Rather than head just to Kilcreggan, I decided to go a bit further – to Cove Sailing Club. The sun was out on Gare Loch, and there was next to no wind. The tide was on the flood, with high water (HW) being around 13:30.
Not long after passing Rhu Narrows, I spotted some fins poking out of the water, not far from me. It was a small group of dolphins swimming towards me. I stopped paddling and tried to take a few photos, although I couldn't see much on the camera screen with the sun shining on it. I was literally firing off shots by guesswork. Later, when I got home and reviewed the photos, I found I had one shot out of focus, one shot in focus, and several others showing nothing but sea. Doh! The dolphins swam up to my kayak and, presumably, turned back the way they had come, as all I could see was an upwelling of water next to me. I didn't see them again, as a police boat came through the narrows and the dolphins disappeared.
I decided to try to keep up with the police boat and catch a surf on its wake. However, as I was paddling against the incoming tide, the boat slowly crept away from me. The police boat remained in the buoyed channel, whereas I was able to cut the corner around Rosneath Point and consequently make up the lost ground. By then, though, we were approaching the port lateral marker buoy, “Ard No 8”. The police boat opened up its engine and shot off at speed, disappearing down the Clyde.
As I approached Kilcreggan, the weather turned cloudy and cold. I could see a big storm to the south, on the Clyde between Dunoon and Cloch Point. As the wind was coming from the south, I guessed it wouldn't be too long before the storm blew up the Clyde towards me.
I stopped for a leg stretch at Cove Sailing Club before making my way back home. Almost immediately after leaving the sailing club, the wind and swell changed completely, going from next to nothing to quite a sizeable swell. I was paddling into it, of course.
At Kilcreggan, with the wind and swell slightly behind me, I decided to paddle out into the Clyde and make as much use of the swell as possible to give me a super downwind run. As I was paddling out, I spotted a rowing skiff coming my way. This was the RGYC coastal rowing skiff heading for Kilcreggan. I said my hellos and took some photos, which I have now sent to them on Facebook. Not long after that, I encountered another rowing skiff. I'm not sure where this one was from, but it definitely wasn't an RGYC skiff. Again, I said my hellos and took some photos.
Despite the waves being very messy, I did get a good push back, making great time towards Rosneath Point. Turning the corner towards Rhu Narrows sheltered me from the wind and swell, and it was then just a case of paddling back home on Gare Loch.
Not a bad paddle in the end - 16 miles or 25.7km
Fab!
13.9 nm 3 hours 21 minutes
GPS track
