Straight ahead for Inchmarnock, hard a-port for Portavadie.

All too soon after our lunch break David and Phil had to turn hard to port to Portavadie. For them, their trip was over.

With a fair wind Mike and I pressed on and left Loch Fyne,  passing on the inside of Skate Island.

 We met Donald on his way back from Inchmarnock then we passed the wide expanse of ...

 ...Kilbride Bay.

 We kept offshore this time and made landfall at,,,

 Ardlamont. At low tide our camp site of two nights previously would not have been an easy landing but...

 ...it was fine for a brief stop before the...

 ...eight kilometre crossing to Inchmarnock.

Inchmarnock is low lying but is a beautiful spot to camp. The easiest spots to land are at the north and the south east as there are treacherous reefs at low tide on the west side.

 This is all that remains of a wreck on the Tra na h-Uil reef.

Mike decided to practice some self recoveries then we...

  ...kept a lookout for a suitable landing place...

...and found this one. We had arrived on Inchmarnock.

The missing anvil of Ailsa Craig.

After the gasworks we came to the quarry man's house. I stayed here for nearly a week in the summer of 1973.

We continued south to the old forge buildings. They were relatively intact in 1973 but have been demolished to reclaim their granite blocks.

Somewhere I have an old transparency of the huge anvil but despite its size, there was no sign of it now.

The old bellows from the forge were still there.

Not much grows on the talus of granite boulders that lie at the foot of this side of Ailsa Craig.

Along the shore, above high water a series of hollows have been excavated. They were made by fishermen who would drag their boats above high water and cover the depressions with their spars and sails. The area is known as the fishermen's camp.

We now set off, away from the lighthouse, towards the south fog horn.

Call of the Clyde

I started sea kayaking 4 years ago. One of my first trips was along the Clyde coast of Ayrshire. It is a coast which is surprisingly remote from the coastal A77 trunk road between Glasgow and the ferry port of Stranraer. It is also steeped in history, ancient castles where such atrocities as the roasting of the Abbot of Crossraguel Abbey took place. Further down the coast is a cave where Sawney Bean and his family practiced cannibalism on poor travellers.

The Firth of Clyde, I hear it calling........

Hydro Skeg from Ayrshire!

Ayrshire on Scotland's west coast is famous in sea kayaking circles not only for its spectacular sunsets behind the silhouette of Arran's "Sleeping Warrior" across the Firth of Clyde. It also supports two kayaking businesses that are renowned for their ingenious design skills. Alistair Wilson's Lendal Paddles is the longest established but I wish to draw your attention to Jeff Turner's Kari-tek.



In July this year Jeff fitted one of his skegs to my wife's Alaw Bach, a skegless design. So at the Perth show, I was surprised to spot this Rockpool Alaw Bach fitted with a skeg from the factory.



Jeff sells Hydro Skegs as aftermarket kits to add to a skegless boat like the Alaw Bach or to replace wire or rope skegs. The above photo shows the hydraulic slider and pipes which Jeff fitted to my wife's Alaw Bach.

I have kinked the skeg wire on every boat I have owned and it is a real hassle if you are away on a trip. The kink usually happens in the unsuported flexible wire that is exposed above the skeg when it is in the down position. If there is any resitance in the cable run, the the wire can kink preventing the skeg from retracting.

Kinks can also happen if the wire is exposed at the cockpit slider. If a pebble jams the skeg, an unsympathetic paddler can bend the wire by forcing the slider. I am not going to say anything about rope skegs other than that they are less desirable than wire skegs and midges.

In comparison, the Hydro Skeg works so smoothly and never requires lubrication. If you hit the bottom with the skeg, it just retracts and the slider moves into the up position ready to redeploy the skeg. I have been using the Hydro Skeg since July with no mechanical problems whatsoever.



The Rockpool Alaw Bach is a great rough water play boat and in that role does not need a skeg. However, if you are using it on longer crossings, with the wind from the rear quarter, then it does weather cock. A skilled paddler will compensate by edging and sliding the paddle shaft to the upwind side for more leverage. This can get tiring and less skilled paddlers might appreciate a skeg. The Hydro Skeg has transformed the Alaw Bach for my wife and I also benefit from it. The Rockpool can be trimmed to paddle straight using varying amounts of skeg, regardless of wind strength or direction. I have never had to use the standard Hydro Skeg in the fully down position in the Rockpool.



I note that the version now supplied as an original fit by Rockpool is smaller.

All in all, the Hydro Skeg is a really excellent bit of kit and I recommend it highly. One day all skegs will work this way!