The sound of silence shattered by Sannox submarine.

We looked wistfully back at the beauty of Glen Sannox and Sannox Bay and...

...continued north in near silence until we emerged...

...from the shade of the mountains into the last of the day's sun at North Glen Sannox.

Then the peace of the beautiful evening was shattered by a loud, low pitched throbbing, vibrating sound that was coming from this surfaced nuclear submarine out in the Sound of Bute (a recognised submarine training area). At first I thought the noise sounded like a heavy twin rotor helicopter like a Chinook but the arrival of a Sea King helicopter showed that the noise was much louder and lower than helicopter noise. It lasted for over an hour and did not stop till well after darkness had fallen. I have no idea what the noise was. As far as I know nuclear power submarines' engines have no reciprocating parts and they are designed to operate as silently as possible. Perhaps they were testing some sonar warfare device?

Whatever, we did not expect to see any ceteceans on this evening, they are easily disturbed by noise in the water.

RFA Fort George: "Toys out of the pram!"

RFA Fort George

As we rounded the south west of the Little Cumbrae, we were disappointed that the mist had rolled back across the mountains of Arran. Then this fine vessel steamed into view. She is the RFA Fort George and passed us at 14.4 knots. Her wake was breaking white rollers and gave us some good fun!

She was launched in 1991 and, with her sister ships, supplies the Royal Navy warships with supplies such as food, stores, fuel and ammunition.

Although RFA (Royal Fleet Auxilary) ships are not front line warships, who can forget the bravery and tragic loss of life of the crews and troops aboard RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram? They were both lost after being bombed at Fitzroy during the Falklands War.

Anyway it is great to get the following message from Ian, who is currently on board the Fort George:

"Hi Douglas,

I'm on RFA Fort George, and was on the bridge when we passed you. I hope our bow-wave didn't cause you any inconvenience - might even have been good surfing?! I did sort of wonder whether it might be you in the kayak. By the way, we give the "boats" a wide berth too, there's only one guy with his head stuck up out of the hatch over there!"

Apparently the unofficial motto of the RFA is "Toys out of the pram!" I think I will let Ian explain that one...

12/01/2008

Nuclear winter

Yesterday on a cold January day Billy, Tony and I went for a little 30km paddle over to the island of Bute. You would think we would have had the place pretty much to ourselves but this Royal Navy Vanguard class nuclear (powered and armed) submarine was making its way home to Faslane on the upper Clyde. By the look of her paintwork, she had been on a long World cruise and I am sure that the families of her crew will be overjoyed by her return.


Having not crossed the bows one of these particular vessels before, we were unsure of protocol. Should we stop and let her past? Should we dip our Red Ensigns? Should we welcome her home by the firing of flares? Should we call out greetings on Channel 16 followed by a chorus of "Rule Britannia"? Should we ask "What ship are you?" (She could be the Vanguard, Vigilant, Victorious or Vengeance but boats like these do not have name plates.) Should we attempt to surf her bow wave?


Having left our maritime protocol books ashore, we decided to stop and let her past.

12/01/2008