Rough water Handling by Doug Cooper review.

Doug Cooper is head of Paddlesport at Glenmore Lodge in Scotland and is a renowned BCU level 5 sea kayak coach. I bought and enjoyed his previous book, Sea Kayak Handling, so I expected this to be a good book. What I was not expecting was just how good a book this would prove to be. It is remarkable how  much insightful information has been condensed into such a compact and clear volume.

However, this is no easy, cover to cover, bed time reading. The cover clearly identifies this as a practical manual and just as you wouldn't read all the chapters in the Haynes Honda CB500 Four '71-'75 manual to take the cylinder head off, so it is with Doug's new book. It is an ideal manual to support your learning of how to handle a particular set of conditions, which strokes to use, how and why. I much prefer this type of problem orientated approach, presented with solutions rather than the alternative: a blow by blow account of how to do each stroke that then leaves you to sort out when to use it.

There is a useful introductory chapter on how to best use this book. The main chapters cover: High Winds, Moving Water, Surf, Tide Races, Rock Hopping, Open Crossings and Rolling but there are two excellent supplementary chapters on Physical and Psychological Considerations. These are vital areas to safe performance at high level, which are often ignored or glossed over in other books.

I like the overall tone of this book a lot. Repeatedly the author talks of "to gradually build your skills", "build up gradually to those more committing environments" "set yourself appropriate goals". All too often, rough water rescue reports are examples where over enthusiasm "to push themselves" has led to trouble for those who are not experienced enough to realize that the conditions were well beyond their experience.

As each chapter unfolds, techniques to handle a variety of conditions are clearly  broken down into a set of bullet points and illustrated by very clear, though small photographs. I was delighted to see that most useful of "saviour" strokes, the bracing stern rudder, gets an early mention.

There are a number of guest "Coaches top tip" boxes placed at relevant positions in the text. Each of these is an excellent addition to the text and they also act as a reminder of the respect in which Doug Cooper is held among his fellow coaches. (I particularly enjoyed the Howard Jeffs photo (with a crab) a reminder of a 2006 sea kayaking trip based on an old trawler.) Only Fiona Whitehead's tip had little relevance to me but others may find it rather more helpful!

A very minor semantic criticism might come in the surfing section. Doug describes a turn at the top of the wave as a top turn. Surfers, kayak surfers and windsurfers might disagree. A true top turn comes after carving backup the wave face (nose first), following a bottom turn and that would be a fine trick in a sea kayak!

In the book Doug is careful to identify situations where you might be learning techniques in remote and potentially dangerous situations. He refers the reader to other texts such as Gordon Brown's Sea Kayak and Franco Ferrero's Sea Kayak Navigation for advice about safe journeying.

The chapter on physical considerations contains some excellent dietary and training advice and  Doug moves even higher in my estimation as he is clearly enjoying a pint of Guinness in one photo! The chapter on psychological considerations addresses that fine line between self confidence and overconfidence, which can be particularly difficult to get right in the learning stages.

A significant part of the success of this book must be due to the high quality photographs (many by Lara Tipper), which, despite their small size, clearly illustrate the techniques. The photos were all taken in good lighting conditions, which must have been a challenge in itself, given most are of Scottish locations.

In conclusion this is a remarkable book which will help lead the progression of rough water handling skills of intermediate and advanced paddlers. It is not presented in a gung-ho, bravado fashion that might encourage foolhardy emulation before a kayaker is truly ready. Rather it emphasises building up experience, setting appropriate goals and taking advantage of coaching when necessary. The techniques are clearly illustrated and presented in the context of a rough water situation where their correct use will help get the paddler safely through the problem. This is a stunning book which I expect to refer to and learn from for years to come. Buy it!

Finally, although I bought Doug's first book, this one was sent to me as a review copy by the publishers, Pesda Press. They needn't have bothered, I was going to buy it anyway.

Dodging Autumn on an autumn day.

It had turned into a glorious autumn day as we left the east coast of Bute and sailed back across the Firth of Clyde channel...

 ...dodging ships like this tanker (MV Autumn 13.8 knots)...

 ...until we rounded the north end of the Great Cumbrae Island and dodged the Calmac ferry, MV Loch Shira...

 ...on our way back to Largs marina.

Before we landed on the sands below the slipway...

 ...we had to dodge our way through several racing fleets of 420s, Lasers, Toppers and Optimists.

Our rigs attracted a fair bit of attention from the sailors yet 130 years ago kayak sailing rigs were a common sight on the Clyde.

Cuiridh mi clach air do chàrn.

From Kilchattan Bay we went round Kerrytonlia Point to the east coast of Bute. The view stretched away to the East Kyle and the mountains of Cowal beyond.

After a while we stopped at the north end of Kerrylamont Bay. We spent time talking to a gentleman who had retired to this lovely spot. Sadly his wife had died shortly after their arrival on Bute but he found solace walking through the island's varied landscape.

Mature beech trees lined the shore...

...and extended far to the north, hinting at the presence of a great estate. We added a plastic helmet to a cairn that had been built below the high watermark. It's existence would be transitory as its foundations would be undermined by the first autumn gale.

We paddled on until we came to this pier and boathouse. This was our cue to paddle a little way offshore...

...and there above the trees, we could just see the Gothic roof tops of Mount Stewart, the ancestral home of the Stuarts of Bute. It replaced their previous residence, which was destroyed by fire in 1877. Successive Marquesses of Bute worked on the house but it was only finally completed in the late 20th century. It is probably one of the finest Gothic mansions in Britain. It is now a popular wedding venue for the great and the good due to the privacy provided by the 300 acres of gardens, woodland and mile long drive.

The gardens were laid out by the 2nd Earl and developed by the 3rd Earl who went on to be one of the founders of Kew Gardens in London. He was also British prime minister in 1762. The 2nd Marquess built the Bute Docks in Cardiff in 1839. The 5th Marquess was a keen ornithologist and bought St Kilda after the evacuation of its population in 1930. He gifted the islands to the National Trust for Scotland in 1939. The current 7th Marquess won the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1988 and has recently completed the interior of the chapel (you can see the spire above the trees). The Bute family tree makes interesting reading.

So what of the headline "Cuiridh mi clach air do chàrn."? Roughly translated that is "I'll put a stone on your cairn".

Ocean Paddler #30 and apples are not the only fruit.

Ocean Paddler magazine issue #30 has just been published. It brings a new look to the magazine that has established itself as one of the leading sea kayaking magazines in the World.

OP has been available online for some time now but new this issue is the ability to subscribe through a dedicated iPad app. I have not had a chance to try this yet as my copy arrives through the post on a chopped up tree. 

What I can say is the the existing online (page turning and pdf) versions are superb (when viewed on a PC) and include additional digital content (articles and photos) and buyers' supplements. Unfortunately the page turning version did not work on iPads due to Apple not adopting Adobe Flash. On my iPad2, the online pdf version was not very satisfactory as you could not view double page spreads. I tried the Goodreader pdf app on the iPad2. This did allow viewing of double page spreads but ran slowly with frequent lockups.

One point to note is that existing OP subscribers get access to only the online version accessible through the www. If you want to access OP though the new app on the iPad newstand you need to take out a separate subscription through the iStore. You can also buy individual issues if you want to try before subscribing. Full marks to OP for creating online content for another platform but it does seem ridiculous that iPad and Apple desktop users have to buy a separate subscription so I cannot see this as particularly attractive to people who enjoy reading the print version of the magazine but might want to dip into their electronic copies for reference.

I must say that though the iPad has a slick interface, I find it is all very much style over substance. I find it frustrating that I cannot view Flash internet content and unbelievable that I cannot move photos into specific folders on the iPad, without using iTunes and maintaining an identical set of folders on my desktop computer. A music program to synch but not move photos? Intuitive or what?

So until Apple finally join the real world and enable flash, you will need to buy a separate OP subscription through the Apple iStore, even if you already have a paper subscription!

Back to issue #30 of OP. I wrote an article for this issue called "Close encounters of a marine kind". Some of you may have found this blog through my link in the magazine. Here are some of the photos that inspired me to write this article:

Common seal pup, Coll.

Grey seal, Ailsa Craig.

Basking shark, Coll.

Basking shark, Sound of Gunna.

Bottlenose dolphins, Mull of Oa.

Bottlenose dolphin, Mull of Oa.

Blowing away the cobwebs, after a night on the tiles.

From St Blane's Hotel, we walked to Kilchattan's old pier. In the 18th century Kilchattan was the centre of a thriving tile making industry which lasted for nearly 80 years. It closing in 1919. The Marquis of Bute opened the works to make tiles for lining the bottom of field drains. When the industry collapsed its place was taken by mass tourism. The Glaswegian tourists would come down the Clyde on one of the many steamers. That industry collapsed after WW2 with the arrival of cheap air fares and package holidays to Spain.

 Nowadays this corner of Bute is a quiet retreat for a few discerning tourists.

 We left the Victorian villas of Kilchattan behind and set off...

across the expanse of Kilchattan Bay. A fine breeze got up and blew away David's cobwebs (he had had  late night on the town, the night before). We were now off to see if we could find the Marquis of Bute's house.

Saints and Psychos on Bute.

We left the west coast of the Little Cumbrae heading for Kilchattan Bay on the SE coast of Bute.

We crossed the Firth of Clyde Channel, keeping a wary eye open for ships but we only crossed paths with "Well-Try" a Poole registered trawler working out of Rothesay.

Entering Kilchattan Bay we passed...

..the New Pier. Although it is new, it dates from the 1880s when the boom in Clyde steamers brought tourists to Kilchattan. It was last used in 1955. The name Kil Chattan means church of St Cathan who came here from Ireland and founded a hermitage here in AD 539. His nephew was St Blane...

...who had this hotel and a nearby church named after him. St Blane's Hotel rather reminded me of the Bates mansion in Hitchcock's film Psycho...

...so we decided to call by and see if either Norman or his mother was at home. Opening the creaking door we were faced by a fading tartan carpet descending from the central Victorian staircase. As we turned right into the Bar, we were slightly apprehensive in case Mrs Bates showed her disapproval of our kayaking wear. In fact we found a warm welcome from the young bar staff, cold Guinness and a really excellent, large plate of fish and chips. Just to reduce sampling error, we ordered a second Guinness, which was just the same as the first. This hotel has received mixed reviews on TripAdvisor but we enjoyed our visit and will happily return to this charming spot on Bute. Sadly, since our visit in September 2010, the hotel has closed and is currently for sale. I hope it reopens soon.

Perhaps the retreating Vikings had more romantically called it Pillage Point?

From the Farland Point on the Great Cumbrae we set off on the crossing of The Tan towards...

...Little Cumbrae island. In the distance, the clouds and mists rolled round the corries and ridges of Arran's granite mountains.

We slid down the east coast of Little Cumbrae and stopped off at the castle for first luncheon.

Our first post prandial point proved to be Gull Point. We often wonder why it got such a prosaic name as Gull Point in the Scots tongue? Perhaps the retreating Vikings had more romantically called it Pillage Point?

Our last point of contact with Little Cumbrae island was the Cumbrae Elbow with its two lighthouses.

Wherever you go on the Clyde, you will not need an anemometer!

Unfortunately I dislocated my "good" knee after our recent Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast trip and, despite several good days since, I have not been able to get out. So, turning the clock back to September 2010...

... David and I convened at Largs marina  on the Firth of Clyde. The memorial "pencil" commemorates the Battle of Largs (1263) between the Scots, led by Alexander III and King Hakon of Norway. Both sides suffered terrible losses but the battle marked the start of the end of Viking influence in Scotland.

We set across the Fairlie Roads bound for the south end of Great Cumbrae island. This view will soon be radically altered by the construction of three giant wind turbines, each of which will be 195.5m tall. They will be sited near the ore terminal cranes but will tower above them. Indeed, they will tower above Goldenberry Hill beyond the cranes. They will be visible all over the Firth of Clyde, Even the existing 100m tall windmills near West Kilbride...

...can be seen from Arran on the far side of the Clyde. This photo taken from Brodick (on Arran) shows the existing 100m windmills to the right of the ferry. The new windmills will be sited just to the left of Goldenberry Hill, which is the dark hill between the white power station towers and the ferry. The Hill is 26km from Brodick and 140m high. and the three windmills will be almost 200m, some 60m higher than the hill. Wherever you go on the Clyde you will not need an anemometer!

We made good progress and we were soon passing the...

 ...Hunterston ore terminal, where the Greek bulk carrier MV Ariadne was off loading coal into the smaller Norwegian bulk carrier MV Mornes.

On arrival at the Great Cumbrae, we passed the RV Aora and the RV Actinia, which were moored at Keppel Pier the University Marine Biological Station, Millport.

Michelin starred pow wow at Knockinaam

We had been paddling along the remote Rhinns of Galloway peninsula for what seemed ages. Our stomachs were groaning with hunger pangs. 

At last we came across a break in the previously relentless rocks, Port of Spittal Bay. We have several times passed this spot without stopping. There appeared to be a house standing a little way back from the beach. We started drooling with the thought that perhaps we could beg some morsels of food.

On this cold January day, the North Channel tide race was pumping on the horizon. There was a little shore break in the bay...

...and it was good to feel our feet on the beach of coarse, grey sand and shingle.

Weak with hunger, our faltering steps took us up the beach towards the isolated house...

...we opened the creaking door and stepped inside. We were warmly greeted and told we were to be the only guests at the Knockinaam Lodge hotel that night. We were told a previous resident had been Sir Winston Churchill, who held several secret meeting here with President Eisenhower during the dark days of WW2.

Even better, we discovered that the hotel has a restaurant (though it only has a solitary Michelin star). Despite there just being just the two of us, Tony Pierce the chef, put on the full menu. We dined exceptionally well that night then slumbered in the warm, comfortable room with the waves crashing on the shore as a lullaby.