Sea Kayak by Gordon Brown

Pesda Press have announced a publication date of 7/12/2006 for a much awaited book. "Sea Kayak" is a modern guide to sea kayaking for intermediate to advanced sea kayakars. The author is Gordon Brown; authority, guru, maestro, mentor and all round good guy from Skye.

Two taster chapers have been posted on the Pesda website. Chapter 12 covers "Reading the water" while chapter 15 deals with "Big Swell". Both will have the sea kayaking community salivating with anticipation.

The opening photo of chapter 15 features Cailean on the crest of a wave. To quote from Gordon in chapter 15:

If you have a distant horizon the waves are less than one metre.
If your horizon is the crest of the wave immediately in front, the waves are over a metre.
Anything bigger than this is only talk for the party afterwards.

Some party Cailean!

"Over the sea to Skye"

The Skye Bridge gives the words of the old song new meaning. It spans the tidal narrows of Kyle Akin and in 1995 replaced the Skye ferry that ran between Kyle of Lochalsh and Kylakin. For the next 9 years it was the most expensive toll bridge in Europe. A return trip in a car cost about £12. Then in 2004 the Scottish Executive bought the bridge from the company that built it and the bridge is now toll free.

It was through Kyle Akin that a government warship made its way to destroy Eilean Donan castle in 1719. Four and a half centuries earlier, King Hakon of Norway led his longships through the same narows before his defeat by the Scots at the Battle of Largs in 1263. The kyle (narrow straight) was named after him.



The lighthouse stands on Eilean Ban. The author Gavin Maxwell spent the last year of his life here after his house, Camusfearna, was destroyed in a fire. It was situated at nearby Sandaig.



The tidal times, flow rates and even direction are very unpredictable and are affected by air pressure, rain fall and snow melt. The narrows run far faster than you can paddle and when wind is against tide can give challenging conditions.