Monday, December 17, 2012

Nae man can tether time or tide...




As we savoured a final taste of The Singleton, the sky was darkening and the cliffs of Carlandcheek were already in near darkness.





 It was time to make our way back down the beach to the kayaks.

Once afloat we left the shade of the cliffs and entered...

 ...a brief but golden glow from the last light of the setting sun.

The temperature dropped rapidly as we started to cross Ayr Bay. At first the only sound was the gentle splash of our paddles but...


 ...as we approached Seafield, there was a huge commotion from the mouth of the River Doon (about 1km away). The thirty or so whooper swans (winter visitors from Iceland) were disturbed by something and took off en masse. What a racket! They had barely managed to get into the air before they came in to land round about us. I do not know who was more surprised...us or them. This one kept a little distant from the others. It is a black swan (Cygnus atratus), a native of Australia, it seems to be somewhat lost but settling in.




Leaving the commotion of the honking swans behind, we slipped unseen across the calm waters of the bay, hardly even disturbing the reflections of the lights of Ayr.


Another day (and bit of a night) in paradise.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Getting the hang of seakayaking.

 As we slipped out of Dunure harbour...

...under snow capped mountains...

 ...the sun was already sinking.

Ailsa Craig slipped over the horizon behind us as we paddled...

 ...north towards...

 ...the Heads of Ayr where it was time for...

...another diversion...

...into Bracken Bay at the foot...

...of the dark volcanic cliffs for third luncheon in...

 ...the sunset.

Photo by Philip Toman.
By now Katie, our newest recruit, was beginning to get the hang of the degree of determination, stamina and sheer physical endurance required to join such a team of elite seakayaking sportspersons.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Pacing ourselves at Dunure.

 From Bracken Bay we paddled south past tumbling waterfalls then we caught...

 ...sight of Ailsa Craig.

 The sea was completely calm and we made good progress...

 ....until we caught sight of the distant Turnberry lighthouse when it was time to take a...

 ....sharp left into Dunure harbour.

 As we enjoyed our second luncheon, we watched as...

 ...first Phil then...

...David put the Taran 16 through its paces.

Then it was time to visit the pub, where we must have paced ourselves quite well...

 ...as the tide had gone out and...

...the sun had begun to set behind the ancient walls of Dunure Castle.

Friday, December 14, 2012

A nip in the air.

There was a bit of a nip in the air and...


 ...the summits of the Arran mountains were covered in snow when we left Seafield...

...bound for the Heads of Ayr.

We were joined by Katie who was on her first sea kayaking outing. We hoped that she would enjoy her introduction to this wholesome, energetic and athletic activity.

Arriving at Bracken Bay we sat on an old log amongst the frost covered marram grass. David produced a flask of hot mulled wine....

 ...quickly followed by some piping hot Christmas pudding and some Singleton malt whisky to pour over the top of the pudding.

Despite searching right to the bottom of his bag, David couldn't find the matches to light the whisky so we just had to drink it instead. As we gazed over the Clyde to the snowy Arran mountains, we hoped that Katie wasn't suffering to much hardship on her "in at the deep end" introduction to sea kayaking.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The power of kayak sailing.

When we finally emerged from the pub at Dunure, the sun had finally put in an appearance and the strong May light was quite dazzling.

 As the coast veered round to the NE, we entered the lee of the land and...

 ...the seas flattened off allowing...

 ...us to press on...

 ...at maximum speed.

 We took a break to pump out our bladd... I mean cockpits under...

 ...the appropriately named Heads of Ayr.

We literally touched down at Seafield having completed the 19km from Maidens 90 minutes faster than our best paddling only time. Such is the power and fun of kayak sailing.


Monday, December 10, 2012

Intercourse at Dunure.

It was back in May and the Firth of Clyde forecast was for full sun and F3-4 W winds. This sounded great for a blast from Maidens to Seafield. However, Maidens was rather more grey than sunny and there were some big lumpy bits of water rapidly approaching from the horizon.

The water was surprisingly unflat, even while we were still in the shelter of the Maidens reefs. No sooner had we launched than Clyde coastguard issued a new gale warning. "Malin F8-9 imminent" and the inshore Clyde forecast had changed to "F5-7 SW".

For some reason, I didn't take any photos on the incredible downwind blast across Culzean Bay and round Carnage Corner, off the headland at Dunure Point. My GPS showed that we were regularly hitting 17km/hr as we surfed down breaking waves. David had even put his spray deck on, which was just as well as several times waves broke over our decks and threatened to broach us. Fortunately the sails are very good at keeping a kayak driving downwind and resisting broaching in these conditions.

Later, I asked David about his rather optional attitude to spraydecks. I said "Doesn't it make rolling a bit difficult if you have no spray deck?"

"Rolling?...." he replied somewhat scornfully (as if I had mentioned the unmentionable) "....I've rolled more cars than kayaks!"

At our age, kayak sailing in these conditions can be quite exhausting, so we decided to run into the shelter of Dunure, where it was a relief to get into the lee of the land. This is looking beyond Carnage Corner back towards Ailsa Craig and the way we had just come.

 The Dunure Inn beckoned but it was some distance away as it was low tide. So it was time for...

 ...first luncheon on the beach. Phil was enjoying his sandwiches when David offered him some strawberries. At first Phil refused... "No thanks David, I'm still on my first course."

"Go on" said David, "treat it as an intercourse."


After first luncheon we made our way up to the Dunure Inn for second luncheon. The sea food bisque was delicious... there were bits of lobster floating about in my soup. It went terribly well with the Guinness. Our bodies are athletic temples after all.