The Watersports Academy Ltd were having a SUP fun day at Troon, consisting of a 2.5 km or 5 km timed distance paddle, a skills workshop, and some demo boards available to try throughout the day. So, there was lots of opportunity to learn new SUP skills, try something new, and meet other like-minded SUP paddlers.
Mrs T was very keen and signed up. We were off to Troon.
I, of course, took along my sea kayak, as I'm not interested in SUP. Besides, there is an island, "Lady Isle", a few miles offshore from Troon, which I can bag for the PSK 1000 Islands.
I couldn't make up my mind which boat to take, the Romany Surf or the Taran. In the end, I decided on the Romany Surf, as it is more of an all-round sea kayak. And with Lady Isle not being that far offshore, the Romany Surf would be fine for the distance.
The Watersports Academy Ltd is run by Jen. From the moment Jen arrived, I could see she had her work cut out getting everything and everyone organised.
I helped set up the 2.5 km-ish course, deploying a very large Jobe orange buoy from my kayak - is it "Jobe" as in "lobe", or is it "Job-ee"? ie. in this case a very big "Job-ee" - the jury is out... I also provided some safety cover during the "race" around the course.
After the "race", I set off for Lady Isle. As per usual, I was against the tide, and what little swell and wind there was. I could feel myself being pushed northwards by the tide and had to compensate quite a bit, using a couple of transit points I could see on the island—the lighthouse and a large navigation marker.
Apart from keeping an eye on the transits, the crossing was pretty unremarkable, with no wildlife at all to speak of. I probably averaged around 3.5 knots, so the crossing was a bit of a slog.
On reaching Lady Isle, I headed in a clockwise direction around the island. It wasn't until I neared the north of Lady Isle that I saw lots of seals.
Setting off back to the beach at Troon, I at last had the wind, swell and tide behind me. Whoohoo! From my GPS, I could see I was making excellent progress at over 5 knots, which is very quick in a Romany Surf.
Back at the beach, the SUP fun day was in full swing, with lots of skills workshops and boat demos taking place.
Thanks to Jen for organising the weather and providing a great event.
What a lovely group of people.
Fab!
8.8 nm Time: A lovely day at the seaside
GPS track
