Handling a Following Sea

I paddles down to the harbour today beacuse there's a 'jack-up' rig in and my wee boy wanted some pics of it.
Here's one if you're interested too?



The pic suffers from the water on the lense, I forgot I had a bit of chamoix (sp) in my BA. It was windy again today up to about 20mph I think, you can make it out on the water here:



I'm still not comfy going with the wind in this boat, despite reviews saying it was v. good at this, I still get moved about a bit.

Well today I experimented with the skeg, I found that a little bit of skeg and leaning back worked very well, better than full skeg or no skeg at all, I don't know why. I'll need to google for skeg use. My last boat had a rudder so it was either in or out.

Oh and another thing, both easytide and BBC tide Tables had the HW at 3.5m today, but the gauge on the harbour wall thinks differently.

From OilRig102_0228

Keel Strip Fitted

I got the boat back on Saturday, it was away getting a keel strip fitted. Neil Gray took three boats down to Edinburgh to have them done by a guy who makes his own kayaks.

First a couple of 'before' shots of the keel.





And here's what it looks like now.



The bow, not just squared off but tapered.



The stern is particularly well done



Around the skeg.



The long shot demonstrates how nicely it fits the boat, as if it always belonged there and was just missing from the original build.
Neil told me that the gadgy commented on how well built the Sirius was and it appears that he replicated the due care and attention in fitting the keel strip. Cheers to you whoever you are and a big thanks to Neil for taking the boat down.

Ah what the hell, I'm retro posing this bigger pic, just because I can !

My Local Surf Spot

In the last year, after learning to roll, I have on occasion visited a local East Coast beach to muck about in the surf. After checking magic seaweed I realised that Wednesday and Thursday would be good. I went out at HW on Thursday after picking the kids up from school, as the wife was nightshifting.

The site was great but I wouldn't have gone in even if I could have, there wasn't really any beach, tha water was right up to the dunes.

The next day I couldn't get anyone to go with me, I'm not confident enough in my abilities to go completely on my own, I at least need someone to watch me from the beach.

I took the camcorder and these are some screen grabs. This was 90 mins after low water on Thursday 22nd Feb. Balintore Beach.













I WILL RETURN !!

You Silly Id-uit

You know when you wake up with an idea in your head ? Well after the nightshift I awoke this morning thinking that I would take that wooden home made paddle down to the water, my Sea kayak is away right now so I had to use the wee thing.



The dog was wise and went back into the house. It was 8degC today with no wind, quite nice.

I went in with the normal paddle first and warmed up then did a couple of rolls. I then grabbed the wooden thingy. Very strange, I felt it was harder to control the boat's direction and also the stroke was not as smooth. The water seemed to judder past the blades which doesn't happen at all with the 'normal' paddle.

Anyway I tried to roll with it and had no luck. Another swim to the beach again today then, hands freezing and basically useless on reaching the shore.

I had another new bit of gear today which helped a lot with my 'head in the sea' moments. A friend bought me this for my birthday. He tried it on before giving it to me and was worried it was too little. I can testify that this thing is REALLY tight, but I think it needs to be.



It's action is probably spoiled slightly by the fact that I have to slot my glasses into it and so open up gaps on both sides.
The hood can also be slipped back when it's warm and easily stretches into this position despite it's initial close fit.



So there's you have it, two bits of gear tested today, the paddle needs more testing but the hood worked very well.

More Boat Work and Bike Work.

I haven't been out in the boat for weeks. It's been sitting upside down with the hatches off.

Today she should be off for a wee trip down the road. Neil Gray is taking her down to have a keel strip fitted. So it will be at least another week before I see her again.

Also I finally bit the bullet and bought a new pair of forks for the bike as the other ones had a habit of seizing up.

I went for another budget pair as I couldn't really justify going for some super DH monsters.



The Tora's are still a big improvement on the old Quadras though.

You can adjust the compression and also lock them out (almost) completely.


Theres a rebound adjust too.



I just had to get a new stem to go with the forks, and it's a proper Kona one to go with the bike instead of that club roost one I had.



Looks like I'll be doing more biking than paddling this week.

Always Take The Camera

Well I wasn't really going anywhere today, just an hours paddling in the cold. I won't bother with the camera. It's cloudy and there's one of those winds that goes right through you and chills the bones.

On the way back I saw a Cormorant ahead and just stopped paddling and let the boat drift. It seemed interested and I floated closer and closer as it watched me for any sign of danger. When it was close enough to touch with the paddle I could not hold on anymore. I blinked and it paddled away. That's the closest I have gotten to wildlife in the boat.

Ten minutes later and I have three swans approaching. Now do I change direction and go to deep water or stay shore side ? They decide for me and angle out a wee bit, we are still heading towards each other. The sun comes out for the first time and I think 'I wish I had taken the camera' when they decide they don't like kayaks and take off about ten metres away and fly past me on the right, now that would have been a very nice set of pics.

NEXT TIME TAKE THE CAMERA !!

Decisions Decisions.

Today it wasn't windy ! Five days of wind, decent wind mind, and a wee window today. Maybe we had better get used to having Wee Weather Windows from now on :-)

I decided to go over to Balintore and Paddle in the 'real' sea for the first time in my new boat. I intended to paddle for an hour or so and up to Hilton and back sounded good.
An explanation first. There are three villages, Shandwick, Balintore and Hilton. Most people call the beach Balintore beach and even all the villages as one long village of Balintore. So I call Shandwick beach Balty beach, are you still with me ?



When I got to the beach it looked fairly calm so I loaded the boat with the usual safety gear and launched.



After about five mins I noticed that it was getting bumpier, I soon chickened out of a solo paddle along the rocky shoreline and decided to just paddle about at the beachy area. If I had been with more people, no problem but I decided a while back that if I had any doubts about a paddle I would go to plan B.




I had just started doing some turns when I felt the boat go up, I turned to see a nice big wave go under the boat and race towards the beach. I had never stopped to think how fast waves go before, anyone know ? As it reached the beach spray came off the top as if it were windy. I'm having some of that.

There seemed to be a few big ones at a time then nothing. I waited for the next set and paddled in. Just caught one but the Balty beach is steep and they are up and over quickly, so was I ! I was just setting up for the roll when my arm and shoulder hit the beach, I pulled the deck and swam in :-) A couple of the locals were staring at this nutter clambering out of the water dragging a boat in 4.5degC and I don't know how cold the north sea is right now around 8degC maybe ? It was great, I was roasting. Helly hansen base layer. Fleece layer, then my fleece lined dry suit.

I took some of the surplus gear up to the car and went out again. Didn't catch the wave this time so turned back out. Just sitting out there doing nothing is enjoyable, have a wee paddle, stop, have a slurp of water, have a look around, great. Oh here comes some bigger ones, paddle. Nah a sideways brace into shore and one last try.
Nothing, too few and far between. Anyway an enjoyable 90 mins playing about, and NO BLOODY WIND.

Time to chill out with a coffee.

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.