Sea kayak sailing

Sea kayaking has a long history in Scotland. In the last half of the 19th century decked, doubled ended clinker built "canoes" were popular. The majority had sails, like this one making her way up Loch Long under the rocky summit of the Cobbler.


Make no mistake, despite the Scottish nomenclature of "canoe", these were kayaks. They were paddled facing forward with double ended paddles like this one on an island in Loch Lomond, they also had small cockpits with coamings. By 1873 the sport had become so popular that the Clyde Canoe Club was formed.

The above two photos are from the Loch Lomond Sailing Club web site.


As late as 1951, by which time kayaks were of canvas on wooden frames, masts and sails were still an integral part of sea canoeing in Scotland. This photo is from the book Kayak to Cape Wrath by J Lewis Henderson.


Somewhere along the way sails have all but disappeared from the Scottish sea kayaking scene (apart from some very complicated rigs with outriggers that take longer to assemble than a sailing dinghy and are designed primarily for sailing). Indeed, in his excellent book Sea Kayak, Scottish guru Gordon Brown makes not a single mention of using a sail on a sea kayak. (The above photo is from the Knoydart website.)

David and I have both been windsurfing since the late 70's and I have been sailing since 1959. Although we came into sea kayaking to get away from all the faff associated with sailing, David and I have often talked about trying a sail on a sea kayak. Last year when on a long crossing from Colonsay to Jura, we had a wonderful force 4 wind on our rear quarter. That was it we searched the Internet and found that canoe sailing was very big in Australia and New Zealand. These images of sea kayak sailing are provided by GnarlyDog who also has an excellent blog page on the technicalities of fitting a sail to a kayak. It was difficult to source a sail in the UK but eventually Geoff from Kari-tek sourced a Pacific Action sail.


Our first test was in David's Aleut Sea II in a force 5 SW wind off Ayr in the Clyde.


After we got upwind we turned towards the shore, a loop of shock cord was released and resulted in all 2.2sqm of sail leaping into the air. What a blast. We both carried on paddling but it was so easy to stay with the waves. At one point on a particularly good wave we hit 22km/hr. We were hooked!


However, the Pacific Action is very much a downwind sail so it was with great excitement that the staff of seakayakphoto.com learned that Mick McRobb from Australia's Flat Earth Sails is going to send us two Bermudan rigs to test. (Photo from Flat Earth Sails web site.)

All we can say is, watch this space, kayak sailing is coming back to Scotland!

Sea kayaking round the Mull of Oa, Islay

A 26km paddle from Port Ellen to Kintra round the Mull of Oa Islay early March 2010.

Tidal streams 200m off the Oa peninsula at spring tides run at 4-5knots:
NW going flood begins HW Dover (11:31 on the day) overfalls off Rubha nan Leacan
SE going ebb begins -0610 HW Dover overfalls off Mull of Oa

However, we found that close inshore, the NW stream begins at least -0100 HW Dover.


A bottle nose dolphin off Sgeirean Buidhe.


Bottle nose dolphins


Soldier's Rock.


This was a day trip from Glasgow, made possible by a temporary late evening sailing from Port Askaig. I do not normally make such a rigid timetable but given the distances, ferry times and tide times it was essential. As it happened, we arrived at Kintra at 15:45 and used a taxi to recover the car. What a day!

I have mentioned both before but two really excellent sources of information on Islay are:

Armin's Islay Blog

Ron's Islay Weblog


This was the tidal atlas, marked up with the times for the day. We were there 2 days before springs.

Day return to Islay, please.

The most southern point of the Hebrides.

Oa what a beautiful morning, Oa what a beautiful day!

The SE coast of the Mull of Oa, Islay

The point of no return, Rubha an Leacan to Gob an Rubha Dhuibh, Oa, Islay

Sea kayaking with dolphins at the Mull of Oa

Going with the flow, round the Mull of Oa!

A glimpse of distant white shell sand promised a break.

Oa what a paradise!

The most southerly Gargoyles in all of the Hebrides

Oa speak no evil

Threading the Oa of a needle

All hail Soldier's Rock, Islay

What a geo on Oa!

End of an Islay day.

Oa, I'm so sorry about all the dreadfull puns.

Photo album map.

End of an Islay day.

After our rounding of the Mull of Oa, the most southerly point in the Hebrides, getting through security at Kintra was relatively easy. There was no queue and although we had to put our liquids bottles into bags (there was no volume restriction) we did not need to remove our shoes.


There was no way I was going to walk back to Port Ellen, so we pulled our kayaks up to the Kintra road end and I phoned Fiona's Taxis in Port Ellen. (Just in case there was no phone reception, I had allowed time for Jennifer and Misha to walk back to Port Ellen and recover the car.)


In the distance, far to the WNWacross Loch Indall, we could see clear sky and sunshine beyond the Rhinns of Islay lighthouse. The lighthouse is actually on the island of Orsay which lies beyond Rhinns Point. It was built in 1825 by Robert Stevenson. Its light flashes white every 5 seconds.


We got changed back at the car on the front at Port Ellen as the sun was setting.


Due to the taxi, we had about an hour to spare so we drove up to the head of Loch Indaal which is overlooked by the magnificent Paps of Jura.


The warm lights in the cottages on the far shore looked so inviting in the bitter cold winter light of the gloaming.


We stopped for a break in Bowmore the capital of Islay. The view to the head of Main Street is dominated by the iconic Round Church, which was built in 1767. I have always thought that its shape resembles that of a whisky still which is not wholly inappropriate on this island of malts! Needless to say we stopped of at the truly excellent Harbour Inn, which is a very short step from the slipway at Bowmore's little harbour. An excellent sea kayaking pub!


The only reason this trip was possible was due to one of the two Islay ferries being taken off service for annual maintenance. The usual 17:00 return sailing from Port Ellen (which would have been too early) was replaced by a 20:20 ferry from Port Askaig. Here the MV Hebridean Isles is just nudging into her dock at Port Askaig. In the foreground, our old friend, the MV Margaret Sinclair from Mull was acting as a relief ferry for the island of Jura.

Our day trip to Islay was over.

What a geo on Oa!

Soldier's Rock was barely out of our minds before we discovered the NW headland of the Oa peninsula on Islay was riven with a series of deep geos culminating in this one. It stretched for 100m, deep into the rocks and culminated in a slight opening with a steep beach behind. A lazy three foot swell was running into the geo and crashing on the steep beach in dumping surf. The repeated low BOOOMPHS reverberated along the narrow channel. We chose not to risk landing in this isolated spot and turned carefully just on the edge of the surf line and made our way back out towards the light and the open sea beyond. The hail had turned to rain but by the time we emerged it had turned to snow carried by a cold wind from the north.

We were now only 2.5km from our end point at Kintra. We had planned to stop for a well deserved second luncheon at the delightful little Port Alsaig but despite being ravenous, we decided to press on in the snowstorm.


We landed below Kintra farm at the south end of the Big Strand. This beach is the biggest on Islay and its sands stretch away for over 8km along the east shore of Loch Indaal. We were ravenous but there was little shelter in this open place so we ate our sandwiches as the snow fell. Misha had the biggest sandwich bag and ate it all! We recounted the highlights of our day as the snow fell and the light faded.


"The dolphins were this close!"


"Get away!"

What another great trip... the only fly in the ointment was that my car was 7km away at Port Ellen!

All hail Soldier's Rock, Islay

Turning another corner on the west coast of Islay's Mull of Oa, we came upon the great sea stack of Soldier's Rock.


The rain turned to hail as we paddled below its layered faces...


...then entered a great cavern with windows in its roof.


Through one window, this waterfall cascaded into the cavern.


Once our eyes adjusted to the gloom, we saw an entrance to a smaller cave at the back of the main cavern.


We reversed our kayaks in and as...


...the vault of the cave's roof closed over our heads...


... it formed a perfect frame for the great stack in the bay beyond.


All hail the Soldier's Rock!

Threading the Oa of a needle

Our exploration of the magnificent west coast of the Mull of Oa on Islay continued and we found ourselves in the bay called Bun an Easa. Roughly translated this means foot of the waterfall. On the map the burn which feeds the waterfall is called Sruthan Bun an Easa or little stream of the foot of the waterfall. The only apparent access to the shore of Bun an Easa was either over the waterfall or, perhaps more cautiously, by kayak as we did.


We both entered...


...and left Bun an Easa by this magnificent narrow slot!


A little after Bun an Easa we stopped and looked back to get our bearings. This is the view to the SW and the entrance to Bun an Easa is to the left of the distant headland.


Next, we came to another cave with a high window which in a storm will act as a blowhole.
I was able to paddle right through to the interior, which is lit by the window. However, once inside there was not enough room to turn, not even in a manoeuvrable kayak such as the Cetus! Its Gaelic name is Sraideag Alt nan Ron which might be loosely translated as narrow watery wynd of the seal.


We continued to wind our way through a maze...


...of tight places between stacks, cliffs and dykes. What a remarkable place.

Oa speak no evil

As we paddled the west coast of the Mull of Oa under the steady rain, there was no sound apart from the steady hiss of raindrops drops hitting the water. We discovered the reason for the silence when we came to Shhhhh... Rock. It has a wonderful window or natural arch.


The rivers, fed by the rain, were cascading over the cliffs and...


... tumbling straight into the sea like this waterfall on, the Abhainn Alt Astail.


We now entered a small bay with a group of incredible caves clustered round its head. Until now the rock scenery of the west coast of Islay's Mull of Oa had been dominated by stacks, now it was the turn of caves.


A waterfall was pouring down through a crack in the roof of this cave.