Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Credit Crunch Part 1!

On Saturday Jess, Ian and myself headed down to the Sound from Port St. Mary. It was cold, rough and gnarly. A break at the Calf Sound Cafe left plenty of time for contemplation. There's been allot to think about recently, including the planning of our kayaking trip to Northern Norway this Summer.
You see the World has changed since I took possession of my 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach in May 2008. Back then the global economy was still buoyant and there were plenty of airlines ferociously competing for your custom. Taking my Rockpool to Vancouver Island at £60 each way was easy to arrange. I had no reason to believe that such a trip would soon become nearly impossible. We flew to Vancouver with Zoom Airways who have subsequently gone bust!
The airlines still want your custom. Trouble is there are now fewer of them. Added to that there are fewer fare paying passengers due to the global recession. Not surprisingly the airlines have responded by cutting routes. Related to that, very few are now willing to take a kayak on board as "sports equipment". Scandinavian Airways have recently changed their policy. They will carry a rigid plastic whitewater kayak but not a fibre glass monster like mine, however many pieces it splits up into. British Airways seem to no longer take kayaks at all, unless you book it on as "cargoe". Air Canada and many other airlines have followed suite. To confound the situation, for the first time in 150 years, there are no direct ferries between the UK and Norway! Hard to believe these are neighbouring countries. The only ferry from the UK to a Scandinavian Country is from Harwich to Denmark! It would take at least 4 to 5 days to drive up to Tromso from there.
Still, don't think we've given up because we haven't .........
(ALL photos by Ian Smith)
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