Imagine you are at the edge of the sea on a day when it is difficult to say where the land ends and the sea begins and where the sea ends and the sky begins. Sea kayaking lets you explore these and your own boundaries and broadens your horizons. Sea kayaking is the new mountaineering.
We arose well before dawn. It was cold in the still morning air by the shore of Loch Shiel. That cold of course is what kept the midges away. A few months earlier and a windless morning like this would have been Shiel hell with midges.
We left the tents up till they were nearly dry and...
...loaded the boats all before...
...the rising sun's rays hit the beach.
Soon we were back on the loch and as we approached a...
...wooded narrowing, we turned a slight bend and there before us lay...
...St Finan's Isle which almost blocks the loch. It is a moraine island which formed as the glacier which cut Loch Shiel melted depositing its rubble. At one time it probably dammed back the waters of the loch raising the shoreline.
We landed at the old stone jetty where generations of locals have brought the remains of their dead...
...to be buried within its relatively soft soil.
Stones of various ages crowd the summit of the isle around the...
...ancient walls of St Finan's chapel. It was built in about 1500 by the chief of the Clanranald to replace an earlier wooden structure. It was abandoned in the late 1600's so was already a ruin by the time Bonnie Prince Charlie came this way in 1745, on his way to Glenfinnan at the head of the loch. Almost certainly the Prince would have stopped here and made his way up to the chapel. St Finan (the leper) was born in Ireland and is thought to have lived between about 520 and 600. Several places in Scotland and Ireland are named after him. He is not to be confused with the later St Finan (of Lindisfarne) who died in 661 after becoming Bishop of Lindisfarne.
At the east end of the chapel lies the altar backed by a recess, which contains a stone cross. On the altar is a remarkable object. It is a Celtic seamless cast bronze bell. Amazingly it has been here for over a thousand years. Nowadays it is chained up but it is amazing that it has survived the millennia without being plundered. Of course there is a dreadful curse attached to the bell and any one who stole it would regret doing so for every second of their few remaining days... During an internment, the bell is taken down to the jetty and rung at the head of the cortège as they slowly make their way up to the waiting grave.
The bell has a remarkably pure tone and it is always a pleasure to ring it. How many objects round us today will still be in full working order in 1,000 years time?
The chapel offered a clear view down the lowland outer loch which contrasted...
...with the mountains that crowded the long inner loch.
All too soon it was time for us to leave the peaceful isle. We could just have paddled past but why race through life? It's those that rush, for whom the bell tolls...
We left the shelter of The Eileans in Millport Bay on a millpond to find somewhat different conditions off...
...Farland Point where the wind was at the top end of F4 against an ebb spring tide in its third hour.
These photos can only give an inkling...
...of the fun conditions we experienced.
Once round the point we entered the main tide race with the wind behind us.
There were some great waves to catch and the combination of the Flat Earth kayak sail and paddling very hard (I do like these VE paddles) meant we could get onto the plane (in fully loaded sea kayaks!) and overtake the waves in front.
It is a great feeling accelerating down a wave face then breaking...
....through the wave in front then resurfacing with spray flying everywhere.
I hope this video will give some idea of the speed and fun.
Unfortunately not everyone was having fun. As we paddled into the shelter of Largs the VHF radio traffic was busy with calls as the Largs inshore lifeboat and a Sea King helicopter from HMS Gannet were called to assist a small motor boat that had got swamped south of the Great Cumbrae.
All in all our overnight trip to Inchmarnock had proved a wonderful experience. Camping, bonfire, good company, a swim, a pilgrimage to Saint Blane's monastery and some wind over tide race fun all made it unforgettable.
This is a new prototype Flat Earth Sail. It is 0.8sqm in area and is made of a dacron, spectra scrim, mylar laminate. The cut is fuller than previous sails. Some area has been moved from low down to the leach. The cut of the leach has been tightened, stiffened with mini battens but still allows twist at the head. I like it a lot! I also thought the Delphin would perform well with a sail in a decent breeze and I was not disappointed.
This video will give some idea of the fun that can be had when kayak sailing. We were hitting 18km/hr on the waves. This was my first trial of the new Flat Earth Code Zero 0.8 sq metre sail. I paired it with the P&H Delphin 155. The wind was averaging 15knots gusting to 21knots as measured with an anemometer.
It was only 16km but it was an adrenaline filled trip. This was also Phil's first sea kayak sailing trip, what an introduction!
I have been lucky enough to secure a long term loan of a P&H Delphin in order to carry out a long term test and review. The Delphin is P&H's "play the sea" kayak. I have four other sea kayaks in my garage, so I don't really need the Delphin, but straight away I liked the long cockpit. I have increasing difficulty getting in and out of the Nordkapp LV because of my bad knees. The Delphin's extra couple of inches in the cockpit length make all the difference!
There is no day hatch behind the cockpit, a large rear oval hatch gives access to a surprisingly commodious rear compartment. The lack of day hatch probably maximises use of space, because the Delphin takes the same weekend camping gear that my Nordkapp LV holds!
It is a very distinctive looking kayak. Ignore the sail for just now, just look at all that rocker...
..then look at the bow. Its volume and inverted V on the deck are designed to resist pearling and for resurfacing.
Even more interesting is the shape under the bow, hard chines and a midline V are joined by double concaves (usually seen on sea plane floats and windsurfers to generate lift). The hard edges wash out to rounded hull in the cockpit area going into softer chines towards the stern. At this point I should say that I have never seen such high quality moulding and definition on a roto moulded polyethylene kayak... it was faultless.
The seat is fitted nice and low in the cockpit and is exceptionally comfortable. The thigh braces are very well shaped and comfortable. The inner curve is covered with black foam. They adjust back and forward to suit different folk. Two screws require loosening each side. It is just as well there is adjustment, as the left thigh brace on this kayak is fitted 2cm further back than the right one! This has reduced the overall adjustment range but it still adjusts to me just fine! I am surprised P&H don't have a mark on the mould to help their fitters who are clearly drilling holes by eye!
The small deck pod holds a VHF radio and a grain bar but not much else, it won't take a full size rocket flare. The fore hatch is round but as it is quite high off the bottom of the hull. My Nallo 3GT tent fitted in with the poles still rolled inside the tent.
The back rest is well secured to keep it out the way during re-entries and decent hip pads are fitted.
They can move up and down, being held in place by velcro backing and the top moves inwards as...
...the seat back straps are tightened by the river kayak style ratchets. By loosening these off you can have a nice comfy fit for touring then tighten them up for a secure fit in buttock clenching tide races. In addition to padding on the inside of the thigh grip there is further foam padding stuck on the inside of the hull for the knees. The right one came off the first time the kayak got wet.
Behind the left thigh grip you can see the inside of the moulding that holds the ratchet skeg slider. It is a development of the previous P&H cable skeg, which I had unsatisfactory experiences with on two Cetuses and a Cetus LV. The action on this one is incredibly light. The cord now runs in larger diameter tubing and so far it has worked faultlessly. My only gripe was that as supplied, the knot in the adjustment cord had been tied too short and this only allowed the slider to move in the back third of the ratchet track and the skeg only came down to 25 degrees. This was not enough to prevent weather cocking with a force 4 wind on the rear quarter. It was easy enough to untie the knot and make the cord longer, to use the whole track. The skeg now comes down to about 75 degrees and this fixed the weather cocking.
The deck pod intrudes quite a lot into the cockpit, which is good as it reduces free cockpit volume in a wet rescue but if you have short legs like me (29" inside leg) your feet don't extend beyond the pod so they are restricted and you can't stretch your legs out together in the mid-line. The plastic foot rest peddles are a good size and can be adjusted on the water by twisting the red locking knob then using your toe to push or pull the peddles along the track. A previous version of these peddles had a green adjustment knob that could be used to push or pull the peddles as well as lock them. Some people found the green version could give way. This new version is rock solid.
A security brace can also be used to mount a deck mounted tow rope. I use a Plastimo quick release snap shackle so you don't need a separate cleat.
So what's it like on the water? These notes are based on just 2 outings on the Clyde and one on the Solway. I will do a long term review next year. My first impression was of rock solid primary stability at rest though I know two beginners who trialled a Delphin alongside a Scorpio. They both found the Delphin unstable in comparison and each bought a Scorpio.
You would expect a "playboat of the sea" to roll well. It does, the low back deck aids back deck rolls. It is also exceptionally easy to do a re-entry roll, the hip pads and thigh grips make it easy to keep your bum in the seat. Some wet work showed that the forward day hatch is not waterproof (unlike those on the composite P&H kayaks). My friends with the Scorpios were also practising rolling and rescues. They had the same problem with the forward day hatch leaking, despite having drilled out the 6 pop rivets and resealed the pod. It also leaks through the hole for the hatch cover securing cord...
...as do the main front and rear hatches. The large hole through the foam bulkhead let in a surprising amount of water during practice self rescues. This would be easily enough to seal if you wanted to use the Delphin on a weekend trip with touring gear aboard.
Edged over the Delphin hits a very secure wall of secondary stability and my goodness, how this kayak turns on edge!
I am paddling on both sides and only steering by edging...
...yet the stern just slid...
...round behind me...
...and I was back the way I came. It goes round even faster using a bow rudder.
Some beginners have also complained that the Delphin is difficult to paddle in a straight line because the kayak is so manoeuvrable (and as you can see here the rocker definitely contributes to the easy turning). However, it responds very well to the skeg which allows straight tracking in a variety of wind conditions.
The water in Ayr Bay was like a millpond...
...so we decided to head out to the Heads of Ayr and rock hop round the point...
...where the spring ebb tide was running out against a 14 knot SW wind and a little swell.
The Delphin handled the bumpy water with ease and once round the headland, I bore off into...
...Bracken Bay. I left Phil in my wake, as I caught the small waves and surfed to the shore. I have never been in a sea kayak that has caught waves so easily, it even outperforms my Alaw Bach in this department! My GPS log showed I was hitting 14 km/hr surfing on the waves.
I paddled the Delphin alongside Phil's P&H Quest. On flat water in Ayr Bay, the maximum sprint speed of the Delphin was about 4km/hr less than the Quest. However,...
...returning from off the Heads of Ayr, with the wind and waves behind us, the Delphin was catching many more waves than the Quest and streaked ahead. Note than when paddling purposefully the full length of the stern engages in the water, increasing speed.
Fun though paddling the Delphin was, with those water shedding rails up front, I could't wait until I fitted a sail...
...and then it shot off downwind, averaging 11km/hr and shooting up to 15.8km/hr, surfing through the waves in front.
Within minutes, Phil was left as a dot on the horizon. So I let him catch up and pass me...
...before catching a small wave...
...and blasting past him again!
I have only been out three times in the Delphin but I have already been persuaded that this is probably the most versatile kayak I have ever paddled. Yes, it clearly excels at "Play the Sea" but it is capable of much more than that. It keeps up with conventional kayaks at normal cruising speed, it will take you a weekend camping trip and I also think it would be ideal for beginners.
I can't wait to take it out to some of our fun local tide races such as the...
...Grey Dogs or...
...the Mull of Galloway!
All of our team are literally gagging to try the Delphin. Well, they are going to have to gang up on me!
On water photos of Delphin by Philip Toman
Added 17/10/2011
Paddling into a force 4-5 wind, the Delphin can keep up with the Quest and the Cetus. In this sort of wind the Delphin literally flies with a sail. I was regularly hitting 18km/hr sailing and surfing down the waves.
