Raasay Day 1
Work in Progress Fab! 16.3 nm 9 hours...
DCKC Lomond night
When I was paddling at Luss a few weeks ago, Drumchapel and Clydebank Kayak Club (DCKC) were out in force. I decided to join the club as they all seemed very keen and a nice group of people. I was also reading at the time, Robin Lloyd-Jones book called Argonauts of the Scottish Isles,...
Loch Goil with HCC
This trip was led and organised by Stuart. We set off from the now redundant Finnart Oil Terminal, also known as Finnart Ocean Terminal. With Loch Long being a deep water loch, this oil terminal could take oil tankers up to 324,000 tonnes. The oil was discharged here and pipped all the way across...
Loch Sunart Camping trip with HCC
Day 1 I picked up Gordon from his house in Helensburgh, before driving the 100 miles to Resipole Farm Holiday Park, on Loch Sunart. At Resipole Farm Holiday Park we met up with Al, who had set off earlier from Dumbarton and was already waiting for us at the slipway. After quickly loading our...
Luss Lomond Evening Paddle with HCC
An evening paddle with Helensburgh Canoe Club on Loch Lomond from Luss. When I arrived at Luss it was heaving with people. With it having been a warm and sunny day, Luss was a very popular location; I had a job to park. There were also sea kayaks everywhere, with Drumchapel & Clydebank Kayak...
HCC Evening Paddle
The first evening paddle of 2026 with Helensburgh Canoe Club from the Royal Northern Clyde Yacht Club. Earlier in the day it was rather windy, with Gare Loch showing many white horses, but by the time we met at 7pm things had calmed down a bit. Consequently, we set off from the RNCYC and...
Kilcreggan for Coffee and Cake, the Sugarboat, Helensburgh and return
The 6 mile trip to Kilcreggan from Shandon is always a nice trip, with the added bonus of having a coffee and cake at the cafe. With clear blue skies and next to no wind it was certainly a lovely day. Before setting off I telephoned the Kings Harbour Master (KHM Clyde 01436 674321...
Loch Lomond in the rain with HCC
The first "official" Helensburgh Canoe Club trip of 2026, paddling on Loch Lomond from Luss. The trip was led by Gordon, who had postponed the previous weeks trip due to appalling weather. This week's forecast was better at F4 WNW, however the conditions on the loch were much better than expected with us only...
Assessment Week? Camaes Bay session with James Stevenson and Lisa Greene
During a rash moment over Christmas I booked onto an Advanced Sea Kayak assessment. I thought, "March, It'll be warming up by then". Wrong! It was only the week of the "Beast from the East". Even so, I travelled up to Anglesey after work on the Tuesday night, arriving at Anglesey Outdoors close to...
Flamborough Again
Paddling at Flamborough and along the Bempton Cliffs at this time of year make this trip a very special privilege. Many thanks to Mike Robson for organising. It was also a privilege to paddle once again with Ron Walker. Check out the photos below, which say it all really! To view in a light...
Penrhyn Mawr with Brian Cunningham
Although it was neaps, Penrhyn Mawr outer race was rather pleasant with some good surfs to be had. Middle wasn’t that good for surfing, but good for skills etc. Managed a Reentry roll in the outer flow along with some rolls. My first roll was incredibly slow and I had to pull the boat around...
Anglesey Again
Sunday 24th May This recent bank holiday weekend saw me driving over to Anglesey (again) on Sunday to meet up with my paddle buddy. The original plan was to go out to the Skerries, but the wind from the NW had other ideas. So we settled on meeting at Borth Wen, Rhoscolyn at the...
Anglesey Sea Kayak Symposium 2015
The 2015 Anglesey Sea kayak Symposium has been running for around 30 years, hosted at the Anglesey Outdoors Centre, just outside Holyhead. I had heard about this event many times over the years and thought it sounded like a good idea to get my self along to it. So on the first May bank...
Olly Anglesey Coaching Weekend
Saturday 18th April Once again after a very early start I arrived at Anglesey Outdoors for 9:00am on a Saturday morning. This weekend, organised by Sabina Neall, saw twelve "East Coast Sea kayakers" meeting together at Anglesey Outdoors for a coaching weekend with Olly Sanders. It was a big tide weekend and we were...
Filey to Cayton Bay and back (in the rain)
On the drive up to Filey, early on Sunday morning the weather looked really promising. The sunrise was spectacular, lighting up the scenery to the point that if you had taken a photograph, people would say it was photo-shopped, the contrast and strength of the light was so strong. What also made for a...
The Skerries
Unfortunately my paddling buddy wasn't feeling very well on Tuesday and decided not to paddle. This was a difficult decision for him as we had planned and discussed the trip to the Skerries the night before. But he said there was no point in him trying to paddle, only to have a problem whilst...
The Stacks
Monday morning saw my paddle buddy and myself meeting with Phil Clegg (of Sea Kayaking Anglesey) at Anglesey Outdoors and deciding where to paddle. After lots of discussion and referencing of tide tables, guidebooks, weather forecasts, surf/swell forecasts etc, a good mug of tea and using Phil's expert knowledge of these races, we decided...
Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay
Having had an email from Mike Robson forwarded to me by Sabina Neall, about a forthcoming paddle from Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay and back this coming Sunday, I was all set to travel up to Whitby. The only trouble was as I looked out of my window on the Saturday evening, it...
Lismore/Falls of Lora – Seafreedom Day
A days 1-2-1 coaching with Tony Hammock of Seafreedom kayak. Seafreedom are a mobile sea kayak resource based near Oban, on the West Coast of Scotland. They provide sea kayak instruction, coaching, guided day trips, tours and rental. They can also offer superb "paddler friendly" bed and breakfast accommodation near Oban We paddled from...
WWPF Cop Out – My First Sea Kayak Experience
The 2011 Wet West Paddle Fest (WWPF) was a bit of a turning point for me. Whilst I was happy paddling the Etive and other rivers in Scotland, the River Moriston had been playing on my mind for some time. This was due to all of the epic's I had experienced on this river...
