The Great Race of Corryvreckan

We paddled down the exposed west side of Scarba.


Jura lay far to the south.


As we approached the Corryvreckan, plan A did not seem quite such a good idea. Plan A involved sticking close to the Scarba shore and using an eddy to carry us into the Corryvreckan against the full force of the flood tide. As you can see, a slight swell made the edge somewhat rougher than we (fair weather paddlers) choose to paddle in.


We entered the Corryvreckan on Saturday at 1552. Although it was the last hour of the flood, the flow was still running at full belt! The rule of thirds does not apply here!


We found ourselves in a patch of calm water between the eddy and the Great Race of the Corryvreckan. The Great Race extends for 5 nautical miles out to sea. It is not a place to get into trouble.


It was with some pleasure and dry mouths that we found ourselves paddling into the shelter of the Great Gulf of Corryvreckan.

30/08/2008

Calculating slack water in the Corryvreckan

I am currently writing a sea kayaking guidebook book for Pesda Press "Argyll and the South West, Ardnamuchan to the Solway Firth by Sea Kayak. (ISBN 978-1-906095). This is one of the most complex areas of the UK coastline and I am determined that it will be a piece of work which is thoroughly researched, both in terms of previously published information and also of first hand experience.

I think I am pushing the good will of Franco, the publisher, but I do not want to rush a guide based on my experience of a piece of coastline on one trip, one way, in one set of weather conditions. The Corryvreckan is an example of a serious bit of coast, a key point in the planning of any voyage in these parts. If you click the Corryvreckan tag link on the right, you will discover that we have passed through this Gulf E/W both ways, along both coasts, crossed it N/S both ways, at a variety of states of tide and in a variety of wind and swell conditions. We have camped on both its north and south shores and climbed into the hills of Scarba and Jura to photograph the various eddies and over falls.

For those of you who are interested in such a sea kayaking guide, I appreciate your patience, thank you.

According to published data, in the Corryvreckan, the west going flood starts at -0100 Dover springs and -0015 at neaps. The east going ebb starts at +0515 Dover springs and +0600 at neaps, a time difference of about 6.5 minutes per day between springs and neaps.

On the 16th October 2009 it was 2 days after springs, HW Dover occurred at 1025 and 2256, so the slack between the east going ebb and the west going flood should occur at -0047 HW Dover ie 0938 and the slack between the west going flood and east going ebb should occur at +0528 HW Dover ie 1553.

We entered the west end of the Corryvreckan at 1446 and landed at Camas nam Bairneach at 1500. We enjoyed a view of the flood in action and a short luncheon but were keen to be on the water, in mid channel, to observe the exact moment of slack water. We launched again at 1525.


Phil powering into the last of the flood at 1530. The current was still flowing west at 2.5kn.


At 1539 several yachts entered the Corryvreckan. At 1544, in mid channel, the current was still flowing west at 2kn (see map below).


Then at 1549, with the soaring ridges of Ben Cruachan in the distance,...


...the water turned oily calm and slack water had arrived. It lasted a whole 5 minutes until the ebb started with a bang and boils and eddy lines disturbed the surface again. In the distance, you can just see the small lighthouse on Reisa an t-Sruith in front of Tony's bow.


So the published start of the flood was calculated at 1553 and we observed slack water between 1549 and 1554. Pretty good Eh?

Well, err, actually no. There was no wind and we were in a high pressure system with preceding light winds and little swell. There are very many factors that can alter the change of tide in these parts and you need to go prepared to observe what you find on the day (and of course to have checked your calculations).

Thank you for your patience while I get the book right... :o)

Sunset over the Great Race of the Corryvreckan

Sunset over the Gulf of Corryvreckan with Scarba behind.


After we came through and crossed the Corryvreckan twice we found this great little bay to camp at with a ringside seat of the tides rushing by.


LW water was at 18:04, this photo was taken at 18:24 and our observations confirmed that slack water lasts about an hour at neaps, very roughly 30 minutes on either side of LW and HW. On a previous visit to the Corryvreckan, at springs when we landed on the Scarba shore, slack water lasted no more than 10 minutes and it very quickly accelerated to 18km per hour so forget the rule of thirds in these waters! At slack water, the wind also dropped and hordes of midges descended upon us. We were no longer top predators and our ranking in the food chain dropped a notch. A very persistent cuckoo seemed to be laughing at us.


Tony and I climbed high into the hills above the Corryvreckan at the north end of Jura. Sitting on a rock we witnessed the most amazing sunset. We were not the only witnesses. hundreds of larval and adult ticks attacked us. Our position on the food chain dropped a further notch. At least the last wolf was shot in the 18th century!


The Great Race began to form as the flood built up and stretched far out to the western horizon.

Then as the sun set and the golden light turned to pink, we began to hear a roar like a distant river in spate. Right on cue the Hag appeared, her breaking waves twisting and dancing in a sunset maelstrom. This photo was taken at 21:26 3hours and 20 minutes after the start of the neap flood. The waves of the Hag had just started to break. On a previous visit at springs (see top photo) the waves began to break much earlier. It was very noticeable that at neaps the strongest current hugged the east and north side of the Jura shore for the first 3 hours of the flood then in the last 3 hours it moved over towards the Scarba shore.


This wide angle shot will give a better impression of the scale of the Hag. She rises above a pinnacle on the sea bed.


Photo Tony Page.

The end of a perfect day. On return to the camp each of the millions of Jura midges seemed to have rung several friends and invited them to dinner. The air was thick with the blighters. My Canadian midge jacket did the business, none of that dreadful itch round the midriff, and by extracting my arms from the sleeves, I was able to sup a most appropriate libation, a 25 year old Jura malt whisky, bottled from a single barrel! Sea kayaking heaven!

Another evening by the Corryvreckan.

On our trip through the Corryvreckan we set up camp on the wild isle of Scarba. Its rough crags tumble straight into restless waters of the tidal gulf below. After setting up camp, we trekked into the hills by following the valley of this little burn.


Even from the heights we could hear the roar of the east going tide.


We contoured along the edge of some cliffs until we could see right through the Gulf of Corryvreckan to the Atlantic beyond.


One by one, the grey hills and ridges of Jura receded until they were lost in the distant mists of the horizon. We looked down on the waters of the Corryvreckan by which we had come. These are what pull us back here, time after time. This is world class sea kayaking, it's on our doorstep and we had it to ourselves.


It was twilight by the time we made our way through tick infested brascken back to the shore and got the fire going. A sleeping seal snored, coughed and grunted in the bay. The fire crackled and sparked in the cool breeze. Some Guinness and Isle of Jura malt whisky saw the night steal around us as we recounted this year's fantastic adventures and plotted those yet to come....

I am grateful to Rebecca from My Kayaking Buddies blog for linking to this post and being inspired to write her own piece on thewonderful Corryvreckan.

30/08/2008

Waiting for the Corryvreckan tide at Glengarrisdale.

As we were finishing second breakfast, the chilly silence of Corpach Bay was broken by the rumble of engines. The SC Nordic, a Danish pallet carrier of 4,786 gross tonnage, was making her way NE between Colonsay and Jura towards the Sound of Mull. She was enroute from Greenock on the Clyde to Skogn in Trondheimsfjorden, Norway. Soon she was out of earshot and silence again fell over the bay of the dead (Corpach Bay).

 Once on the water again, too much north in the wind kept our sails furled but steady progress...

...saw the brooding bulk of Scarba increasingly dominate our view ahead.

Scarba marks the northern side of the fearsome Gulf of Corryvreckan and its steep slopes plunging into the rushing tides add to the intimidating nature of the place...but more of that later.

We were able to launch the sails again as the onshore breeze backed to a tight reach. Above the rough hills our eyes were drawn to...

 ...the magnificent sight of a pair of...

 ...white tailed sea eagles soaring on the same onshore wind (which we were paddle sailing in) creating an up draught above the slope.

This one either had a white tag on its wing or was missing some feathers. Maurice was amazed. He had gone from never having seen a sea eagle to seeing 4 within 24 hours. It did occur to me that this might be the same pair that we had seen the previous day, some 25km to the west on the east coast of Colonsay. However, they are lazy big birds and once they have a mate and territory they tend not to stray far. On average a sea eagle's territory is about 8km in diameter.

 There are very few places to land on this rough coast pathless which is the domain...

...of these nimble goats.

Neither Maurice nor Sam had been through the Corryvreckan before and they fell behind in some deep discussion about what to expect.

Neither of them seemed convinced....

 ...by my reassurances that it would be flat as a pancake, especially as we drew ever nearer to the Gulf. Perhaps this was because the previous evening, Ian and I had given a dramatic account of our last trip through the Corryvreckan.  This had involved breaking standing waves and moving backwards. This was despite paddling forward at full pelt, the tide had turned against us and threatened to carry us back the way we had just come.

On this trip, the west going spring flood was still in full flow at 8 knots and as we wanted to traverse the Gulf to the east it was time for a sharp...

 ...exit to the right, where we entered Glengarrisdale Bay where the eponymous...

 ...red roofed bothy lay at the back of the bay. It would make an ideal shelter from the cold wind for our three hour wait for the tide to turn.

 So we landed on the sands of the bay and...

 ...warmed up by carrying the boats well up the beach...

...so that we would be sure the tide would not carry the boats away during an extended Glengarrisdale luncheon.

Menace hung in the windless air, even for the most daring and venturesome.

Common sense would suggest that we should have relaxed on the beach on Scarba's NW coast until near slack water in the Corryvreckan.


We were not having any of that, we wanted to see the whirlpool in action!


As we paddled down the west coast of Scarba, with Colonsay on the horizon, it gradually dawned on Phil that the only way back, was through the Corryvreckan!


As we worked our way down the coast...


...Jura began to appear...


...above the raised beaches of Scarba's wild SW corner.


The rule of thirds does not apply to the Corryvreckan. The spring tidal flow remains at a full 18km/hr almost until slack water, which at springs only last a few minutes. This was the situation as we rounded the SW tip of Scarba with an hour and 10 minutes before slack water.

We were going to use a counter eddy along the south Scarba shore, which the Clyde Cruising Club describes thus: "There is a ribbon of comparatively smooth water within 10m of the whole of the S Scarba shore, but this passage is not recommended, even for the most daring and venturesome."


As we approached the entrance to the Corryvreckan, a fine mist hung in the windless air, which betrayed the menace of the seething currents below.