to Ayr, 20km

October:
A trinity of tide races: circumnavigation of Scarba 38km

September:
Fleet bay Solway Firth, 3km
Islay, Oronsay, Colonsay, Jura, Islay 109km

August:
Seafield, Ayr, Firth of Clyde, 7km
Lady Isle, Troon Firth of Clyde 9km

June:
Ardnamurchan to Coll, Gunna and Tiree
Inner Hebrides
15/06/09 Coll to Ardnamurchan, 18km
14/06/09 Gunna to Rubha Sgor-innis, Coll, 34km
13/06/09 NW Coll to Scarinish, Tiree, 40km
12/06/09 Ardnamurchan to the Cairns of Coll, 28km

A Solway smugglers' Ccave
Fleet Bay
09/06/09 Solway Firth 9km

Full Moon at Rumblekirn
Fleet Bay
08/06/09 Solway Firth 14km

Sea shells and egg shells
Fleet Bay
01/06/09 am Solway Firth 10km

The great dun of Carrick
Fleet Bay
31/05/09 pm Solway Firth 19km

Three Pillars of Knockbrex
Fleet Bay
31/05/09 am Solway Firth 12km

Plumage and blossom on the Solway
Fleet Bay
30/05/09 Solway Firth 13km

Sea eagles and coral sands
Loch Eishort
23/05/09 Isle of Skye 19km

A big day!
Portuairk to Mull and return.
10/05/09 Ardnamurchan Point 42km.

Surf's up on Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast
Finnarts Bay to Lendalfoot
02/05/09 Firth of Clyde 21km

Arran Direct, Firth of Clyde
19/04/09 Kildonnan to Brodick 19km
18/04/09 Lendalfoot to Ailsa Craig then Pladda then Kildonnan, Arran 41km

Dumfries to Southerness in search of the Nith bore!
13/04/09 Solway Firth 25km

The Islands of Fleet
11/04/09 Solway Firth 12km

Fairlie to Little Cumbrae
04/04/09 Firth of Clyde 20km

The Islands of Fleet
02/04/09 Solway Firth 11km

Troon Ballast Bank to Lady Isle
01/04/09 Firth of Clyde 11km

From Portencross to Bute and Arran
21/03/09 Firth of Clyde 31km

"End of the Winter timetable!"
By ferry to Loch Ranza on Arran and return to Portavadie
19/03/09 Firth of Clyde 30km

The Carrick coast, Maidens to Ayr
15/03/09 Firth of Clyde 20km

The islands of Loch Leven
01/03/09 Firth of Lorn 11km

Port Appin to Loch Leven
28/02/09 Firth of Lorn 29km

"Any port in a storm on Great Cumbrae"
21/02/09 Firth of Clyde 19km

Bute from Seamill.
15/02/09 Firth of Clyde 23km

Surfing from Turnberry Point to Carrick Shore
08/01/09 Firth of Clyde 9km

The MacCormaig Islands from Carsaig Bay
02/01/09 The Sound of Jura 35km

Luncheon in the banqueting hall of Little Cumbrae Castle followed by force 6 in The Tan!

Yesterday was cold, pouring wet and windy. The coastal forecast for the Upper Clyde was Force 4 SW increasing to WNW 6 by afternoon, with gusts to 37 knots. Max air temp was 6 degrees Celsius but with windchill was only -1C.

It was just the sort of day to go sea kayaking! Phil has been paddling a double for the last 4 months but has only paddled a single kayak for 3 weeks. It seemed like a good opportunity to extend his comfort zone. We assembled a little late at Fairlie on the Clyde coast, a gust of wind on the Irvine bypass had nearly caused Phil's new Quest to part company with his roof rack. Our plan was to take luncheon in the great banqueting hall of Little Cumbrae Castle!


Soon our little band was making slow but steady progress down the Fairlie Roads, into the teeth of the wind and rain.


An ebb tide against a force 4 SW wind gave some good conditions for the paddle over to Little Cumbrae.


All was calm in the lee of the island as we made our way...


...into the little bay to the north of the castle.


The castle provided fitting shelter to the cold, hungry staff of seakayakphoto.com.


We worked our way down the east of the island as we thought we had better take a look round Gull Point at the South end. Phil got his head down for the slog into the wind.


As we cleared the point, we met some interesting conditions. These impressed Phil so much that he managed to turn his kayak without falling in.


Looking back, even the high hills of Arran were obscured by great lumps of water, which were bearing rapidly down on us.


It was time for a sharp exit and we slid down the waves at high speed.


In the lee of Gull point again, Tony came over so we could check each other's GPS scores. Rats! He whopped me with his maximum speed of 16.8 Km/hr.


After a breather in the lee of Little Cumbrae we had to cross The Tan, a narrow body of water, which separates it from its greater neighbour. The west wind was whistling through the gap.


We crossed at a high ferry angle of 350 degrees. Look at the map and see how far we got blown downwind. Note the kinks in our track as the squalls hit us.


Phil made steady progress and learned how to adjust his skeg to prevent weather cocking.


Soon we were in the shelter of Millport Bay and we stopped to replenish depleted body fat reserves on the Eileans.


At first the crossing back to Fairlie was calm as we were in the lee of Great Cumbrae.


By the time we were in mid channel the wind had swung round to the NW against the now flooding tide. Again conditions were quite interesting. Unfortunately, when nearly back at Fairlie, Phil took just a tiny little swim but he held onto his paddle and we had him back in his boat in a jiffy. It was just as well a wave did it because Tony and I were going to throw him in anyway (just for educational purposes, you understand).

What an excellent day out and didn't Phil do well?! He joins a distinguished band of seakayakphoto.com staffers who have gone for a little dip off the Cumbraes...D____d, D____d, C___k and A__n!



04/04/2009

Sea kayaking from Hamilton Isle to Brodick, Arran

Despite its size, Arran only has three satellite islands. Pladda on the south, Holy Island on the east and little Hamilton Isle, to the north of Holy Island. I am afraid we just call it Hamilton Rock!


As we made our way round Clauchlands Point the magnificent peak of Goatfell, 874m soared into view.


Round successive headlands, views of more of Arran's granite ridges pulled us on towards Brodick Bay.


Finally, we approached Corriegills Point round which lay our destination, Brodick and the ferry back to Ayrshire. We had nearly come to the end of a fantastic trip to Arran and Ailsa Craig. We had experienced two significant open crossings, some amazing bird life on the Craig and some superb coastal paddling under Arran's rocky ridges.

We covered 60km over the weekend, 42km of which were the open crossings. Our total paddling time was 12 hours and I lost 4lbs in weight. Now let's see, how far would I need to paddle....?

19/04/2009

On location Arran

David is quite tired out by his exertions and we still have 10km to go... 19/04/2009

Down town sea kayaking in Dumfries!

On our search for the bore of the river Nith we launched in the town of Dumfries, which is the historical lowest crossing point of the river. We paddled upstream at first, under St Michaels road bridge and the Nith suspension footbridge which was opened in 1875 and restored in 1985.


We got up as far as some gravel beds just below the tidal weir. Beyond this is Devorgilla's bridge. This dates from 1432 though it has been repaired many times since then. It is now only used as a foot bridge. It is named after Devorgilla , the mother of John Balliol who was a "puppet" King of Scotland, chosen by Edward I of England.


We now turned our bows in the direction of the flow and were soon...


...speeding down stream past the old Rosefield textile mill of Dumfries. Its doors have been closed since the depression of the 1930's.


We then passed under the lowest bridge over the Nith. This is the Kirkpatrick MacMillan Bridge, which opened in 2006. It is a cycle and footbridge and forms part of the National Cycle Network. Sadly this bridge has blocked access for any large or masted vessel to the historic quay in Dumfries from which we had just launched.

Thanks to watret2 for correctly identifying the Kirkpatrick Macmillan bridge!

13/04/2009

On location in Arran

Yesterday paddled 40km across from Ayrshire via Ailsa Craig and Pladda. David holed double on Ailsa last 20km with flooded centre hatch. Arrived in dark! 19/04/2009

Holy Island, the cave of St Molaise and modern day monks.

We entered the enclosure of Lamlash Bay. It was quite a contrast to the exposure of yesterday's open crossings. We were bound for Holy Island which encloses the east side of the bay.


We made landfall at the cave of St Molaise. The saint was born as a prince of Ulster in 588AD but renounced his throne and chose the life of a religious hermit in this cave. After about 10 years, he travelled to Rome and trained as a priest. On his return, he made his way to the monastery of Leighlin in Ireland. He eventually became its abbot and under his leadership it grew to house over 1500 monks.


Eider ducks were courting across the bay. This drake was not letting its duck out of his sight!


At the north end of the island, the monks of the Samye Ling Buddist monastery have extended the old farmhouse to create a visitor and study center.

There are eight white stupas on the path from the landing place to the centre (five can be seen in the photo). Stupas convey immeasurable benefits to any living thing that walks three times round one in a clockwise direction.

When we last visited in August 2007 there were "No Landing" signs round the island. I complained to the North Ayrshire Council Access Officer. She said that she had received a number of complaints and would be visiting the island to inform the monks of how they had to abide by the Land Reform Act (Scotland) just like any other landowner. I am delighted to report that the monks have now removed the signs, well done them.

However, their website still says "We strongly discourage camping anywhere on the island."
This is an unacceptable disregard of the Law of Scotland by the current owners of Holy Island.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and Scottish Outdoor Access Code became law on 9th February 2005. The Act establishes a statutory right to camp and the Code describes the responsibilities and best practice that should be followed when exercising a right to wild camp.

The section in the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865, which contained an offence of camping on land without the consent of the owner or occupier, has been repealed via Schedule 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The Act confirms that camping is a lawful activity when done by a person in the exercise of the access rights created by the Land Reform Act.

The full Scottish Outdoor Access Code can be read here.

Soon we left the North entrance to Lamlash Bay, leaving the distinctive outline of Holy Island in our wakes.

19/04/2009

A day at the races.

11/04/2009

Ailsa Craig to Arran

After paddling round Ailsa Craig there was still a nasty swell and force 4 northerly so we decided to explore the island for a bit and have something to eat. Then at 1630 the wind began to drop. I reckoned we would be able to complete the 22km to Arran by nightfall and even if we didn't, the lighthouse on Pladda would guide us. We would need to get going though so as we would be well clear of the high speed ferry from Larne to Troon which was due to pass between Ailsa and Arran about 7pm!

David and Phil graunched the double trying to launch of the steep boulder beach in the swell. There was an ominous crack and the rudder wouldn't work. Rather than risk re-landing I got the rudder out the water and left them to paddle without.


A menacing roaring and rumbling filled the air. The high speed ferry was on her way at 41 knots!


We turned round several times to scan the horizon but we were well out of the way when the ferry passed to the east of us. In the distance you can just see Pladda lighthouse to the right of Jennifer. It felt quite exposed out there!


It was a wonderful night for a long crossing and Jennifer and I really enjoyed it...


However, all the way across, David and Phil moaned that the double was just about impossible to handle. I thought they were just a couple of wusses who couldn't steer a kayak with only paddles so I had little sympathy.


Eventually we made landfall at Pladda. Its early lighthouse has two towers. Before flashing lights were invented, this was to differentiate it from the other lights at the entrance to the Clyde. We had intended camping on Pladda but we discovered the island was completely covered in nesting gulls. Even worse, we discovered the huge centre hatch of the Aleut double was full of water and David and Phil had not enough dry bags for all their clothes and sleeping gear! The next day we discovered the cracking noise was a due to the bulkhead bolts (which fix the two pieces of the Aleut together) loosening off and allowing the bulkheads to flex apart. The bulkhead sealing gasket had been leaking all the way across. No wonder the Aleut was not handling with all that water sloshing about. I did by now feel a little sympathy for the Aleut boys so...


... time for a sharp exit to Kildonan camp site, a hot shower and the pub! There was a wedding on in the pub, it was like something out the Wicker Man. It was a late night after a long day.

This is seakayaking!

18/04/2009

Another World on Lady Isle, just three miles from home!

Last Wednesday evening we found ourselves drifting round Lady Isle in the Firth of Clyde. Far to the SW the great rock of Ailsa Craig was merging into the twilight.


The lighthouse beam flashed white every two seconds. It was originally built in 1903 and was gas powered. It was refurbished in 2004 and converted to an electric light powered by batteries charged by solar panels. More of the early history of beacons on Lady Isle can be read here.


As we drifted round the island in the fading light Hundreds of herring and common gulls flew in from every direction to roost on the isle. When I was a member of Troon Sailing Club in the sixties and early seventies there was an annual race around the isle in dinghies. It was a fundraiser for the RNLI which has a lifeboat based in nearby Troon Harbour. In those days there was a large colony of terns on the island but these have now disappeared. Judging by the number of gulls which followed the fishing fleet into Troon, maybe the gulls came and displaced the terns when the fishing fleet moved from Ayr to Troon in 1996.


Although the isle is now rocky it was once covered with beautiful sand dunes backed by grass. Unfortunately early 19th century attempts to improve the pasture by burning the vegetation and introducing rabbits destroyed the dunes which were washed away by winter storms. There are still supposed to be rabbits on the isle but I have never seen any. Remarkably, there is a small freshwater spring on the island.


It was a wonderful atmospheric experience, with the mournful calls of the gulls filling the late evening sky above.


Slowly the lights of the Ayrshire coastal towns came on and the eastern horizon glowed with the orange of sodium lights.


It was now time to return. We lit our head torches as we did not want to be run down by the still returning fishing fleet.


Our lights made crazy reflections as the little waves danced in the darkening waters of the Firth of Clyde.


The night closed round us and we were soon in Another World, but Tony's house was less than three miles away! When sea kayaking, the adventure begins within minutes of wherever you launch from, especially here on the wonderful West Coast of Scotland!



01/04/2009

Self portrait in Smugglers' Cove.

Back in April, the weathermen promised a summer of endless barbecues; which proved to be their euphemism for wind and rain!


We went on a little jaunt out to Ardwall Island in the Solway Firth on a day which did seem to promise an endless summer..


We landed in Smugglers' Cove. Just above the beach there is a hole in the ground which was a hiding place for contraband spirits and wines from the Isle of Man.


Several people have emailed asking why there are few, if any, photos of me on this blog. Well it's very simple, I take the photos! I did like this one taken after we had polished off our own small supply of spirits!

11/04/2009