Weather

I had days off on Wednesday and Thursday this week. I checked the weather on Tuesday to see if paddling was going to be possible, both days were a bit windy so I arranged to go swimming on Wednesday.

Tuesday night was stormy but Wednesday morning was lovely with an unpredicted light easterly wind which would have meant a nice playfull surf over at Balintore. I was struggling up and down the pool instead.

I am rubbish at swimming and it's something I have never liked. A few years ago ( when I was fit ) I did the Highland Cross and whilst training I was doing 17 mile runs and 50 mile cycles. I still couldn't swim more than 4 lengths without stopping !

Anyway, back on subject Muzz. Last night I decided I was going paddling just before it turned bad again. This morning it was still bad and it's been getting worse.



I'm going to give paddling a miss today.

Like the other day it doesn't look that bad eh ? Believe me it is.







No I'm not going swimming again. Now where's those cakes...

OK, The Bike It Is.

After yesterdays prematurely aborted paddle, I decided to take a leaf out of Douglas' book and go out on the bike.
I first built this thing in 1995, I ordered the frame a Kona Cindercone and then added a STX RC groupset and a few X-Lite bits and the Rock shox forks. Last summer I had to put a new groupset on it.



I tend to cycle from the house so there's always tarmac involved in my cycles. This one leads me from Invergordon around the side of Cnoc Cor Guinie OS Grid Ref 671,754.




This is the first tarmac climb at Tomich hill 700,709.



We are now at the top of the road climb and this is looking back from the scotsburn road at 693,730



I had taken the jacket off but had to put it back on about here, the last wee bit of road before getting to the hill.



At last we are close to the bottom of the hill, this is the farm at Inchindown 690,743 and the sun is out !



The start of the hill climb is also a wee bit of tar :-)



This soon turns into forestry track proper.



And we start to get some views. This one out towards the Sutors where I have paddled, remember the pictures of the gun emplacements ?



As the track gets steeper,



and steeper



Yahoo, I'm at the top and didn't even use the granny ring !



On the way back I noticed that more windmills had appeared on the horizon, not really visible on this pic



but zooming in a bit reveals them



I can actually see another set form my house so they are kind of IMBY but I'm still not a NIMBY.

We now join the Struie road and caution is advised coming back down



Some roads are still suffering from recent flood damage.



A wee detour took me home along the back of Alness. Total time taken today was 2hrs 20 minutes. Just went to check my records and I don't even have an entry for this route, I'm sure I'll beat this time if I go out again and don't keep stopping to take photos.

Quite A Windy Wee Paddle

I had good intentions today of doing a 15k paddle around the firth. On waking I heard the rain rattling off the windows and knew I was in for some fun.
I packed the gear anyway and launched from my usual spot into the jaws of the wind.
The rain had abated by this time and the waves weren't too big, but the wind was a real bummer. I have checked my nearest met office weather station and it says 22mph with gusts of 40mph.
I could see the gusts coming and had to dip my head into them, like being on the road bike.
Here's my attempt at getting a photo.



And another try.



And finally I got one, as you can see the waves aren't really a problem, this was just before rounding a corner where there was even less protection from the wind. You can see the effect of wind on the waves here though.



I turned back soon after this, managed to turn the GPOS on where I was doing 4.5kph without paddling. A nice gentle stroke was giving me a 8.9kph, great paddle back.

My put in point was no longer going to be a take out point as it was now HW so I continued until I found the nearest bit of beach.

Angle up, paddle paddle, quickly rip of spray deck and --- DOH! --- boat swamped.
I bloody always get swamped when getting out in breaking waves.

I then had a wee walk along the sea front to get the boat back home, with the boat on the Eckla trolley of course.

About My Drysuit

I was fortunate enough to be telling a friend of mine about my interest in Sea Kayaking. They enquired as to the type of wetsuit I wore and I replied that I wore a 'longjohn' and a dry cag, but that I was looking for a drysuit. They had one in their locker at work which they hadn't used and I could have it, I told them I would give them something in return.

-For Tech Info On The Suit-

The locker was on a north sea oil platform, I had no idea what it would be like. It came home two weeks later and I gave them four bottles of single malt for it.

The suit is a three layer affair.

From drysuit

Polychlal knit outer, whatever that is, then a Goretex middle, and a fleece inside, very nice.

Now the fit isn't great as my pal is bigger than me but it does the job. Prepare for some great posing in the next two pics !





It has a cork screw style zip starting at the top back and ending where it can be used as a relief zip.



Heres the nice soft fleece inner, there's also loads of space for thermal base layers and fleece's if it's really nippy.



Here's the collar which occasinaly lets a drip or two in, but makes my normal touring cag feel like a sieve.



Not sure what this thing would cost to buy and I don't know if other sea kayaking drysuits have fleece liners ? I get the whisky for nothing so it didn't really cost me anything :-)

Another Nice Wee Paddle

I went out again today, from the slip to a place we call the donkey bridge. There was a steady breeze, 10mph according to the met office. The tide had benn ebbing for about one hour, going with the wind. I sauntered along at a steady 5kph.
Everything was nice and the boat was doing well. I reached the harbour and was now in the full wind and full tide, the water was bouncing off the harbour wall so I had to paddle through some very interesting clapotis, it was fun.
I passed by the Queens Dock where I saw these two characters.

From Birds

Now these things were brown and I think they are Shags but if anyone reckons they are Cormorants please put me straight.
After the Queens Dock I had to turn right, this had the waves hitting me side on for a while but the boat was fine. I carried on to the donkey bridge where I had myself a wee rest.
I started back knowing that I would now have the wind and tide to help me. I looked at the GPS which reported 8kph. When I approached the point of the Dock again the clapotis were a lot bigger than before although I managed to avoid the biggest ones. Paddling along by the harbour now and I was doing 9.5 kph ! Ahh this was great, the boat was rocking about but making great headway at normal paddling. After the harbour I only got a wee bit more wind then was sheltered from it the rest of the way home.

Before I got out of the boat I carried out some edged sweep strokes, feeling confident I decided to go for a roll.
Bingo ! rolled up no problem, but the water is getting cold now so I didn't bother doing anything else after that.

Seat Lowering V2

I wanted to put blocks inside the boat between the seat and the deck where I had only a bolt and lockniys before, just to relieve any strain on the deck.
Something very stiff was needed but with a tiny bit of flex, something that wouldn't corrode. Blocks of wood were considered and high density foam but these didn't quite fit the bill, metal was right out.
Then it came to me, plastic pipe. I found a length in the shed and it was a perfect fit.



I had toyed with the idea of fitting a longer piece so that I could add mat to make thigh pads but it would have been a job getting enough padding on and being able to fit it between the pipe and the side of the boat.



I'm going to get thinner pipe, make up some hip pads then slide it into the pipe I have fitted, make adjustments then glue or screw into place.
I also added a foam block behind the seat for more stability.



And for good measure a big one under the front of the seat.



Now if that isn't stable I'm going to have to weld in a metal one !

Black Isle Stability Check

Today I was able to have a wee paddle over to the Black Isle.
I set off from the slip, my usual departure site for trips in the firth.



I noticed the difference from lowering the seat immediately, much better stability. I was quite surprised how much better the boat felt.

Paddled under the 'smelter pier'.

This used to have a conveyer belt running from the end right into the Aluminium Smelter. Now wagons roll up and down to load and unload various other cargoes.


I then headed towards the end of the Admiralty pier to make the crossing.


Near the other side I manged to get some shots of the other stuff in the firth, it's usually rigs in for repairs.


Here's the view back to the Admiralty Pier.


On the Black Isle I stopped for a coffee.




Then headed back. On the way into the tide and a wee breeze the GPS reported 6.6 - 6.9 kph. It was now telling me 7.5kph this is similar to what I was getting before the seat lowering. The twitchiness I felt last week seems to have disappeared too. I got some pics on the way back.


You can see Ben Wyvis behind this rig.


I also spotted the object that I hit last week when it was submerged, a big bloody tyre !


And that was it, I am happy with the seat lowering results. No, I am very happy. There seemed to be no movement, the seat is quite frimly pinned hard to the hull against the additional foam. I may still put blocks between the seat and the deck just to be on the safe side.
A nice paddle.

Lowering The Seat On P&H Sirius

After reading Douglas Wilcox' writings about improving stability on the P&H boats fitted with a plastic seat, I decided to give it a go.

The first problem was removing the seat. After removing the securing bolts I was able to slide the seat about so it was not glued to the hull but I simply could not get the thing out. I wonder how P&H ever got the thing in there, maybe it's heated up to make it more pliable ?

Drastic measures were needed, I cut it in half !





I then removed the excess foam from underneath. I bought some more M8 bolts, nylock nuts and washers. The seat was replaced and taped back together.



I then added more foam to the front to stabilise the seat, 'glueing' it to the seat with silicon sealant. I think the front part of the seat is close to what it was originally.



The bolts were put in and in the absence of nylon washers I used PTFE tape to make a seal. I screwed nylocks and washers on the inside to fasten the bolts and then another nylock and washer before passing the bolt through the seat, this was to keep the seat pushed down.If this proves too unstable I may add small blocks of foam or wood.



You can see the gap between the seat and the deck in the above pic. There used to be no gap here with the seat bolted hard up against it.

I fitted one more set of nylocks and washers to the underside of the seat.

A small piece of foam was needed at the back.



Everything was tightened up and the seat pad replaced to hide the tape. My butt now sits 40mm nearer the bottom of the boat.

From Seat Lowering

I couln't get out to see the difference today as the weather is crap again.