Returning to sea after a refit.

By the time we got to the Great Cumbrae, the two newcomers to our little group, Andrew and Colin, were pretty tired, trying to keep up with the kayak sailors, it was time for a break. They are shortly to sit their BCU 3* with Bruce so we thought it would be good to give them some experience of open crossings. They had now completed 2 crossings of 7.5 and 7.2 km so they were feeling rather pleased.

We made landfall on the...

 ...delightful red sands of Fintry Bay...

...where we took second luncheon and whiled away a pleasant part of the day...

 ...watching the geese migrating to their summer breeding grounds near the Arctic Circle and watched...

the ships pass in the channel we had just crossed. This is HMS Atherstone (M38), a Royal Navy mine hunter. She was launched in 1986 and has just returned to sea after a major refit. It was now time for us to return to sea after our luncheon refit. We launched ourselves with a nip of 10 year old Jura.

MV Solitaire, the World's biggest pipe layer ship.

 From Glencallum Bay, we took off in fine style, sailing on a broad reach...

 ...past Little Cumbrae Island...

 ...with its Stephenson lighthouse.

 We were bound for the north end of Great Cumbrae...

 ...where a great ship was lying at anchor.

She is the MV Solitaire, the largest pipe laying vessel in the world. She was taking on a supply of pipes from tender vessels. She was built as a bulk carrier in Japan in 1972 but converted to a pipe layer in 1998 by Swan Hunter on the River Tyne. She is 300m by 40m with a gross tonnage of 127,435 tons. She can carry 22,000 tons of pipe and can lay 9km of undersea pipeline per day.

Dodging Autumn on an autumn day.

It had turned into a glorious autumn day as we left the east coast of Bute and sailed back across the Firth of Clyde channel...

 ...dodging ships like this tanker (MV Autumn 13.8 knots)...

 ...until we rounded the north end of the Great Cumbrae Island and dodged the Calmac ferry, MV Loch Shira...

 ...on our way back to Largs marina.

Before we landed on the sands below the slipway...

 ...we had to dodge our way through several racing fleets of 420s, Lasers, Toppers and Optimists.

Our rigs attracted a fair bit of attention from the sailors yet 130 years ago kayak sailing rigs were a common sight on the Clyde.

Wherever you go on the Clyde, you will not need an anemometer!

Unfortunately I dislocated my "good" knee after our recent Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast trip and, despite several good days since, I have not been able to get out. So, turning the clock back to September 2010...

... David and I convened at Largs marina  on the Firth of Clyde. The memorial "pencil" commemorates the Battle of Largs (1263) between the Scots, led by Alexander III and King Hakon of Norway. Both sides suffered terrible losses but the battle marked the start of the end of Viking influence in Scotland.

We set across the Fairlie Roads bound for the south end of Great Cumbrae island. This view will soon be radically altered by the construction of three giant wind turbines, each of which will be 195.5m tall. They will be sited near the ore terminal cranes but will tower above them. Indeed, they will tower above Goldenberry Hill beyond the cranes. They will be visible all over the Firth of Clyde, Even the existing 100m tall windmills near West Kilbride...

...can be seen from Arran on the far side of the Clyde. This photo taken from Brodick (on Arran) shows the existing 100m windmills to the right of the ferry. The new windmills will be sited just to the left of Goldenberry Hill, which is the dark hill between the white power station towers and the ferry. The Hill is 26km from Brodick and 140m high. and the three windmills will be almost 200m, some 60m higher than the hill. Wherever you go on the Clyde you will not need an anemometer!

We made good progress and we were soon passing the...

 ...Hunterston ore terminal, where the Greek bulk carrier MV Ariadne was off loading coal into the smaller Norwegian bulk carrier MV Mornes.

On arrival at the Great Cumbrae, we passed the RV Aora and the RV Actinia, which were moored at Keppel Pier the University Marine Biological Station, Millport.

Merry Christmas

I wish all a very Merry Christmas. I hope the man in the red suit was kind to you!

Douglas :o)

Sea kayaking round Little Cumbrae.

A 22km half day trip from the public slipway at Largs Marina round Little Cumbrae, September 2011.

Rounding Farland Head, Great Cumbrae after a windy crossing of the Tan from Little Cumbrae.


Luncheon with the Little Cumbrae terriers.

Glorious sun, wind and waves at Gull Point.

Glorious sun, wind and waves at Gull Point.

We set off from Little Cumbrae castle into 14 knots of wind from the south which was blowing against the south going tide. We knew it would be lively at Gull Point at the south end of the Little Cumbrae and we were not disappointed. This photo was taken just south of the lighthouse where the water had flattened off enough to allow me to get the camera out.

 Once round the lighthouse, we were in the wind shadow of the island and...

 ...it was very pleasant cruising gently along...

 ...until we left the shelter of the NE corner of the Little Cumbrae. Then all hell let loose until...

 ...we crossed the Tan and got some shelter from Farland Point on Great Cumbrae.

We then enjoyed a blast of a run up to Clashfarland Point where I had to stop, as my knee was really painful. When we set off again the channel had begun to get busy with two ore carriers and a variety of fast RIBs.

We decided to just paddle straight across the shipping channel but as soon as we were clear, we unleashed the sails for a final blast back to Largs marina.

Sadly, the pain in my knee has recently restricted my sea kayaking to shorter half day trips. I also don't manage sitting in a car for any length of time. However, this short, local trip proved to be an exciting day and we were home in time for afternoon tea!

Luncheon with the Little Cumbrae terriers.

There was a decent weather forecast and Tony and I felt like a short local paddle. So we nipped down to Largs on the Clyde coast and enjoyed...

...a lively paddle as the south going ebb met the south wind off Farland Point on the Great Cumbrae Island.

Our destination was the Little Cumbrae Island which lay on the far side of the Tan with the mountains of Arran rising beyond.

After a glorious crossing we entered the shelter of Castle Island opposite where the house is situated.

We landed in the lee of the castle for a quiet luncheon but were soon joined by Little Cumbrae's four resident and madly barking dogs, who swam out to greet us.

They soon shut up when they saw our sandwiches and clearly wanted their heads patted. It was interesting trying to analyse the genetic relationships of this motley crew of Little Cumbrae terriers.

Fish and ships, part one.

 Tuesday was a lovely day so Tony and I set off from Largs Marina...

...past the marine research station on Great Cumbrae island...

 ...and round Farland Point...

 ...where we passed this group of female eider ducks.

We entered the Tan between the Cumbraes and...

 ...landed on the Eileans for first luncheon.

 We then set off for the Little Cumbrae Island trolling our fishing lines.

With the mountains of Arran in the distance, Phil caught us, he had been working all morning and had had no lunch!

We had noticed an unusual amount of VHF radio traffic. Then the MS Europa steamed majestically down the Clyde.

Fortunately for Phil, Tony caught three mackerel and I caught one, guess which one was mine!

We landed on the Little Cumbrae to cook them straight away. They didn't even have time to develop rigor mortis!

They were absolutely delicious! Then channel 16 on the VHF radios really started to buzz....