A gneiss time to find our feet and sea legs.

No sooner had secured the kayaks and set off from Miavaig in Loch Roag than Gordon demonstrated the berthing accommodation for those travelling steerage class. Fortunately we had all booked berths in the Cuma's cabins!

We soon left the great strand of Traigh na Beirigh in our wake...

...as we passed Bhacasaigh and...

  

...in the distance Seana Chnoc. 

Simon started filming the trip in  the shelter of Caolas Pabaigh but all thoughts of filming were temporarily put on hold...

...when Cuma left Loch Roag and hit the swell off the arch at Eala Sheadha.

Once round Gallan Head, the swell was coming from the beam of the Cuma and several of our party needed to lie down until they got their sea legs.

The rock architecture at this western limit of the great Eurasian continent was stunning. The predominant rock in Lewis and Harris is Lewisian gneiss which at 3,000 million years old is just about the oldest rock on the planet.

The start of the St Kilda cruise on MV Cuma.

We camped overnight on the islands. The following morning we took a circuitous route involving more arches and caves along the coastline of Loch Roag.


We returned to Bhaltos where we loaded the kayaks on the car for the short drive to Miavaig.


At Miavaig we joined our fellow paddlers and boarded the MV Cuma.

31/05/2008

Red rock at sunset

As the sun sank to the west of Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis the grey rocks of Lewisian gneisss began to glow red.


Paddling under these great cliffs we basked in the radiated heat that had built up during the day.


The sun finally set on the western horizon, below which our destination, St Kilda, still glowed in the last of the day.

30/05/2008

Arrival at Loch Roag

The MV Cuma was due to leave for St Kilda on the afternoon of Saturday 31st May from Miavaig in Loch Roag on the west coast of Lewis. We were so excited that we did not want to miss the boat so we arrived on the Friday evening. We set off from Bhaltos to paddle round the many islands in the loch and find a camp site.


We paddled late into the summer night with an ever mounting sense of anticipation.

30/05/2008

Stornoway lifeboat is in good hands.

Murdo (Murdy) Campbell is not only a member of Stornoway Canoe Club, renowned for his unsupported open crossings to Hebridean outliers such as Sula Sgeir and North Rona, he is also cox of the Stornoway lifeboat. He and his stalwart crew brave some of the most extreme conditions in UK waters to rescue mariners in distress.


At the Stornoway Storm Gathering it was an honour to paddle with Murdy and a pleasure to watch him calmly manoeuvre his Nordkapp HM through the gnarliest white stuff, laced with rock, at the mouth of Loch Roag.


He has a modest, unassuming manner which belies his achievements but which inspires great confidence in those around him. His reputation has even spread to distant seas.


If I needed to be rescued I cannot think of a more welcome sight than to see the likes of Murdy and his crew. As a seafaring group, we sea kayakers should be grateful for and support the charitable work of the RNLI. (Photo by Clark Fenton.)

A sunbeam shines down on memory lane.

One of the great pleasures of paddling at the recent Stornoway Storm Gathering was to be able to paddle with Duncan Winning OBE. It was a nostalgic trip for Duncan as he had last visited Loch Roag over 40 years ago. He was very keen to find a particular shell sand beach which was hidden away in the fastnesses of Loch Roag. He and friends had been lucky to find shelter there and camped while a great storm blew over night. We stopped at many beautiful white sand Hebridean beaches but none was the right one. At last, just as the day was fading, we found Duncan's beach. It was a wonderful moment.


Jeff Allen and Duncan about to walk down a sandy memory lane.


I have known Duncan for four years. We have phoned, exchanged letters, visited each other's houses, attended symposia in Skye and Jersey but this was the first time I had had the great pleasure to actually paddle with him. He is a font of knowledge about KAY-ak-ing and as he has paddled in Greenland I suspect his is the right pronunciation.


View Larger Map
In 1965 Duncan surveyed and made drawings of a kayak that Ken Taylor brought back from Illorsuit (Igdlorssuit) in Greenland. It had been made for Ken by local kayak builder Emanuele Korniliussen. Geoff Blackford built a ply wood version from Duncan's drawing and called it the Anas Acuta. In 1972 Valley started to commercially build a GRP version of the Anas Acuta which is still in production today. By coincidence, I delivered a brand new all black Anas Acuta to Si (aka Sgian Dubh) on Harris on my journey to the Storm Gathering.


Ken Taylor in the Igdlorssuit kayak. Ken and Duncan were fellow members of Garnock Canoe Club.


Andy Spink's Valley Anas Acuta on Scarp.

Recently Duncan and Gordon Brown visited Greenland and managed to track down Emanuele's two sons, one of whom is still building kayaks. Unfortunately they are only scale models for tourists. Undoubtedly the current "British style" of sea kayak has its roots in the Igdlorssuit kayak drawings made by Duncan.


Duncan Winning OBE paddles a boat influenced by his drawings of 1965; an Island Kayaks Expedition. Listen to Duncan in one of Simon Willis's excellent podcasts.

Lewisian gneiss caves

At the Stornoway Storm Gathering there was considerably opportunity to explore caves.

Pabaigh pour over

Jeff Allen is remarkable unconcerned about the approaching pour over on a reef to the west of Pabaigh Mor.

Stornoway Storm Gathering 20/10/2007.

Eye of the Storm Gathering

On the second day of the Stornoway Storm Gathering we left the shelter of Bhaltos and Caolas Pabaigh and emerged into the Atlantic swell. It was breaking over the rocks of the exposed point of Eala Sheadha and through its great arch. Murty Campbell from Stornoway Canoe Club(centre) and Jeff Allen from Sea Kayaking Cornwall (right) probed the white stuff at the entrance to the arch. Eleanor MacGregor (left) goes in for a good close look.


Murty wants some photos and calls for a photographer! Clark Fenton asks if anyone fancies going in but there seems to be some reluctance to volunteer as another huge swell pounds through the arch.


Photo Clark Fenton
At last, a reluctant photographer inched in towards the impact zone.


The photographer then turned his kayak to brave the surges within the arch. Jeff and Murty nonchalantly stood by in the worst of the breaking waters. Clark now moved forwards, waiting for his chance. More sensible kayakers hung well back. Note that big incoming roller behind Murty's head.....


After noting its approach, I calmly pressed the shutter then....


....fortunately I floated over unscathed.


Photo Clark Fenton
Seeing his chance, Clark now went past me through the arch to the outside and got his camera ready for a photo. Jeff went through next and again stood by while I attempted to turn my kayak between the sets crashing through the arch. Finally, I emerge and thankfully am still upright. I sprinted between the breakers surging into the wall of rock at the far side of the arch.

Water, water everywhere and my mouth was dry as dust.

A Bhacsaigh moment

Barry Shaw emerges from the white stuff on the north coast of Bhacsaigh at the Lewis Storm Gathering

A grey day on Floday!

Really getting into this grey business now!

The remote island of Floday lies at the mouth of Loch Roag on the north west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. On a wet, grey day our sea kayaks slid into the lagoon on its southern shore. The subtle colours of these Lewisian gneiss boulders stood out from the greyness. These rocks were formed 3,000 million years ago. They seem to have faded quite slowly.