Friends reunited on the way to Kintyre.

Back in mid June, Tony and I set off on what was to be a fantastic sea kayaking trip from Campbeltown across the mouth of the Firth of Clyde to Arran, Ailsa Craig and finally to Girvan in Ayrshire.

We set off on the Sunday evening ferry from Ardrossan to Campbeltown.

The ferry passes to the SE of Arran and we got good views of Holy Island and...

...Pladda with its Stevenson lighthouse on the way. Ian, Mike and I had landed on both of these islands on our recent circumnavigation of Arran.

The great rock of Aila Craig lies some 24km from the south of Arran and we hoped to use this as a stepping stone back to Ayrshire. Tony and I were just discussing our route strategy when it was both a surprise...

...and a very great pleasure to meet the family of the late Jim Broadfoot. Jim was our longstanding and very great sea kayaking friend with whom we had paddled extensively in the Solway Firth, the Mull of Galloway, the Firth of Clyde, the Sound of Jura, the Firth of Lorn, the Southern Inner Hebrides, Ardnamurchan, the Sound of Arisaig, Skye, Wester Ross and St Abbs Head. I am pretty sure there were other places as well! In January 2010 Jim steadied my kayak while I buried my father's ashes at sea off Balcarry Point on the Solway. Although we miss Jim very much, we were fortunate to share so many wonderful trips with such a good friend. It was great to see his family looking so very well.

I knew it was Jim's birthday because we had celebrated Jim's 50th birthday on this day in 2009 on the north end of the Isle of Coll after paddling out to Coll and Tiree from Ardnamurchan. It turns out that Jim's family take a little trip on the water together each year on Jim's birthday. What a great thing to do! They were taking the ferry out to Campbeltown then returning to Ardrossan as a summer evening cruise. Mind you it must have been a bit of a busperson's holiday for Jim's daughter Lorna as she had spent part of her training to be a Merchant Navy Deck Officer on board the very ship we were on... the MV Isle of Arran!

Jim would have been so pleased to see his family enjoying themselves on his birthday, especially on the water :o) 

Fitting a Flat Earth sail with double back stays to a PandH Aries155

I have previously posted about fitting a Flat Earth sailing rig to a P&H Aries 155 but on taking delivery of a new Aries with forward fin I decided to use a slightly different method which I have outlined here. We have been increasingly paddle sailing in stronger winds often going on down wind shuttle runs. Until now I have used the forestay/up haul with two side stays mounted on either side of the mast for maximum stability and a single back stay. This time I have replaced the single centrally mounted back stay with two back stays mounted on the kayak seam which is the strongest part of the kayak. This also has the advantage of having one of the stays directly in line with the wind direction when paddling on a broad reach which is one of the most fun directions. I got this idea from Mick McRobb who is the brains behind the Flat Earth rig.

I like to get the side stays at right angles to the centre of the mast foot and as far out as possible to give maximum support.

I use surface deck fittings to secure small loops of 2mm Dyneema cord to which the stays are attached by 32mm snap shackles. The SDFs are attached by M4 stainless steel bolts which mean one 4mm hole needs to be drilled for each. A stainless steel penny washer helps spread the load inside but note the pull of the stay is almost at right angles to the bolt. I like to have an adjustable grip hitch  on a loop to the snap shackles as this lets me get the tension of the stays just right. It also means I can transfer the rig to several different kayaks.

These SDFS fittings give a very strong mount that will not break under pressure. If using these you need to be very careful that your deck and seam are strong especially if you capsize and attempt to right the kayak without letting the uphaul or sheet off. Water exerts a much greater force on the sail than air! If you have any doubts I suggest using the deck fittings supplied by Karitek either separately or as part of their fitting kit. These are also secured with a single bolt but the side stay does not wrap round the bolt as happens in the fittings I use. The Karitek fitting is made of plastic and will shear before your deck breaks (unless you have a very lightweight layup).

P&H supplied this Aries with a reinforced deck from in front of the forward hatch to near the bow. The Aries bow is peaked to help with resurfacing so P&H also supplied a shaped spacer to mount the red Flat Earth deck plate on. I chose not to use it and mounted the deck plate using one of the deck elastic RDF mounts. I removed the existing M6 countersunk SS RDF bolt and replaced it with a longer 40mm pan head M6 SS bolt which goes through the front deck plate mounting hole and the RDF. I then  mounted the rear Deck plate hole with an M5 pan head bolt and 2 penny washers above the deck/below red plate and one below the deck. This required a new 5mm hole to be drilled.

The two back stays can be seen clearly here. If you have an aversion to drilling, you could just use the existing lateral deck elastic RDFs to mount the stays to but I thought the best angle to give maximum support on a broad reach was a bit further forward and as I like drilling holes in boats I went for it! To prevent the snap shackles rubbing on the deck when the sail is launched and loaded I have made the loops round the two back stay SDFs a bit longer. When the sail is folded on deck the snap shackles would fall into the water, so to prevent this I have used a short piece of cord to form a saddle between them. When the sail is launched there is no tension in it.

Have fun