Destination, the Mull of Galloway

The Mull of Galloway is the most southerly point in Scotland. It juts out into the strong tides that swirl round where the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea compress into the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland. It always takes longer to get there than you think. After Stranraer, the ferry port for Ireland, the roads are very narrow and slow and the final track down to East Tarbert is barely surfaced. Last Sunday, we left Ayr on the Firth of Clyde at 0800, dropped a shuttle car at Port Logan on the way and arrived at East Tarbert, 72 miles later. We were on the water by 1040. Our planned route was to tackle the 20km between East Tarbert, round the Mull of Galloway and up the west coast of the Rhinns of Galloway to Port Logan.


First we paddled east along the north side of the Mull. The current flows east here both on the flood and the ebb.


We were approaching the Mull at the end of the 3rd hour of the ebb and the current carried us towards the race with increasing velocity. This was another occasion when we crossed a sea kayaking Rubicon. We were already committed to rounding the Mull by the time we saw the lumpy water of the race on the horizon.

P&H Cetus excels as a photography platform

Last Thursday a brand, shiny new P&H Cetus demo kayak arrived at seakayakphoto towers for a long term test. Unlike previous test kayaks that I have reviewed, which have been arranged through Ocean Paddler magazine or by local dealers, this one (and its predecessor) has come direct from P&H. In case readers might be concerned about my impartiality under these circumstances, I already have 4 sea kayaks of my own so don't need a demo kayak to go paddling. It might also be worth reading what I have said about this kayak's predecessor.

P&H boats come really well wrapped and there was not a blemish on this kayak's finish. A really nice thing I noticed is that P&H have gone back to glassing in the foot track mounting screws rather than just drilling the hull, which they have done since about 2004. The decals are also a smart new raised 3D design.

The seat was fitted much lower than the last one, with shims under the cockpit rim. I had previously raised the issue of high seats with P&H and got this reply from Graham Mackereth, boss of Pyranha, the company that owns P&H:

"Doug
I'm very sorry about the seat issue -it's an obvious point that we recognised some time ago and didn't make happen.
I went out to the N.American West Coast Sea Kayak Symp 2 weeks ago and we had some there that were just too high, so as coincidence would have it I came back and issued instructions that all moulds are to be tweaked so seats are no more than 10mm between kayak floor and the lower side of the seat, that's to include the foam support, so hopefully this will get the boats paddling again as they should be. Then I got a copy of your mail, that very nicely reinforces the point.

Anyway its in hand, though I'll no doubt get some that want it higher for performance, but at least adding foam is much easier than lowering the seat.

I really appreciate the input
Graham"
It is very reassuring that P&H are taking account of user feedback in product development.
Now I am sure you are keen to hear about the skeg. This one worked faultlessly and smoothly all day, in fact it was perfect. It hasn't been exposed to fine sand yet but the last one was stiff out of the wrapper, so this is very promising.
I will post a full review of the Cetus, once I have had more time in it. However, my first impressions are that it is very comfortable and easier to get in and out of than a Quest. It has less foot room than a Quest but the 4th hatch is just so useful and a safety feature to reduce cockpit volume. It is much more manoeuvrable than a Quest and is very stable on edge. It is also very stable when not paddling e.g. when photographing or fishing. It is extremely well behaved crossing eddy lines. It is low and handles high winds well. It looks beautiful. I prefer the Quest when on long downwind legs with following swell, as the Quest is less likely to broach and is easier to maintain a fast speed. On the big surf beaches of Coll and Colonsay I prefered the Quest for surf landings. It is much less likely to broach, though the Cetus is very stable in the broached position in front of breaking surf.
In short, there is a great to like about the Cetus. However, in this post I want to concentrate on its use as a photography platform. It is quite simply the best kayak I have ever been in for photography.


This photograph was taken with £3,000 worth of non waterproof photographic kit. Although I did not take the camera out in the race itself, I have just paddled through that race with the camera in an Ortlieb Aqua Zoom camera bag on deck. In no other boat would I be confident enough to do that in a race of this magnitude.


You can see the Aqua Zoom bag on the foredeck. Photo JLW.


Despite the swell, I took photos...


...inside this cave. Photos JLW.
The P&H Cetus is a superb photography platform.

Hiding in Lunnock Cave, Mull of Galloway

Once we had made sure that Phil and David were safely round the Mull of Galloway, Tony and I thought we had better hide in Lunnock Cave for a bit, till they cooled off!

David had done incredibly well, given it had been his work Christmas Party the night before and he had not got home till 330am. Phil had done the gentlemanly thing and driven him down to the Mull. We had told David and Phil that it might get a wee bit bumpy at the point, but David wasn't really listening, as he was trying to tune his radio into Radio 2. Apparently, he did not hear me shouting to keep close into the rocks and Phil thought the waves at the rocks were clapotis to keep well clear of. So David and Phil spent a little longer in the race than might be prudent.

The first few waves broke right over him and David said later that he never wished to wake up from a hangover that way again! The third wave imploded his spray deck and filled his cockpit with water but full of stoic, he paddled on till eventually, he and Phil broke out of the race.

This was all incredibly entertaining for the rest of us. Jim rafted up to pump David's boat out, as he regained his composure and Tony and I thought we had better retreat to the cave, where our laughter might be more discrete.


Jennifer soon found our hidey hole...


...as the race roared by at 7 knots.

Sea kayaking the Mull of Galloway

This map shows the Mull of Galloway tide race on the ebb. The race catches a number of kayakers out because the published information is not accurate, close inshore where kayakers will be. The tidal diamond on the chart is 3km SSE of the Mull and shows the west ebb flow starting at +0020 HW Dover at a spring rate of 4 knots.

The Cooper Reid book, Scottish Sea Kayaking says the WSW stream starts about 1 hour after HW Liverpool ( +0115 HW Dover). I know at least two kayakerswho have been caught out by this information. Rab says "This was certainly the biggest unplanned tide race that I had been in!" The ebb SSW flow close inshore at the Mull, where kayakers will be, starts at -0130 HW Dover, 2 hours and 30 minutes BEFORE the time in Cooper and Reid's book ( I have been in touch with both Doug Cooper and Franco of Pesda press and this will be corrected in the next edition.)

On Sunday I was keen to gather information for my forthcoming South West Scotland Pesda book and I was keen to experience the race first hand, at full belt. On Sunday it was 3 days before springs and HW Dover was at 0828, so the ebb started at -0130 HW Dover i.e. 0658. We timed our arrival at the Mull for 0958 to experience the full benefit of the flow.

This map above shows the ebb flow. From East Tarbert an eddy carries you with increasing velocity (12 km/hr) right into the heart of the race and the junction is quite confused with random pyramids of water. There are no nice surfable standing waves here. The main race comes right into the base of the rocks, there is no inside passage. You are now travelling at 14km/hr and ideally will now want to try and break out into the flatter eddy which is just round the corner, however it will be trying to push you back into the main race and the eddy line is quite challenging. With the greatest respect to Mr Gordon Brown's recent DVD, I employed none of the graceful strokes and edging he displayed when crossing eddy lines. Basically I PLFed with a liberal application of low braces. If you break out of the race as soon as possible, you will only be in it for 150m.In the top 3 photos in my post above, David and Phil are enjoying themselves far out in the race. They didn't want to get too close to the rocks because they thought it was clapotis. They PLFed a lot more than Tony, Jim, Jennifer and myself did. In the pub afterwards David refused to take his new Palm salopettes off!


Jim is sitting in the eddy looking back at the race we just paddled through...


...note the randomness of the water.


Tony attempted to paddle up the race by surfing on the waves but they were too irregular.


We were lucky there was just a light force 3 wind.


We have paddled the Mull of Galloway a few times recently, you have to treat it with respect. A mistake here and you will be carried far out into the North Channel. Midway between neaps and springs we found the flow to be 14km/hr which suggests a spring rate of about 19km/hr which is faster than the Corryvreckan.

We had a great time but if you are looking for a mellow trip from east to west, I suggest arriving at the Mull at -0130 Dover!

Sunny skies and calm seas

Earlier today...


...we decided to do ...


...a little light sea kayaking.


The staff of seakayak photo.com are renowned for their ability to seek out ...


...sunny skies and calm seas.

Where did that come from?

There we were, enjoying our sandwiches, when all of a sudden dark lines appeared out to sea.


Then Whumff.... surf crashed onto the beach.


There was a scramble for the boats (well those that were able) and Billy was first to wet his bows in the small but perfectly formed surf.

A Convivial Croy luncheon

We landed on Croy Bay, below its eponymous Electric Brae.


We enjoyed an uninterupted view to distant Ailsa Craig.


Before tucking into...


... a convivial luncheon with friends.


The distant hills of Holy Island and Arran seemed very close in the calm conditions as we recounted previous crossings to the islands, each stormier than the last!.