Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
It had hardly stopped raining all day. Consequently I had been inside for much of the day and was desperate to get out. It was HCC Club night, so I messaged Gordon to find out what plans were afloat for the evenings paddle. Cutting the story short, everyone except Gordon and Steve had dropped...
A message popped up on the WhatsApp DCKC Sea/Loch Peer Group: "Meeting 10.30 this Saturday at Divers' Layby, Finnart, for paddle to Ardgarten, Arrochar and back . Winds low and tide assist. Let me know if intend coming. Iain." I let Iain know I would be there, afterall the diver's lay-by is all of...
Tuesday night was club night with Helensburgh Canoe Club. According to the earlier email, we would be meeting at the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club (RNCYC) at 19:00. I decided to paddle down the Gareloch from my house and meet the club at the RNCYC. The tide was on its way out, which...
Waking up at about 4am in the morning, I stuck my head out of the tent – it was already light. The view of the Sound, "Caol Rona", didn't look great from a paddling perspective. Looking at the wind and swell coming through the Sound, I could see that going around Rona would be...
After a four-and-a-half-hour drive in my campervan, I finally made it to my destination: a John Muir Trust car park near Torrin on the Isle of Skye. I opted for this car park because: a) it was only a 20–25-minute drive to the ferry port at Sconser; b) the car park had toilets open...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
