Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
Having left the Mull of Kintyre behind us, we ended up just north of Oban, near the airport. The weather was not looking great, with stronger winds and heavier rain forecast well into next week. If I was going to get a final Scottish paddle in, this holiday, I had to make the most...
Friday, 15th September was a wet, wet day. Having been to Campbeltown in the morning to buy some whisky, I decided to go for a quick paddle out into Carradale Bay to see if I could catch some Mackerel for tea. Earlier that morning, before setting off to Campbeltown, I had been walking the...
Having left Arran via the Lochranza ferry, we headed down the single track road on the Mull of Kintyre to Carradale. The first night we were there there was an almighty storm, but the following morning the winds eased and I was able to get out in my boat. It was still fairly windy,...
For todays paddle in Lamlash bay, having made sure I was well outside the "No Take" zone, I had a little fish for some mackerel. My rig is very simple, a weight, with four lures on a hand spool of about 40 meters of mono filament line. On my first cast, I let the...
The $100 Million super yacht Sea Eagle II was visiting the beautiful island of Arran. I had a paddle out to her in Lamlash Bay before circumnavigating Holy Island. Lamlash Bay, Arran and Holy Island are stuningly beautiful. I will be going back. :-) My boat is better than yours! Distance: 6.4 nm Time:...
The Sugar Boat, or correctly named MV Captayannis was anchored off Greenock at the Tail of the Bank waiting to unload a cargo of raw sugar from East Africa for processing at the Tate and Lyle refinery when, on the night of 27th January 1974, a fierce gale caused her to drag her anchor....
A Mull non-circumnavigation. The Si's trip to Mull to circumnavigate Mull by sea kayak, cut short by appalling weather and other unlikely events. After a long spell of fine weather, you may ask why were we going now? Well it's all to do with holidays of one "Si", the OT and the OTM, read...
Friday Lunchtime: I had some time to kill before setting off for home from Dunbartonshire. With it being a public holiday weekend for King Charles Coronation, I didn't see much point setting off at lunchtime, only to hit the holiday traffic below Preston, Manchester and Stoke on the M6. Setting off much later, say...
Due to lots of non kayaking family related issues (its been a bit of a year!), this was going to be my first trip on the sea since the Isle of Wight circumnavigation in July! Despite hitting my local stretch of canal hard, you really cannot beat a good sea trip for upping the...
Having bought a Surf Kayak earlier in the year, I decided rather rashly to enter the British Surf Kayak Championships. Besides it was going to be held in Northern Scotland, Thurso, just a stones throw from John O'Groats. I had heard about the world class surf waves often found on the North Coast of...
The 2011 Wet West Paddle Fest (WWPF) was a bit of a turning point for me. Whilst I was happy paddling the Etive and other rivers in Scotland, the River Moriston had been playing on my mind for some time. This was due to all of the epic's I had experienced on this river...
