Treasna na dTonnta

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association

Earrach 2011No. 49

Open Sea CrossingsRosslare Whitesands Record- John Willacy Interview- Incident

Reports-Planning a Crossing- Achill Cicumnav- Paddling inAlaska- Ulster Circumnav- Ireland to IOM Crossing- NI to

Scotland Crossing

Achill Island 2010

Quark TnadT Template:Treasna na dTonnta 11/04/2011 23:28 Page 1

EditorialHi folks. Welcome to a new edition of

Treasna na dTonnta. It is late and for that I am

sorry. I put a lot of time into getting the online

resource up and running before Christmas. This

issue was delayed by this.

Three new developments are to be found

in this issue. Firstly, it is themed, as will future

editions under my editorship. This issue is

loosely themed around "Open Sea Crossings."

The next innovation is the first formal in-

cident report. The ECSKC are to be com-

mended for producing it. The honesty and

humility of the members is to be commended.

The article should inform us and encourage self

reflection. Ideally all 'incidents' should be fol-

lowed by a report. Apart from learning from

each other, a transparent history of self gover-

nance should keep the desko-crats from impos-

ing rules on us a la France, the US and some

states of Australia.

The third innovation is my acceptance

that commissioning articles will always be diffi-

cult and the most convenient way of introducing

new kayakers/ exploits to you is to do inter-

views.

Thus Mick O'Meara and Brian Fanning

who completed the fastest Rosslare- White-

sands Crossing last year as well as John

Willacy who has numerous sea speeding of-

fences on his palmares are interviewed for

TnadT.

We have an article culled from the

ECSKC 'Soundings' newsletter by Conor Mur-

ray on his and Claire Hughes’ crossing to the

IOM. To complete the quartet, I have put in an

article together on the NI to Scotland crossing.

Assuming you are suitably inspired to do

a crossing, we have an excellent 'how to' article

from Dave Carraher.

We have the final instalment of Tom Ron-

ayne's spectacular travels in Alaska. All other

installments of Tom's trips can be found in the

online version.

Continuing our crossings theme, I have

an article from Ali Donald on a single day Achill

circumnav, a trip which á mon avis is an excel-

lent testing ground for anyone wondering if they

are up to an Open Sea Crossing.

Regarding style, emphasis in the paper

version will be toward text. The web does pho-

tos better and I’d like to save some trees. That

said, I would welcome any good photos taken

by members along a broader sea theme. It

doesn’t have to contain a sea kayak to be a

great sea kayaking photo!

Finally and unfortunately, a small admon-

ishment to the association; an excellent and

well attended symposium was run by a stalwart

of the community, Brian Forrest of North West

Sea Kayaking late last year. We were spoiled

for teaching, scenery and weather. It was disap-

pointing not to receive one single article propo-

sition for the newsletter about this symposium.

Please, please, contribute.

Tadhg de Barra

ps I would like to wish my editor colleague

Geraldine Kennedy a happy retirement.

Message from theChairman

I must first thank Mary Butler and the

outgoing committee for all the work they have

done over the last year. A special thanks to

Mary who was chairperson for the last number

of years and has guided and served ISKA mem-

bers through changing times. Standards of or-

ganisation and service have been set very high

by the previous chairpersons and committees to

maintain ISKAs aims and objectives. I hope that

we all can maintain the same standards into the

future to ensure ISKAs continuing success.

ISKA has been a very successful associ-

ation in promoting sea kayaking in Ireland and

attracting and assisting foreign guests from the

couple or group who just want a paddling holi-

day in Ireland to people who want to make a

solo circumnavigation of the Island of Ireland.

Sea kayaking is a growing hobby in Ireland with

ever increasing numbers taking to the waters.

There is a growing number of service providers

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Treasna na dTonnta Issue 49


operating in all provinces providing training and

courses for qualifications. To date, sea paddling

has enjoyed a reputation as an adventure sport

with risks but with an excellent safety record.

This is due to many factors including training

and practice. Let us keep it this way and con-

tinue to improve training and skills. ISKA will

continue to encourage this by way of guidance

and informal training and will encourage and

assist with subsidies those wishing to take up

formal training.

I am looking forward to getting back on

the water having broken a few ribs (non kayak-

ing injury) and meeting up with fellow paddlers

at the meets that Marie Kelly has organised.

Wishing you all a great years paddling.

Martin Guilfoyle

ISKA 2011MeetsApril 16 &17 Dungarvan John Foley

April 30 - May 2 Anglesey Symposium, Wales

Herve Adam

May 7th and 8th Bushmills Gavan Sheridan

June 4,5,6th Streamstown (3 Day trip) Peter

Hennessen and Martin Guilfoyle

July 23 - 24 Connemara Dave Carraher, Mick

O'Farrell and Jamie Donald

August 19 - 21 Three day island hopping trip

Donegal Mary Butler, Dean Bennet, Marie Kelly

September 17 - 18 Kerry Alan Horner

ISKA CommitteeChairperson: Martin Guilfoyle

Meets Organiser: Marie Kelly

TnadT Editor: Tadhg De Barra

South East Rep: John Foley

West Coast Rep: Conor Smith

Training Officer: Alan Horner

Webmaster: Ciaran Clissmann

Northern Rep: Ricky Fulton

Membership Sec/Treasurer: John Foley

Rosslare to Whitesands

Crossing RecordMick O' Meara and Brian Fanning from

Waterford recently beat their own record for one

of the blue riband challenges in sea kayaking;

the 80km passage from Rosslare in Ireland to

Whitesands in Wales. This is the second time

each has done the paddle. Mick runs a sea

kayaking school in the South East found online

at seapaddling.com

TnadT: Thanks lads for the interview. First

question- Why always paddle from Wexford

across? Why not Wales back?

M.O'M: If we go from this side you get to sleep

in your own bed. Then when the High Pressure

comes in you can just decide to do it, you are

ready to go.

TnadT: So what sort of conditions do you look

for for these crossings?

BF: We would be looking for a good high pres-

sure and try to match that with neap tides. You

don't want to do it on springs because Ramsey

sound can be dangerous when the tide is run-

ning fast. And of course you are tired when you

get there.

TnadT: What time do you leave Rosslare?

BF: We left more or less at high water from

Carne Beach near Rosslare when the tide was

at slack water. We knew that we'd be doing five

and half mph average and we could plot it out

from there.

TnadT: Do you use vectors?

MO'M: You have the tide barreling up and down

but you know from training what you can do

speed wise, you allow for breaks, but you just

work it out- one bearing for the trip and you

paddle on that. Navigating on the fly is a pain

and there is enough to be doing paddling. Once

you have the thing ninety per cent right.. We

went out to Tuskar then navigated away from

that. We were bang on this year, without the

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GPS. You want the best conditions, ideally you

might have a west or north west wind behind

you but that would be difficult to wait for. Nice

and calm is how you want it. When we did it, it

was one of the first HPs of the year and there

was a fair heave on the sea. The way the sum-

mers had been going, we thought it might be

the only HP of the year.

TnadT: Did the swell affect you?

MO'M: It would make you seasick and when

you are gawking at your compass and gawking

at your GPS and eating a lot of sweet things, I

did a bit of barf but after ten seconds, I was

okay.

TnadT: Wing Paddles?

MO'M: I had large Lettmans and Brian had

Lettmans 1. The only other thing I noticed it that

when the kayak is loaded, it does weigh a bit

heavier and the arms were getting pulled off me

a bit.

TnadT: Why Whitesands?

MO'M: It is a public beach and has easy ac-

cess. It isn't far from the ferry either,

TnadT: What about ferry traffic on the route?

BF: No, no problems, we saw one cargo ship

and then we saw the ferry coming back from

Fishguard. Its very quiet.

TnadT: This is both your second time?

BF: Last time we left at midnight but this time

we could leave at ten in the morning because of

tides so it suited us a lot more.

TnadT: What sort of feeding patterns did you

use?

BF: Normally we'd paddle for an hour, stop for

two or three minutes, take on a Mars bar or a

banana, even if you don't want to, it is a good

practice to keep your energy levels up.

Tnad: How long are you out of sight of land on

the trip?

M.O'M: Tuskar is about five miles out so about

an hour out. We took our first break at Tuskar.

We planned to take photographs but the tide

was moving too fast. There is a cardinal mark

south of Tuskar and we had our lunch at that.

And then you don't look behind you. You see

the hills of St.Davids after about few miles in.

TnadT: Last time you did it at night?

BF: Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it. There was

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Mick (left) and Brian (right) on the beach in Whitesands, Wales


no moon that night. It was more disorientating.

You couldn't see the swells coming at you. I hit

a seagull that was sleeping on the water. He

took off across the water gawking, more scared

than me. You just don’t see these things.

MO'M: We’re all used to paddling at night, from

this and from doing the Devizes to Westminster

(a canoe marathon of 125 miles which Mick has

won three times). They both have advantages. I

sometimes prefer the night because sometimes

in day when you are just looking at a horizon, it

just does your head in. But yeah, navigation is

harder without a moon because you are just

paddling on the compass, you are doing a bit of

wriggling on a bearing. You often swing off and

then have to swing back to compensate. If you

have a moon you can use stars to reference,

that makes it easier.

TnadT: Is June the best month for it?

MO'M: The main thing is you. You have to know

yourself, you have to know your own body. You

have to know the people you are paddling with

because the tides are going to do what they are

going to do, the only variable is you. If you go

out thinking you are going to paddle five mph

and you paddle three mph, then you are going

to have problem so you have to know what you

are doing in training and produce that on the

day. We were like clockwork on the day, we

knew what we would do, we were equal pad-

dlers.

TnadT: What about training?

BF: We'd do some speed work during the week

four minute sprints and some five minute sprints

and during the weekend we built up to four

hours max. The longest paddles we done were

Waterford down the river to Tramore or Tramore

to Bonmahon and back. We'd paddle hard for

those four hours. But that was the maximum

distance - twenty or twenty five miles

MO'M: Some fellas train for seven or eight

hours for a crossing but that to me is mental. Of

course anybody can saunter along for seven or

eight hours but if you put in a quality three and

a half hour session, you would be well shagged

after that. You take a bit of food for that three

hours but not much- train your body to store up

and use up food, train it to work that long with-

out much food. Similarly train on the sea if it is a

sea paddle, train as much as you can on the

environment you are working on. Build up

slowly- and hour and half for a week or two,

then two hours for a week or two then two and

half and so on.

TnadT: Regarding safety, who do you tell be-

fore leaving?

MO'M: Don't tell your mother or she'll have

miraculous medals pinned onto everything you

have. We used Nigel Foster Legends, we took

all the usual safety kit, clothes, water, compass,

VHF, flares, GPS, no EPIRB. I phoned rather

than radioed the MRCC and told the lads our

TR and to let the others know on the other side.

Really, if we were spotted on the water, we did-

n't want anyone calling in saying there was two

paddlers lost in the middle of the Irish Sea and

getting the whole cavalry involved. Then on the

other side, I phoned Milford Haven to let them

know we'd arrived. The whole thing though is to

be fit for the trip. You don't want someone falling

asunder because they haven't trained for the

thing.

Coming in to the northern tip of White-

sands is tricky, you come past the Bishops and

the Clerks and in nasty weather these are a

nightmare, but in good weather, it’s a piece of

cake.

TnadT: So you leave a little bit of an engine as

you are coming back in?

MO'M: It is a hard crossing to get a fast time. I

don't know why but the tidal situation is tricky at

the end there. You try and balance it out, basi-

cally come up on the flood then back down on

the ebb timing it to hit the other side on some

sort of slack water. If you try going out on an

ebb, then you are coming back up on the flood

approaching Whitesands and Ramsey Island

from the south which can be very tricky so

we've avoided that.

BF: Even on neap tides, Ramsey Sound is like

a shaggin' river.

TnadT: Ideally then you get the flood up and

then take the ebb down into Whitesands.

MO'M. Yeah, that was our way but there is

probably a hundred ways to do it. Other factors

come in it; Brian was working, people to collect

5



us at the other side. We got the ferry that night

and were back in Rosslare for six o'clock the

next morning. It was a twenty three hour gig.

We only decided two days before.

TnadT: You were collecting money for the Solas

centre in Waterford?

BF: We raised €11,400 it was a worthwhile

cause and they were good to me. I had testicu-

lar cancer in 2007 and had surgery and chemo.

We planned on doing the crossing in 2009 but

then I was diagnosed with thyroid

cancer in 2009 so I had the thyroid taken out.

At that time, the people there were great to me

so I decided we'd do it.

TnadT: Can we still give to the centre?

BF: Certainly theres a link on Mycharity.ie and

at http://www.solascentre.ie/

TnadT: What’s next then, lads?

MO'M: We'll see I have new bab coming- we

might give Angelsea. a lash. Bottom line for

Rosslare across is that it is a very doable cross-

ing but you have to have done the training, not

just a couple of weeks but months. It is fifty

miles of open sea and if you die a death, then

the next thing is getting on the VHF to call for

help and paddling gets a bad name. We'd

trained hard for it and by the time we got to

June, we were fed up training at that stage.

We'd got out the tide book to get a week either

side of the neaps and to get a good moon. Then

you wait for a High to come and off you go.

BF: For me the most important thing is to be fit,

and to know who you are paddling with then

navigation. If you are not fit, forget it.

DL to AngleseaJohn Willacy

InterviewJohn Willacy has achieved some interesting

records in recent years. While lauded for the

speed with which he has completed many of

his crossings, he should also be admired for the

number of crossings, all solo. They include-

Dun Laoghaire-Anglesea, Anglesea to IOM,

Rosslare to Whitesands and IOM circumnav as

well as Angelsea Circumnav Records. He main-

tains a website which celebrates fast crossings

called Performance kayaking UK and has been

involved in the devlopment of a new high speed

kayak called the Taran by Rockpool.

TnadT: How did you get into paddling?

JW: I was a slalom paddler since a boy. I was in

the RAF for a long time and you can paddle

across the various disciplines. Slalom is great

for skills, the river racing is great for teaching

you how to keep a boat going through rougher

water. I did a bit of K1 racing but never did it

super serious. In the RAF if you got half decent

at any discipline, you got dragged into other ca-

noeing disciplines.

TnadT: When did you get involved in sea

kayaking?

JW: About fourteen years ago. I had a friend

who wanted to get me into it but it wasn't my

thing, I was still racing quite seriously. Then I

ended up moving to Anglesea and the die was

cast, I had to get more into it.

TnadT: How did you get into solo crossings?

JW: I didn't plan that way, I just sort of drifted

into it. I read some magazines articles by others

who did it and that inspired me. Then one day,

someone annoyed me by saying you weren't a

real sea kayaker unless you did an Irish Sea

crossing- so I thought, Sod it, I'll go and do it

and I did. Then when I came back, I found out

he hadn't done it himself, which was a little bit

annoying!

TnadT: He thought he'd send you across first

and see how you got on.

JW: Yeah, his challenge was, I suppose, the

catalyst to make me do it.

TnadT: What sort of strategy did you have in

going from DL to Anglesea?

JW: I like to paddle from away to home. So I

took the ferry to Dun Laoghaire across and the

journey was terrible. People were being sick,

you couldn't stand up. The forecast was for it to

improve but I wasn't convinced. And then I got

out of bed the next morning, carried my kayak

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down. It was okay but nothing brilliant so I

thought I would paddle out an hour and see

how it was. And it was a bit ropey. It was too

ropey to take my spray deck off. But I thought I

would go for another hour and if was still bad, I

thought I would go back. By the time I had done

that three or four times, I was nearly half way

and then it calmed down, the forecast was right

so it was okay.

TnadT: Which kayak did you paddle?

JW: I used the Inuk that time. It is more stable

than most of my racing boats but I find it quite a

wet boat when it is choppy and cramped inside.

It was a classic of design in it’s day but it is get-

ting a little bit dated, which it should do because

it is quite and old design and things should

move on.

TnadT: What training strategies would you use

if you knew you were planning a crossing this

summer.

JW: Nowadays, I tend to keep my paddling fit-

ness high all year around and then build quickly

to a target. If I have a major thing going, the I'll

start training a year ahead, getting a lot of time

in the boat during the winter doing long miles.

As I get nearer, I will up the quality and go a bit

faster

TnadT: Those winter miles can be tough. Are

they in the sea boat or wild water?

JW: I live near the Menai Straits so if the

weather is bad, the straits can be managed in a

river boat. It can be a handful but manageable. I

try to use the river boat for shorter sessions

under two hours. It is a bit more demanding in

terms of stability and manoeuvrability. If I train

all the time in the Taran, I get a little bit lazy.

TnadT: Food for crossings?

JW: Take something you don't mind eating for

the next ten hours. Don't take your favourite

food as it may put you off it for life. You are

going to be snacking the whole way across

rather than eating a roast beef dinner, so you

are looking at dried fruits, flapjacks and so on.

The days leading up to it, you eat a bit more

carbohydrates. What I try not to do in the days

coming up to the crossing is eat food that is

going to stay inside me. You don't want to have

to stop half way across for, shall we say, a num-

ber two.

You need to eat regularly as you cross. As the

day goes on and you begin to suffer a little bit,

you need to force yourself to eat and drink. You

shouldn't try anything new. Take what is nice

and easy to digest. If you are going hard, the

body is putting a lot of effort into turning the

arms so you don't have much spare effort for di-

gestion. Work to a routine - many people use

55' on 5' off with the 5' being the time to eat &

drink, though you probably want to drink at a

more frequent interval also. It breaks the dis-

tance up into more manageable chunks and

acts as a 'carrot' when things start to get a little

7


John in the Isle of Man- photo c/o Keirron Tastagh


hard work. In the later stages you may need

to eat & drink more frequently as you tire. Try

to be disciplined though - over a 10 hour cross-

ing 10 x 10 min breaks adds up!

TnadT: Fluids wise?

JW: I use both water and isotonic drinks, but

very dilute. You can’t go wrong with plain water,

you might just add some salt or some fruit juice.

Most of the modern sports drinks have artificial

sweeteners which act as a diuretic so I avoid

them.

TnadT: Quantities of fluids?

JW: I work on a rough figure of 500mls per

hour, which is not a huge amount. Of course it

depends on the weather too. But I cant drink

much more than that. On a few crossings, when

I have brought more, I have spare water left at

the end. But if you talk to a nutritionist, I should

be taking in more fluids than that, but I cant.

TnadT: Talk about safety precautions you take

before.

JW: Long before it, learn the skills to look after

yourself. The biggest skill is learning when not

to go. You might have trained all year and when

you turn up on the day, the weather isn't right

and you have to take the hit and go home. That

is the most important thing safety wise. It is very

easy to kid yourself or pressure yourself but if it

isn't right, you must call it a day and go home.

You need to have all your skills behind you like

self rescue. You need to have tried all these.

Write down (clearly!) any bearings, timings etc.

Even if you are only paddling on one heading

for the day it is surprising how confusion can

sometimes set in during the later stages as your

body/brain tires - have it written down in front of

you, rather than ' now, was that 120 or 140 de-

grees, hmmm....?'

You also need to think about fixing your-

self to the boat. You need to think about what

clothing you are going to wear. It takes a long

time to paddle these sort of distances with

clothing that doesn't dehydrate or impede pad-

dling but which keeps you safe if anything goes

wrong. When it comes to the day, I will notify

the CG at both ends. On my Irish Sea crossing,

every hour I was able to contact the CG in

Dublin until halfway, then Holyhead for the re-

mainder of the way. Make a diary of the actual

day - what you wore, what you ate/drank (in-

clude quantities), timings, feelings, future do's

and dont's and so on - all very useful for your

next venture months or years down the line.

(Details of the lead up/preparations can also be

very useful)

TnadT: You were able to contact the CG with a

handheld VHF?

JW: Yeah, I was really lucky on that. It was an

old VHF that often wouldn't work around Angle-

sea but worked well there. On the Rosslare

crossing, I made contact a few times to give

them updates. It is a good thing to keep doing. I

usually contact the CG directly but have used

ships. Regarding the ships, the most important

thing is to keep well clear of the passenger fer-

ries. You are very difficult to see in a kayak.

TnadT: Did you go straight across or did you let

the tide take you up and down?

JW: Anything more than a couple of hours, you

need to look at letting the tide do what it must.

Ferry gliding is a waste of energy. I tend to plan

my trip around the crux and every trip has a

crux. Say Rosslare, if you want to arrive at

Whitesands, you really need to plan around ar-

riving there at slacks. That is the crux of the trip.

TnadT: What about arriving into Anglesea?

JW: You would want to know the area well.

While some areas may be close on a map, they

may have two or three hours difference in the

tidal phase.That’s another reason to paddle

from somewhere to home, so I should have a

better idea of what I am landing into, when I am

tired and a possibly a little confused. That said,

when I arrived back in from my Irish Sea cross-

ing, I screwed it all up at Anglesea, on my own

water.

TnadT: You fix yourself to the kayak?

JW: Yes, I use a long climbing tape that I clip to

the kayak and my buoyancy aid. It gives me the

confidence that if I ended up out of the boat, it

isn't going to get away from me. I had an expe-

rience where in relatively calm day, someone

came out of the kayak and it blew away faster

than he could swim. I also carry a registered

PLB.

TnadT: Can you give us any information on the

8



recent announcement that there will be a num-

ber of CG closures in the UK.

JW:It is certainly upsetting a lot of people. It in-

volves a lot of closures of small stations and the

use of super-stations. These changes will take

place in 2015, I understand. The problem is that

it will cost a lot of local experience and knowl-

edge. It seems short sighted and doesn't save a

huge amount of money.

TnadT: Talk to us about your IoM circumnav?

JW: It was complicated certainly. It is in a

strange position in the Irish Sea. It has major

flow meeting from lots of different directions,

coming from the north and south and from east

and west. I went around clockwise. I started up

on the north west but that isn't the best starting

point. You have a number of tide races around

the coastline and you are trying to meet them at

slacks. You find your cruxes- the tide races at

the south east coast at Langness and I tried to

avoid that when it was too big. So I back timed

everything from there. You also want to try to

limit the time you spend working against the

tide. Kerrion Tastagh was good with tides as

was the Yachting Pilot. I got the phone number

of the weather forecasters at Ronaldsway Air-

port. You can actually phone them direct and

get a weather report personally.

TnadT: What involvement did you have in the

Taran?

JW: I had used the Inuk, had done the Irish Sea

in it and the Anglesea record. I had been testing

for Rockpool. I wanted to try something better

than the Inuk and they wanted to develop a

faster boat. We got together for the Taran de-

sign. I bettered the Anglesea record in it. And it

has gone on from there. It has a high deck

which gives a dry ride. We did a lot of work on

the rocker at the front and the volume distribu-

tion at the back, and the idea is to let it run

through the chop quite easily. It does respond

well to edging but was designed around a rud-

der from the start. Windage from the side tends

to be balanced by that portion of the hull under

the water.

TnadT: Training wise, what do you do for a

long crossing?

JW: I would tend to prepare with no more that

three or four hours. It is a good distance to give

you a long day but it is short enough that you

can recover easily. Doing six or eight hours

tends to take a long time to recover from. But

you need to have some experience of spending

the six or ten hours in a kayak. You need to

learn how to eat, how to go to the loo, how you

change mentally and physically. There needs to

be some familiarisation, that isn't just the fitness

side but is about the gear, the kayak. You can

also use the idea of working back from a date.

Let's say I have a ten hour trip to do on such a

date, I can work back a few months and work

out how many hours I need to gain in between. I

won't try to do the full distance but I will try to go

reasonably long. Some crossings I have done in

the past will become training crossings for trip in

the future. Slowly and steadily, you need to pick

your miles up. Some people reach half way in a

crossing and suddenly realise this is the farthest

they have ever paddled and it all comes apart

then.

TnadT: Do you use HRM, GPS etc?

JW: Usually, I just use the GPS to know what is

going on tide-wise. If I know I should be doing

six knots and I see that I am only doing five,

then I know I have to look at my tide informa-

tion. But more than that, for safety reasons, get

to know your GPS inside out; waypoints, mark-

ing, routes etc. Also learn how to use the com-

pass in detail. In some situations the GPS track

is the better option, at others the compass is

more efficient - know the difference and which

to use when. Train frequently with both. Al-

ways have (at least) a Plan B, constantly up-

dated as you progress. Enter any likely Plan B

GPS waypoints before you leave the beach.

Regarding the HRM, if I am training for quality,

then it is all done on the heart rate, it also acts

as a diary of previous efforts.

TnadT: Have you done any crossings at night?

JW: Part of my Anglesea paddling has been at

night but none of the crossings. But when rac-

ing and keeping a full time job, much of your

training must occur at night. It is certainly an

added complication.

TnadT: Final points?

JW: The main things is safety. You have to

9



make sure you are physically capable of doing

it, that you are safe and that you can cover

most things that could happen to you. There are

often unknowns. Keep in touch with the Coast

Guard. Don't set off too fast. Keep everything as

you did in training. Don't try anything new on

the day.

Check all your kit in the days/weeks

prior, so you have time to adjust/repair.

When it all starts to get a bit hard and horrible,

think back to your training runs- you will get

there eventually. You get to the three hour mark

and things start to hurt and after that everything

starts to blend in. By the six hour mark, you are

just keeping the arms going.

TnadT: Paddling plans for the future?

JW: Unfinished business between Rosslare to

Whitesands. So hopefully another go at it. I

have quite a large one coming up in May or

June but I cant tell you about that yet!

Planning Open Sea

Crossings

by Dave Carraher

Living in Ireland we are very lucky to

have such a wide variety of sea kayaking envi-

ronments. There is nothing to beat a few days

paddle up or down the west coast. However this

article is about planning open crossings.

A marathon runner can attempt a marathon with

little or no training. If they hit the wall they can

stop running, give up or walk. They can lie

down and someone will stop to help them. If

you attempt an open crossing you must be

completely confident that you will reach your

destination.

This article will look at

Physical fitness

Mental fitness

Pacing

Nutrition/Toilet

Navigation

Planning

Physical Fitness

Most reasonably fit paddlers can paddle

20 miles a day without too much strain, which is

the distance between Donaghadee in Northern

Ireland and Portpatrick in Scotland. I have done

this crossing on a number of occasions with dif-

ferent paddlers and the only problem that I have

noticed is that some paddlers feel drained by

the continuous paddling and the feeling of get-

ting nowhere.

When we talk about physical fitness we

are talking about fitness for long distance pad-

dling. We are talking about physical stamina,

which is best achieved by paddling regularly

and covering distance. You should be capable

of completing two long paddles on consecutive

days.

While paddling along the coast we can

judge our progress by looking at the landscape

changing. While attempting open crossings it is

difficult to judge progress as that headland or

lighthouse never appears to be getting any

closer.

Mental Fitness

Mental training is as important, if not

more so than the physical training. Mental train-

ing is done by paddling distance either alone or

with someone who paddles at your pace. Re-

member on some crossings you can be pad-

dling for up to 20 hours or more. You need to

be sure that you can mentally cope with this.

We all know how hard it is to paddle against the

tide so I often paddle with and against the tide.

Before you start training for open crossings,

start longish paddles with the tide. Once you

can comfortably paddle 20 miles nonstop, start

paddling so that the last couple of miles will be

against the tide. Once you know you can paddle

against the tide after a long paddle you are well

on the way to mental fitness. Another way to

help improve mental state is to break journeys

down into time segments rather than distance. If

paddling a 20 mile stretch, it is 2.5 hrs to the

middle of the paddle and another 2.5 hrs to the

finish. Small treats while paddling are also good

for the mind.

10



Pacing

Know your pace: If you know your pad-

dling pace then you know where you are at any

time. If your paddling speed is 4knots then you

should cover 20 miles in 5 hours. It doesn’t mat-

ter where you are in Ireland; there is always

somewhere to train. To best train for open

crossings, you should plan some of your train-

ing off shore. Paddling out to the Kish, Fastnet,

Skelligs etc. Whichever is handiest for you! You

should check your pace on every paddle you

do, whether short or long. Paddling with a big

group is no use to judging your paddling pace.

While distance paddling is probably the most

important way to get fit for crossings, it is also

important to do some speed training. Short dis-

tances of 3 to 5 miles at near maximum pace is

a very good way of helping to increase your

speed over the water.

I have a three mile and 5 mile stretch that I use

regularly. This ensures that I have the speed

needed in times of crisis.

Nutrition

On the trip fluid intake just as marathon

runners do is very important. Try and take a

mouthful of water every 30 minutes.

Food, take little and often, I normally take a

small energy bar every hour or so.

Toilet

Different people have different methods

of coping with this problem. For the lads a large

necked bottle is useful for water. For the female

paddler a funnel is available. If in a group a raft

can be set up with the paddles between boats.

If paddling alone and you need to go over the

side ensure that you are tied to your boat so

that you do not lose contact. Even in a light

wind contact can be lost quite easily.

Navigation:

Not alone should you have completed a

navigation course, but you should have plenty

of experience navigating in various conditions.

Fog, dark etc.

Before going on the water ensure you

have the trip planned out properly. This ensures

you have the tides worked out and you know

what bearing you are going to paddle on. When

planning the bearing ensure you end up pad-

dling with the tide at the end of the trip. Once

you see your destination it is very easy to head

straight towards it. It is important that you stick

with your bearing, or you could easily end up

paddling against the tide.

When working out the bearing I add up

all the vectors for each hour of flow and then

use one bearing only for the whole trip. If you

change bearing every hour it is easy to forget to

change bearing and then end up in trouble. It is

also important to check on the chart for tidal di-

amonds and use the tidal chart for that diamond

if you are paddling in that area.

Also nobody has a good sense of direc-

tion. If paddling off shore and you cannot see

your destination; Trust Your Compass. It can be

very difficult to watch the compass the whole

time and doing so will slow you down or some

people become ill. Considering that you will not

be attempting an open crossing in challenging

conditions, take a bearing on a cloud and check

your bearing every few minutes. Watch the di-

rection of the waves, if there is a sudden

change in direction of the waves check your

compass.

A GPS is handy to find a small beach or

harbour in the dark or fog, but should not be

used to head to your destination. A GPS will en-

courage you to go directly to your destination

without allowing for tidal flow. This will more

than likely lead you to paddle against the tidal

flow as you approach your destination.

The Basic Rules

Train your Body

Train your Mind

Work out Tidal Flows

Ensure your last few miles are with the tidal

flow. Aim off by a couple of degrees.

Ensure you have enough Fluid

Ensure you have food.

Remember you may have to paddle back.

Wait for settled weather, don’t be impatient.

Ask an experienced paddler to check your trip

11



plan.

Before setting out.

Let the coastguard and some other responsible

person know what time you are setting out and

your estimated time of arrival at your destina-

tion.

Ensure you have all your equipment.

VHF radio Important

Compass Important

2nd Compass Important

Flares Important

GPS Can be helpful

Tent Important

Sleeping bag Important

Cooker Important

Dry Clothes Important

Money Important if you fancy a

pint.

Enjoy your paddle and congratulations on com-

pleting your first crossing.

Whetted your appetite for a crossing yet? Won-

dering if you are up to it? Here is a suggestion

for a good and relatively safe training ground. A

single day paddle around Achill island presents

a challenge to most aspects of your sea kayak-

ing- timing, fitness, weather forecasting, tidal

planning, nutrition, safety awareness and varied

sea conditions. It has plenty of escape exits on

the trip if things arent going your way. A single

day circumnav is a worthwhile achievement in

itself. Ali McDonald from Saoirse na Mara de-

scribes his journely around below

Round AchillA challenging trip to Circumnav.Achill island in a single day.

by Ali Donald

In May, I set off on a challenging trip to

try to circumnavigate Achill Island in a single

day. The challenge was not so much the dis-

tance (between 70 and 80km) but timing the

strong tidal currents so that they could be used

to my advantage. There were 3 "tidal gates" to

work out...

I left Achill sound on the start of the ebb

tide in beautiful sunshine and almost no wind.

The tide, though only beginning to ebb helped

to spit me out the Bulls Mouth, before heading

West by Doogort. I can never pass Annagh

Strand without calling in to the the old Mega-

lithic Fort, and the magical Lough Nakeeroge

(Lake of the earwigs!) Its also the last break you

get before taking on Achill Head and Saddle

head- some of the highest cliffs in Western Eu-

rope and a bumpy ride on even the calmest of

days. These headlands also formed my second

tidal gate, I caught the south-going tide as the

wind picked up and conditions became a wee

bit "sporty".

After the wildness of the Western cliffs,

the sheltered beach in Keem seems like para-

dise on a day like that. It wasn't always so

peaceful though- not so long ago a busy Bask-

ing Shark fishery was based here. Happily now,

those gentle giants are protected here. I put my

feet up a bit too long in the sunshine of Keem,

and realised that now I was unliklely to reach

my 3rd and critical tidal gate on schedule- the

strong stream at Darby's point, guarded by

Achillbeg gets up to over 4kts, and you don't

want to be working against that!

My luck was in though, and a nice NW

breeze picked up to a force 3 or 4 and I surfed a

beeline for Achillbeg and its massive Bronze-

Age promontary forts, leaving the majestic

Minaun cliffs away to my North to be revisited at

a more leisurly pace another day. To right the

twin Arches of bills rocks reminded me of a

great paddle out there last year.

The surf shot me towards Clew Bay and

by the time I was passing Kildavnet castles one

of Granuaile's many piratical strongholds, I had

a strong flood tide still working with me- no

harm, as the wind had picked up and veered

Northerly-straight in my face. Nine and a half

hours after leaving it, the new bridge at Achill

sound came back into view, and the Mars bar in

my pocket gave me the last burst of energy I

needed to complete a memorable paddle.

12



Paddling in Alaska Hoonah to Sitka;by Tom Ronayne

This is the second part of a 14 day

wilderness trip of 162 miles from Hoonah to

Sitka, SE Alaska, which we did from 11/06/2009

to 19/06/2009

Group: Karen Campbell, Liam O'Brien, Cathy

Ronayne, Tom Ronayne

Elfin Cove is a small fishing community,

pop. 40 (200 to 300 in summer) on the North

West coast of Chichagof Island. Boardwalks

and trails connect everything at Elfin Cove.

Most structures are multilevel due to the

scarcity of private land, and many structures are

built on pilings over the water. There is no road

and access to it is by float plane or boat.

We paddled in to this small town and

pulled our kayaks up on to the floating jetty. Di-

rectly opposite us was the Elfin General Supply

– the only store in Elfin Cove. We made our

way there and discovered that it was closing in

ten minutes. Timing is everything.

We asked the store owner about places

to stay, thinking camping, but she told us that

the apartment above the store was free. No.

Not FREE but available: For $170 for the night:

Definitely not cheap. The lady offered to show

it to us so we trooped up to find a quaint!! Large

apartment with beds, showers, cooker, fridge,

furniture and comfort, none of which we had en-

countered in the previous two days. We looked

at each other. Brief, very brief discussion and

we were in.

We bought milk, the wet stuff, not pow-

dered, and a few small things and moved in.

While I was unloading my kayak a lady on a

fishing boat asked me if we would like a

salmon. “Yes please” I replied and she called

me on to her boat.

She pulled a huge sockeye salmon out of

a box and asked if it was OK. It was huge. I

mean it was THIS big. Really. Before I could

say anything she had it topped, tailed and gut-

ted with an experience of years and then put it

in a plastic bag. One fillet would have been

enough for all of us but she had given us the

whole fish. I thanked her profusely and headed

for the apartment having just encountered an-

other act of generosity from a stranger. We had

brought our own food up to the apartment quite

prepared to eat from our usual supply of pasta,

smash, noodles, tinned meats (including

salmon) but here we were with the real thing.

We had a great stay in Elfin Cove. We

showered, dried our clothes, cooked and ate

13



our salmon walked the boardwalk through Elfin

Cove and finished the evening in a small pub.

Best of all, we got to sleep in real beds. There is

nothing like living it up on a wilderness kayaking

trip.

The original plan for day four was to pad-

dle twenty one miles from Elfin Cove to another

boardwalk town called Pelican in Lisianski Inlet.

This would take an extra day as Pelican was off

our intended route and would mean back track-

ing to to Lisianski Strait, through which we had

to paddle to get to the Pacific. Having stayed in

Elfin Cove we decided not to paddle to Pelican

but to head for Bohemia shelter in Lisianski

Strait. The bonus here would be a saved day

which we could bank in case the weather was

against us for the open Pacific section of the

trip.

We left Elfin Cove about 8.45am on an

overcast foggy morning. The sea conditions

were good but it was a long slog paddling the

eighteen miles to Bohemia shelter. We saw

our third and last bear of the trip on a beach

about a mile ahead of us. It was too far away to

say whether it was black or brown.

Chichagof Island has the highest popula-

tion of bears per square mile than any other

place on Earth. There was no escape from see-

ing bear signs, both shit and paw prints, every-

where we landed. Grizzly and black bears don't

look for people. It's quite the opposite in the

wilderness unless they are hungry and/or in-

jured. You are generally less likely to have an

incident with a bear in the wild than with a bear

that is familiar with people.

These bears are habituated and expect

to find food near people; therefore they come

looking for it. Bears hunt for food with an amaz-

ing sense of smell. You avoid attracting bears

to your campsite by keeping a clean camp.

All items that smell must be stored in air-

tight and/or bear proof containers and these

must be kept at least 100 metres from your

sleeping area. We had rented our bear proof

canisters on previous trips but our supplier for

this trip did not have sixteen of them and

wanted to charge an exorbitant price for buying

them for us so we decide to buy our own.

We bought one solid bear canister (very

handy for doubling up as a seat) and three Ur-

sacks each. Ursacks are made of "bullet proof"

Spectra fabric and come with an integrated six

foot, high tensile strength cord for both the tying

of the sack itself and to tie it to something to

prevent it being dragged off.

The Ursack is designed as a bear proof

container but it still has not been approved by

all wildlife services in the USA. We found them

to be perfect. Having said that we never saw

any proof that they had been tampered with.

The great thing about them is that they are soft.

As your food cache diminishes so does the size

of your sack and this makes it much easier to

pack your kayak. Food is stored in an

airtight/waterproof bag inside the Ursack.

We each carried a canister of bear spray

when we were on shore; at all times, where

ever we went. These pepper sprays have a

range of fifteen to twenty feet so you might only

have two to three seconds to react if a bear

gets this close to you. The best thing to do is to

avoid coming into contact with bears. When

coming on shore we always shouted loudly to

alert bears to our presence so as not to have a

sudden encounter. We would never go into the

forest without shouting and making noise and

we were always watching and listening for signs

of bears.

There are many log shelters built by the

wildlife and forestry service in S.E. Alaska.

14



They are open fronted, with bunks and usually a

stove. There are often log piles and an axe

nearby although the Bohemia shelter had none.

None of us had brought a bush saw so Liam

and I spent some time cutting dead wood with

our Leatherman’s. It’s amazing what you'll do

for a bit of heat.

The big bonus at this shelter was that

somebody had nailed up a large blue tarpaulin

to the front of the shelter. This meant that we

could close over the front and keep the mozzies

out. If you were to sleep in an open shelter you

would have to cover yourself in a mosquito net

or any open skin would be bitten to hell.

Cathy and Karen had included marsh-

mallows and biscuits in their shopping list and

Cathy set about giving everybody a treat as we

sat around the stove late in the evening. She

heated the marshmallows on a stick and when

melted then placed them on a biscuit with a

square of chocolate on top and then crowned

that with another biscuit. Delicious.

Earlier in the evening we heard a shout

and were greeted by an elderly fisherman from

the lower 48 who had tied up at the jetty. He

told us that he came up to this area every year

to catch fish to supplement his income. We

asked about the price he got for Sockeye

salmon and he said anything between $150 and

$200. Some gift in Elfin Cove. We slept a good

sleep that night in what felt like an oven with the

heat from the stove and the tarp down.

Day 5 was an easy paddle of eleven

miles to Lost Cove near where Lisianski Strait

opens out on to the Pacific. We wanted to enter

the Pacific on slack low and this would be be-

tween 9am and 11am the next day. We had a

long rest at the shelter and didn't leave until

about 3pm. Lost Cove was flat calm and it took

about a half hour before we found a suitable

place to pitch. It rained for the first time that

evening.

Day 6 was another eleven mile paddle

from Lost Cove to Dry Pass via White Sulphur

Springs (WSS). It is a four mile paddle on the

Pacific to WSS with lots of small islands in be-

tween making for all sorts of currents plus sea

swell but we hit it at the right time and were

pushed in to WSS on a following swell of 3 to 4

ft.

We paddled in to an obscure narrow

cove which led to a sand and gravel beach and

after tying up the kayaks we followed a short

trail to the springs. WSS has a forest service

cabin and two hot springs, one of them covered

by a shelter with two huge sliding windows fac-

ing the sea.

There were two families booked into the

cabin and they made us very welcome. It took

a while to be able to sit comfortably in the hot

sulphur smelling water but it was great.

We were invited to stay at WSS but de-

cided not to as we were still building up banking

days for our Pacific trip along the Khaz penin-

sula so it was with reluctance that we ate our

lunch of cheddar cheese, pitta bread (uggh) and

tea and headed back out onto the water.

We spent about four hours at WSS and

by the time we were paddling again both the

wind and the sea had picked up. We were

heading for Dry Pass which led into a large bay

sheltered by a series of islands. We paddled

the three miles to Dry Pass in two metre swells

with the wind behind us and we had to stay

about a mile off shore because of rocks and

some small islands.

The paddling was awkward rather than

difficult. About a mile from Dry pass we spotted

three kayakers coming towards us. The condi-

tions were not favourable for stopping for a chat

but they shouted to us that there was a Grey

Whale ahead of us, close to shore.

We kept paddling towards the entrance

to Dry Pass but kept watching the tree line to

see the typical V shaped exhalation of water

through the blowhole against the dark forest on

shore. It is much easier to spot whales in the

distance for this reason when they are between

you and the shore. The sight of a large plume

of silvery spray followed by a whoooosh is a

thrill no matter how many times you have expe-

rienced it.

The blow can be up to ten feet high. You

often hear whales blow long before you see

15



them. The sound carries for miles and alerts

you to their presence. The Grey whale was

heading out to sea and we only saw and heard

a few blows. The sea was flat calm inside Port-

lock Harbor and we paddled around for a while

on a lovely sunny evening before finding a

place to pitch our tents.

Days seven and eight was a twenty six

mile paddle from Dry Pass to Khaz Head. All of

the paddling was sheltered and we had two

very easy days on flat water meandering our

way around large and small islands and through

some narrow passages.

The weather over the two days was a

mixture of rain and sunshine and we used our

tarp a few times to shelter from the rain.

We paddled through a group of islands

called the Myriad Islands at low tide and saw

hundreds of large purple and orange starfish

clinging to the rocks. We saw many rafts of sea

otters floating on their backs, some with pups

lying on their chests. At times like this we just

drifted silently with the current and sat at peace

listening to the sounds of nature all around us.

We met a group of five paddlers as we

paddled through Portlock Harbor, three of whom

we had met the previous day. They had come

from Sitka and when we asked about conditions

along the Khaz Peninsula they told us that two

of their group were beginner paddlers so they

had hired a boat to ferry them to Khaz Head

and the same boat was going to bring them

back. The cost to them was $400 each as the

boat had to do round trips. We got a phone

number from them as a backup.

A friend in Juneau had given us the loan

of a satellite phone which saved us hiring one.

We had banked three days at this stage but if

we got weathered in we could not afford to miss

the ferry from Sitka to Juneau. A lone Hump-

back passed us as it made its way into Slocum

Arm, a long fiord behind Khaz Peninsula. Nice

easy interesting days.

We spent our eighth night camped on a

small island in Piehle Passage, about a mile

from Khaz Head. We pitched on the sheltered

side of the island and a short walk to the top of

a hill gave a panoramic view of the Pacific. The

weather forecast for the next day (received on

the WX channel of Liam's VHF radio), was for

light winds and low seas.

Day nine was a twenty two mile paddle from

Piehle Passage to Louise Cove, in Peril Strait,

by way of The Khaz Peninsula. Sixteen miles

of this paddle was on the Pacific.

There was only one off point and this was at

Leo Anchorage, a cove ten miles into the pad-

dle where Klokachef Island gave shelter. We16



rose at five am, walked to the top of the hill and

looked out to sea.

Clear blue sky and absolutely flat sea to

the horizon. We ate, broke camp and headed

off for what was one of the best days paddling I

have ever had anywhere. The conditions were

perfect. We never saw a wave in those ten

miles. The scenery was stunning with high

mountains to our left and the sun shone all day.

We saw lots of seals, sea otters, two hump-

backs in the distance and many bald eagles

and sea birds.

We paddled into Leo Anchorage and

beached at a small river so that we could filter

water and refill our water bags. We spread our

clothes out to dry on the hot stones and lay

there basking in the heat for an hour and a half.

The wind had picked up a bit by the time we left

Leo and we had a bouncy paddle for seven

miles before turning into Peril Strait and Louise

Cove.

Our map showed a shelter at Louise

Cove and we were disappointed to find only the

burnt out remains of one. We pitched the tents

and settled in. The last twenty seven miles to

Sitka was mostly sheltered and we now had

three spare days. Cathy and Karen decided that

a night in Piper Island cabin would be a nice

break so the next morning they led us the three

miles to it. This was a beautiful triangular

shaped cabin and there was nobody there!!

These cabins belong to and are main-

tained by the forest service. Reservations are

required by law and money is supposed to

change hands. Information provided by the for-

est service on our maps states: “Note: Unau-

thorised use of these cabins is a violation of

federal laws and regulations. Violators are sub-

ject to a fine of $500, up to 6 months in prison,

or both. Violations should be reported immedi-

ately to a forest service employee”.

We looked around for a forest service

employee to whom we could report each other

to but could not find one 'immediately' so we

just moved in.(I had been advised previously

that if nobody with a paid receipt has arrived by

9pm that it was OK to use the facilities)

The cabin was beautiful. It had a double

and a single bunk, a table and benches and a

diesel fired stove. There was another double

bed upstairs. The cabin was situated in a very

small cove and when you sat at the table you

could see a point of land around which any boat

heading for the cabin had to come.

A float plane would also approach from

the same direction. We made lunch, rested,

filled in diaries, wrote postcards, chatted and

watched that point all day.

It rained for a while and it was great to be

sheltered in the cabin. At about 5pm a boat

rounded the point and headed for the cabin.

Our hearts sank as we cursed and cursed and

grabbed our gear (which was all over the place)

and prepared to evacuate.

There were two men on board and one

of jumped onto the sandy beach. Liam and I

walked down to meet him. “Are you booked in

tonight” he asked. “No, we are just kayakers

hoping nobody is staying here tonight” we

replied. He smiled and said “Well you can stay

tonight. I am just dropping off provisions for a

group of fishermen I am bringing up tomorrow”.

We told him that he had no idea how happy we

were to hear that and he laughed.

We helped them offload the supplies –

food, utensils, sleeping bags, beer, and diesel

for the stove. He offered to light the stove for

us and proceeded to fill the tank with diesel, ex-

plaining that he had more than enough. He told

17



us that he ran one of the museums in Sitka and

to call in on him when we arrived. (It was

closed on the day we went there).

He wished us luck and headed off. What

a stroke of luck. The heat built up, the clothes

dried and we relaxed until at about 9.30pm an-

other boat rounded the point and headed for the

cabin. Shit shit shit was the nicest thing we

shouted.

This boat, a yacht under power, made its

way to a mooring buoy just off shore. Liam and

I headed for the beach again and hailed the

man on board. He was staying on board his

yacht (panic over) so we invited him to 'our'

cabin and we had a great time listening to his

stories about his adventures in Alaska for an

hour. He gave us his partner’s phone number

and told us if we had any problems in Sitka to

phone her and she would look after us. There's

nothing like the kindness of strangers.

We left Piper Island the next morning

without having found a forest service employee

to report each other to and headed for Neva

Strait a narrow eight mile long channel between

Partofshikof Island and Baranof Island. The

strait is about a mile wide at the north end and

narrows to about a hundred yards as you head

south.

Because it is getting narrower as you

paddle you get the feeling that you are paddling

downhill but this feeling was easily blown away

by a headwind coming up this natural channel.

There were very few places to pitch in Neva

Strait. We found a spot beyond Highwater Is-

land but the tree line was very close to the

water and we had to place the tents on the high

water line. The evening high tide was a foot

higher than the previous one so we had to wait

until after high tide to go to bed to be sure that

we wouldn't be swamped on our last night in the

wilderness.

Our last day was a fifteen mile paddle

from Neva to Olga Strait, another narrow chan-

nel before entering Sitka Sound to paddle the

last five miles into Sitka. Within minutes of

leaving shore we saw a Sitka deer and two

fawns walking on shore. The mother was very

aware that we were there but never reacted.

We may have been the first people she had

seen and did not perceive us as a threat.

We paddled the ten miles to the end of

Olga Strait on calm seas and no wind but be

had to battle against a strong head wind and

choppy sea as we crossed Sitka Sound. The

wind was building to force 5/6 as we passed

Lisianski Peninsula. We briefly considered turn-

ing back to Olga but we could see Sitka ahead

and we just paddled on with heads down until

we reached the shore. Hugs all round for the

safe completion of another S.E. Alaska wilder-

ness kayaking trip. Here's to good kayaking

buddies!!

This was my 4th wilderness kayaking trip

to SE Alaska and the best so far. My first was

to Glacier Bay in 1999, 2nd to Misty Fiords,

2002 and Glacier Bay 2006.

The following is the report filed by member of

the ECSKC club after an incident near Howth

earlier this year. It has not been altered apart

from using initials rather than names, simply to

avoid these reports popping up when names

are ‘googled’ in the online version.

Howth Incident Report

On Saturday 8th January 2011, eleven

paddlers of mixed ability assembled for the club

paddle from Howth Harbour to be led by MF

and WC. This number included the two leaders,

MF and WC.

The skillset in the group ranged from

basic level of sea kayaker competence to level

3. Two river paddlers who indicated to MOF be-

forehand that they had good river paddling ex-

perience were found to be very slow once they

got on the water. Another paddler was using an

old boat which had no skeg.

When checked at the start, there were

only two radios in the group (carried by the

leaders) and limited amounts of tow ropes and

18



spare paddles in the group.

The weather forecasted morning of 8th

January 2011 was Westerly F4 and gusting.

The wind was forecast to rise to F5 and back to

a WSW direction. The tide was flooding with

Dublin full tide due at 13:53 (3M range).

The intention was to have separate easy

and intermediate trips. Because of the shortage

of leaders and L3+ paddlers (in support) we

formed one group.

The group headed off at 10:30 towards

the Baily and went approx 500M along the

coast beyond the Baily before returning towards

Howth Harbour. The range of experience in the

group meant that we ‘regrouped’ regularly to

allow the slow paddlers to catch up with the

leaders.

On our return at around 13:00 the group

paused at the Nose of Howth. At this stage

some of the paddlers were struggling with the

distances involved (one of these was being

towed) while other paddlers wanted to visit Ire-

land’s Eye.

The group split at the nose of Howth and

MOF headed for Howth harbour taking the

weaker paddlers. Wc took group of four pad-

dlers, the stronger paddlers, towards Ireland's

Eye. The focus of this report is the incident that

this group was involved in.

The weather conditions were F4 westerly

with no white caps or breaking waves, bright

and sunny. CS was out in front setting the pace.

Just short of the deep water channel marker (E)

MOF radioed to say he thought WC’s group

were drifting East, but WC responded that they

were okay as WC deliberately stayed 30M to

the right (East) to watch the group. WC did no-

tice breaking waves on Thulla Island and

thought he would have trouble landing on the

west side of Ireland's Eye. On reaching the is-

land the group stopped for a short rest and WC

told the group they might not be able to land on

the West side and suggested we might look for

a landing on this (East) side or near the Martello

tower. They proceeded through the gap at the

sea stack and turned due West. The wind was

much stronger, reaching F5/6, and seemed to

funnel along the cliffs. They made progress

slowly to just short of the Martello tower where

they had a brief rest.

Meanwhile, MOF took the slow paddlers

back to Howth Harbour in one group (total of 6

paddlers). When MOF got to the Mouth of

Howth Harbour he noticed that there was a

strong gale across the mouth of the harbour. He

left the paddlers in the safety of Howth Harbour

and paddled along the West side of Ireland’s

Eye in a strengthening wind to meet the other

paddler group. WC led the way through the gap

between Steer Rock and the Martello Tower.

The wind was definitely stronger. The group

was following (20M behind) and progress was

slow. Just as he got through the gap he heard a

19



shout and looked behind to see everything

looked okay. Proceeding on for 30 - 40M to see

if MOF was coming, as arranged, WC caught

sight of MOF coming along the coast. WC then

turned and re-entered the channel and found

DF rescuing CS with difficulty. He asked NC to

watch out for MOF and assisted DF. CS stated

he was unable to paddle up the gap between

the Martello Tower and The Steer against the

strengthening wind.

When we regrouped we decided to re-

trace our path on the East of Ireland’s Eye to

shorten the distance of exposure to the wind.

We pulled in to land at an inlet on the south-

east corner to reassess the situation, to eat and

get warm.

This advanced group consisted of the fol-

lowing paddlers;

WC •DF • CS • COS • NC • MOF (who

met up with this group later)

While in the shelter of the inlet we de-

cided to portage to the beach (a distance of

30M) and launch from there to shorten the route

to Howth. When we launched some paddlers

(CS and COS) had difficulty controlling their

boats and were worried about making headway

against what was now F5/F6 wind. CS’s boat

was an old design without a skeg and caught

the wind, making it difficult to handle when

broadside against strong winds. We abandoned

this attempt to paddle across to Howth.

We considered alternative ways to get back to

Howth such as towing and a number of factors

were considered:

• The winds were forecast to remain

strong from the same direction; • CS felt he

could not keep direction in the conditions pres-

ent; • Two other paddlers (COS and Niall) were

not confident that they could make headway

against the wind; • The three experienced pad-

dlers would be committed (to helping / towing)

from the start with the risk that there would be

no reserve or added support if the situation de-

teriorated;

and escorting the stranded paddlers (two at a

time) by relay would be a long process

especially for those to be taken out on the sec-

ond relay. This would pose a risk of hypother-

mia for that second group.

MOF took the safest option and con-

tacted the Coast Guard for assistance. The

Coast Guard contacted the Howth RNLI at

14:40 who dispatched a rib and their Trent class

boat. The rib ferried paddlers and kayaks to the

larger Trend Class boat and brought them

safely to the RNLI slipway in Howth. While we

waited for assistance DF lit a fire and boats

were secured back on the island.

Comments:

• The decision to head out for Ireland’s

Eye was the key decision of the day. We did not

appreciate the effect of rising wind speed on a

more exposed location around Ireland’s Eye.

• A safer approach would have been to

head for Howth Harbour and make out for Ire-

land’s Eye. This would have allowed everyone

to make better use of the shelter provided by

Howth Harbour wall against the easterly winds.

• The decision to call for assistance was

made promptly while paddlers were not in dan-

ger and relatively comfortable.

• There is clearly an interest among club

‘Newbies’ in paddling on the North side but this

is not matched by numbers of experienced pad-

dlers to accompany such trips. There were only

four L3+ experienced paddlers on the trip (in-

cluding leaders) and only the two leaders had

radios.

The event is published in the Howth

RNLI web site and on their Facebook page.

There are some inconsistencies and inaccura-

cies on these immediate postings and the Face-

book version is the more accurate. MOF posted

a ‘thank you’ to the Facebook page and RNLI

reminded him that they are holding a fundrais-

ing SOS day on 28th January

http://www.rnli.org.uk/sosday2011/.

ECSKC should consider a more formal

‘thank you’ to the RNLI for the prompt work they

did.

Report compiled by MOF and WC

20



Ulster Circumnav 2011

This summer Richard Lineham and

Gethin Thomas are going to sea kayak 350

miles around the province of Ulster in Ireland.

The circumnavigation of Ulster will involve pad-

dling the coast of Northern Ireland, Donegal and

crossing Ireland from Dundalk to Ballyshannon

using rivers and loughs.

In May 2009 Richard's wife (Alex) was

diagnosed with terminal cancer started on a

course of Chemotherapy that would last nearly

18 months to slow down the spread of cancer.

During this time Alex made a conscious deci-

sion to keep living life to the full and even 3

days before her death was still organising a

party. Over her last 18 months Alex managed

to raise over £9,000 pounds for charity. Alex

lost her battle with cancer on the 10th Septem-

ber 2010.

Whilst Alex was sick Macmillan were ab-

solute stars helping Alex come to terms with her

diagnosis and making sure that she had all the

help and support that she needed. After Alex

passed away Macmillan were still there and

helped Rich get back on my feet.

The team are aiming to raise £3500 for

Macmillan cancer support so other people can

receive the same help as Rich and Alex.

Macmillan provide information services, can-

celling, complementary therapies, nurses and

endless cups of tea.

To find out more about the circumnaviga-

tion visit www.ulstercircumnavigation2011.co.uk

to find more about the great work that Macmil-

lan cancer support carry out visit www.macmil-

lan.org.uk

The trip is being kindly sponsored by P

and H Custom Sea Kayaks and Reed

Chillcheater.

Ireland to IOMCrossing

by Conor Murray

We made it...the Isle of Man at last! The

harbour wall of Peel (a small harbour on the

west coast) seemed to take an age to reach.

We had been on the go for eleven and a half

hours and about six of those were spent staring

straight at our destination, but we had done it!

It’s funny that I only felt a small sense of

achievement as we hauled the boats and

stashed them under the pier. Just like climbing

Everest, when you’re at the top you’re only half

way there. We still needed to find accommoda-

tion, eat and oh yes, that small matter of getting

back to Ireland the next day. The ferry service

from the IOM is sketchy to say the least and in

the original plan we were to paddle just one

way. On this particular weekend we knew there

was no ferry and the two way trip was the only

option! But the weather, tides and weekend all

arrived at once and this was the chance we’d

been waiting for.

Many of the hotels and B&B’s in Peel

have closed or have converted to restaurants

and so we were lucky to get a late cancellation

in the very last B&B on the seafront and were

delighted that we didn’t have to bivvy out. We

sat in a daze in the local chipper, just staring out

to sea in a surreal state as the sun set over

Peel castle. It was like we were having a quick

rest before continuing on! The original plan was21



to depart Peel at 0500. This was to allow for the

end of the weather window on Sunday evening,

when the wind was forecast to pick up and

change direction. But there was no way either

of us could make it back on 4 hours sleep. So

we decided to sleep in and would be on the

water at 0800 instead.

It was a perfect morning. Not a breeze or

a ripple on the sea. The sun shone and I won-

dered what an elderly couple who were taking a

morning stroll would say if they knew where we

were going. In fact the idea of paddling this dis-

tance offshore seems absurd, even to most

kayakers. But to some it’s just another aspect to

the sport. Performanceseakayak.co.uk suggest

that if you want to do an open crossing then

IOM should be on your list and that the planning

and training can be as much of the challenge as

the event! We had planned and trained and

planned some more and this was what got us

excited. Being on an adventure is addictive and

life on the open sea is good. Paddle, chat, listen

to music, eat, drink and pee, what more could

one ask for?

It’s amazing how the body and mind ad-

justs to that vast expanse of sea. Learning how

to deal with the endless horizon and rhythm of

the paddle is part of the challenge. Is it boring?

Well, it reminds me of my first long haul flight as

a teenager, where I couldn’t sleep and stayed

alert to every little sensation. Listening, watch-

ing and feeling everything. Space, time and per-

spective get lost at An approaching ship, or a

distant horizon, everything seems to move in

slow motion. The idea of staring at nothing for

long periods of time may seem boring but I’ve

never found it so. I think it’s the notion that

somewhere in the back of your mind you know

this is serious.

So, we were off again. It took the usual

30 minutes to let all the morning aches settle

and soon we were gliding through the smooth

sea. We had a good rhythm and a great day at

sea ahead of us. 10km offshore and without

warning I heard a loud blow and about 200m

right in front of me a large animal appeared, its

fin tall and pointing straight up. Not like the por-

poise or dolphin fin that I’m used to. It was black

with a patch of grey behind the fin but I had no

idea what it was. Then some minutes later we

heard more blows and 1km away we saw the

same tall fins of 2 or 3 animals. What was in-

credible was the noise. We could hear the

whoosh, whoosh of the blows and only now and

again see them. I wanted to follow them but we

had a job to do and another 45km to go, so we

had to keep pushing on. What we didn’t realise

at the time was what we had witnessed had

been a small pod of Orca’s. On arriving home I

got out my fin identification book and covered

over all the names. There was no mistaking

them. Sometimes we see wonderful and rare

events without realising it! I’ve been scanning

the sea ever since in hope of seeing another!

I enjoy playing silly games to pass the

time and would keep an eye on the time by an-

nouncing at each milestone, “3 hours done –

that’s a club trip! 6 hours in – that’s a full day

club trip! 9 hours out – that’s a full day peer

paddle!” And we still had over 5 hours to go,

enough to make one laugh out loud! Other

small things keep one amused, like the Fulmar

that becomes your friend for a few minutes as

he circles or calling to the passing Gannets as

they stare down “whacha lookin’ at!”

The journey both ways had been perfect.

Steady paddling with flat calm water. I had even

thought to myself – this could be done as a club

trip – well maybe not quite! Then sea conditions

began to change as the wind increased. The re-

turn leg had a different atmosphere, not helped

by the fact that we were paddling to the end of a

very distinct weather window. The morning fore-

cast had predicted fog and wind “later”, later

being defined as 12 hours or more, and we

knew we’d still be out there at that time. We

suited up as the waves splashed over the boats

but by now we were on the home straight. The

home straight being 20km out made me laugh

again! We put the heads down. It’s hard pad-

dling into the setting sun and it makes land-

marks difficult to spot but we felt confident as

we sighted the South Rock tower on the hori-

zon. I felt uneasy as the wind gradually

changed to the north and it wasn’t long before

the hardest part of a 115km journey was about

22



to unfold.

We were taking a break and I was pee-

ing away into my bottle (another joy of the open

crossing) when I noticed the first signs of trou-

ble. I remember asking Claire to take a bearing

on the tower and I’d explain why in a minute.

Before I had filled the bottle the South Rock

tower had disappeared! A sea fog had rolled

down the coast to about 6km offshore. We had

a bearing and ETA to the tower and then

Losing one of your senses after all your other

senses are struggling is hard. Visibility was 20

metres. Trying to focus after 13 hours on the

sea was going to be tough but absolutely es-

sential. But we couldn’t afford to make mis-

takes. We had to keep everything tight as we

knew there was no VHF coverage in the area.

And having the Belfast Coast Guard’s phone

number was little use as a rescue in such condi-

tions would be near impossible. From entering

the fog I had calculated 25 minutes to the tower.

But making land was all that really mattered.

We paddled hard as the wind increased again.

As we approached the shallower water close to

some reefs we could hear the waves breaking

but couldn’t see a thing.

On reaching the point where the tower

was supposed to be, but wasn’t, we took a new

bearing. As soon as we headed off and no more

than 30 metres away the South Rock tower

loomed out of the mist, a good sign and a boost

of confidence too. A small race south of the

tower made going tough and difficult to keep

our bearing as we were being surfed off course.

We were going parallel to the land but paddling

across the breaking waves would not be the

wisest decision in the world. Staying close to-

gether was hard. We kept on checking each

other by shouting over the noise of the wind and

waves. Things happen fast in these situations

and decisions have to be made quickly, so I re-

acted to deteriorating conditions.

We tacked to the north west to minimise

the chance of capsize or separation. I kept note

of our bearing and time travelled on it in the

event of having to relocate. In the fog time

slows down. We both felt as if we

Everything was swirling. We tacked south west

again. Knowing that land had to be close we

kept our focus sharp. And then we smelt it.

Land! It wasn’t the sight of land but the smell of

it that brought smiles to our faces. And within

minutes the sea state had eased off. We were

obviously entering a sheltered area and then

the first jagged rocks appeared. We entered a

small cove 2km north of Kearney at 2215 (14

hours 15 minutes after leaving) in the thick fog

and dark.

The relief was immense and maybe I

over reacted but I kept thinking that this wasn’t

over until we were safely back in Belfast. I

grabbed down jackets and warm hats from

hatches and made sure we had a snack and a

drink. At the end of the trail to the beach was a

house and although we had a trolley with us, we

chanced it and rang the bell. The woman of the

house got a bit of a fright when she saw two

crazy wide eyed kayakers trying to explain what

had happened. She kindly gave us a lift down

the road and we began packing for home.

At midnight, forty one hours after leaving

Belfast we arrived back at the door and stum-

bled inside. I didn’t have the same sensation as

for the Scotland crossing. There was no jump-

ing for joy or whoops of excitement, just the

feeling inside that we had done something big.

We had used every last ounce of energy, all our

skills and determination and we had made it.

Since then, some friends have noticed a

change in me. And yes, I did have a few quiet

weeks afterwards but my search for adventure

at sea hasn’t ceased. I’d like to think I’m plan-

ning something big in the future, but who

knows!

22/23 May 2010

Kayakers: Conor Murray and Claire Hughes

(Belfast Kayak Club)

Kearney, Northern Ireland to Peel, Isle of Man.

Distance: 60nm. Time: 11 hours 30 min/

14hours 15min

Wildlife: Puffin, Shearwater, Gannet, Fulmar,

Porpoise, Dolphin, Seal, Orca, Sea Otter, Jelly-

fish; Lions Mane, Barrel, Common, Sea goose-

berries.

23



A Gesture of SolidarityNI to Scotland

by Tadhg de Barra

Three weeks before.

Perfect weather. Heat haze. I found Don-

aghadee and found a 24-hour garage and found

an early opening greasy spoon. Travelling to

any new place, you worry about necessities

such as food, toilet and water. Of course, I

would find them. Why worry? People there must

eat, drink and toilet too. I thought the kayak was

ready. I thought I was ready. I went out, south of

the Copelands.

For me there is only one real threshold in

sea kayaking, that of going beyond my wading

depth. Going out farther than I can swim is no

threshold. Only vaguely do I know how far I can

swim. And I do know enough about tide, wind

and temperatures to know that assumptions of

swimming distance are unreliable. No, for me,

there is only one threshold, that of going from

the coast father than you can wade home and

after that you are at sea and it does not matter if

it is fifty meters or miles.

I had done my calculations, my tidal

planning. I was satisfied with my weather win-

dow. The only unsatisfactory element was that I

could not see Scotland on the other side, which

I had hoped to do. For me, it is all about stack-

ing positives in my favour and reducing my vul-

nerability- let me explain; Much

research into “tragic accidents” shows that they

rarely occur in the wake of a single catastrophic

event. Far more likely is that they occur as a re-

sult of a series of negative events which, each

having occurred in succession, finally result in a

terminal event. Unfortunately, much of our psy-

chology focuses on the terminal event, much to

the neglect of preceding and contributory

events. Aware of this insight, I try to use it when

paddling solo. I am always wary of negative

events which though in and of themselves be-

nign and non threatening could if preceding

other negative events, constitute a threat to me.

Every negative event causes me to reassess

my vulnerability to further events. For example,

forgetting a water bottle is not life threatening

per se but dehydration will make me more fa-

tigued by the end of my paddle and fatigue will

impair my decision making and dull my eskimo

roll. Will I have critical decisions to make at the

end of the paddle- is it likely that I will need my

roll?

To counter this slippery slope to tragedy,

I am constantly and actively trying to stack posi-

tive events in my favour. One such positive

event would be to have the Scottish coast in

view. This would mean a negative event such

as a GPS breakage or compass falling over-

board would be less threat to me. However

while I didn't have the Scottish coast in view, I

was satisfied with the level of risk I was assum-

ing- the GPS was working and tethered! I went

to sea.

One never know how one will feel on the

eve of a big paddle. Physically, you are quite

wary of having an off day. Just as some days,

you cannot feel the blades and all is smooth

and clean, there are rare off days when the

paddles seem leaden and the kayak appears to

be towing a bucket. You are just feeling yourself

out making sure you are not having one of

those rare off days. You will not feel the same

as your best training day paddle. The kayak will

be heavier in the water, with all your added

safety gear and you will be overdressed, over-

hydrated, over-fed, over-caffeinated and over-

excited. It takes time to settle.

But it did. As I paddled out to sea, all felt

good. However, on the water, things were not

happening as they should. I primarily use a

GPS for reading my speed and my speed was

down despite knowing that I was making a rea-

sonable effort. Similarly, the direction of drift of

my kayak on the tide was not as I had antici-

pated. I was drifting quite rapidly north when I

expected to be ferry gliding north across the

south going flood. This was not right. This was

quite a “negative event!” My tidal planning was

off – on a run whose crux demands accurate

24



25


tidal planning. On my first big crossing. I was

not happy. This was a fundamental error and I

recognised it as such. It immediately under-

mined my confidence in my ability to safety ac-

complish this crossing. No Scotland in view and

now this! I had an image of myself hurtling

down a slippery slope.

I turned around and paddled back to

Donaghadee, my tail between my legs but curi-

ous to know what had gone wrong. Incidentally,

the paddle back to Donaghadee south of the

Copelands was quite a slog- another anomaly.

Subsequent analysis showed two contributory

factors to the error in tidal planning. Firstly, in

my excitement to get the crossing done, I had

launched an hour or so early. While I was

aware, I was doing this, I hadn't factored this

into my tidal planning. Thus on my planning

sheet on my deck, I didn't have an explanation

for what was happening on the water around

me, which unnerved me. Also, the tides on the

NI side of the crossing tend to be stronger and

more sustained. Thus at HW Dover, while flow

may be a minimal 0.2 knots of flood in the mid-

dle of the channel, it is still ebbing northerly

near the Copelands at an impressive 1.2 knots.

A lesson learned. Second, as I was heading

back into shore an hour later, the southern rim

of the Copelands was channeling the ebb

against me, further increasing its strength.

Fortunately, I had the fitness to make good

progress through that.

Two weeks before.

Perfect weather again. I had sorted the tidal

planning issues and my confidence had re-

turned. I managed to get a day off work and

headed north in blazing sunshine. I hoped to be

able to see Scotland this time. It was five days

into a High Pressure system and all was settled.

The wind predictions were so good I thought I

might meet other paddlers making the crossing.

Is it still a solo paddle if there are others on the

water near you? I became resentful. Unneces-

sarily so. I remember peeking at the sea

through the rows of redbrick houses as I en-

26



tered Donaghadee and my heart sinking. Fog.

Thick fog, as bad as I had seen it. The air

cooled dramatically as I neared the harbour, in-

dicating that the fog was well established. Fog

is a significant negative event. Apart from the

navigation and sea-sickness difficulties,

chances of a rescue craft finding a kayak in fog

are small. It greatly worsened my vulnerability.

Perhaps the fog may have cleared out at sea

but this as not an assumption I was prepared to

make. I went for a paddle late that afternoon-

again in fog to test my navigation skills and pad-

dled around the Copelands. I could see little ev-

idence of the fog clearing further out from land

and the ships in the channel were still using

foghorns. I returned home quite frustrated. Is

this crossing a runner? More than that, I won-

dered if my demands for “perfect” sea condi-

tions were unrealistic? Was my risk

minimisation unreasonable and incompatible

with a sea crossing or sea kayaking in general?

Lesson learned; go early in your High Pressure

system. More research on fog, its types, its for-

mation and its unpredictability. Again I waited.

The day of.

Early July. Perfect weather window. Marching

season. I passed tens of unlit bonfires on my

way up to Donaghadee, which despite its obvi-

ously Gaelic name (Domhnach Daoi, meaning

"Daoi’s church") is predominantly Protestant.

The town was festooned with Union Jacks.

Bored ex-army types wondered the streets –

larger cans, military surplus clothing, smashed

noses, weathered skin - a self appointed under-

class who owned the streets this month. Much

like Paddy's Day when the Irish village drunk is

king for a day. Here I was with my southern reg

car and stupid looking boat on the roof... But

Scotland was in view. I left contact details on

the windscreen as I often do during a long pad-

dle and again chatted to Belfast CG, who have

always been amiable. There was a light

northerly wind F2/3 but it was with a flooding

tide so they together calmed the sea wonder-

fully. It did not take long to see Killantringan

lighthouse about 2kms north of Port Patrick.

You know you are well out to sea when ships

under full steam are passing both behind and in

front of you. I tended to only look forward to-

ward my destination rather than looking back to

see what sort of trouble I had gotten myself into.

It is a cliché with crossings that you paddle for

hours without landmarks appearing to come any

closer to you but.... The trick was to focus on

landmarks around your target and only episodi-

cally check your target. Then you begin to no-

tice its slow steady increase in size. The closer

you get to your destination, the more you have

to fight the urge to point the bow at it. But you

must maintain your predesignated heading be-

cause the tide continues to work close to the

coast. I pulled into Port Patrick four hours and

nine minutes after setting out. Normally I advo-

cate paddling home on crossings, toward the fa-

miliar, but there is a unique thrill to have

paddled to a different country in your kayak.

The accents were different, the money

was different, the signs were different and I

found this different place in my little kayak. After

washing the sea salt from my face, I sat in the

sun and ate a hearty pub meal enjoying the

sense of otherworldliness. After an hour or two,

the tide had turned and I took to the sea again.

While the normal habit is to paddle home, my

sole resolution was to complete the crossing.

When I got back out to sea, my light northerly

was now a wind blowing against an ebbing tide.

The sea state had picked up. Not significantly,

but there were white caps all about. I paddled

out a kilometre or so and studied my GPS as I

did so. My speed in the rougher water had

dropped. A quick calculation informed me that I

would probably arrive to Donaghadee close to

dusk. I was not happy with this situation. Thus I

elected to paddle to Stranraer and get the ferry

home the next morning. In terms of distance, it

was much the same. Another 40kms. But it

meant that any paddling in the dark would be

done inside the sheltered waters of Loch Ryan.

I saw a little of Scotland as I paddled around the

“Rhins of Galloway,” the hammer head penin-

sula is which Portpatrick sits. I pulled into Kil-

lantringan Bay to phone home to inform them of

my change in plan. The peninsula is a wild

place. To find mobile phone coverage, I had to

27



climb a high hillock on the northern side of the

bay.

I was quite fatigued by the time I rounded

Corsewall lighthouse. I had been battling a light

headwind for twenty kms. As could be ex-

pected, the wind died toward evening depriving

me of a tailwind down Loch Ryan. It was a safe

if slow painful 20kms slog with regular food

stops and shoulder stretches down to Stranraer.

My opinion of golf has always been low. I

concur with Mark Twains view of it as a “long

walk ruined.” Its jowly adherents, a bunch

whose sense of social exclusion is as well de-

veloped as their paunches have destroyed

some of Ireland's greatest beauty spots. Sorry

but hitting a ball into a hole in a field with a stick

is not a sport and will never rank alongside sub-

two ten marathon or summiting a Col in the

Tour. Yet again, golf was to incur my wrath. As I

hobbled around the streets of Stranraer, dead

on my feet, I found all the B+Bs booked out be-

cause the Scottish Open was in town. Drunken

golfers spilled out of pubs. Needless to say, my

yellow drysuit attracted some less than inspired

comments which the protagonists chums found

hilarious. In the end, I rang the harbour master

and got permission to camp on the yachting

harbour pontoon for the night. It required some

elaborate rope work as my small Hilleberg Akto

is not self supporting. Behind the locked har-

bour gate, rocking gently on the pontoon, with

my trusty kayak beside me, I slept the sleep of

the dead.

The next morning, I wheeled the kayak to

the ferry to Larne and from there took a taxi

down to Donaghadee to collect my car. The

driver was another ex-army type. He had spent

a lot of time in London, a city we both liked. He

carried two phones on his dashboard, one for

the girlfriend and the other for the “ather

w’man.” It was 13th of July, the morning after

the 12th celebrations. He confided that he had

had a difficult job juggling the two interested

parties for during the previous night's celebra-

tions but eventually had had to choose. He ex-

pected consequences this morning.

When he heard that I had kayaked

across to Scotland on the 12th of July, he was

full of congratulations. I believe he assumed I

was a fellow Loyalist and the kayak trip was a

gesture of solidarity toward my Scottish

brethren across the channel.

Before he could delve further into my

motivations, one of his phones rang. He was left

with some explaining to do. Having passed a

succession of scorched craters where the bon-

fires once stood, we finally pulled into Don-

aghadee. I was left alone with my motivations

and thoughts of the sea.

Basic Trip Info;

Typical plan is over and back in one/ two days.

Access small dingy harbour 500m north of main

harbour in Donaghadee Landfall Portpatrick-

use Killantringan Light 2kms north of Portpatrick

to guide you acrossSlow crossing is 7 hours-

fast 4 hours.

Leave half an hour either side of HW Belfast

from NI side to avoid small overfalls that can

form near LW

Contact Belfast CG giving Trip Plan /ETAs

Ships/Ferries no problem

Ideally use a still windless day- remember wind

with tide will calm and wind against will pick the

seas up

Do near neaps

Typical bearing off is around 22 degrees

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