KAYAK.im Blog

Isle of Man Steam Packet

2011-10-07T06:41:00.007+01:00

I've been roaming around the Isle of Man without my camera for a while now. Recently however, I have rediscovered my camera!

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Varying Conditions off the Isle of Man

2011-08-29T11:32:00.005+01:00

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Flat Calm.

2011-08-13T09:51:00.004+01:00

A flat calm day with little tide! Ian and I circumnavigate the Calf of Man.
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Manx First Aid Course for Kayakers.

2011-05-11T18:18:00.002+01:00

I guess when you look at the photos above of yours truly in the Calf Sound tidal races, it is easy to see how a paddler could become injured at this more extreme end of the sport. It was perhaps with that in mind that Wayne and Sarah Hickey have devised and are running a first aid course with a bias towards paddling. Sarah wrote ...

"The course will start at 9.30am on Saturday 18th June, running until about 4.30pm. It will be held at Ard Whallin outdoor centre in West Baldwin. It is a HSE (Health and Safety Executive) approved emergency first aid course and candidates will receive a HSE certificate at the end. There will be a bias towards injuries and incidents likely to be encountered in a water sports environment and an in-house certificate relating to this will also be awarded. Food will not be provided but tea and coffee making facilities are available. The course costs £50 per person and is available for up to 10 people (minimum of 4 required for the course to go ahead). Confirmation of a place on the course will be given when a cheque for the full amount is received (if the course does not go ahead due to lack of interest this will be fully refunded). Cheques are to be made payable to Wayne Hickey and can be sent to 'Isle of Man First Aid, 13 Mona Street, Peel, IM5 1HJ'. For further information and to book a place please contact whickey@manx.net."

On a slightly different note, if anyone has found a 4 piece Lendal glass bladed sea kayak paddle then please contact me through KAYAK.im . The paddle was left by Ian Smith at Fenella Beach on the Isle of Man over a week ago. It would be great if we could return it to him.

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Tidal Race Dot Com

2011-01-13T12:02:00.007Z

I didn't take the photos above. Instead they were taken by Johan Wagner of Escape Outdoors in Sweden. They feature a memorable day in 2006 when some expert paddlers from around the World played and surfed in the Penrhyn Mawr tidal race in North Wales. These, plus others from the same day taken by Jeff Allen of Sea Kayaking Cornwall, have been incorporated into 5 new pages on KAYAK.im. Written by Phil Clegg of Sea Kayaking UK, these new additions to the tidal race section give an overview, and then detailed information about Penrhyn Mawr, North Stack, South Stack and Rhoscolyn tidal rapids. Timing, flows, location and eddy information are all included. There are now 10 pages of tidal race information on KAYAK.im including details of Isle of Man and Canadian tidal rapids, with more under construction. If you want to miss out all the Isle of Man stuff then you can also access these pages through tidalrace.com.

Of course, it goes without saying that tidal races are dangerous and under no circumstances should you ever paddle into one!

KAYAK.im

Kayaking Isle of Man - Surviving Gibraltar.

2010-12-26T15:34:00.007Z

This blog has been devoid of entries and photographs of late. Part of the reason is that I've "fried" another waterproof camera. That's my fourth in three years. So far I've destroyed three pentax and one olympus marine cameras. Normally I'd go straight out and replace it but not this time. I'm struggling to decide which one to buy. I've come to the conclusion that so called waterproof cameras at best last about one year! Should I buy a cheap camera with poor picture quality or shell out £270 on a top spec Lumix FT2? I still can't decide and until I do photographs on this blog may continue to be snapped on my Blackberry Pearl, like the ones above.

As you can see I was in Gibraltar working for Christmas. Should you find yourself in a similar situation, confined to The Rock which is only a couple of miles square, then here are some truisms:

Be careful who you accuse of being Spanish and never ask why Gibraltar is British.

Do not put food down anywhere unless it is in a hermetically sealed container as the place is infested by ants. Similarly never eat food in the dark although I believe from certain survival programs that ants are quite nutritious.

Electrical goods are sold duty free in Gibraltar, but somehow this makes them more expensive than at home where we have duty!

You are never far from a cannon in Gibraltar.

The best Locum Consultant Anaesthetist job in the World is to be found here but alas, it all comes to an end in March.

The apes, especially the small ones, look cute but in fact they are vicious!

If you are scared of flying never willingly take off or land at Gibraltar airport, especially if there is a nasty cross wind.

That's all,

Happy new year.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Weight.

2010-12-14T09:24:00.010Z

Paddling in tidal rapids is becoming a sport in its own right. I've been researching tidal race kayaking for a new section in KAYAK.im describing well paddled tidal races from around the World. I've looked a little at boat design and its reassuring to find that boat manufacturers are producing sea kayaks designed specifically for this relatively new sport. One well known British manufacturer (not Rockpool) produces a boat which is "heavily rockered, with a flat midsection, the hull gives great manoeuvrability in big water, whilst well defined chines and buoyant ends provide solid stability and control on the wave." Well you can't argue with that and I think that's how I'd want my next sea kayaking "play boat". One slightly less well known North American manufacturer is also producing what it describes as a "British" style boat with a skeg with many of the attributes of the first boat mentioned. One important difference between the two stood out though. The British company is producing a boat which weighs 25 kg. The North American boat weighs in at just 15 kg!

I put this to the UK company as I thought that the 25kg weight mentioned on their web site must be a mistake. It just seems way too heavy to me and they replied "the boat features a heavier duty layup than found on our other boats (the core material is approx. 1mm thicker).We could, of course, have chosen to produce a lightweight boat, but the danger with this is that it will not have suitable stiffness and/or it's failure mode upon an impact will be critical. Our preference is to make the boat extremely rigid, to prevent flex in big conditions, with toughness that will give the boat longevity that light weight will not."

I don't think I can argue with that. Certainly my Rockpool Alaw Bach does flex a bit in the extreme conditions sometimes encountered in our Isle of Man tidal races. On the other hand one of the Rockpools I use is a 3 piece, and it has held together very well. Could this dichotomy of opinion reflect the differences in our tidal races. In North America, especially around Vancouver Island, tidal flows regularly reach double digits and need no weather to whip them up. The races in which the British boat is used are slower flowing, but when whipped up by the frequent gales become gnarly, less predictable and hostile perhaps requiring a firmer layup. At the end of the day I guess it boils down to personal preference. I'm happy with my Rockpool but if I were to consider purchasing a new boat, then I think a trip to Washington State may be in order!

The new tidal race section is still under construction but in the meantime you can read about the Surge Rapids and the Okisollo Waves.

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Kayak Isle of Man - SpeedStroke Gym - Kayak Ergometer 2

2010-11-26T09:31:00.011Z

How much would you pay for a kayaking exercise machine? After much thought and deliberation I decided that £2000 was the most I would be willing to spend. On the 29th of September I issued a "wanted" plea. I was after a SpeedStroke Gym - Kayak Ergometer to help maintain my Winter fitness. I had heard and read that it was the best kayaking machine available.

The problem I had was that the UK supplier, my closest as I live on the Isle of Man, quoted me a price of £2424 (approx $3800) including delivery to the Island. This seemed high to me and to confound the situation, the US based parent supplier seemed reluctant to supply me.

In the end I turned to a website called GearZone.com . They sell a wide variety of high quality outdoor and sports gear. Rarely have I found such an exceptional level of service from an online retailer. They provided what seemed like a personal service, as my machine made the difficult journey from China to the Isle of Man via the UK. The delivery time was just 4 days! Total cost including delivery, VAT and duties £1931.49 (approx $3044.59).

As for the machine well assembly took about 1 hour. Paddling feels totally authentic and of course my fitness level has soared.

Many thanks to all those who responded to my original blog post, and a special thank you to GearZone.com .

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Kayaking Isle of Man - Turks and Caicos Islands.

2010-11-20T19:40:00.009Z

I've been out in the Turks and Caicos Islands for two weeks now. I've been helping out on Provo and Grand Turk teaching hospital staff some critical care medicine. The two hospitals are brand new having only opened 7 months ago. Many of the staff are new to the Islands, and it's not easy setting up a hospital from scratch. I've been amazed by the progress which has been made. The nurses I helped train, who originate from all corners of the planet, are incredibly professional, enthusiastic and willing to learn.

Like the Isle of Man the Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Crown Dependency with a Governor in residence. Overwhelmingly however, one cannot help but notice the Canadian and American influence here. Even the locally used currency is the US Dollar. It was great therefor to climb into a British Valley touring kayak for one of the two paddles I've made since I arrived. Although this plastic gunboat does not compare to the fibreglass Rockpool I normally paddle, it edged, rolled and handled amazingly well. I was also surprised at the relaxed attitude of the kayaking outlet from which I rented it. This solo paddle was undertaken with absolutely no questions asked about my past experience and skill level. Once I'd signed the waiver that was all that was required to permit me to paddle off through the mangroves, passed the conc farm and out into the open sea in a force 5! Contrast that to the trouble I had in Canada in the Summer persuading anyone to let me have a kayak for the day. I'm not sure which attitude is best, but I much prefer the former.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Sunday.

2010-10-04T15:37:00.007+01:00

You know, one of the reasons I've kept this blog going is to help promote the Isle of Man as a fantastic kayaking venue. These photos were snapped on a paddle yesterday from Port St Mary, around the Calf of Man and back. Ian and I had a great time although Jess was sadly missing. I think you can see the great variety of scenery and paddling conditions we encountered. But best of all we believe we made history with the first ever underwater phone call to be made in Manx waters! If you know other wise then please contact me here. (lower most photo of and by Ian Smith)

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Wanted - SpeedStroke Gym - Kayak Ergometer.

2010-09-29T09:54:00.007+01:00

Sometimes I really want to paddle, but just for the exercise. The weather may be too severe, or just too calm. It takes a lot of effort loading your gear into the car and driving off to a suitable launch point. And then of course there is the miserable job of rinsing the salt water out of your paddling equipment on return. These thoughts, together with the completion of the construction of a gym within my house, led me to the decision to purchase my own kayak ergometer.

Having reviewed the available machines, and spent many hours or days considering the wisdom of paying £1,995 ($3,154) for such a device, I decided to order the SpeedStroke Gym - kayak ergometer. This machine is used by many of the top Olympic teams including the US and Canadian paddlers. I wrestled with PayPal a bit and then made the decision to go ahead and add the machine to my shopping cart using the EliteCanoeing website, the sole UK distributors. I then received an email informing me that the price on the website, and in my shopping cart did not include VAT or postage. The final bill for the machine came to £2424 (approximately $3800)! The machine when purchased in the US for US delivery costs $2745. Unfortunately the US parent company will not supply me with a K1 Ergo.

So, if anyone out there has a new or good condition used SpeedStroke Gym - Kayak machine for sale, then please contact me here. If in the UK I may be able to collect it myself.

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Kayaking Isle of Man - Oban Sea Kayak Race.

2010-09-21T10:39:00.009+01:00

Ever get the feeling you've really messed up? I had that feeling when I arrived in Oban for the weekend recently only to witness the inaugural Oban Sea Kayak Race taking place. Of course, as I was half way through a job in a hospital about as far from the sea as you can get in Scotland, I didn't bring my kayak or my gear. To be honest I've never taken part in a paddling race before and I'm sure my lack of preparation would have meant that I lagged well behind, but it would have been nice just to take part.

The race circumnavigates the Island of Kerrera which is just off Oban. Much of the 20 km route is remote and exposed and I think just finishing would be an achievement in itself. A further great achievement is the over £1000 raised for the RNLI. The overall winner was John Willacy from Anglesey in an astonishing time of 1 hour 55 minutes and 41 seconds. You can read more about the race and perhaps sign up for next years at www.obanseakayakrace.org .

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man- Big Tides!

2010-09-13T15:55:00.008+01:00

Jess, Ian and myself back in the Calf Sound tidal races.
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Winter Harbour.

2010-08-05T00:48:00.004+01:00

I last visited Holberg in Northern Vancouver Island two years ago. Back then I thought this small logging settlement was the end of the World. I was wrong, Winter harbour, some 20 km beyond Holberg holds that title. To reach Holberg a 40 km gravel logging road winds its way through the dense forest from Port Hardy. Beyond Holberg the track becomes single file, rocky and treacherous, seeming to double back on itself, and twist and turn as if to confuse the traveller. It's a maize of unpaved logging roads only decipherable because of the signs at most junctions. Where the alternative tracks go is a mystery best left unsolved.
As I arrived in Winter Harbour, driving past the welcoming sign, I thought the settlement must consist of just one or two dwellings. In fact the village runs in a narrow strip along the edge of the tree lined fjord, shielded from the track by vegetation. On discovering the village the first thing you notice are the numerous billboards and signs warning that trespassing will be punishable by guard dog or worse! It is like entering a maximum security facility in the middle of nowhere. And yet there seems to be virtually no one around to either heed, or enforce the warnings. Winter Harbour gives the impression of a ghost town of rather cautious second home owners. But this place does have one feature which makes the long journey worth while. Winter Harbour has a magnificent board walk.
The board walk stretches most of the length of Winter Harbour. 3 planks wide, all laid length ways, there are few horizontal supports! The boards spring and flex with the weight of the walker sometimes quit precariously. As you bounce along, the board walk meanders mainly between quaint wooden dwellings and the sea. Occasionally a pier or jetty will project out at right angles into the fjord and out to a mooring. Most again are festooned with threatening "KEEP OFF" signs. The raised passage crosses beach and river beds, open areas of grass and penetrates patches of dense trees and other vegetation. Certainly when we were there it was deserted and peaceful allowing full appreciation of the stunning scenery in and around the hamlet.
Winter Harbour is really a haven for serious fisher folk and those that wish to escape people. It's difficult to get to and I don't think I'd make that journey again. Having said that I'm glad I did if only for Winter Harbour's delightful board walk.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Tofino KAYAKING.

2010-07-28T01:14:00.007+01:00

It's been a week now since I sent a polite email to the Tofino Sea Kayaking Company regarding a solo kayak rental (see previous post). Apart from the automated reply acknowledging the receipt of my message, I still have received no reply from a human being at that particular company.

I thought I was doomed to a kayaking free spell in the paddling mecca that Tofino, Vancouver Island, is! That is until I found Paddle West Kayaking. Their courteous and thorough staff first ensured that I was competent and equipped to solo paddle around the Clayoquot Sound. Once satisfied they provided me with a boat, a paddle and all other necessary gear. And at 10 CAD per hour the price seemed pretty good too. OK, the boat was plastic, green and North American but I was so grateful I didn't care.

For your kayaking needs in Tofino, BC, Canada I would recommend Paddle West Kayaking.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - NO KAYAKING!

2010-07-22T18:38:00.006+01:00

The World is becoming health and safety crazy. The individual is no longer responsible for his own safety and well being. Particularly where there is money is involved the threat of litigation looms large. But its all for our own good. We can live longer and have fewer accidents. We also grow fatter and take Prozac. Our lives become empty as we languish in our cotton wool shells created for us by the lawyers.

So why am I blowing off about health and safety and why are there moody pictures of Long Beach, Tofino, Canada instead of kayaking photos on this particular blog entry? Well I'm told that the only place I can rent a kayak in Tofino, Vancouver Island, is from the Tofino Sea Kayaking Company. The pleasant lady behind the counter told me that they only have two rules when it comes to kayak rental. The first is that you have to be an expert, and the second is that you cannot paddle alone! I just want to go for a solo blast around the Sound, something I have done many times before when I fetched my own 3 piece kayak to Vancouver Island all the way from the Isle of Man. I followed up with an email to the Tofino Sea Kayaking Company offering to sign a waiver for the solo trip. Now, I don't blame them for not letting me paddle alone in one of their boats. That's the way the World is now and I'm sure they have taken sound legal advice. I do blame them for not replying to my email sent two days ago. But I thank them for keeping me safe, if not a little frustrated!

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Pain!

2010-07-11T19:18:00.010+01:00

Modern advice is not to rest when you experience many sorts of back pain. Instead carry on with your usual daily activities if you can, take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (if you can) and maybe get some physiotherapy. The days of taking to bed for three weeks with pain killers and Valium are mostly gone! I'm not sure this advice should include tidal race paddling at spring tides and in the aftermath of a force 7 however! I was in agony for 24 hours after my experiences in the Sound on Sunday. Much of tidal race paddling is about edging the boat, especially in a rough water kayak like the Rockpool Alaw Bach. Clearly, with a lumbar back injury any sort of edging is agony but unavoidable in a tidal race at full pelt.

Having said all that my back is much better than it has been for weeks today and so the jury is out. Thanks to Ian's Dad for the top two photos.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man -Ballyquintin Pt.

2010-07-05T11:51:00.005+01:00

Of late my own attempts at tidal race paddling have been a little disappointing. A combination of the wrong tidal conditions, the wind flattening off the waves and a grumbling, but slowly resolving back injury have put pay to any hopes of a satisfying tidal race session. Not so for John Grant over in Northern Ireland who seems to be slowly mapping out his local tidal races. All the above photos were sent to me by John and you can read more about his adventures here.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Just Messin'

2010-06-22T21:17:00.006+01:00

After 3 weeks away working it was good to be back in the Isle of Man. A month without paddling needed correcting and so Ian and I paddled from Laxey to Port Cornaa and back. Only the light winds and tame tides let us down and although the scenery was stunning, the paddle lacked excitement. To compensate it was decided that my 3 piece kayak should be dismantled with me still in it! The Rockpool rough water sea kayak was converted into an extremely unstable, snub nosed play boat which was surprisingly fun to paddle. Meanwhile, Ian's attempts to stand up in his boat ended up predictably.

Next weekend we have spring tides and so it'll be down to the races for more familiar kayaking action.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Surge Rapids.

2010-05-16T18:35:00.013+01:00

As you can see, Ian, Jess and myself spent today in the Manx tidal races. Regular viewers of this blog will quickly realise that there is nothing unusual in that. The three of us spend most of our paddling time surfing the Calf Sound tides.
KAYAK.im Blog is read by kayakers from around the World and I'm hoping that a few Canadian paddlers might view this post. In July and August I'll be headed off again to Vancouver Island in British Colombia. Unlike the last time I went, I won't be taking my Rockpool 3 piece kayak; it's just too difficult to get it there these days, and last time it got badly damaged in transit! Instead I'm going to rent boats, in particular in Tofino, Port Hardy and Quadra Island. I already know where I can lease boats from, but I really would like a British style boat such as a Nigel Denis Explorer or something similar. If you rent out such kayaks in any of the places listed above then please contact me here Finally, I would really like to paddle the infamous Surge Rapids off Quadra Island in a sea kayak. If any paddling companies based in the area provide organised trips to these tidal races then please contact me again here.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - A Different Race.

2010-05-05T16:53:00.008+01:00

Not all tidal races are the same. Nor is any particular tidal race the same the whole time. Much depends on what's causing them and when you go. The top photograph is of me in the small tidal race between the Isle of Man and Kitterland, just below the Calf Sound Cafe. The lower two pictures are of Ian in a race much further around the back of the Calf just beyond the Stack, on the South West corner of the island. This race is produced by tide gushing over submerged, irregular rocks as it wraps it's way around the Calf and smashes into opposing currents. This produces a swirling, gnarly mass of waves, eddys and currents heading in seemingly random directions. When a tidal race is like this it really isn't worth playing in, and entry becomes more an exercise in survival. It is not unusual to have 3 or 4 waves crashing into your boat from all directions making choosing which one to brace upon an impossible decision. Get it wrong and you are going over. The first race however in the top picture, although on this occasion slightly bigger, is much more manageable. Predictable standing waves move in a uniform direction allowing easy surfing. This race is produced by tide flowing through a narrow, shallow gap between two islands. This causes the water to speed up resulting in turbulence and uniform, constant waves.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Rusty

2010-04-14T15:46:00.008+01:00

I had paddled only once before in the last two months. It's usually work that is to blame. Of late I've worked in hospitals miles away from the sea. More recently I've been out in Gibraltar. Kayaking facilities out there are extremely limited. Should you find yourself in Gibraltar and wish to paddle try Googling "Nigel Jeffries" and the "Gibraltar Canoe Club" for contact details. Unfortunately, despite contacting Nigel, who was extremely helpful, my shift patterns conspired against me and I didn't get to paddle around the Rock.
And so it was the case that I was extremely rusty as I entered the small tidal race down at the Calf Sound with Jess. Despite that we both had a great time and snapped the photos above between us.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Lofoten Cod.

2010-03-20T14:55:00.009Z

Not everything in Lofoten can be stunningly beautiful. Certainly the remnants of the annual cod slaughter, with fish heads and deeply blood stained snow, go some way to introduce a sense of reality to this fairy tale landscape. But there is something fascinating about this very uniquely Lofoten tradition of hanging up the salt cod in the Winter. This year the whole process has been delayed and many of the racks lie empty. All this despite there being huge numbers of cod available to catch off this chain of islands. A combination of snow and freezing weather has delayed the salting and hanging process. One local told me that too much frost on the fish ruins the quality. Nor has the fishing industry escaped the global financial crisis with markets and prices down! But for the first time today Spring has arrived, a thaw is in progress and all over the Lofoten Archipelago men are hanging salted cod.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - More Lofoten Photos.

2010-03-17T10:12:00.005Z

A few more Lofoten pictures snapped on a glorious day yesterday. You can read about getting to Norway and paddling in Lofoten here.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Winter.

2010-03-13T12:46:00.011Z

We didn't feel that the Winter weather back in the British Isles had been harsh enough! To rectify this we've travelled up to Arctic Norway; the Lofoten Islands to be precise. We've been here and written about Lofoten many times before and so I won't repeat myself. We just wanted to experience these Islands in all their frozen glory!
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Remote.

2010-03-03T18:33:00.013Z

I left the Isle of Man nearly a month ago. Initially I found myself as far south in Scotland as it possible to go, right up next to the English border. Now, and unexpectedly, I am at the very top of Scotland, as far north as it is possible to venture whilst still remaining on the UK mainland. The photographs above were taken today in Sutherland, just west of Tongue. It was pretty enough in the border country, but nothing can compare to the desolate, harsh beauty of the north coast, especially on a cold crisp day such as today. This is the place to come if you really do want to get away from it all. It would be very easy to meet no one and simply enjoy the absolute silence which can be experienced here. When I wasn't enjoying a bit of quiet I was staring at the simply perfect waves rolling in at the entrance to Tongue Bay. I didn't bring my kayak and so I couldn't take advantage.
Below are some more of Shane Stigant's photos of Ian, Jess and myself on a memorable tidal race surfing day back home on the Isle of Man.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - More Photos 1.

2010-02-16T14:12:00.006Z

Quite often whilst we are playing in the Isle of Man Calf Sound tidal races, people watch from the slopes just below the cafe. I often wonder what they must think of Ian, Jess and myself playing around in the white water. I have been "told off" before now just as I'm about to float off into the Sound for paddling in such "dangerous currents". Quite often people take photos of us, but it is unusual for them to be forwarded on. Hence, it was great to receive an email from Shane Stigant who sent me about 20 superb pictures he'd taken, having read the website address from the hull of my kayak. Many thanks to Shane, and I'll be posting more his stunning photographs on the site over the next week or so.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Loch Skeen.

2010-02-11T17:53:00.005Z

I'm working away in Scotland again. The hospital I'm based at is disturbingly far from the sea. That means no kayaking for a few weeks. It's probably just as well that I'm away. Work has begun on the new wing of my house which will ultimately incorporate a games room, gymnasium and wet room. All that means that 5 kayaks had to be squeezed into my living room and kitchen. I like kayaks but not enough to sit inside one and watch TV. So being in Scotland is probably for the best, especially when you can walk up to places like the frozen Loch Skeen shown above. I didn't quite dare to venture out onto the ice but it looked solid enough. I came across this walk unexpectedly and I wasn't equipped with a camera. The photos above were taken with an iPhone! The camera on the iPhone comes in for a lot of criticism but I don't think these came out too badly. I do think that the right camera makes a difference. The tidal race pictures which feature on this blog so regularly are taken with a little water proof Pentax Optio W60 . They usually come out reasonably well, all be it with a lot digital retuning. I was recently sent some stunning photographs of Ian, Jess and myself paddling in the races taken from an elevated position using a high quality digital SLR camera. I hope to feature them on the site in the next few weeks.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Sea Temperature.

2010-01-31T16:05:00.006Z

On Saturday as Ian, Jess and myself paddled down to the monstrously savage tidal races at the Calf, the sea temperature was about 7 degrees C. The air temperature was less at about 4.5 degrees C. Water conducts heat about 25 times more rapidly than air and immersion in cold sea water can be rapidly fatal. Survival at 7 degrees C sea temperature is about 1 hour. Of course, wearing the correct immersion clothing can markedly prolong this. Neoprene full immersion suites can prolong the survival time for up to, but not a guaranteed, 24 hours. We all use Kokatat full dry suites with fleece liners underneath. The dry suite itself will provide virtually no insulation and the fleece undergarment is essential. Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story as up to 75% of body heat can be lost through the head alone. Factor in some failed roles and some failed re-entry and roles and without head protection survival time is markedly shortened. There was always a good chance of rolling yesterday and we were wearing neoprene or aquatherm head hoods. This gear is not the same as a full neoprene survival suite, and survival time in these temperatures would be much less than 24 hours.
Of course survival time is not the same as the time the immersed paddler remains fully functional, which can be much shorter. The definition of hypothermia is a core body temperature of 35 degrees C or less. Mild hypothermia is defined as a core temperature of 32 to 35 degrees C, and moderate hypothermia as 28 to 32 degrees C, the latter having a mortality rate of 21%. Hypothermia depresses the function of every organ in the body. Cardiac output is halved at a core body temperature of 28 degrees C, heart conduction defects occur below 33 deg C, and ventricular fibrillation (VF) occurs below 28 degree C. VF means no blood is pumped by your heart to supply your brain and body and you will probably die. All this is preceded by confusion and muscle rigidity preventing further self rescue attempts and ultimately preventing swimming. Breathing is depressed and airway protection declines possibly allowing suffocation by sea water.
So, if you enjoy extreme sea kayaking in the Winter like we do then make sure you have the right gear and don't paddle alone.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Orkney.

2010-01-24T15:18:00.010Z

We seem to have fallen into a pattern. At spring tides we play the tidal races at the Sound, and at neaps we paddle the 10 mile round trip to Chicken Rock Lighthouse from Port Erin, Isle of Man. It was neap tide on Saturday and so Jess and I made our way beyond the Calf of Man, and on a further mile out to sea to the light at Chicken Rock. We sought shelter from the tide for chocolate but while rafted up the tidal race seemed to grow by the second. Jess and I moved away and in doing so I was sucked into a whirl pool with a white water centre! It had appeared from nowhere. These events caused no real problem but I had been sent this article from Orkney by a colleague who works in my former hospital. I've no idea how this paddler became unstuck but I guess there's a lesson for all of us in how quickly things can change, especially in an area as tidal as Orkney.
Update: you can view a news report of what really happened to the Orkney paddler here.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Just Photos.

2010-01-17T19:15:00.010Z

A few photographs from today's paddle to the Calf Sound tidal races, Isle of Man. Photos by John Scott, Jessica Egelnick and Ian Smith.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Chicken Rock Tidal Races.

2010-01-10T15:00:00.009Z

I hadn't paddled for four weeks having been away working in Gibraltar. I think both Ian and myself thought we might be a bit rusty. Still, on Saturday with only the freezing cold temperatures to contend with we didn't feel that the force 4 winds and weak tides would pose much of a challenge. We headed off from Port Erin to circumnavigate the Calf of Man via the infamous Chicken Rock Lighthouse. All seemed reasonably calm at Chicken Rock until as is so often the case there, within seconds a squally, breaking, sizable tidal race appeared from nowhere. North Easterly winds aren't usual for the Isle of Man and I'd never encountered a race running to the North of the rock like this before. Ian and I counted our blessings as we made the most of the tidal race action. If you want to see what some one's face looks like as it dawns on them that they are in for a freezing cold dunking you need look no further than Ian's face in the last photograph. Of course he successfully rolled back up.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Christmas in Gibraltar.

2009-12-27T15:26:00.006Z

The exodus started a few days before Christmas. Firstly, the personnel I'm in Gibraltar to provide anaesthetic cover for, began returning home to the UK for the Christmas holiday. This left me with no work to do. Then, the gated accommodation in which I am resident gradually became moth balled. The catering staff disappeared over a week ago, then the cleaners and finally all the other inmates vanished. A large complex which seems capable of holding over 100 with function rooms and dining halls, even a gymnasium now only seems to house me. I went for days over Christmas without seeing a sole, apart from the security guys on the gate. Occasionally I would hear footsteps and a squeaking noise from elsewhere in the large building, but I never actually saw anyone. Perhaps it was mice, I really don't know. I'm just so grateful they didn't turn the WiFi off before they abandoned me. Thank you BBC for the iPlayer. I wasn't completely alone however. On Boxing day may room was invaded by ants who polished off the remainder of a box of Thornton's Chocolates for me. Clearly, feeling as abandoned as I did they swarmed into my room in search of some Christmas goodies. It was a nightmare trying to keep them out of my laptop, which they pursued around the room as it sought higher and higher points of safety. Still now that Morrisons is open again I've just exterminated them all with a can of insecticide.
Just a snippet of what Christmas in Gibraltar is like!
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Gibraltar.

2009-12-20T09:31:00.009Z

I've never practiced medicine outside of the British Isles before. All my previous medical jobs have been for the National Health Service. And so, as I find myself working as a Consultant Anaesthetist in Gibraltar for the next few weeks, my environment must seem unfamiliar! Certainly some aspects do, and in particular the warm sunshine makes a welcome change from the freezing weather being endured back on the Isle of Man. Yet in other ways Gibraltar is very familiar. Being here reminds me of my initial days when I moved to the Isle of Man some five years ago. It's all very strange and yet familiarly British at the same time.
Gibraltar is a British territory with it's own government. Just like the Isle of Man it uses £'s as it's currency and English notes are readily accepted. It is not an island but it feels very much like one, especially to me as I'm not allowed to drive across the airport runway into Spain as I am on call the whole time. Just like home, it is very easy to identify who is from the territory and who is not. Historically, smuggling has been rife just like on the Isle of Man, exploiting it's low taxation regimen. Yes, in many ways this is a home from home.
In other ways it is Gibraltar is very different. It measures 2.6 square miles into which are packed over 25,000 people. The rock dominates, leaving very little flat land and most of that has been reclaimed from the sea. Tiny zig zag tracks lead to the summit which is studded with war time relics, telecommunications devices, gun batteries and of course the famous apes roaming free. This was a fortress and past and present military buildings dominate. But with the reduction of Gibraltar's strategic importance new civilian office buildings dwarf the old ramparts and fortifications. Gibraltar now strives to become a low tax financial centre, just like the Isle of Man.
Paddling is not an option for me on this trip due to work commitments. I should imagine it would be a fascinating place to explore by kayak. Just beware of the hundreds of ships passing through these waters as they enter the Port of Gibraltar and the Port of Cadiz in nearby Spain.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Isle of Man.

2009-12-13T20:22:00.005Z

I've been away a lot recently. I've paddled on salt and fresh water lochs in and around Fort William, and in the open sea out of Portree on the Isle of Skye (lower 2 photos). These paddles have been great and I would certainly return to Scotland to paddle some more. But now I'm back home in the Isle of Man and I can really appreciate what we have here for sea kayakers. As I paddled alone out of Port Erin and headed north towards Fleshwick Bay, I pondered the stunning scenery, the energy left in the sea after our recent storms and the shear variety of locations and conditions to be enjoyed by the sea kayaker here. Of course, it's not all perfect and certainly the dead pigeon which bounced off my head and onto my spray deck as I emerged on my second role was most unwelcome! But despite that it is so good to be home.
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Himalayan Whitewater Championships

2009-12-06T11:36:00.011Z

This KAYAK.im blog entry was written by Christina Dawkins of GRG Adventure Kayaking.

On the 27th-29th November a small village along the Trisuli River was overrun with professional kayakers for the 9th Himalayan Whitewater Championships (or the ‘Rodeo’ as it is locally known). With over 60 Nepali and International competitors, this competition was far from easy and they had to fight hard for a place at the top. Compared with 1992 when there were just 7 competitors, this event has grown and grown. Sponsored by NARA (National Association of Rafting Agents) and Paddle Nepal, these guys made sure the event ran smoothly.

The Rodeo is a great event to give Nepali kayakers who would not normally get the chance to compete at an international standard and show the world what they can really do. This year the world was certainly watching as we saw competitors from America, Canada, South Africa, Japan and even Russia!

The event combines a Slalom, Freestyle and a Down River Race. The Slalom comprised of 15 gates on the ‘Surprise Rapid’, 3 or 4 of which were upstream, making the kayakers cross the main flow of the river, really testing their skills. Next was the freestyle which gave people the chance to show off their playboating skills. Many opted for smaller playboats, but as competitors were only allowed one boat for the whole event it was a difficult choice to make. Points were awarded for loops, cartwheels and other stunts. After two or three heats, it whittled down the competitors to the main players and Santa Maila Gurung, coming third was the only kayaker left in a creek boat, with Santosh Gurung and Anup Gurung who took second and first, were both using playboats. On the final day was the down river race. This was made harder this year as the course was extended to 17 km, a lot of which was flat water. The ‘Le Mans’ start sorted the men out from the boys and many different tactics were used, some even ditched the idea of a sorting out their spray deck as they thought they would lose too much time. After a few kilometres gaps were appearing and the leaders pulled away from the pack. Once the team hit the "Upset Rapid", the largest rapid on the Trisuli, creek boats did much better than the smaller boats and many of the kayakers flipped. It was a close end, with Sean Bozkewycz coming in first. Although most the excitement was for the third position which saw two competitors sprint bare foot across the rocks, dragging their boats behind them to be first to cross the line. Photo finish!

The Rodeo isn’t just about kayaking. It’s a great way to spend a weekend and the parties in the evening sort out who the real kayakers are. This year we had a Hungarian DJ providing us with great tunes to dance the night away Nepali style!

On the final day, awards and prizes were given out to the winners of each event and an overall Champion. Kayak equipment was given to the locals and internationals won tour and adventure packages such as Bungee Jumps and Safari trips. Santa Maila Gurung of GRG’s Adventure Kayaking retained his title of Whitewater Champion for his third year taking home a brand new Jackson Riot to add to his collection. Many of the kayakers made beating Maila their goal this year and came to the river weeks in advance to practice their skills. Unfortunately for them he wiped the board, being the only competitor to come top three in all events and taking the overall win. He was closely followed by brothers Nim Bahadur Magar and Santosh Magar who also got to take home some fine equipment donated by Peak UK.

This year saw another big push for the Nepali Women’s team. Guided by Inka Trollas the girl’s team have got bigger and better. Susmita, who this year has had the opportunity to compete internationally, took the first place for the girls winning her second kayak in two years. Her younger sister, Goma, also did well this year and we hope for more and more girls to get involved in the coming years.

Another great Rodeo, enjoyed by hundreds of people from around the globe. Keep an eye out for next years event. We’re hoping to make it an even better event next yer. Perhaps this could be the start to get Nepali kayakers on the road to the Olympics or more international competitions.

If you would any more information on the Himalayan Whitewater Championship, please feel free to contact info@grgadventurekayaking.com.

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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Fort William.

2009-11-15T08:15:00.006Z

I've been working up in Fort William, Scotland, for a couple of weeks. In fact I've been working a lot, but I have found time on a couple of occasions to paddle. The first trip was in the sea loch at Fort William as shown in the top photograph with Ben Nevis in the background. The second paddle was on a fresh water lake extending into the mountains, perpendicular to the Great Glen.
Paddling a sea kayak in fresh water is a new experience for me. I felt a little bit like Ray Mears setting off in a canoe in some remote part of the Canadian wilderness. Certainly as I paddled deeper into the mountains and the rough tracks disappeared, I did appreciate that the only way to reach this spot was by foot or by kayak. The water was flat and uninteresting, but the solitude and silence compensated for the calm conditions and I soon began to appreciate that I was the only person for miles around.
I liked the isolation. I liked the fact that I would emerge for once not salty, and that as I paddled my gear was washing itself after Monday's salt water trip. I didn't like rolling in the peat stained water which, as I stared upwards to place my paddle for the role upright, was like gazing out of a freezing cold cup of tea! I didn't like the shock I felt as two loud explosions emanated from a fish farm as I paddled to close. These were presumably bird scarers but they nearly tested the integrity of my dry suite in reverse. I guess I'm not completely sold on paddling on lakes, but I'll give it another go on Monday. Meanwhile, if I can find a few waves and a bit of tide I may change my plans.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Lost.

2009-11-04T17:09:00.006Z

Last Sunday Jess, Ian and myself took part in one of those paddles we will always remember. We circumnavigated the Calf of Man from Port Erin, as we have done on many previous occasions. As we rounded the Stack to the southerly side of the Calf we were hit by a SW force 5 wind directly opposing the tide. The gnarly conditions resulting are shown in the photos above. What isn't shown above is the final tidal race at the "drinking dragon" through which we had to paddle to complete the circumnavigation. Ian went first and only just made it through against the fast flow. Having watched Ian, Jess and I thought better of it and opted to paddle through the slightly slower flowing but massive tidal race along side the smaller race. We estimated the wave size to be 30 to 40 foot, the flow was against us and we had to surf our way through. Very quickly we were engulfed by two extra large waves and once I'd gathered myself and spun around, there was no longer any sign of Jess. In fact she had surfed the first wave, and was capsized by the second, but managed to role back up. I circled around in the race looking for her but as we occupied separate valleys between the mountainous surf, I just couldn't find her. We both thought the other was lost for a short while, until on the peak of another monster, I just caught sight of her and I continued on through the race. Whilst all this drama was taking place Ian thought we were both "playing" the surf and re-entered the race so as to not miss out on the fun!
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - 7!

2009-10-26T09:02:00.004Z

We had force 8 gales here on the Isle of Man this weekend. On Sunday Ian and myself headed for Port Erin to make the most of the strong Westerly winds. It was one of those days when, in a sea kayak at least, you must keep the bow of the boat straight into the wind. Any small deviation to one side or the other would result in the weather, rather than us, determining our course. Because of this we tended to stick to the bay. Paddling up towards Fleshwick or down to the Sound could have resulted in us being blown onto the base of the steep cliffs. But this way the worst that could happen is that we would be forced back onto the Beach.
We encountered some of the biggest waves I've ever paddled in once out of the Bay, especially those thrown up by the underwater reef on the left side of the entrance. I wished I could have got some better photos, but out there it was impossible to take your hands of the paddle for long enough to use a camera.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - 24 hours.

2009-10-19T09:14:00.008+01:00

What a difference 24 hours can make. The photo above is of a flat calm, windless blue desert with Jess just visible in the distance. It was a desert as Ian, Jess and myself failed to catch a single fish over several hours on Saturday.

But 24 hours later the deep blue was replaced by the battleship grey of a typical gusty Autumn Irish Sea day. Force 5 SW winds across spring tides at the Sound produced challenging conditions. Ian was forced to role a record breaking 11 times! I rolled once and Jess remained unscathed. All 3 of us were in Rockpool boats. Jess normally paddles a different model of boat but for various reasons, she borrowed my Rockpool Alaw Bach putting me in my 3 piece Alaw Bach. I think it would be fair to say that in her usual boat she sometimes struggles to catch the waves in the race but in the Rockpool she was transformed. I don't think this is all that surprising as the Alaw and Alaw Bach were designed and built by Rockpool for Rough water conditions, but even I was amazed by just how much difference a change of boat seemed to make.
The middle 4 photos were taken by Jessica Egelnick as most of my own attempts failed to turn out on this day.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Kayak Fishing.

2009-10-15T09:02:00.008+01:00

There's no doubt that for me sea kayaking is about rough water, fast moving tides and strong winds. This is what we experienced as we headed out from Niarbyl on the west side of the Isle of Man on Sunday. As force 5 to 6 north westerly winds battered the Niarbyl rock formations, we headed directly outwards on course for Ireland. This must have looked a bit odd, and perhaps even reckless, to those on the shore near the Niarbyl Cafe. We just wanted the waves on the nose so that we would have an exhilarating surf back to shore.
The trouble for us is that on occasion, even on the Isle of Man, we get flat calm days. We've probably cancelled more trips because it was too calm rather than too stormy! Monday was one such day but we now have a solution. Ian and Jess have been kayak fishing for a while using crabbing hand lines with feathers and a weight attached. I wasn't persuaded but Ian bought a line for me and so in the still calm weather Monday bought, we headed out for Chicken Rock Lighthouse. We were quickly rewarded by the sighting of a pod of dolphins in one of the almost permanent tidal flows which sweep around the rock. It didn't take long for us to begin hauling out pollock from the same spot. I am now a convert to the sport of kayak fishing, and I need never dread again those flat calm days.
(Top photo by Ian Smith)
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Iceland Panoramas.

2009-10-11T07:46:00.008+01:00

We spent last week in Iceland. It's a new country both politically and geologically. Iceland only became independent from Denmark in the 1940's, and the island is studded with volcanoes, many of which are still busy spewing out new bits of Iceland. All this volcanic activity is reflected in the landscape. Steam rises from the ground, there are craters and numerous obviously volcanic peaks. Vast lava flows scar the countryside, interrupted by tall lava spouts, and much of the island resembles the surface of the moon. But other areas of the island are much older, with tall peaks and fjords reminiscent of Norway. The original Icelandic settlers from about 1000 years ago originated in Norway, and a version of ancient Norse is still spoken.
Iceland is quirky and Reykjavik's trendy bars, pubs, restaurants and shops rival those of much larger capitals. The people are stylish and Icelandic design and architecture is on display everywhere. Over half of the county's 300.000 population live in the capital, Reykjavik. This, along with the variable geography, extraordinarily extreme weather and vast open roads gives the impression of a much larger country. Much of Iceland is empty. To be honest much of Iceland is uninhabitable and 15% of it is under permanent ice cap. The vast central areas are virtually unreachable, and it is illegal to drive in much of the central desert without a special off road driving license.
I enjoyed Iceland and I would go again. One week is not long enough to fully appreciate all that it has to offer. And yet, as my Nordic safari continues, for me there was possibly a bit too much "newness" going on compared to some of the other Scandinavian countries I have visited. With their recent economic boom, which has now collapsed, many of the buildings are very recent indeed. Much of Reykjavik is new and, along with many towns and villages in Iceland , it has a prefabricated feel to it. It is very clean, neat and modern, but fails to capitalize on natural building materials such as stone and wood. Corrugated iron and concrete prevail, admittedly to a high standard. Despite this I thoroughly recommend Iceland as a holiday destination.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - 250!

2009-10-01T15:17:00.006+01:00

I paddled alone today. My usual partners made excuses like "I have to go to work" and "my car is broken - again". I planned to circumnavigate the Calf of Man but when I reached the Sound I was pleasantly surprised to find some fine surfing waves. There wasn't much flow in the race but there were some high energy, long wavelength rollers piling in from the west with a following wind. These hit the small amount of flow from the race head on and reared up to become tall, breaking surf waves. These were like the waves you get on a good surf beach, with the tidal race flow acting like the shallows of a beach pushing the wave energy upwards. They were great for surfing, effortless, and with no beach to spoil the effect. The above pictures don't really do it justice.
Of course we live in days of extreme political correctness and health and safety awareness. Soon it will be compulsory to wear a high visibility jacket the whole time, even around the house. Stairs will soon be banned and everyone, even children, will have to be police checked! So this blog posting comes with a disclaimer: never go into a tidal race alone! In fact never go in a tidal race at all - they are dangerous!
This is the 250th KAYAK.im blog posting!
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Iceland.

2009-09-27T14:09:00.007+01:00

In my head there's a list of countries I'd really like to visit. I'm gradually working my way through them one by one. Iceland has always been on the list, but a trip to Reykjavik is usually postponed on grounds of cost. Certainly the £6 pint of beer or £3000.00 air fare would force most people to move the land of Bjork down the list a bit. But things have changed. The collapse of the global economy last year hit every country in the World to some extent, but Iceland fared particularly badly. Indeed the collapse of the Icelandic banks had repercussions far beyond the shores of Iceland, and I know several people who lost money in the Isle of Man branch of one of their larger banks. But the "market" has strange ways of sorting things out. Early last year £1 would buy about 120 Icelandic Krona. Now, for £1 we can get over 200 krona! This phenomenon does not automatically equate to vastly reduced prices, as Icelandic inflation has soared to 17%, and the prices of imported goods can do nothing but rise. Never the less your pound goes allot further and Iceland is rapidly becoming the trendy, nearby, different and not too pricey place to go. With air fares as low as £199 we're off next week to Reykjavik and to hopefully check out the paddling.
Speaking of kayaking the above pictures are from Saturday when Jess and I paddled out to Chicken Rock from Port St Mary.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Like old times.

2009-09-20T17:51:00.004+01:00

We nearly didn't go. We hadn't been for ages. But in the end Ian, Jess and myself embarked on our once familiar Saturday morning paddle from Port Erin on the Isle of Man, down to the Sound tidal races. I'm glad we did. Spring tides and a force 4 almost against the flow lent for some challenging conditions. I say challenging because Ian and I both were forced to role! Only Jess came through unscathed. I think perhaps a lack of tidal race time may have left us rusty. Either way we had a great but exhausting time.
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Kayaking Isle of Man - Work.

2009-09-16T15:28:00.008+01:00

A little over 4 months ago I gave up my job as a Consultant Anaesthetist at the Nobles Hospital, Isle of Man. Subsequently I set up my own company and I started hiring myself out as a freelance Consultant Anaesthetist. I'm contacted by a hospital or an agency and offered a job. If I like the offer then off I go. I am a bit picky about which jobs I'll do and where I'm willing to work. But so far there has been no shortage of work. Indeed, I've had to turn rather a lot of work down due to prior commitments. It pays well, in fact, I now earn more than I did when I had a full time job. I'm not tied to an organisation and I'm completely my own boss. If I don't like a particular place or hospital, I simply don't have to go back again. I get as much time off as I like and I'm about to enjoy 3 to 4 weeks on the Isle of Man before thinking about taking another job. Best of all though I enjoy the variety. I've just returned from Orkney. The hospital in Kirkwall is tiny and anyone majorly ill needs need to be flown off to the big hospital in Aberdeen with an accompanying doctor. During my 10 days in Orkney I transferred two patients in this way. For the first patient we used an RAF Sea King helicopter, and for the second we used the Scottish Air Ambulance's Eurocopter, which is based in Inverness. The photographs above were taken from inside the Eurocopter.
I think what I'm really trying to say is that there are many people out there doing jobs which make them deeply unhappy. I was one and I've been contacted by many others via this blog. What has become clear to me is that although you may feel trapped you probably are not. There are likely to be options open to you to change and improve your circumstances and frankly no job is worth suffering for.
3 to 4 weeks off means lots of paddling and so hopefully this blog will soon return to it's more usual topic of kayaking.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Orkney

2009-09-08T18:07:00.010+01:00

I'm up in Orkney, carrying out a locum anaesthetic job in the local hospital. I'll be here for 10 days and I'm on call for a superhuman 8 of them! Consequently, I flew in and I'm minus a car and a kayak. There just is no time for paddling. In fact and unusually I've been really busy, including spending most of Sunday night in the back of a RAF Sea King helicopter transferring a patient from Orkney to Aberdeen for emergency surgery. That was quite an experience as we spent most of the flight skimming the surface of the sea, periodically looking up at the lights of oil rigs and light houses!
It's not a problem anyway as I know Orkney well. I once lived here and have explored every corner of these islands. Orkney has changed though. Kirkwall is much more vibrant than I remember it with multiple supermarkets and little bistros and trendy shops. I can't help but notice just how Scandinavian it has become. Many of the street, shop and ferry names are Norwegian. The flag pictured above flying on a Norwegian ship moored in Kirkwall is another example. After a vote a few years ago Orkney adopted this as their new flag. At first sight it looks like a Norwegian flag, but in fact the Orcadians have substituted the white section from the Norwegian flag for the yellow colouration above, but otherwise the flag is the same. Perhaps a statement of independence and a recognition of their origins?
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Kayak Isle of Man - Norway.

2009-08-31T09:06:00.010+01:00

It was good to paddle through a partial lull in the terrible weather with Jess and Ian this weekend. We went from Port St. Mary to the Sound. It was pretty rough in places and it was nice to have the security of some company. Of late I've been paddling alone as my work related travels continue. It's Orkney next after 3 and a half weeks in the Outer Hebrides. The regular paddles we enjoyed each weekend are probably over as we all have new and different commitments. People's lives change and evolve and new paddling opportunities arise.
Speaking of changes there is a small new section on the main web site, KAYAK.im . I've been emailed by a couple of contacts in Norway to perhaps put some Norwegian content on the site. Of course KAYAK.im is principally about paddling on the Isle of Man. But I was impressed by my Summer paddling experiences in Norway, and so a small "site within a site" has been created which you can find here. I've been promised more content from Norway and I'll post it if and when it becomes available. In the mean time I've written 3 pages about kayaking in Norway and about Noway itself and how to get there, plus a page which focuses on kayaking on the Island of Senja. Any comments or suggestions or inaccuracies noted then please feel free to let me know.
Photos above by Sion Scott in Sogndal, Norway, 2009.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Harris to Man.

2009-08-25T06:38:00.009+01:00

I went the long way round for my return journey from the Western Isles back home to the Isle of Man. I swapped ferries and sailed from Tarbert on the Isle of Harris down to Uig on Skye. This journey is made easier these days now that the Skye Bridge is toll free. Never the less, a gruelling 6 hour drive to Glasgow awaited me. There weren't quite as many camper vans as I had previously encountered in Lofoten in the Summer, but I certainly had plenty of time to take in the stunning scenery. One such observation was the ferocious tidal race pouring under the Bridge at Connel. These are the Falls of Laura and are a famous play spot for kayakers. Millions of gallons of sea water pour over a shelf under the bridge from Loch Etive, creating whirlpools, standing waves and boils. I'd observed several races on the way down as various Lochs emptied into the sea, but I'd never seen anything like this. I broke my journey and parked up to take a look. The waves weren't huge, but whipped up by an opposing wind a gnarly high speed torrent lay before me. I had never been in water moving this fast before. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to venture in, despite having my kayak with me. There were quite a number of sea kayakers parked up by the race. They were obviously on a schedule too, as all kayaks remained firmly lashed to roof racks!?
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Western Isles.

2009-08-20T15:01:00.011+01:00

It's nearly time to leave the Western Isles and return home to the Isle of Man. It's been a very special 3 weeks in many different ways. The sea kayaking up here is exceptional. There is everything a paddler could want from stunning Atlantic surf beaches, to sheltered lochs, open inter-island crossings and stunning scenery and wildlife. Be prepared for rough water and bad weather, but if you are an all season paddler then the Outer Hebrides are well worth a visit. Nothing else for me can compare to the magical trip around Scarp I undertook a few weeks ago, with it's white beaches, sparse but friendly inhabitants and the atmospheric abandoned, but slowly being reclaimed, village.
Finally, many thanks to the Cabarfeidh Hotel in Stornoway who have looked after me so well over the past 3 weeks.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Kayak Sailing in Stornoway

2009-08-16T15:12:00.006+01:00

The weekend in the Outer Hbrides has been marred by gales and rain. It may be August but rather like at home on the Isle of Man, the weather has little regard for the seasons. And so it was a force 6 or possibly 7 that confined me to Stornoway Harbour. This wasn't paddling it was kayak sailing. Having battled my way up to Arnish point from Cuddy point, hugging the coast for any meager shelter I could find, I spun the boat around and sailed back. Paddling was unnecessary. Alternating left and right stern rudders kept me on course, and the only time I did need to paddle, frantically, was when a large Norwegian fishing vessel threatened to mow me down. I stole a glimpse through the narrow gap which leads from Stornoway Harbour into the Minch and witnessed a steaming, slow motion, boiling ocean. If I'd gone out I'd never have made it back in as the gales would have taken me off to Point and beyond!
I had a great time but I'm not sure that the two paddlers from Stornoway Canoe Club did as they struggled with their Coach 2 and Coach 3 assessments! With a coach over from the mainland they couldn't cancel and the assessment continued, despite being out of remit. Many thanks to the club for letting me use their facilities and for the warm welcome they gave to me.
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Kayak Isle of Man - 3 Piece or Not?

2009-08-14T11:03:00.004+01:00

The photos above are of my Rockpool Alaw Bach 3 piece kayak taken just before a paddle down Loch Seaforth on the Isle of Harris. I also have a regular 1 piece Alaw Bach which I use when home on the Isle of Man. But is it worth investing in a 3 piece boat anymore? You can expect to pay about £500 more for a 3 piece over it's 1 piece equivalent when purchased new! I originally ordered mine about 2 years ago and subsequently flew it on the now bankrupt Zoom Airways to Vancouver Island. It cost me £60 each way on top of my conventional ticket price, which I thought was a bit of a bargain. I had a fantastic holiday, but since then many of the airlines have clamped down on taking sports gear on board flights as baggage. Many will still take kayaks, but specify that they must be plastic and not fibreglass, and some put size limits on the boats. I couldn't find an airline willing to take the Rockpool to Norway this Summer. Instead I posted it using TNT, at the hefty cost of £560!. The boat made it late, and with terrible bureaucratic problems with customs. Once again I had a great time with the boat in Norway, but I wouldn't repeat this exercise.
So what is the point of having a 3 piece boat? Well, I still think it was worth buying, and I would certainly replace it if I were to lose it. I travelled 400 miles in the car to get from the Isle of Man to Stornoway. The road trip was much more speedy for having the kayak safely in the back of the car rather than flapping around on the roof rack at 70 miles an hour. It has been known for a certain ferry company to charge extra to car passengers with long kayaks on the roof. And finally, the boat is secure in the back of my car rather than readily accessible to kayak pirates if it were to spend 3 weeks on the roof of the vehicle.
So, although the World has changed since I originally took delivery of my 3 piece boat, I still wouldn't be without it.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Loch Seaforth.

2009-08-09T17:35:00.011+01:00

The photos above are of Scarp, Outer Hebrides, and were taken a couple of days ago. As Douglas of Sea Kayaking with Seakayakphoto.com said in his comment on my previous post, there is always a special light around Scarp, which certainly helps the photographer. The same cannot be said of Seaforth Loch (below) on the other side of Harris. It was a grey, dull, miserable, damp day as I paddled from Marig to the Minch through Loch Seaforth. To confound the situation, the wind was blasting straight down the Loch which acted as a wind tunnel and the outward trip was more like a hard gym session than a pleasurable paddle. Still, all was not lost as I rocketed back to my starting point with a following tide thrown in for good measure.

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Kayak Isle of Man - Scarp.

2009-08-07T17:04:00.014+01:00

I was last in Huisinis, Isle of Harris, 7 years ago. I was in the Outer Hebrides doing a locum anaesthetic job, much as I am now. Those were different times and I had dreams of living and working in such a place as this. I stared across the turbulent sound which separates the Isle of Harris from the much smaller Island of Scarp. I could see the now abandoned crofts and longed to be able to cross the sea to explore them. I kept revisiting Huisinis in my free time, never dreaming that one day I would full fill this ambition. Of course back then I didn't paddle but now I do, and so today I made the crossing through the calm but highly tidal gap which separates the two islands, landed and explored the village.
The inhabitants of Scarp scraped together a living through crofting and fishing. Towards the end of the 19th century the population peaked at 213. However, by the 1940s the population had declined to just over 100, and the closure of the school and post office saw the last permanent inhabitants leave in 1971. Today, there are no permanent inhabitants but holiday homes were occupied, and indeed being renovated at the time of my visit.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Scalpay Circumnavigation.

2009-08-05T06:40:00.012+01:00

I crossed the cratered, moonscape terrain of the Isle of Lewis, scarred by centuries of peat extraction, and reached the more mountainous Isle of Harris. Harris is reminiscent of Norway, with craggy mountains and long fjords or lochs penetrating the intricate coastline. I was in search of a paddle after 4 days of consecutive "on call" but the weather was conspiring against me. But I've lived on various islands now for 7 years and I knew all I'd have to do is wait a little for the ground cloud and drizzle to clear. Eventually, I settled for a circumnavigation of the Isle of Scalpay in Loch Tarbert on the South East side of Harris. I'd been told that there may be a tidal play spot under the bridge that serves the island but I'd timed it wrong. The location compensated me with the company of a sea otter as I left the small main harbour. Rounding the south west corner beneath the light house, I was battered by the exposed Atlantic rollers, many of them breaking over me. These were perhaps a little bigger than I would normally have been comfortable with whilst paddling alone in unfamiliar waters, but the views across to North Uist and the Isle of Skye made the risk worth while.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Outer Hebrides.

2009-08-01T06:29:00.004+01:00

I arrived in Stornoway, the Western Isles, on Thursday. It took over a day to get here with an overnight stay in Ullapool. One of the problems with living on one island, and going to work on another, is that there will be at least two ferry rides. From the Isle of Man I used the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. The four and a half hour trip cost me over £300 with the car. In contrast, from Ullapool to Stornoway I used Caledonian MacBrayne. This two and a half hour trip with the car cost a little over £80! Not surprisingly, Ullapool and the Western Isles are buzzing with tourists from every corner of the World. This is great for the local economy but not necessarily for me. I am up here working and the surge in population can only mean that my job as Consultant Anaesthetist is likely to be somewhat more busy than might have otherwise been the case. Still, after this initial 4 day stint of on call I will be off on Tuesday, at which point the 3 piece Rockpool will be assembled ready for it's first Hebridean trip.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Guidelines.

2009-07-25T07:14:00.004+01:00

Having gained a week at home on the Isle of Man before I depart for Stornoway, Jess and I paddled our well trodden route to the Sound. A day earlier my 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach returned from Norway. Once again the usual bureaucratic complications delayed it by two days, but it arrived in tact and ready to go. The tough cases I had made last year for it really did preserve the boat. The only damage I could find were a few new scratches, presumably where customs had inspected the craft. On the whole I try to reserve this boat for my foreign trips. This day however, I put it through it's paces in the fast running, spring tidal race. I can confirm that the twelve clips which hold the 3 pieces together were undaunted by the thorough work out I gave the boat as I slammed it down over the numerous standing waves. It's just as well as I'm not sure that the BCU has a offered guidance on what to do if your kayak splits into 3 pieces in rough water! Indeed, my only concerns this day were the huge number of jelly fish in the sea, as shown in the top photograph.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Dates.

2009-07-22T15:12:00.005+01:00

I spent most of Tuesday packing my bags. There's allot to remember for my 3 week job up in the Outer Hebrides. It's not just cloths, there's cameras, laptops, and of course kayak and gear. I'm always worried I'll forget something. Even the absence of a camera cable could make it difficult to download photos into my laptop for example. Or a phone charger left behind might mean I had no cell phone whilst on call. And so several hours later I was reasonably sure that everything was packed and ready. A suit case, rucksack and other containers for paddling gear were assembled and ready to load into the car. It was such a relief to get it all done. Then it dawned on me. If my locum started on the 31st of July, was there some reason I had done all this on the21st? None what so ever. I've now unpacked everything again. I got the date wrong! Call it a practice run. I'll have to do it all again next week!
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Kayak Isle of Man - Scotland.

2009-07-20T06:59:00.004+01:00

About 3 months ago I resigned as a Consultant Anaesthetist at the Nobles Hospital, Isle of Man. I had no job to go to, and I really didn't know what I was going to do for a living. All I knew was that I needed to leave that job. I didn't even know if I wanted to ever practice as a doctor again. As an aside, I learned this week that another anaesthetist from my former department has done the same thing! Either way, this week marks my return to the world of the working. I'm off to the Outer Hebrides for a few weeks to cover for an absent Consultant Anaesthetist. After that I'm off to the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, to do the same thing up there. Now you'll notice a pattern starting to emerge here? All the jobs I've accepted so far are in prime kayaking spots, and yes the Rockpool will be coming with me.
The photos above were snapped during a rather blustery circumnavigation of the Calf of Man on Saturday with Jess and Ian.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Hamn i Senja to Skaland.

2009-07-13T07:42:00.009+01:00

For our final two days in Northern Norway we returned to Hamn i Senja. The Island of Senja is like a breath of fresh air after Lofoten. It's just as spectacular as Lofoten, but Senja has not yet been besieged by the convoys of camper vans from middle Europe. Senja takes on the role of an accessible wilderness. This is Norway at it's most Arctic, where wildlife is abundant and on display. And yet it remains accessible, as the Norwegians have burrowed numerous tunnels through the massive, dramatic granite mountains to facilitate the roads. It may not stay like this as word gets out and tourism promotion takes off.
This time the pontoons were complete making launching the kayak from just below our cabin easy. I paddled north through the archipelago of "tropical islands" borrowed from the Maldives, and then through a wide open and exposed section to the idyllic sandy beach just north of Skaland. This really is paddling at it's best. Northern Norway is remarkable, Lofoten is magical, Senja is spectacular and this section between Skaland and Hamn is one of the most special places I've ever been.
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KAYAK Medical (Part of KAYAK.im Limited)

2009-07-11T16:01:00.002+01:00

Through KAYAK medical, I offer locum Consultant Anaesthetic services. In particular I specialise in remote and rural anaesthesia. I have worked for over seven years in remote hospitals including Orkney, the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. I understand that remote and rural medicine /anaesthesia is different from mainstream practice. On call hours can be long during which very little emergency work may take place. Alternatively, emergency work can be hectic with few or no juniors or Consultant colleagues to call upon for help. Very often the remote and rural anaesthetist may be required to undertake medical, paediatric or transfer work which would normally be delegated to other specialties in larger centres. Some remote hospitals lack CT scanners, ultrasound expertise or echocardiography. Blood and clotting factors may not be readily available. I am very familiar with and happy to work under these conditions.
On the other hand I did spend six years as a full time Intensive Care Consultant in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and I am also familiar with working in large tertiary referral centres.
At present I only carry out locum Consultant Anaesthetist work. If you would like to employ me directly and avoid expensive agency fees, then please contact me by email. I can very quickly supply an up to date CV with references, occupational health, copies of qualifications certificates, criminal record check and CPD information.
KAYAK Medical

Kayak Isle of Man - Lofoten further reflections.

2009-07-07T18:38:00.007+01:00

This was my second time in A i Lofoten. Last year we were there in October. This time in July it was different. Don't get me wrong, Lofoten is always stunning and I had one of my best paddles ever down to the Maelstrom. But somehow the mountains were less dark and the clouds were less moody. Lofoten is as much about the weather as it is about the geography and it needs, storms, wind and perhaps even snow. This doesn't mean I won't return, it means I'm coming back in January!
By the way all of the above photographs are of Senja, not Lofoten, which is where we are now.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Fish Heads.

2009-07-04T17:33:00.007+01:00

A few photographs of some of my paddling trips around Lofoten are shown above. Clearly, the lower most photograph is different. It shows thousands of cod fish heads strung up and attached to drying poles. We encountered these on a walk into the mountains a day or two ago. As mentioned in previous posts one of Lofoten's major exports are dried, salted codfish. These go mainly to Southern Europe including Spain and Portugal. Many end up as Bacalao, which consists of the dried, slated cod, potatoes, tomatoes and what ever else comes to hand. The fish heads however are different. They are exported to Nigeria where they are mixed with spices to create a delicious meal! Judging by the blue bottles and the smell there may be some insect life included in this mid African delicacy.
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Isle of Man Kayakblog - Moskenestraumen!

2009-07-03T09:35:00.005+01:00

Wisely or not I paddled from the tiny, historical fishing village of A to Hell a couple of days ago. Every now and again I undertake a paddle which remains memorable and will stick with me forever. This was one such paddle.
A consists of many Rorbuer, or fisherman's huts, many on stilts overhanging the sea. These were constructed to accommodate the hundreds of migrant fishermen who arrived in Lofoten for the seasonal cod fishing period over the Winter. These days, tourists, including us, inhabit them as fishing has become less labour intensive.
I really wasn't sure what to expect on this paddle. I wanted to do it last time I was in Lofoten but I couldn't get hold of a boat. This time I had my Rockpool. On the way down I passed puffins, several pairs of Golden Eagles and a myriad of sea birds. However, as I neared the end of the main chain of Lofoten Islands, I began to feel nervous as I heard an all too familiar roar of a tidal race. Was this the infamous Moskenstraumen or Maelstrom? Renowned for pulling under fishing boats, whirlpools and the fastest ever recorded tidal currents at 18 km/hr I was now very worried. The roar grew loader and yet there were no signs of tidal activity. I turned the corner at the end of the last main island and entered the Maestorm (lower photo) and paddled towards the aptly named "Hell"! There was that roar but there was nothing. There was less tide than on a slow day at the Calf. The roar I heard was the boiling, fizzing commotion of thousands of fish leaping all around me. Somewhat relieved, I paddled back towards A and caught a speedy tidal stream about a mile off the coast. It was a taste of what this place is capable of as the Rockpool became a rocket and took me home in record time.
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Isle of Man Kayakblog - Hamn i Senja.

2009-06-27T18:13:00.008+01:00

It was pretty good to get the well travelled 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach in the water again. It's been a while, as I was trying to preserve it for this trip to northern Norway. It nearly all went very wrong as Norwegian customs toyed with the idea of charging me £680 pounds to allow the boat into the country. They relented, but the delays meant that we thought we'd missed out on collecting the kayak before we left Tromso. With just 10 minutes to spare before we boarded a ferry to the Island of Senja, the hotel in Tromso rang to alert us to the kayak's arrival. We didn't mind the 3 hour back track, and simply caught a later ferry. 10 minutes later and the kayak would have been effectively out of reach as we continued our journey down the "Whale Route".
It was in Hamn that I took to the water. This small harbour on the west coast of the Island of Senja is the gateway to an archipelago of over 100 smaller islands. The photos above do not do justice to the setting and in the warm summer sunshine the archipelago seemed more reminiscent of the Caribbean than this special place above the Arctic Circle. Clearly others felt so as a steady trickle of paddlers launched into the turquoise water from Hamn. They take paddling pretty seriously up here and there is a Midnight Sun Paddling Festival on Senja from the 2nd to the 5th of July if you are in the area.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Trolls.

2009-06-25T15:20:00.008+01:00

They say that Senja rivals Lofoten. I had heard of the Lofoten Islands but not of Senja before I first travelled to Northern Norway. They, who ever they are, are right. The geography is similar with soaring, shear cliffs rising hundreds of feet vertically from the dark, icy sea. But Senja is also different to Lofoten. If it were possible it is more remote with very little compromise to tourism and hardly any accomodation. Lofoten on the other hand benefits from the hundreds fishermans huts long since vacated by trawlermen, but instead utilized by viitors from across the globe. This makes the Island of Senja feel more forbidding and more on the edge.
Having said all that the accomodation we found in Hamn is first class. A few miles down the road would be Senja's attempt at a theme park. The Troll Park contains officially the Worlds largest Troll, plus his wife for good measure. You can check it out for yourself in the Guiness Book of Records. Oh, and despite what I said in yesterday's post, Joanna Lumley is in fact incarcerated here in the senjatrollet as shown in the picture below.

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Kayaking Isle of Man - Polar Museum.

2009-06-24T21:40:00.008+01:00

One of the very best attractions in Tromso is the Polar Museum. It contains all manner of polar historical information, obviously from a Norwegian point of view. There are accounts and historical artifacts from seal hunters in the Arctic, Arctic aviation and of course much coverage of Roald Amundsen's historic victory to be the first to trek to the South Pole, thus beating Captain Scott. Fridtjof Nansen also has a whole room to himself with accounts of his heroic attempt to be the first to the North Pole by allowing his ice bound ship to drift from east to west across the frozen northern icefields. He ultimatly left his ship the "Fram", and pulled a sledge on skies which also contained a kayak towards the pole. On the 8th August 1895 conditions became so bad that the kayaks were launched but he had to abandon his attempts to reach the pole and instead headed south. Nansen was ultimatly rescued and the polar museum contains a replica of his kayak as shown above. It is amazing to see how similar to modern kayaks it really is, with only the materials of construction differing, and of course there are no bulk heads.
One of the reasons we decided to explore Northern Norway was the BBC TV program featuring Joanna Lumley's search for the Northern Lights. She was ultimatly successful in her quest not far from Tromso. As you can see from the photograph below, she never left Norway and remains preserved in the Polar Museum for all time!
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Tromso

2009-06-23T07:06:00.006+01:00

As I get older I seem to be becoming more polar than tropical, at least in my temperature preferences. Tromso in Northern Norway certainly fits the bill. One of the largest cities above the Arctic Circle, it lies just 600 miles from the North Pole. The seasons here seem to be in a time warp as weather and vegetation have assumed the Spring like characteristics present on the Isle of Man several months ago. Tulips and fresh buds are profound, and when the sun disappears behind an occasional cloud, there is a distinct but welcome chill.
And that brings me to the sun. Yesterday they celebrated Summer solstice with much merryment and festival. It is strange as we awaken through the night, that it is never dark. Snapping photographs around the city I've noticed that the sun hardly changes its position, whatever the time of the day. Perhaps it is this dedication to all things solar that enables Tromso to "rock", a kind of Liverpool transported to a Vancouveresque setting.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Hostage.

2009-06-20T05:29:00.005+01:00

The thing about holidays is that the more elaborate they are, the more worry is involved. I also think it is inevitable there will be crises! We've already had our first and we haven't even set off yet! However, my kayak has and in fact it left the Isle of Man 5 days ago.
The 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach is currently in Oslo, Norway. It shouldn't be though! The boat should be about 1000 miles north, above the Arctic Circle, in Tromso. Yesterday, Norwegian customs decided that in order to allow the kayak to progress any further, I would have to pay £680! You can imagine the flurry of emails which resulted from the various carriers involved. It has to be said that one carrier in the UK (not TNT) completely washed their hands of the problem, and this combined with poor customer service, means I won't be using them again. In the end I made a phone call through to TNT Norway, and discovered that customs had relented and released my kayak. I'm hoping we will get it in Tromso on Tuesday, only a few days late. I'm also hoping it remains intact. By the end of this year not only will the boat have explored Northern Norway, but it has trips to Orkney and the Outer Hebrides to survive.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Crash.

2009-06-15T17:44:00.004+01:00

I've seen the fallout from 2 accidents in the past 24 hours. The first was the mangled remains of a riderless motorcycle beneath a big 4 x 4 car. In this case reverse was selected a bit too vigorously, felling the parked bike. The second involved another parked car, the driver of which meant to select reverse, but instead selected drive. The car demolished a 1 foot thick stone wall behind which he had parked!
They say accidents come in threes! Well I hope not. I've just "posted" my 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach from the Isle of Man all the way to Tromso in northern Norway. We hope to meet up with the kayak in about 7 days all being well. I'm hoping it doesn't sustain the catastrophic damage it suffered during it's return trip from Vancouver Island last year. I'll keep you posted.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Too much race.

2009-06-11T17:25:00.006+01:00

Jess and I headed for the Sound again today. It was huge with massive breaking rollers rampaging in from the west, propelled forward by the force 5 winds. We timed it perfectly to hit the race at full flood, and it was. Concerned by what I saw I beached my boat and climbed the rocks to survey the race. For the first time I can remember we thought better of it. It's difficult to capture in the photos above but every wave was breaking and dumping. There really was nothing to surf. We could only hope to survive not play, and even that was in doubt. If a rescue had been necessary it would have been risky for both parties as 17 foot kayaks would be tossed around by the enormous 20 foot waves. Normally this race has a beginning and an end but not today as we watched it disappear off to Ireland. We decided to disappear off to Port Erin for ice cream.
The top most photo is of the Manx equivalent of an Inter City 125 as I was held up on my journey to our paddling venue.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Full On!

2009-06-07T18:49:00.005+01:00

We headed off in the general direction of the Sound. There were no thoughts of surfing the race as we didn't have spring tides. But we stumbled upon a tidal race at full speed and in all its glory. We still have much to learn about what makes a race work. Sometimes we venture down to the Sound, with 5 metre plus tides predicted and we are often disappointed. Today's 4.6 metre tide was souped up by residual swell from yesterdays storms, plus a healthy dose of wind against tide.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Chasing the waves.

2009-06-05T16:12:00.003+01:00

Chicken Rock is a scary place. At the same time I love it out there. Our usual play spots lay dormant and so Jess and I paddled on to the Chicken Rock Lighthouse. Looking at the photos above you can see why this place is so dangerous to the unwary. In the first picture Jess and I paddle through the blue, flat, sun drenched sea off the Calf of Man, on an idyllic Summers day. As we always do, a couple of practice roles are required. In the time it takes for me to submerge and re-emerge from the sea, a respectable tidal race appears. If you look carefully in the second photograph you can just about see the upper part of Jess on the horizon, which helps to put the wave size into perspective. But this was no friendly playful race. I chased promising surf spots from point to point. As soon as I cornered some nice looking surf waves they would vanish, only to reappear 50 or 100 metres away. If I did manage to chase them down, once aligned they would change direction, and break over me from the side forcing a hard fought high brace. We gave up and battled the ferocious currents and further races to reach the calm, peaceful tranquility of the Sound, which is our usual tidal race surf spot!
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Isle of Man Kayaking - The Perfect Race.

2009-05-31T17:10:00.005+01:00

To be honest, some of our recent missions to the Sound of Man in search of excitement have proved a little dull. It can be massive in the tidal races there, but it hasn't been. When it is it's great! But when its massive its usually gnarly. It lacks the glassy, smooth, consistent waves we crave. And so it was off to the far side of the Calf of Man to check out a new tidal race at the Stack.
I've seen this race many times but steered well clear. It's often ferocious, with all but the very front most waves "hay stacking". If you succumb to the turmoil and fail to role, this race continues for miles. In fact it sweeps around, past the whirlpool ridden Chicken rock and beyond. A difficult rescue would be required and a very long paddle back to safety.
Despite all that, we have noticed that if you arrive right on low tide (Port Erin time) and at neaps, this race may be the Isle of Man's answer to Penrhyn Mawr. We have more checking out to do, but Ian, Jess and myself enjoyed very surfable smooth glassy waves, only spoiled by a gusty force 5 blowing in the wrong direction. Without the wind this could be the perfect race. We also wonder what it would be like at Spring tides? We'll be back soon to answer these questions.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - New.

2009-05-29T11:22:00.004+01:00

At last the latest version of KAYAK.im is up. It's a work in progress with still quite allot of content to add in. The new layout was necessary to allow this to happen, as well as a need to rewrite it in php.
Of note, as well as the kayaking outlet directory, to which commercial operaters can add their outlet details and a link, there is a new paddling gear directory. There are over 160 currently available kayaking products from 7 major manufacturers listed. The directory includes a usual price, details, a photograph and the opportunity to read or write an independent review of any listed piece of gear. The idea is to have it all in one place and most importantly, any reviews will be left by paddlers and not producers. There is also an accompanying "buyers guide" written by Jessica Egelnick for the 5 product categories listed.
Of interest to Manx readers or visitors to the Isle of Man, there is a new surf kayaking guide by Steve Watt listing the best surf spots on the Isle of Man, and tidal race information and guide by John Scott.
There is also a new "best of the blogs" page with my choice of the best kayaking blogs which will be regularly updated, and a live feed generated kayaking news feature listing the latest paddling stories from around the World.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Basking Shark.

2009-05-28T15:50:00.004+01:00

Spring tides last Sunday promised some exciting paddling down at the Calf Sound tidal races. This did not materialize as fast flows were not converted to surfable standing waves by that essential, but absent bit of wind. Instead, Jess retired early through boredom, and Ian decided to go fishing. On the way back to Port Erin we encountered one of the biggest fish in the World. This lone basking shark kept us entertained for a while before we returned to Port Erin for ice cream. We may have outgrown this race and plan to explore an all together more lethal alternative this weekend. Perhaps we need to raise our weather threshold or maybe some combination of the two is required.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Mass Paddle.

2009-05-25T09:12:00.003+01:00

After my recent solo paddle, Saturday's outing was at the other extreme. Steve Watt of Manx Paddle Sports organised a "mass" paddle from Port Soderick to Gansey Beach, with 17 kayakers. It was great to see so many people and so many different kayaks on display. It has to be said that at times the conditions were advanced, particularly around the headlands. However, Steve has obviously coached them well as apart from a few tows due to strong winds, there were not many problems.
Still, back to familiar territory for me as I'm off to the tidal races at the Sound. We have Spring tides and so the races should be running well.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Solitude.

2009-05-22T18:27:00.004+01:00

I paddled alone for the first time in a long while yesterday. I enjoy paddling with my usual paddling partners, but there is something special about the solitude you can experience under inaccessible cliffs, like those between Port Erin and Fleshwick. People in the UK and beyond may feel that the Isle of Man is remote. But compared to Orkney and the Western Isles, both of which I know well, this is a busy little place. Like the photo above, the lack of any visible or audible evidence of humanity can make you look at things from a different angle. Or maybe it is all the free time I have now and being in control of when and if I work. Certainly being back in control of my life has made me allot happier. Unfortunately, further stories emanating from my former work place greatly sadden me.
Tomorrow, there is a mass paddle from Groudle to Peel. This marathon commences at 11 am, and there is overnight camping at Gansey - should be fun.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Surfing Gansey.

2009-05-17T15:42:00.008+01:00

(Photos by Ian Smith)
On Saturday I went kayak surfing at Gansey Beach, Isle of Man. I spent most of the time swimming, and these are my excuses:

1. I have a new surf boat which I'm not used to.
2. My sea kayak spray deck does not fit the Mega surf kayak and kept on leaking and imploding!
3. I was using a sea kayak paddle!
4. I have a new surf boat which I'm not used to.
5. I didn't want to show Steve Watt up.
6. The waves were too big and the wind was too strong for surf kayaking?
7. The water salinity at Gansey Beach on that day wasn't quite right.

There .....
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Isle of Man Kayaking - keeping busy.

2009-05-16T08:57:00.004+01:00

Oddly, despite the fact that I have no job, I have been and am I incredibly busy. I quite my job a little over a week ago. It wasn't really planned but I reached a point where I was no longer willing to tolerate what was going on. It wasn't just one thing it was a combination of factors, although there was a "final straw". I reached a point where unemployment seemed preferable to the situation at work. Have I regretted my decision? I can say an emphatic NO, not for 1 second. I would do the same thing again. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy. There have been moments of abject depression and worry, but they have been short lived. I think that's where the keeping busy comes in. I was already coding for a new, larger version of KAYAK.im and I've immersed myself in it. I'm not sure that this will ever lead to anything commercially viable, but that's not the point. It keeps me occupied whilst I get things together.
And so, if you are ever in my position, the take home message is KEEP BUSY!
Anyway, I reckon the new KAYAK.im is about 2 weeks away.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Down Time.

2009-05-10T18:27:00.006+01:00

I guess quiting your job for the reasons I did is of great interest, as the web stats for www.KAYAK.im would testify. The surge was only interrupted by the 24 hour down time which occurred over the weekend. My web hosting company had problems with the server, and now I've been moved to a different, hopefully more reliable facility. It could be that people are tuning in to read about all things kayaking? On the other hand, one or two may be expecting something a little more dramatic!
Since leaving my job the weather has improved, or maybe it just seems that way. It was certainly sunny enough as Jess, Ian and myself headed down to the Sound from Port Erin. The race was small, but very playful. Unfortunately the fun was all to short lived as we were on less than spring tides.
Monday, and it was back to work! Well, believe it or not I am working pretty hard. The difference is that I don't drive to work anymore. Instead I walk downstairs to my office. There is a plan of sorts which I'm not totally sure about. But what I lack in confidence I shall try to make up for with determination.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Joy.

2009-05-08T12:20:00.006+01:00

For me, there are only two things that can truly take your mind off the World and it's incumbent problems! One of them is thrashing it out in a big, gnarly tidal race and that's what I'll be doing this weekend.
PS Thanks to the many people who have sent me kind messages through various media with regard to my recent change of circumstances. A BIG THANK YOU!
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Gone!

2009-05-06T13:02:00.004+01:00

It's Wednesday the 6th of May 2009. For me this date will stick in my mind for a long time to come. It's one of those days that changes your life. Things will never be the same for me again. Life could get allot better, but it could easily go the other way. In a couple of years I may look back on this day and regret what I have done. On the other hand it could be a chance to start over and enjoy a much happier existence. So what have I done? I've resigned from my job as a Consultant Anaesthetist in the Nobles Hospital, Isle of Man! For the very first time since leaving school 26 years ago I am unemployed.
So why would I throw all that away? I was put in an impossible position at work which I could not resolve. Of course, I could just go and get another anaesthetic job somewhere else. Who knows it may come to that, but I'd like to try my hand at something else. I don't know what yet, but I can put together reasonable web sites, and I can paddle. I'll keep you posted.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Open!

2009-05-05T12:55:00.003+01:00

On Sunday Ian and I paddled from Port Moar down to Port Cornaa on the East side of the Isle of Man. To be honest it was fairly flat and it should have been an uneventful trip. At Cornaa I practiced my role as I do on every trip I make. I think everyone should do this but, just one bit of advice ...... make sure you've zipped up your dry suite before you role. I can tell you the Irish Sea is bloody cold at this time of the year!
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Chicken Rock.

2009-05-03T16:18:00.010+01:00

Located a mile and a half off the southern most tip of the Calf of Man lies Chicken Rock, with it's formidable lighthouse. This is the most southerly land mass administered by the Manx Government. There's a light house there because the rock is treacherous to shipping. It's also pretty treacherous to kayakers. Exposed to the prevailing westerly and south westerly winds, the rock has vast, endless and constant tidal races sweeping around it. These often meet with eddy currents creating turbulent, boiling, whirlpool infested waters! This seemed the ideal spot for Ian and I to practice our rough water landings, roles and self rescues! Well, to be fair it was pretty sedate for chicken rock this day, and the rough water landing was made in a gentle swell. There was even time to climb the 30 feet or so up the iron ladder to the locked lighthouse door to snap some of the photos above.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Making it fit.

2009-04-28T06:07:00.005+01:00

It's been quiet on this blog recently. Everything is kind of in limbo. All my spare time is take up with developing the new web site. I don't know about other people but it takes me so long. I've only just finished designing the template. That's the static element of each page into which the content is pasted. When you see it you'll think it doesn't look that much different from the old one! I'd agree, but it does use space much more efficiently - visitors to web sites hate to scroll! Spinning that little mouse wheel can be exhausting you know. Anyway, writing the code doesn't take that long but as it usually takes me about 10 different designs before I like the results, and so its taken a week or so.
Now follows the laborious task of copying and pasting the old content into the new site. It's not that simple as the layouts have changed and so the "style sheets" have to be adjusted to make the content fill a new space with different dimensions. This will take another week or so. Once that's done I can look at putting in some new content. New content really takes time and is the reason it will be several more months before it sees the general WWW. Finally, there's the process of trying to make it look right. I could just put all the old header photos up, but what would be the point of that? I'm still waiting for some inspiration in this area.
In fact the new site, or at least some of it, is up on the web. I tend to test my sites in hidden subfolders on my server. Alternatively, I could post the site on a server set up in my own computer. The reason I don't is that I like to test the new pages on as many browsers and screen resolutions as possible. You'd be amazed how if you are not careful, your beautiful site can completely fall to pieces on someone else's screen. For example, the Isle of Man Government still uses the now decrepit and prehistoric Internet Explorer 6, which is a web designers nightmare.
Speaking of decrepit and prehistoric, I was looking through my old photographs and found the picture of the car above. This was the hire car we rented last Summer in Lofoten in Norway. It seemed a bit prone to punctures, as we suffered two. When I came to apply the spare wheel there was a slight size difference as you can see! It still fitted however, although it rendered the car a bit lob sided. This, added to the smoke which poured out from the engine compartment, made this rental a very different driving experience. Thank you Hertz.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Manx Queenie!

2009-04-24T17:31:00.004+01:00

For those readers who are not from the Isle of Man, a Manx Queenie is not what you think! Instead it's the Queen Scallop for which the Island's fisheries are World famous. The Isle of Man is renowned for the way it has managed it's scallop beds ensuring the conservation of this delicacy. So, what's all this got to do with kayaking I hear you thinking? Well, the Manx Queenie festival runs from the 29th of June to the 5th of July 2009. You can find out more here, but there is to be a kayak racing event. Steve Watt of Manx Paddle Sports explains "I'm trying to organise the sea kayak race/tour for the Queenie Festival based on the Shore Hotel at Gansey on Tuesday 30th June. I really need a good turn out to promote the sport ! There will be a junior, senior and ladies race with 3 trophies to give back for the following year. Just turn up at 7pm and expect to spend all evening there eating burgers, listening to live music and having a drink.....I'll get 15 sea kayaks to the start but bring your own if you can please. Pass the word (if not into racing a lot of people will be touring...about 20 minutes per race). Ideally there will be 20 to 30 paddlers on each start line and some might even get round the 20 minute course before the swimmers and dinghies !!It will be an evening to remember so please put it in your diary now."
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Kayaking Isle of Man - Douglas.

2009-04-20T09:28:00.005+01:00

I've never paddled out of Douglas before. Perhaps it has been the stories of roof racked kayaks overhanging the pavement which earned threats of parking tickets for their owners, which put me off! It may be my imagination but the 2 hour traffic zones do seem to have grown recently. Despite all this, Ian and myself decided to risk the wrath of the Douglas parking attendants, and paddled from Douglas around to the Groudle. The brisk winds slowed us down on the outward trip, but propelled us homeward at breakneck speed. There was even time for a pint in the Queens pub and no parking tickets were earned, although "lifting and handling" guidelines may have been compromised!
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Isle of Man Kayaking - New Kayaking Directory.

2009-04-17T18:26:00.004+01:00

I've been messing around with databases and directories. It's been part of my attempt to teach myself PHP and SQL. To help me learn how to do this I've created a kayaking directory and then added some basic search options. These new found skills are designed to be used on a bigger, better www.KAYAK.im which will arrive in a few months time. But in the meantime I've added the simple directory to the current site. On the new site the search facilities will be somewhat more sophisticated but at present you can just search the database by country. There are 101 commercial kayaking outlets in there, although some of the details I have entered may not be quite up to scratch, especially when they are not in English! I've emailed all those entered to let them know I will make any changes they may want, or to delete them if they wish. You can find the directory here, and if you want to input your kayaking operation, then you can do it here.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Sinking Feeling.

2009-04-13T19:24:00.005+01:00

Just a few pictures from this weekends paddles around the Calf and in the Sound. But yes, Ian is still in his kayak!?
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Cluttered!

2009-04-10T07:25:00.003+01:00

My mind is as cluttered as my garage at the moment. The car was long ago expelled outside to make way for my 5 kayaks and multiple sets of gear. It's been a combination of work issues and web development that's responsible for my mental turmoil. The former is always negative but the latter offers "green shoots" of hope. You may have noticed the "login" which has appeared on KAYAK. Behind this are a series of forms feeding, working and extracting from a couple of databases. And it all seems to be working now. The last few days were spent sorting out the security. I really don't want to get my site hacked, or to be inundated by offers of instant, fabulous wealth if I would only send my credit card details to Nigeria! The former issue has been partly solved by separating the servers. If when the data input forms go live I do acquire a nasty little virus most of the site will remain immune, as the two servers are now 5000 miles apart.
So what's all this in aid of. Well, KAYAK will change a bit soon. There's a new design on the way which is a progression of the current design, but which utilizes precious web real estate more efficiently. The site will maintain and in fact increase it's Manx content, but in addition there will be more general kayaking pages. I hope to make it a source of more general kayaking and equipment knowledge. Of course the latter takes time and there will be some opportunity for readers to add comments or reviews, hence the databases. There will also be up to date kayaking news with live feeds to the home page. This will take time however, and in the meantime the current site will have to do.
www.KAYAK.im

Isle of Man Kayaking - White Emulsion.

2009-04-07T17:45:00.002+01:00

Don't get me wrong, I love my new Mega surf boat. It's as lite as a feather. It surfs like a dream. I really like the visible Kevlar. The red cockpit rim sets off the awesome marbled body beautifully. All I'm saying is that it's amazing what you can achieve with an old paint brush and a tin of white emulsion! (lower photograph of black and white marble effect)
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Isle of Man Kayaking - 200!

2009-04-04T13:22:00.005+01:00

I guess this is a milestone. It's the 200th posting on Isle of Man Kayakblog!
Sarah, Jess, Ian and myself headed out of Port St Mary on Saturday. It really wasn't easy to know where to set off from. You could choose your own weather, as few of the meteorological web sites agreed. As it was we had an awkward Southerly wind at force 5 creating some quite large rollers and breakers as we headed down to the Sound. Wet work followed, not all of it intentional it has to be said. Boy is that water cold. It was also great to catch up with Jan, Terry and Jenny.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - MySQL!

2009-04-02T19:56:00.004+01:00

My brain is full of MySQL, php, asp, xml, APACHE and more. I'm trying to figure out data bases and dynamic web sites! So far it's going well, but it does make your brain hurt! I've achieved every thing I've tried to so far but at the same time I've achieved nothing. It's a bit like building your own car from scratch. You may well construct the engine, wheels and body but if you can't make the steering wheel then it's useless. Building dynamic web sites certainly involves many hurdles, and all have to be achieved for these "clever" web pages to work properly. Still, if my car analogy is anything to go by I would guess that if I can build the engine, then making a steering wheel should be a cinch! Only a few more things to figure out .......
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Learning to paddle again!

2009-03-23T15:34:00.004Z

I took my new Mega Jester Trident out today in an attempt to familiarise myself with the new surf boat. After nearly 4 years in sea kayaks, I needed gentle conditions to get the hang of it, and to adjust the foot pads etc. But as I arrived in Port Erin the promenade flag poles were buckling in the force 6 to 7 winds! Simply removing the boat from the roof rack and carrying the ultra light carbon Mega to the sea proved difficult enough. And so it was a harsh christening for me and the new boat!
My first impressions were of how vulnerable I felt in this tiny, feather lite kayak. At the same time the infusion moulded carbon/kevlar structure felt rigid and strong, despite the pounding it received. The low profile means that you are mostly in the water rather than on it, until surfing of course. The lack of buoyancy bulk heads offering storage for safety gear such as flares and VHF means you have fewer options, especially when alone as I was. Emptying the boat, even on the beach, is not straight forward as there is no plugged drainage port. Self rescue might be a problem. However, rolling the Mega wasn't!
The waves weren't massive but the wind was menacing. This thoroughbred boat is so sensitive, twitchy and sharp that I constantly had to brace and paddle to stay upright. Its nothing like a sea kayak, and beach surfing is nothing like tidal race paddling. But after 30 minutes I got the hang of it. Being able to spin in a second to catch that perfect wave was a revelation. Once I abandoned the stern rudder and adopted a front "D" stance with my paddle, just flicking left and right as necessary, I got some amazing runs. However, I was surprised at how easily the bow buried itself on steep waves and I had to lean quite far back to maintain momentum.
I've still allot to learn about the boat and beach surfing. I also need to get a spray deck that fits, and doesn't leak and implode. But I think I've made a sound investment enabling me to paddle in virtually any weather conditions now.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Langness.

2009-03-22T12:20:00.005Z

After a circumnavigation of the Calf on Friday, Jess, Ian and myself paddled at Langness, Isle of Man on Saturday.. This was a departure from our usual tidal race obsession, but paddling the flat water in sunny, Spring conditions made a fairly welcome change. Besides, our paddle wasn't completely innocent. We were there to map out some new tidal races which we hope to exploit. I guess we figured that if we could find them at neap tide, they should be impressive at springs. Langness looks promising for future tidal race action and will provide us with an alternative to our usual play spot down at the Calf Sound.
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Kayaking Isle of Man - Mega!

2009-03-19T13:47:00.005Z

My new Mega Jester Trident surf kayak arrived today. With it's vacuum infusion carbon/Kevlar construction it's as light and rigid as possible. I've not had a chance to use it yet but just staring at it will do for now.
Whilst on the subject of carbon/Kevlar kayaks I was in touch with Mike Webb of Rockpool Kayaks yesterday. He's currently building the first ever carbon/Kevlar Alaw Bach. The exciting prospect of top spec carbon boats from Rockpool has made me think about trading in one of my two Alaw Bachs for a top spec Isel. The Isel is a shortened version of the Alaw Bach originally designed for the smaller paddler, but in fact Mike has inadvertently produced a fantastic, tight fitting, responsive tidal race boat. I'm fond of tidal races and will be discussing the specs of the new boat with Mike after the Paddlefest in Nottingham ( 28 / 29 th March 2009 ).
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Kayaking Isle of Man - Facebook!

2009-03-14T07:41:00.004Z

I beat my recent record this morning. I reactivated my Facebook account for 8 minutes before deactivating it again. I guess I'm motivated by herd instinct; everyone is on Facebook and so I should be. Trouble is when I do reactivate it I rapidly become tired and irritated by the whole process. Firstly I have to make sure I am happy with my profile. Facebook chose a photo of me and even cropped it to highlight my face! I didn't like the picture it chose and so I had to find one I did favour and upload it. The few friends I have on facebook then unfold their lives to me - some even tell me what they are eating. I now feel pressurised to do the same but how far should I take this? Just exactly how much detail of my life is required and is anyone really interested? What if I wash my face - do you want to know? I worry someone will "write on my wall" and I may not read it in good time. This could cause them great offence and so again I feel pressurised to be logged on. Perhaps I should install Facebook onto my cell phone and that way the torment could last 24/7! But most of all, I fear someone will throw pooh at me! Yep, I've deactivated my account again.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - More Tidal Race Action.

2009-03-13T06:58:00.009Z

There should be a grading system for tidal races. If there was then yesterday's would have ranked pretty high! When there's allot of "white" with breakers and "streaking" of most of the waves, it is big. And so it was with a bit of caution that Jess and I entered the Sound yesterday.
An exhausting couple of hours of exhilaration followed. Near the end I got wiped out by an enormous breaker which hit me side on. I've never been inside a working washing machine but I should imagine what followed would not be dissimilar. I spun for what seemed like 20 or 30 seconds. Everything was white and I had no idea where the surface was. Eventually the rotation stopped but still all I could see were masses of white bubbles. I guessed where the surface might be and pushed my paddle as far upwards as I could reach. Hauling down I flicked my hips and miraculously righted myself only to be hit by another huge breaker. This time my brace worked and I paddled on. I think that the lower most photograph is me shortly after I emerged, judging by the wetness of my hair.
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Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Update.

2009-03-11T09:05:00.008Z

I've not paddled since the above photos were shot 2 weekends ago. With two weeks of leave ahead of me I intend to make the most of any paddling opportunities which may arise. In fact Jess and I are off to the Sound tomorrow. The tidal race should be pretty massive!. I'm also hoping that my new Mega Surf Kayak will arrive soon, but so far no response from Mega to my email - the new boat should have been here by now! I may have to revert to the telephone!
I've been surprised by the response to the medical post I put up on www.KAYAK.im last week. It proved very popular. In fact, perhaps I should abandon writing about kayaking and just concentrate on medicine? Either way, I've been asked by quite a few readers why it can no longer be accessed. The answer is it can but it's not easy. To rectify this I'm going to archive them here. There will be a new medical post each week but only on KAYAK. Once the blog entry is replaced it will be archived on the "Welsh Faller" site.
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