Castle and Seals

Today we had another private lesson, this time with Barry who we found through our local canoe club. We launched from Roa Island, once more received feedback on out techniques and then headed off on a trip. Throughout the day Barry introduced more new skills and helped up improve the ones we have gathered so far. We went out past Piel Island and around below the ruined castle. To get to Piel we had to cross the shipping channel out of Barrow, this seemed extremely busy today (nice weather and a Bank Holiday). The tidal flow was quite strong and was going against the wind making it a bit bumpy for us beginners, well for me anyway, Tina seemed to be at lot happier with the crossing. We then crossed over from Piel to the south of Walney Island, again the crossing seemed a little bumpy to me. This time it was not caused by the tidal stream but just the wind. I think with more experience in the kayak and once I have improved my skills, so that I can trust them, I’ll be happier. Anyway any discomfort on my part quickly disappeared once we were across to Walney, as well as sheltered water we were joined by the local seal population.

Some of the seals checking me out

These grey seals were extremely inquisitive and playful. At one stage I had three of them following me in my wake. Tina said it just looked like I was taking dogs for a walk. They got that close you would be paddling a long and then you felt a bump as they gave you a push from behind. I watched one of them keep contact with the stern of Tina’s kayak for a number of seconds, I’m sure I saw her kayak accelerate from the push. So to have the confidence and skills to come out here on our own and visit the seals is our first goal. This colony is about 4 miles from our house, why would we not want to be able to do this on a regular basis. South Walney (like North Walney) is a nature reserve and before heading back we also saw a number of Terns diving in the water catching fish or sand eels.

Whilst crossing back to Piel Barry showed us how to do a contact tow and a longer tow on a tow line. For the long tow Tina acted as the casualty and I supported her and her kayak whilst Barry towed us both. This time we came around the west side of Piel, the shipping lane was still busy,  once back on the other side we continued to practiced our skills and had a really good chat with Barry about the extra equipment we should carry. He also pointed out some modification I should make to our tow line.

Lesson on Windermere

Today we had a private lesson with Windermere Canoe and Kayak , this gave us chance to receive some feedback on our techniques and learn some new skills. We also tried a peer to peer rescue with Tina playing the part of the person in the water (I’m going to have to take on that part soon). It took a long time before she was able to get back in the kayak. We need to practice that a lot more until we get slick at it. We did not use our own kayaks today but used hire ones from the shop, I think this convinced us both that we have made the right decision with the ones we brought. The kayaks we had were OK but they both had things we did not like compared to our own. All in all it was another great day and Paul , our instructor, was really helpful.

We Take to the Water

16^th August - we managed to grab a few hours with the Kayaks on Coniston Water. We have canoed Coniston more times than we can remember so it’s a place we both know well and somewhere we feel comfortable to practice our kayaking skills.

18^th August - Another couple of hours spent with the kayaks out on Coniston today, looking to practice and add to our skills.

Tina paddling her Avocet

His and hers kayaks

Nottingham, “it’s a long way from the sea”

Drove back from Scotland yesterday with the Tiderace and today we headed off on another road trip, this time we headed to Nottingham so that Tina can take a look at the Valley Avocet. It seems a strange place to go to pick up a sea kayak. I know Tina really liked paddling the Avocet she used on the course earlier in the year and as soon as she saw this one she was sold on it. So that’s it we are both kitted out and ready to go.

Decision Made

We have spent most of last week on Mull and last night we stopped near Arisaig, but yesterday we made the decision and today headed back to Oban. We decided that I would have the Tiderace Xplore and Tina has been in touch with Desperate Measures Canoe shop in Nottingham, they have a thermoplastic Valley Avocet with a gel coat that she is interested in. Once more we spent some time with Chris at the Oban shop and not only brought the kayak but kitted both myself and Tina with the equipment we need to get started.

Having just picked up the kayak

Gear Fondling

We are holidaying on the west coast of Scotland, there is no intention of sea kayaking on this trip although we do plan to visit some great locations that may be used in the future when we are more experienced. We did however plan a visit to Oban and the sea kayaking shop and have even brought roof bar straps with us in case we make a purchase, the camper van pop up roof has a weight limit so we are limited to only taking one kayak home if we do. So today we went “gear fondling” in the Oban Sea Kayaking shop and had a great chat with Chris, one of the shop assistants. They have some kayaks that Tina is interested in and has researched but they also have a Tiderace Xplore. Now the Xplore I paddled on the three day course was an M and this is an L, my weight means I’m good for either and I know Willie thought I should have used the L that he had. I really loved the Tiderace on the course so I’m tempted, but even with the priced reduced by £500 it’s a lot of money. We are off to the Isle of Mull for about a week so that gives us time to mull it over (that’s a terrible pun and I must apologies for it).