Intercourse at Dunure.

It was back in May and the Firth of Clyde forecast was for full sun and F3-4 W winds. This sounded great for a blast from Maidens to Seafield. However, Maidens was rather more grey than sunny and there were some big lumpy bits of water rapidly approaching from the horizon.

The water was surprisingly unflat, even while we were still in the shelter of the Maidens reefs. No sooner had we launched than Clyde coastguard issued a new gale warning. "Malin F8-9 imminent" and the inshore Clyde forecast had changed to "F5-7 SW".

For some reason, I didn't take any photos on the incredible downwind blast across Culzean Bay and round Carnage Corner, off the headland at Dunure Point. My GPS showed that we were regularly hitting 17km/hr as we surfed down breaking waves. David had even put his spray deck on, which was just as well as several times waves broke over our decks and threatened to broach us. Fortunately the sails are very good at keeping a kayak driving downwind and resisting broaching in these conditions.

Later, I asked David about his rather optional attitude to spraydecks. I said "Doesn't it make rolling a bit difficult if you have no spray deck?"

"Rolling?...." he replied somewhat scornfully (as if I had mentioned the unmentionable) "....I've rolled more cars than kayaks!"

At our age, kayak sailing in these conditions can be quite exhausting, so we decided to run into the shelter of Dunure, where it was a relief to get into the lee of the land. This is looking beyond Carnage Corner back towards Ailsa Craig and the way we had just come.

 The Dunure Inn beckoned but it was some distance away as it was low tide. So it was time for...

 ...first luncheon on the beach. Phil was enjoying his sandwiches when David offered him some strawberries. At first Phil refused... "No thanks David, I'm still on my first course."

"Go on" said David, "treat it as an intercourse."

After first luncheon we made our way up to the Dunure Inn for second luncheon. The sea food bisque was delicious... there were bits of lobster floating about in my soup. It went terribly well with the Guinness. Our bodies are athletic temples after all.