Treasna na dTonnta

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association

No. 49

Earrach 2011

Achill Island 2010

Open Sea Crossings Rosslare Whitesands Record- John Willacy Interview- Incident Reports-Planning a Crossing- Achill Cicumnav- Paddling in Alaska- Ulster Circumnav- Ireland to IOM Crossing- NI to Scotland Crossing

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Treasna na dTonnta

Issue 49 circumnav, a trip which á mon avis is an excellent testing ground for anyone wondering if they are up to an Open Sea Crossing.

Regarding style, emphasis in the paper version will be toward text. The web does photos better and I’d like to save some trees. That said, I would welcome any good photos taken by members along a broader sea theme. It doesn’t have to contain a sea kayak to be a great sea kayaking photo!

Finally and unfortunately, a small admonishment to the association; an excellent and well attended symposium was run by a stalwart of the community, Brian Forrest of North West Sea Kayaking late last year. We were spoiled for teaching, scenery and weather. It was disappointing not to receive one single article proposition for the newsletter about this symposium.

Please, please, contribute.

Tadhg de Barra ps I would like to wish my editor colleague Geraldine Kennedy a happy retirement.

Editorial Hi folks. Welcome to a new edition of Treasna na dTonnta. It is late and for that I am sorry. I put a lot of time into getting the online resource up and running before Christmas. This issue was delayed by this.

Three new developments are to be found in this issue. Firstly, it is themed, as will future editions under my editorship. This issue is loosely themed around "Open Sea Crossings."

The next innovation is the first formal incident report. The ECSKC are to be commended for producing it. The honesty and humility of the members is to be commended.

The article should inform us and encourage self reflection. Ideally all 'incidents' should be followed by a report. Apart from learning from each other, a transparent history of self governance should keep the desko-crats from imposing rules on us a la France, the US and some states of Australia.

The third innovation is my acceptance that commissioning articles will always be difficult and the most convenient way of introducing new kayakers/ exploits to you is to do interviews.

Thus Mick O'Meara and Brian Fanning who completed the fastest Rosslare- Whitesands Crossing last year as well as John Willacy who has numerous sea speeding offences on his palmares are interviewed for TnadT. We have an article culled from the ECSKC 'Soundings' newsletter by Conor Murray on his and Claire Hughes’ crossing to the IOM. To complete the quartet, I have put in an article together on the NI to Scotland crossing.

Assuming you are suitably inspired to do a crossing, we have an excellent 'how to' article from Dave Carraher.

We have the final instalment of Tom Ronayne's spectacular travels in Alaska. All other installments of Tom's trips can be found in the online version.

Continuing our crossings theme, I have an article from Ali Donald on a single day Achill

Message from the Chairman I must first thank Mary Butler and the outgoing committee for all the work they have done over the last year. A special thanks to Mary who was chairperson for the last number of years and has guided and served ISKA members through changing times. Standards of organisation and service have been set very high by the previous chairpersons and committees to maintain ISKAs aims and objectives. I hope that we all can maintain the same standards into the future to ensure ISKAs continuing success.

ISKA has been a very successful association in promoting sea kayaking in Ireland and attracting and assisting foreign guests from the couple or group who just want a paddling holiday in Ireland to people who want to make a solo circumnavigation of the Island of Ireland.

Sea kayaking is a growing hobby in Ireland with ever increasing numbers taking to the waters.

There is a growing number of service providers 2

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association operating in all provinces providing training and courses for qualifications. To date, sea paddling has enjoyed a reputation as an adventure sport with risks but with an excellent safety record.

This is due to many factors including training and practice. Let us keep it this way and continue to improve training and skills. ISKA will continue to encourage this by way of guidance Mick O' Meara and Brian Fanning from and informal training and will encourage and Waterford recently beat their own record for one assist with subsidies those wishing to take up of the blue riband challenges in sea kayaking; formal training. the 80km passage from Rosslare in Ireland to I am looking forward to getting back on Whitesands in Wales. This is the second time the water having broken a few ribs (non kayakeach has done the paddle. Mick runs a sea ing injury) and meeting up with fellow paddlers kayaking school in the South East found online at the meets that Marie Kelly has organised. at seapaddling.com Wishing you all a great years paddling.

Rosslare to Whitesands Crossing Record

TnadT: Thanks lads for the interview. First question- Why always paddle from Wexford across? Why not Wales back?

M.O'M: If we go from this side you get to sleep in your own bed. Then when the High Pressure comes in you can just decide to do it, you are ready to go.

TnadT: So what sort of conditions do you look for for these crossings?

BF: We would be looking for a good high pressure and try to match that with neap tides. You don't want to do it on springs because Ramsey sound can be dangerous when the tide is running fast. And of course you are tired when you get there.

TnadT: What time do you leave Rosslare?

BF: We left more or less at high water from Carne Beach near Rosslare when the tide was at slack water. We knew that we'd be doing five and half mph average and we could plot it out from there.

TnadT: Do you use vectors?

MO'M: You have the tide barreling up and down but you know from training what you can do speed wise, you allow for breaks, but you just work it out- one bearing for the trip and you paddle on that. Navigating on the fly is a pain and there is enough to be doing paddling. Once you have the thing ninety per cent right.. We went out to Tuskar then navigated away from that. We were bang on this year, without the

Martin Guilfoyle

ISKA 2011Meets April 16 &17 Dungarvan John Foley April 30 - May 2 Anglesey Symposium, Wales Herve Adam May 7th and 8th Bushmills Gavan Sheridan June 4,5,6th Streamstown (3 Day trip) Peter Hennessen and Martin Guilfoyle July 23 - 24 Connemara Dave Carraher, Mick O'Farrell and Jamie Donald August 19 - 21 Three day island hopping trip Donegal Mary Butler, Dean Bennet, Marie Kelly September 17 - 18 Kerry Alan Horner

ISKA Committee Chairperson: Martin Guilfoyle Meets Organiser: Marie Kelly TnadT Editor: Tadhg De Barra South East Rep: John Foley West Coast Rep: Conor Smith Training Officer: Alan Horner Webmaster: Ciaran Clissmann Northern Rep: Ricky Fulton Membership Sec/Treasurer: John Foley

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Issue 49

Mick (left) and Brian (right) on the beach in Whitesands, Wales BF: No, no problems, we saw one cargo ship and then we saw the ferry coming back from Fishguard. Its very quiet.

TnadT: This is both your second time?

BF: Last time we left at midnight but this time we could leave at ten in the morning because of tides so it suited us a lot more.

TnadT: What sort of feeding patterns did you use?

BF: Normally we'd paddle for an hour, stop for two or three minutes, take on a Mars bar or a banana, even if you don't want to, it is a good practice to keep your energy levels up.

Tnad: How long are you out of sight of land on the trip?

M.O'M: Tuskar is about five miles out so about an hour out. We took our first break at Tuskar.

We planned to take photographs but the tide was moving too fast. There is a cardinal mark south of Tuskar and we had our lunch at that.

And then you don't look behind you. You see the hills of St.Davids after about few miles in.

TnadT: Last time you did it at night?

BF: Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it. There was

GPS. You want the best conditions, ideally you might have a west or north west wind behind you but that would be difficult to wait for. Nice and calm is how you want it. When we did it, it was one of the first HPs of the year and there was a fair heave on the sea. The way the summers had been going, we thought it might be the only HP of the year.

TnadT: Did the swell affect you?

MO'M: It would make you seasick and when you are gawking at your compass and gawking at your GPS and eating a lot of sweet things, I did a bit of barf but after ten seconds, I was okay.

TnadT: Wing Paddles?

MO'M: I had large Lettmans and Brian had Lettmans 1. The only other thing I noticed it that when the kayak is loaded, it does weigh a bit heavier and the arms were getting pulled off me a bit.

TnadT: Why Whitesands?

MO'M: It is a public beach and has easy access. It isn't far from the ferry either, TnadT: What about ferry traffic on the route?

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association out much food. Similarly train on the sea if it is a no moon that night. It was more disorientating. sea paddle, train as much as you can on the You couldn't see the swells coming at you. I hit environment you are working on. Build up a seagull that was sleeping on the water. He took off across the water gawking, more scared slowly- and hour and half for a week or two, then two hours for a week or two then two and than me. You just don’t see these things.

MO'M: We’re all used to paddling at night, from half and so on. this and from doing the Devizes to Westminster TnadT: Regarding safety, who do you tell be(a canoe marathon of 125 miles which Mick has fore leaving? won three times). They both have advantages. I MO'M: Don't tell your mother or she'll have sometimes prefer the night because sometimes miraculous medals pinned onto everything you have. We used Nigel Foster Legends, we took in day when you are just looking at a horizon, it all the usual safety kit, clothes, water, compass, just does your head in. But yeah, navigation is VHF, flares, GPS, no EPIRB. I phoned rather harder without a moon because you are just paddling on the compass, you are doing a bit of than radioed the MRCC and told the lads our TR and to let the others know on the other side. wriggling on a bearing. You often swing off and Really, if we were spotted on the water, we didthen have to swing back to compensate. If you n't want anyone calling in saying there was two have a moon you can use stars to reference, paddlers lost in the middle of the Irish Sea and that makes it easier. getting the whole cavalry involved. Then on the TnadT: Is June the best month for it?

MO'M: The main thing is you. You have to know other side, I phoned Milford Haven to let them know we'd arrived. The whole thing though is to yourself, you have to know your own body. You be fit for the trip. You don't want someone falling have to know the people you are paddling with because the tides are going to do what they are asunder because they haven't trained for the thing. going to do, the only variable is you. If you go Coming in to the northern tip of Whiteout thinking you are going to paddle five mph sands is tricky, you come past the Bishops and and you paddle three mph, then you are going to have problem so you have to know what you the Clerks and in nasty weather these are a nightmare, but in good weather, it’s a piece of are doing in training and produce that on the cake. day. We were like clockwork on the day, we TnadT: So you leave a little bit of an engine as knew what we would do, we were equal padyou are coming back in? dlers.

MO'M: It is a hard crossing to get a fast time. I TnadT: What about training?

BF: We'd do some speed work during the week don't know why but the tidal situation is tricky at four minute sprints and some five minute sprints the end there. You try and balance it out, basically come up on the flood then back down on and during the weekend we built up to four the ebb timing it to hit the other side on some hours max. The longest paddles we done were Waterford down the river to Tramore or Tramore sort of slack water. If you try going out on an ebb, then you are coming back up on the flood to Bonmahon and back. We'd paddle hard for approaching Whitesands and Ramsey Island those four hours. But that was the maximum from the south which can be very tricky so distance - twenty or twenty five miles we've avoided that.

MO'M: Some fellas train for seven or eight hours for a crossing but that to me is mental. Of BF: Even on neap tides, Ramsey Sound is like course anybody can saunter along for seven or a shaggin' river.

TnadT: Ideally then you get the flood up and eight hours but if you put in a quality three and a half hour session, you would be well shagged then take the ebb down into Whitesands.

MO'M. Yeah, that was our way but there is after that. You take a bit of food for that three probably a hundred ways to do it. Other factors hours but not much- train your body to store up come in it; Brian was working, people to collect and use up food, train it to work that long with5

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Treasna na dTonnta us at the other side. We got the ferry that night and were back in Rosslare for six o'clock the next morning. It was a twenty three hour gig.

We only decided two days before.

TnadT: You were collecting money for the Solas centre in Waterford?

BF: We raised €11,400 it was a worthwhile cause and they were good to me. I had testicular cancer in 2007 and had surgery and chemo.

We planned on doing the crossing in 2009 but then I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009 so I had the thyroid taken out.

At that time, the people there were great to me so I decided we'd do it.

TnadT: Can we still give to the centre?

BF: Certainly theres a link on Mycharity.ie and at http://www.solascentre.ie/ TnadT: What’s next then, lads?

MO'M: We'll see I have new bab coming- we might give Angelsea. a lash. Bottom line for Rosslare across is that it is a very doable crossing but you have to have done the training, not just a couple of weeks but months. It is fifty miles of open sea and if you die a death, then the next thing is getting on the VHF to call for help and paddling gets a bad name. We'd trained hard for it and by the time we got to June, we were fed up training at that stage.

We'd got out the tide book to get a week either side of the neaps and to get a good moon. Then you wait for a High to come and off you go.

BF: For me the most important thing is to be fit, and to know who you are paddling with then navigation. If you are not fit, forget it.

Issue 49 Rosslare to Whitesands and IOM circumnav as well as Angelsea Circumnav Records. He maintains a website which celebrates fast crossings called Performance kayaking UK and has been involved in the devlopment of a new high speed kayak called the Taran by Rockpool.

TnadT: How did you get into paddling?

JW: I was a slalom paddler since a boy. I was in the RAF for a long time and you can paddle across the various disciplines. Slalom is great for skills, the river racing is great for teaching you how to keep a boat going through rougher water. I did a bit of K1 racing but never did it super serious. In the RAF if you got half decent at any discipline, you got dragged into other canoeing disciplines.

TnadT: When did you get involved in sea kayaking?

JW: About fourteen years ago. I had a friend who wanted to get me into it but it wasn't my thing, I was still racing quite seriously. Then I ended up moving to Anglesea and the die was cast, I had to get more into it.

TnadT: How did you get into solo crossings?

JW: I didn't plan that way, I just sort of drifted into it. I read some magazines articles by others who did it and that inspired me. Then one day, someone annoyed me by saying you weren't a real sea kayaker unless you did an Irish Sea crossing- so I thought, Sod it, I'll go and do it and I did. Then when I came back, I found out he hadn't done it himself, which was a little bit annoying!

TnadT: He thought he'd send you across first and see how you got on.

JW: Yeah, his challenge was, I suppose, the catalyst to make me do it.

TnadT: What sort of strategy did you have in going from DL to Anglesea?

JW: I like to paddle from away to home. So I took the ferry to Dun Laoghaire across and the journey was terrible. People were being sick, you couldn't stand up. The forecast was for it to improve but I wasn't convinced. And then I got out of bed the next morning, carried my kayak

DL to Anglesea John Willacy Interview John Willacy has achieved some interesting records in recent years. While lauded for the speed with which he has completed many of his crossings, he should also be admired for the number of crossings, all solo. They includeDun Laoghaire-Anglesea, Anglesea to IOM, 6

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association

John in the Isle of Man- photo c/o Keirron Tastagh river boat. It can be a handful but manageable. I try to use the river boat for shorter sessions under two hours. It is a bit more demanding in terms of stability and manoeuvrability. If I train all the time in the Taran, I get a little bit lazy.

TnadT: Food for crossings?

JW: Take something you don't mind eating for the next ten hours. Don't take your favourite food as it may put you off it for life. You are going to be snacking the whole way across rather than eating a roast beef dinner, so you are looking at dried fruits, flapjacks and so on.

The days leading up to it, you eat a bit more carbohydrates. What I try not to do in the days coming up to the crossing is eat food that is going to stay inside me. You don't want to have to stop half way across for, shall we say, a number two.

You need to eat regularly as you cross. As the day goes on and you begin to suffer a little bit, you need to force yourself to eat and drink. You shouldn't try anything new. Take what is nice and easy to digest. If you are going hard, the body is putting a lot of effort into turning the arms so you don't have much spare effort for digestion. Work to a routine - many people use 55' on 5' off with the 5' being the time to eat & drink, though you probably want to drink at a more frequent interval also. It breaks the distance up into more manageable chunks and acts as a 'carrot' when things start to get a little

down. It was okay but nothing brilliant so I thought I would paddle out an hour and see how it was. And it was a bit ropey. It was too ropey to take my spray deck off. But I thought I would go for another hour and if was still bad, I thought I would go back. By the time I had done that three or four times, I was nearly half way and then it calmed down, the forecast was right so it was okay.

TnadT: Which kayak did you paddle?

JW: I used the Inuk that time. It is more stable than most of my racing boats but I find it quite a wet boat when it is choppy and cramped inside.

It was a classic of design in it’s day but it is getting a little bit dated, which it should do because it is quite and old design and things should move on.

TnadT: What training strategies would you use if you knew you were planning a crossing this summer.

JW: Nowadays, I tend to keep my paddling fitness high all year around and then build quickly to a target. If I have a major thing going, the I'll start training a year ahead, getting a lot of time in the boat during the winter doing long miles.

As I get nearer, I will up the quality and go a bit faster TnadT: Those winter miles can be tough. Are they in the sea boat or wild water?

JW: I live near the Menai Straits so if the weather is bad, the straits can be managed in a 7

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Treasna na dTonnta hard work. In the later stages you may need to eat & drink more frequently as you tire. Try to be disciplined though - over a 10 hour crossing 10 x 10 min breaks adds up!

TnadT: Fluids wise?

JW: I use both water and isotonic drinks, but very dilute. You can’t go wrong with plain water, you might just add some salt or some fruit juice.

Most of the modern sports drinks have artificial sweeteners which act as a diuretic so I avoid them.

TnadT: Quantities of fluids?

JW: I work on a rough figure of 500mls per hour, which is not a huge amount. Of course it depends on the weather too. But I cant drink much more than that. On a few crossings, when I have brought more, I have spare water left at the end. But if you talk to a nutritionist, I should be taking in more fluids than that, but I cant.

TnadT: Talk about safety precautions you take before.

JW: Long before it, learn the skills to look after yourself. The biggest skill is learning when not to go. You might have trained all year and when you turn up on the day, the weather isn't right and you have to take the hit and go home. That is the most important thing safety wise. It is very easy to kid yourself or pressure yourself but if it isn't right, you must call it a day and go home.

You need to have all your skills behind you like self rescue. You need to have tried all these.

Write down (clearly!) any bearings, timings etc.

Even if you are only paddling on one heading for the day it is surprising how confusion can sometimes set in during the later stages as your body/brain tires - have it written down in front of you, rather than ' now, was that 120 or 140 degrees, hmmm....?'

You also need to think about fixing yourself to the boat. You need to think about what clothing you are going to wear. It takes a long time to paddle these sort of distances with clothing that doesn't dehydrate or impede paddling but which keeps you safe if anything goes wrong. When it comes to the day, I will notify the CG at both ends. On my Irish Sea crossing, every hour I was able to contact the CG in Dublin until halfway, then Holyhead for the re-

Issue 49 mainder of the way. Make a diary of the actual day - what you wore, what you ate/drank (include quantities), timings, feelings, future do's and dont's and so on - all very useful for your next venture months or years down the line.

(Details of the lead up/preparations can also be very useful) TnadT: You were able to contact the CG with a handheld VHF? JW: Yeah, I was really lucky on that. It was an old VHF that often wouldn't work around Anglesea but worked well there. On the Rosslare crossing, I made contact a few times to give them updates. It is a good thing to keep doing. I usually contact the CG directly but have used ships. Regarding the ships, the most important thing is to keep well clear of the passenger ferries. You are very difficult to see in a kayak.

TnadT: Did you go straight across or did you let the tide take you up and down?

JW: Anything more than a couple of hours, you need to look at letting the tide do what it must.

Ferry gliding is a waste of energy. I tend to plan my trip around the crux and every trip has a crux. Say Rosslare, if you want to arrive at Whitesands, you really need to plan around arriving there at slacks. That is the crux of the trip.

TnadT: What about arriving into Anglesea?

JW: You would want to know the area well.

While some areas may be close on a map, they may have two or three hours difference in the tidal phase.That’s another reason to paddle from somewhere to home, so I should have a better idea of what I am landing into, when I am tired and a possibly a little confused. That said, when I arrived back in from my Irish Sea crossing, I screwed it all up at Anglesea, on my own water.

TnadT: You fix yourself to the kayak?

JW: Yes, I use a long climbing tape that I clip to the kayak and my buoyancy aid. It gives me the confidence that if I ended up out of the boat, it isn't going to get away from me. I had an experience where in relatively calm day, someone came out of the kayak and it blew away faster than he could swim. I also carry a registered PLB. TnadT: Can you give us any information on the 8

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association three or four hours. It is a good distance to give recent announcement that there will be a numyou a long day but it is short enough that you ber of CG closures in the UK. can recover easily. Doing six or eight hours JW:It is certainly upsetting a lot of people. It involves a lot of closures of small stations and the tends to take a long time to recover from. But you need to have some experience of spending use of super-stations. These changes will take place in 2015, I understand. The problem is that the six or ten hours in a kayak. You need to learn how to eat, how to go to the loo, how you it will cost a lot of local experience and knowledge. It seems short sighted and doesn't save a change mentally and physically. There needs to be some familiarisation, that isn't just the fitness huge amount of money. side but is about the gear, the kayak. You can TnadT: Talk to us about your IoM circumnav? also use the idea of working back from a date.

JW: It was complicated certainly. It is in a Let's say I have a ten hour trip to do on such a strange position in the Irish Sea. It has major date, I can work back a few months and work flow meeting from lots of different directions, out how many hours I need to gain in between. I coming from the north and south and from east won't try to do the full distance but I will try to go and west. I went around clockwise. I started up reasonably long. Some crossings I have done in on the north west but that isn't the best starting the past will become training crossings for trip in point. You have a number of tide races around the coastline and you are trying to meet them at the future. Slowly and steadily, you need to pick your miles up. Some people reach half way in a slacks. You find your cruxes- the tide races at crossing and suddenly realise this is the farthest the south east coast at Langness and I tried to they have ever paddled and it all comes apart avoid that when it was too big. So I back timed then. everything from there. You also want to try to TnadT: Do you use HRM, GPS etc? limit the time you spend working against the JW: Usually, I just use the GPS to know what is tide. Kerrion Tastagh was good with tides as going on tide-wise. If I know I should be doing was the Yachting Pilot. I got the phone number six knots and I see that I am only doing five, of the weather forecasters at Ronaldsway Airthen I know I have to look at my tide informaport. You can actually phone them direct and tion. But more than that, for safety reasons, get get a weather report personally. to know your GPS inside out; waypoints, markTnadT: What involvement did you have in the ing, routes etc. Also learn how to use the comTaran?

JW: I had used the Inuk, had done the Irish Sea pass in detail. In some situations the GPS track in it and the Anglesea record. I had been testing is the better option, at others the compass is more efficient - know the difference and which for Rockpool. I wanted to try something better to use when. Train frequently with both. Althan the Inuk and they wanted to develop a ways have (at least) a Plan B, constantly upfaster boat. We got together for the Taran dedated as you progress. Enter any likely Plan B sign. I bettered the Anglesea record in it. And it GPS waypoints before you leave the beach. has gone on from there. It has a high deck Regarding the HRM, if I am training for quality, which gives a dry ride. We did a lot of work on then it is all done on the heart rate, it also acts the rocker at the front and the volume distribuas a diary of previous efforts. tion at the back, and the idea is to let it run TnadT: Have you done any crossings at night? through the chop quite easily. It does respond JW: Part of my Anglesea paddling has been at well to edging but was designed around a rudder from the start. Windage from the side tends night but none of the crossings. But when racing and keeping a full time job, much of your to be balanced by that portion of the hull under training must occur at night. It is certainly an the water. added complication.

TnadT: Training wise, what do you do for a TnadT: Final points? long crossing?

JW: The main things is safety. You have to JW: I would tend to prepare with no more that 9

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Treasna na dTonnta make sure you are physically capable of doing it, that you are safe and that you can cover most things that could happen to you. There are often unknowns. Keep in touch with the Coast Guard. Don't set off too fast. Keep everything as you did in training. Don't try anything new on the day.

Check all your kit in the days/weeks prior, so you have time to adjust/repair. When it all starts to get a bit hard and horrible, think back to your training runs- you will get there eventually. You get to the three hour mark and things start to hurt and after that everything starts to blend in. By the six hour mark, you are just keeping the arms going.

TnadT: Paddling plans for the future?

JW: Unfinished business between Rosslare to Whitesands. So hopefully another go at it. I have quite a large one coming up in May or June but I cant tell you about that yet!

Planning Open Sea Crossings

Issue 49 Physical Fitness Most reasonably fit paddlers can paddle 20 miles a day without too much strain, which is the distance between Donaghadee in Northern Ireland and Portpatrick in Scotland. I have done this crossing on a number of occasions with different paddlers and the only problem that I have noticed is that some paddlers feel drained by the continuous paddling and the feeling of getting nowhere.

When we talk about physical fitness we are talking about fitness for long distance paddling. We are talking about physical stamina, which is best achieved by paddling regularly and covering distance. You should be capable of completing two long paddles on consecutive days.

While paddling along the coast we can judge our progress by looking at the landscape changing. While attempting open crossings it is difficult to judge progress as that headland or lighthouse never appears to be getting any closer.

Mental Fitness

by Dave Carraher Mental training is as important, if not more so than the physical training. Mental trainLiving in Ireland we are very lucky to ing is done by paddling distance either alone or have such a wide variety of sea kayaking enviwith someone who paddles at your pace. Reronments. There is nothing to beat a few days member on some crossings you can be padpaddle up or down the west coast. However this dling for up to 20 hours or more. You need to article is about planning open crossings. be sure that you can mentally cope with this.

A marathon runner can attempt a marathon with We all know how hard it is to paddle against the little or no training. If they hit the wall they can tide so I often paddle with and against the tide. stop running, give up or walk. They can lie Before you start training for open crossings, down and someone will stop to help them. If start longish paddles with the tide. Once you you attempt an open crossing you must be can comfortably paddle 20 miles nonstop, start completely confident that you will reach your paddling so that the last couple of miles will be destination. against the tide. Once you know you can paddle This article will look at against the tide after a long paddle you are well Physical fitness on the way to mental fitness. Another way to Mental fitness help improve mental state is to break journeys Pacing down into time segments rather than distance. If Nutrition/Toilet paddling a 20 mile stretch, it is 2.5 hrs to the Navigation middle of the paddle and another 2.5 hrs to the Planning finish. Small treats while paddling are also good for the mind.

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association have the trip planned out properly. This ensures you have the tides worked out and you know Pacing what bearing you are going to paddle on. When Know your pace: If you know your paddling pace then you know where you are at any planning the bearing ensure you end up padtime. If your paddling speed is 4knots then you dling with the tide at the end of the trip. Once should cover 20 miles in 5 hours. It doesn’t mat- you see your destination it is very easy to head straight towards it. It is important that you stick ter where you are in Ireland; there is always with your bearing, or you could easily end up somewhere to train. To best train for open paddling against the tide. crossings, you should plan some of your trainWhen working out the bearing I add up ing off shore. Paddling out to the Kish, Fastnet, Skelligs etc. Whichever is handiest for you! You all the vectors for each hour of flow and then use one bearing only for the whole trip. If you should check your pace on every paddle you change bearing every hour it is easy to forget to do, whether short or long. Paddling with a big change bearing and then end up in trouble. It is group is no use to judging your paddling pace. also important to check on the chart for tidal diWhile distance paddling is probably the most amonds and use the tidal chart for that diamond important way to get fit for crossings, it is also if you are paddling in that area. important to do some speed training. Short disAlso nobody has a good sense of directances of 3 to 5 miles at near maximum pace is tion. If paddling off shore and you cannot see a very good way of helping to increase your your destination; Trust Your Compass. It can be speed over the water. very difficult to watch the compass the whole I have a three mile and 5 mile stretch that I use time and doing so will slow you down or some regularly. This ensures that I have the speed people become ill. Considering that you will not needed in times of crisis. be attempting an open crossing in challenging conditions, take a bearing on a cloud and check Nutrition your bearing every few minutes. Watch the diOn the trip fluid intake just as marathon rection of the waves, if there is a sudden runners do is very important. Try and take a change in direction of the waves check your mouthful of water every 30 minutes. compass.

Food, take little and often, I normally take a A GPS is handy to find a small beach or small energy bar every hour or so. harbour in the dark or fog, but should not be used to head to your destination. A GPS will enToilet courage you to go directly to your destination Different people have different methods of coping with this problem. For the lads a large without allowing for tidal flow. This will more necked bottle is useful for water. For the female than likely lead you to paddle against the tidal flow as you approach your destination. paddler a funnel is available. If in a group a raft can be set up with the paddles between boats.

The Basic Rules If paddling alone and you need to go over the Train your Body side ensure that you are tied to your boat so Train your Mind that you do not lose contact. Even in a light Work out Tidal Flows wind contact can be lost quite easily.

Ensure your last few miles are with the tidal flow. Aim off by a couple of degrees.

Navigation: Ensure you have enough Fluid Not alone should you have completed a Ensure you have food. navigation course, but you should have plenty Remember you may have to paddle back. of experience navigating in various conditions.

Wait for settled weather, don’t be impatient.

Fog, dark etc.

Ask an experienced paddler to check your trip Before going on the water ensure you 11

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Treasna na dTonnta plan.

Before setting out.

Let the coastguard and some other responsible person know what time you are setting out and your estimated time of arrival at your destination.

Ensure you have all your equipment.

VHF radio Important Compass Important 2nd Compass Important Flares Important GPS Can be helpful Tent Important Sleeping bag Important Cooker Important Dry Clothes Important Money Important if you fancy a pint.

Enjoy your paddle and congratulations on completing your first crossing.

Whetted your appetite for a crossing yet? Wondering if you are up to it? Here is a suggestion for a good and relatively safe training ground. A single day paddle around Achill island presents a challenge to most aspects of your sea kayaking- timing, fitness, weather forecasting, tidal planning, nutrition, safety awareness and varied sea conditions. It has plenty of escape exits on the trip if things arent going your way. A single day circumnav is a worthwhile achievement in itself. Ali McDonald from Saoirse na Mara describes his journely around below

Round Achill A challenging trip to Circumnav.

Achill island in a single day.

by Ali Donald In May, I set off on a challenging trip to try to circumnavigate Achill Island in a single day. The challenge was not so much the distance (between 70 and 80km) but timing the strong tidal currents so that they could be used

Issue 49 to my advantage. There were 3 "tidal gates" to work out...

I left Achill sound on the start of the ebb tide in beautiful sunshine and almost no wind.

The tide, though only beginning to ebb helped to spit me out the Bulls Mouth, before heading West by Doogort. I can never pass Annagh Strand without calling in to the the old Megalithic Fort, and the magical Lough Nakeeroge (Lake of the earwigs!) Its also the last break you get before taking on Achill Head and Saddle head- some of the highest cliffs in Western Europe and a bumpy ride on even the calmest of days. These headlands also formed my second tidal gate, I caught the south-going tide as the wind picked up and conditions became a wee bit "sporty".

After the wildness of the Western cliffs, the sheltered beach in Keem seems like paradise on a day like that. It wasn't always so peaceful though- not so long ago a busy Basking Shark fishery was based here. Happily now, those gentle giants are protected here. I put my feet up a bit too long in the sunshine of Keem, and realised that now I was unliklely to reach my 3rd and critical tidal gate on schedule- the strong stream at Darby's point, guarded by Achillbeg gets up to over 4kts, and you don't want to be working against that!

My luck was in though, and a nice NW breeze picked up to a force 3 or 4 and I surfed a beeline for Achillbeg and its massive BronzeAge promontary forts, leaving the majestic Minaun cliffs away to my North to be revisited at a more leisurly pace another day. To right the twin Arches of bills rocks reminded me of a great paddle out there last year.

The surf shot me towards Clew Bay and by the time I was passing Kildavnet castles one of Granuaile's many piratical strongholds, I had a strong flood tide still working with me- no harm, as the wind had picked up and veered Northerly-straight in my face. Nine and a half hours after leaving it, the new bridge at Achill sound came back into view, and the Mars bar in my pocket gave me the last burst of energy I needed to complete a memorable paddle.

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association We asked the store owner about places to stay, thinking camping, but she told us that the apartment above the store was free. No. Not FREE but available: For $170 for the night: Definitely not cheap. The lady offered to show

by Tom Ronayne it to us so we trooped up to find a quaint!! Large apartment with beds, showers, cooker, fridge, This is the second part of a 14 day furniture and comfort, none of which we had enwilderness trip of 162 miles from Hoonah to countered in the previous two days. We looked Sitka, SE Alaska, which we did from 11/06/2009 at each other. Brief, very brief discussion and to 19/06/2009 we were in.

Group: Karen Campbell, Liam O'Brien, Cathy We bought milk, the wet stuff, not powRonayne, Tom Ronayne dered, and a few small things and moved in.

While I was unloading my kayak a lady on a Elfin Cove is a small fishing community, fishing boat asked me if we would like a pop. 40 (200 to 300 in summer) on the North West coast of Chichagof Island. Boardwalks and trails connect everything at Elfin Cove.

Most structures are multilevel due to the scarcity of private land, and many structures are built on pilings over the water. There is no road and access to it is by float plane or boat.

We paddled in to this small town and pulled our kayaks up on to the floating jetty. Directly opposite us was the Elfin General Supply – the only store in Elfin Cove. We made our way there and discovered that it was closing in ten minutes. Timing is everything.

Paddling in Alaska Hoonah to Sitka;

salmon. “Yes please” I replied and she called me on to her boat.

She pulled a huge sockeye salmon out of a box and asked if it was OK. It was huge. I mean it was THIS big. Really. Before I could say anything she had it topped, tailed and gutted with an experience of years and then put it in a plastic bag. One fillet would have been enough for all of us but she had given us the whole fish. I thanked her profusely and headed for the apartment having just encountered another act of generosity from a stranger. We had brought our own food up to the apartment quite prepared to eat from our usual supply of pasta, smash, noodles, tinned meats (including salmon) but here we were with the real thing.

We had a great stay in Elfin Cove. We showered, dried our clothes, cooked and ate 13

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Treasna na dTonnta our salmon walked the boardwalk through Elfin Cove and finished the evening in a small pub.

Best of all, we got to sleep in real beds. There is nothing like living it up on a wilderness kayaking trip.

The original plan for day four was to paddle twenty one miles from Elfin Cove to another boardwalk town called Pelican in Lisianski Inlet.

This would take an extra day as Pelican was off our intended route and would mean back tracking to to Lisianski Strait, through which we had to paddle to get to the Pacific. Having stayed in Elfin Cove we decided not to paddle to Pelican but to head for Bohemia shelter in Lisianski

Issue 49 jured. You are generally less likely to have an incident with a bear in the wild than with a bear that is familiar with people.

These bears are habituated and expect to find food near people; therefore they come looking for it. Bears hunt for food with an amazing sense of smell. You avoid attracting bears to your campsite by keeping a clean camp.

All items that smell must be stored in airtight and/or bear proof containers and these must be kept at least 100 metres from your sleeping area. We had rented our bear proof canisters on previous trips but our supplier for this trip did not have sixteen of them and wanted to charge an exorbitant price for buying them for us so we decide to buy our own.

We bought one solid bear canister (very handy for doubling up as a seat) and three Ursacks each. Ursacks are made of "bullet proof" Spectra fabric and come with an integrated six foot, high tensile strength cord for both the tying of the sack itself and to tie it to something to prevent it being dragged off.

The Ursack is designed as a bear proof container but it still has not been approved by all wildlife services in the USA. We found them to be perfect. Having said that we never saw any proof that they had been tampered with.

The great thing about them is that they are soft.

As your food cache diminishes so does the size of your sack and this makes it much easier to Strait. The bonus here would be a saved day pack your kayak. Food is stored in an which we could bank in case the weather was airtight/waterproof bag inside the Ursack. against us for the open Pacific section of the We each carried a canister of bear spray trip. when we were on shore; at all times, where We left Elfin Cove about 8.45am on an ever we went. These pepper sprays have a overcast foggy morning. The sea conditions range of fifteen to twenty feet so you might only were good but it was a long slog paddling the have two to three seconds to react if a bear eighteen miles to Bohemia shelter. We saw gets this close to you. The best thing to do is to our third and last bear of the trip on a beach about a mile ahead of us. It was too far away to avoid coming into contact with bears. When coming on shore we always shouted loudly to say whether it was black or brown.

Chichagof Island has the highest popula- alert bears to our presence so as not to have a sudden encounter. We would never go into the tion of bears per square mile than any other place on Earth. There was no escape from see- forest without shouting and making noise and we were always watching and listening for signs ing bear signs, both shit and paw prints, everywhere we landed. Grizzly and black bears don't of bears.

There are many log shelters built by the look for people. It's quite the opposite in the wildlife and forestry service in S.E. Alaska. wilderness unless they are hungry and/or in14

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association They are open fronted, with bunks and usually a swell but we hit it at the right time and were pushed in to WSS on a following swell of 3 to 4 stove. There are often log piles and an axe nearby although the Bohemia shelter had none. ft.

We paddled in to an obscure narrow None of us had brought a bush saw so Liam cove which led to a sand and gravel beach and and I spent some time cutting dead wood with after tying up the kayaks we followed a short our Leatherman’s. It’s amazing what you'll do trail to the springs. WSS has a forest service for a bit of heat. cabin and two hot springs, one of them covered The big bonus at this shelter was that by a shelter with two huge sliding windows facsomebody had nailed up a large blue tarpaulin ing the sea. to the front of the shelter. This meant that we There were two families booked into the could close over the front and keep the mozzies out. If you were to sleep in an open shelter you cabin and they made us very welcome. It took a while to be able to sit comfortably in the hot would have to cover yourself in a mosquito net sulphur smelling water but it was great. or any open skin would be bitten to hell.

We were invited to stay at WSS but deCathy and Karen had included marshcided not to as we were still building up banking mallows and biscuits in their shopping list and days for our Pacific trip along the Khaz peninCathy set about giving everybody a treat as we sula so it was with reluctance that we ate our sat around the stove late in the evening. She lunch of cheddar cheese, pitta bread (uggh) and heated the marshmallows on a stick and when tea and headed back out onto the water. melted then placed them on a biscuit with a We spent about four hours at WSS and square of chocolate on top and then crowned by the time we were paddling again both the that with another biscuit. Delicious. wind and the sea had picked up. We were Earlier in the evening we heard a shout heading for Dry Pass which led into a large bay and were greeted by an elderly fisherman from sheltered by a series of islands. We paddled the lower 48 who had tied up at the jetty. He the three miles to Dry Pass in two metre swells told us that he came up to this area every year with the wind behind us and we had to stay to catch fish to supplement his income. We about a mile off shore because of rocks and asked about the price he got for Sockeye salmon and he said anything between $150 and some small islands.

The paddling was awkward rather than $200. Some gift in Elfin Cove. We slept a good sleep that night in what felt like an oven with the difficult. About a mile from Dry pass we spotted three kayakers coming towards us. The condiheat from the stove and the tarp down. tions were not favourable for stopping for a chat Day 5 was an easy paddle of eleven but they shouted to us that there was a Grey miles to Lost Cove near where Lisianski Strait opens out on to the Pacific. We wanted to enter Whale ahead of us, close to shore.

We kept paddling towards the entrance the Pacific on slack low and this would be beto Dry Pass but kept watching the tree line to tween 9am and 11am the next day. We had a see the typical V shaped exhalation of water long rest at the shelter and didn't leave until about 3pm. Lost Cove was flat calm and it took through the blowhole against the dark forest on shore. It is much easier to spot whales in the about a half hour before we found a suitable distance for this reason when they are between place to pitch. It rained for the first time that you and the shore. The sight of a large plume evening. of silvery spray followed by a whoooosh is a Day 6 was another eleven mile paddle thrill no matter how many times you have expefrom Lost Cove to Dry Pass via White Sulphur rienced it.

Springs (WSS). It is a four mile paddle on the The blow can be up to ten feet high. You Pacific to WSS with lots of small islands in beoften hear whales blow long before you see tween making for all sorts of currents plus sea 15

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Issue 49

them. The sound carries for miles and alerts you to their presence. The Grey whale was heading out to sea and we only saw and heard a few blows. The sea was flat calm inside Portlock Harbor and we paddled around for a while on a lovely sunny evening before finding a place to pitch our tents.

Days seven and eight was a twenty six mile paddle from Dry Pass to Khaz Head. All of the paddling was sheltered and we had two very easy days on flat water meandering our way around large and small islands and through some narrow passages.

The weather over the two days was a mixture of rain and sunshine and we used our tarp a few times to shelter from the rain.

We paddled through a group of islands called the Myriad Islands at low tide and saw hundreds of large purple and orange starfish clinging to the rocks. We saw many rafts of sea otters floating on their backs, some with pups lying on their chests. At times like this we just drifted silently with the current and sat at peace listening to the sounds of nature all around us.

We met a group of five paddlers as we paddled through Portlock Harbor, three of whom we had met the previous day. They had come from Sitka and when we asked about conditions along the Khaz Peninsula they told us that two

of their group were beginner paddlers so they had hired a boat to ferry them to Khaz Head and the same boat was going to bring them back. The cost to them was $400 each as the boat had to do round trips. We got a phone number from them as a backup.

A friend in Juneau had given us the loan of a satellite phone which saved us hiring one.

We had banked three days at this stage but if we got weathered in we could not afford to miss the ferry from Sitka to Juneau. A lone Humpback passed us as it made its way into Slocum Arm, a long fiord behind Khaz Peninsula. Nice easy interesting days.

We spent our eighth night camped on a small island in Piehle Passage, about a mile from Khaz Head. We pitched on the sheltered side of the island and a short walk to the top of a hill gave a panoramic view of the Pacific. The weather forecast for the next day (received on the WX channel of Liam's VHF radio), was for light winds and low seas.

Day nine was a twenty two mile paddle from Piehle Passage to Louise Cove, in Peril Strait, by way of The Khaz Peninsula. Sixteen miles of this paddle was on the Pacific.

There was only one off point and this was at Leo Anchorage, a cove ten miles into the paddle where Klokachef Island gave shelter. We 16

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association rose at five am, walked to the top of the hill and and a single bunk, a table and benches and a diesel fired stove. There was another double looked out to sea. bed upstairs. The cabin was situated in a very Clear blue sky and absolutely flat sea to small cove and when you sat at the table you the horizon. We ate, broke camp and headed off for what was one of the best days paddling I could see a point of land around which any boat heading for the cabin had to come. have ever had anywhere. The conditions were A float plane would also approach from perfect. We never saw a wave in those ten the same direction. We made lunch, rested, miles. The scenery was stunning with high mountains to our left and the sun shone all day. filled in diaries, wrote postcards, chatted and watched that point all day.

We saw lots of seals, sea otters, two humpIt rained for a while and it was great to be backs in the distance and many bald eagles sheltered in the cabin. At about 5pm a boat and sea birds. rounded the point and headed for the cabin.

We paddled into Leo Anchorage and Our hearts sank as we cursed and cursed and beached at a small river so that we could filter grabbed our gear (which was all over the place) water and refill our water bags. We spread our and prepared to evacuate. clothes out to dry on the hot stones and lay There were two men on board and one there basking in the heat for an hour and a half.

The wind had picked up a bit by the time we left Leo and we had a bouncy paddle for seven miles before turning into Peril Strait and Louise Cove.

Our map showed a shelter at Louise Cove and we were disappointed to find only the burnt out remains of one. We pitched the tents and settled in. The last twenty seven miles to Sitka was mostly sheltered and we now had three spare days. Cathy and Karen decided that a night in Piper Island cabin would be a nice break so the next morning they led us the three miles to it. This was a beautiful triangular shaped cabin and there was nobody there!!

These cabins belong to and are maintained by the forest service. Reservations are required by law and money is supposed to change hands. Information provided by the for- of jumped onto the sandy beach. Liam and I walked down to meet him. “Are you booked in est service on our maps states: “Note: Unautonight” he asked. “No, we are just kayakers thorised use of these cabins is a violation of federal laws and regulations. Violators are sub- hoping nobody is staying here tonight” we replied. He smiled and said “Well you can stay ject to a fine of $500, up to 6 months in prison, tonight. I am just dropping off provisions for a or both. Violations should be reported immedigroup of fishermen I am bringing up tomorrow”. ately to a forest service employee”.

We told him that he had no idea how happy we We looked around for a forest service were to hear that and he laughed. employee to whom we could report each other We helped them offload the supplies – to but could not find one 'immediately' so we food, utensils, sleeping bags, beer, and diesel just moved in.(I had been advised previously that if nobody with a paid receipt has arrived by for the stove. He offered to light the stove for us and proceeded to fill the tank with diesel, ex9pm that it was OK to use the facilities) plaining that he had more than enough. He told The cabin was beautiful. It had a double 17

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Treasna na dTonnta us that he ran one of the museums in Sitka and to call in on him when we arrived. (It was closed on the day we went there).

He wished us luck and headed off. What a stroke of luck. The heat built up, the clothes dried and we relaxed until at about 9.30pm another boat rounded the point and headed for the cabin. Shit shit shit was the nicest thing we shouted.

This boat, a yacht under power, made its way to a mooring buoy just off shore. Liam and I headed for the beach again and hailed the man on board. He was staying on board his yacht (panic over) so we invited him to 'our' cabin and we had a great time listening to his stories about his adventures in Alaska for an hour. He gave us his partner’s phone number and told us if we had any problems in Sitka to phone her and she would look after us. There's nothing like the kindness of strangers.

We left Piper Island the next morning without having found a forest service employee to report each other to and headed for Neva Strait a narrow eight mile long channel between Partofshikof Island and Baranof Island. The strait is about a mile wide at the north end and narrows to about a hundred yards as you head south.

Because it is getting narrower as you paddle you get the feeling that you are paddling downhill but this feeling was easily blown away by a headwind coming up this natural channel.

There were very few places to pitch in Neva Strait. We found a spot beyond Highwater Island but the tree line was very close to the water and we had to place the tents on the high water line. The evening high tide was a foot higher than the previous one so we had to wait until after high tide to go to bed to be sure that we wouldn't be swamped on our last night in the wilderness.

Our last day was a fifteen mile paddle from Neva to Olga Strait, another narrow channel before entering Sitka Sound to paddle the last five miles into Sitka. Within minutes of leaving shore we saw a Sitka deer and two fawns walking on shore. The mother was very

Issue 49 aware that we were there but never reacted.

We may have been the first people she had seen and did not perceive us as a threat.

We paddled the ten miles to the end of Olga Strait on calm seas and no wind but be had to battle against a strong head wind and choppy sea as we crossed Sitka Sound. The wind was building to force 5/6 as we passed Lisianski Peninsula. We briefly considered turning back to Olga but we could see Sitka ahead and we just paddled on with heads down until we reached the shore. Hugs all round for the safe completion of another S.E. Alaska wilderness kayaking trip. Here's to good kayaking buddies!!

This was my 4th wilderness kayaking trip to SE Alaska and the best so far. My first was to Glacier Bay in 1999, 2nd to Misty Fiords, 2002 and Glacier Bay 2006.

The following is the report filed by member of the ECSKC club after an incident near Howth earlier this year. It has not been altered apart from using initials rather than names, simply to avoid these reports popping up when names are ‘googled’ in the online version.

Howth Incident Report On Saturday 8th January 2011, eleven paddlers of mixed ability assembled for the club paddle from Howth Harbour to be led by MF and WC. This number included the two leaders, MF and WC. The skillset in the group ranged from basic level of sea kayaker competence to level 3. Two river paddlers who indicated to MOF beforehand that they had good river paddling experience were found to be very slow once they got on the water. Another paddler was using an old boat which had no skeg.

When checked at the start, there were only two radios in the group (carried by the leaders) and limited amounts of tow ropes and 18

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association leaders. spare paddles in the group.

On our return at around 13:00 the group The weather forecasted morning of 8th paused at the Nose of Howth. At this stage January 2011 was Westerly F4 and gusting.

The wind was forecast to rise to F5 and back to some of the paddlers were struggling with the distances involved (one of these was being a WSW direction. The tide was flooding with towed) while other paddlers wanted to visit IreDublin full tide due at 13:53 (3M range).

The intention was to have separate easy land’s Eye. The group split at the nose of Howth and and intermediate trips. Because of the shortage MOF headed for Howth harbour taking the of leaders and L3+ paddlers (in support) we weaker paddlers. Wc took group of four padformed one group. dlers, the stronger paddlers, towards Ireland's The group headed off at 10:30 towards Eye. The focus of this report is the incident that the Baily and went approx 500M along the coast beyond the Baily before returning towards this group was involved in.

The weather conditions were F4 westerly Howth Harbour. The range of experience in the with no white caps or breaking waves, bright group meant that we ‘regrouped’ regularly to and sunny. CS was out in front setting the pace. allow the slow paddlers to catch up with the Just short of the deep water channel marker (E) MOF radioed to say he thought WC’s group were drifting East, but WC responded that they were okay as WC deliberately stayed 30M to the right (East) to watch the group. WC did notice breaking waves on Thulla Island and thought he would have trouble landing on the west side of Ireland's Eye. On reaching the island the group stopped for a short rest and WC told the group they might not be able to land on the West side and suggested we might look for a landing on this (East) side or near the Martello tower. They proceeded through the gap at the sea stack and turned due West. The wind was much stronger, reaching F5/6, and seemed to funnel along the cliffs. They made progress slowly to just short of the Martello tower where they had a brief rest.

Meanwhile, MOF took the slow paddlers back to Howth Harbour in one group (total of 6 paddlers). When MOF got to the Mouth of Howth Harbour he noticed that there was a strong gale across the mouth of the harbour. He left the paddlers in the safety of Howth Harbour and paddled along the West side of Ireland’s Eye in a strengthening wind to meet the other paddler group. WC led the way through the gap between Steer Rock and the Martello Tower.

The wind was definitely stronger. The group was following (20M behind) and progress was slow. Just as he got through the gap he heard a 19

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Treasna na dTonnta shout and looked behind to see everything looked okay. Proceeding on for 30 - 40M to see if MOF was coming, as arranged, WC caught sight of MOF coming along the coast. WC then turned and re-entered the channel and found DF rescuing CS with difficulty. He asked NC to watch out for MOF and assisted DF. CS stated he was unable to paddle up the gap between the Martello Tower and The Steer against the strengthening wind.

When we regrouped we decided to retrace our path on the East of Ireland’s Eye to shorten the distance of exposure to the wind.

We pulled in to land at an inlet on the southeast corner to reassess the situation, to eat and get warm.

This advanced group consisted of the following paddlers; WC •DF • CS • COS • NC • MOF (who met up with this group later) While in the shelter of the inlet we decided to portage to the beach (a distance of 30M) and launch from there to shorten the route to Howth. When we launched some paddlers (CS and COS) had difficulty controlling their boats and were worried about making headway against what was now F5/F6 wind. CS’s boat was an old design without a skeg and caught the wind, making it difficult to handle when broadside against strong winds. We abandoned this attempt to paddle across to Howth.

We considered alternative ways to get back to Howth such as towing and a number of factors were considered: • The winds were forecast to remain strong from the same direction; • CS felt he could not keep direction in the conditions present; • Two other paddlers (COS and Niall) were not confident that they could make headway against the wind; • The three experienced paddlers would be committed (to helping / towing) from the start with the risk that there would be no reserve or added support if the situation deteriorated; and escorting the stranded paddlers (two at a time) by relay would be a long process especially for those to be taken out on the second relay. This would pose a risk of hypother-

Issue 49 mia for that second group.

MOF took the safest option and contacted the Coast Guard for assistance. The Coast Guard contacted the Howth RNLI at 14:40 who dispatched a rib and their Trent class boat. The rib ferried paddlers and kayaks to the larger Trend Class boat and brought them safely to the RNLI slipway in Howth. While we waited for assistance DF lit a fire and boats were secured back on the island.

Comments: • The decision to head out for Ireland’s Eye was the key decision of the day. We did not appreciate the effect of rising wind speed on a more exposed location around Ireland’s Eye. • A safer approach would have been to head for Howth Harbour and make out for Ireland’s Eye. This would have allowed everyone to make better use of the shelter provided by Howth Harbour wall against the easterly winds.

• The decision to call for assistance was made promptly while paddlers were not in danger and relatively comfortable.

• There is clearly an interest among club ‘Newbies’ in paddling on the North side but this is not matched by numbers of experienced paddlers to accompany such trips. There were only four L3+ experienced paddlers on the trip (including leaders) and only the two leaders had radios.

The event is published in the Howth RNLI web site and on their Facebook page.

There are some inconsistencies and inaccuracies on these immediate postings and the Facebook version is the more accurate. MOF posted a ‘thank you’ to the Facebook page and RNLI reminded him that they are holding a fundraising SOS day on 28th January http://www.rnli.org.uk/sosday2011/.

ECSKC should consider a more formal ‘thank you’ to the RNLI for the prompt work they did.

Report compiled by MOF and WC

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association celling, complementary therapies, nurses and endless cups of tea.

To find out more about the circumnavigation visit www.ulstercircumnavigation2011.co.uk to find more about the great work that MacmilThis summer Richard Lineham and lan cancer support carry out visit www.macmilGethin Thomas are going to sea kayak 350 lan.org.uk miles around the province of Ulster in Ireland.

The trip is being kindly sponsored by P The circumnavigation of Ulster will involve pad- and H Custom Sea Kayaks and Reed dling the coast of Northern Ireland, Donegal and Chillcheater. crossing Ireland from Dundalk to Ballyshannon using rivers and loughs.

Ulster Circumnav 2011

Ireland to IOM Crossing

by Conor Murray We made it...the Isle of Man at last! The harbour wall of Peel (a small harbour on the west coast) seemed to take an age to reach.

We had been on the go for eleven and a half hours and about six of those were spent staring straight at our destination, but we had done it!

It’s funny that I only felt a small sense of achievement as we hauled the boats and In May 2009 Richard's wife (Alex) was stashed them under the pier. Just like climbing diagnosed with terminal cancer started on a Everest, when you’re at the top you’re only half course of Chemotherapy that would last nearly way there. We still needed to find accommoda18 months to slow down the spread of cancer. tion, eat and oh yes, that small matter of getting During this time Alex made a conscious deciback to Ireland the next day. The ferry service sion to keep living life to the full and even 3 from the IOM is sketchy to say the least and in days before her death was still organising a the original plan we were to paddle just one party. Over her last 18 months Alex managed way. On this particular weekend we knew there to raise over £9,000 pounds for charity. Alex was no ferry and the two way trip was the only lost her battle with cancer on the 10th Septemoption! But the weather, tides and weekend all ber 2010. arrived at once and this was the chance we’d Whilst Alex was sick Macmillan were abbeen waiting for. solute stars helping Alex come to terms with her Many of the hotels and B&B’s in Peel diagnosis and making sure that she had all the have closed or have converted to restaurants help and support that she needed. After Alex and so we were lucky to get a late cancellation passed away Macmillan were still there and in the very last B&B on the seafront and were helped Rich get back on my feet. delighted that we didn’t have to bivvy out. We The team are aiming to raise £3500 for sat in a daze in the local chipper, just staring out Macmillan cancer support so other people can to sea in a surreal state as the sun set over receive the same help as Rich and Alex.

Peel castle. It was like we were having a quick Macmillan provide information services, canrest before continuing on! The original plan was 21

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Treasna na dTonnta to depart Peel at 0500. This was to allow for the end of the weather window on Sunday evening, when the wind was forecast to pick up and change direction. But there was no way either of us could make it back on 4 hours sleep. So we decided to sleep in and would be on the water at 0800 instead.

It was a perfect morning. Not a breeze or a ripple on the sea. The sun shone and I wondered what an elderly couple who were taking a morning stroll would say if they knew where we were going. In fact the idea of paddling this distance offshore seems absurd, even to most kayakers. But to some it’s just another aspect to the sport. Performanceseakayak.co.uk suggest that if you want to do an open crossing then IOM should be on your list and that the planning and training can be as much of the challenge as the event! We had planned and trained and planned some more and this was what got us excited. Being on an adventure is addictive and life on the open sea is good. Paddle, chat, listen to music, eat, drink and pee, what more could one ask for?

It’s amazing how the body and mind adjusts to that vast expanse of sea. Learning how to deal with the endless horizon and rhythm of the paddle is part of the challenge. Is it boring?

Well, it reminds me of my first long haul flight as a teenager, where I couldn’t sleep and stayed alert to every little sensation. Listening, watching and feeling everything. Space, time and perspective get lost at An approaching ship, or a distant horizon, everything seems to move in slow motion. The idea of staring at nothing for long periods of time may seem boring but I’ve never found it so. I think it’s the notion that somewhere in the back of your mind you know this is serious.

So, we were off again. It took the usual 30 minutes to let all the morning aches settle and soon we were gliding through the smooth sea. We had a good rhythm and a great day at sea ahead of us. 10km offshore and without warning I heard a loud blow and about 200m right in front of me a large animal appeared, its fin tall and pointing straight up. Not like the porpoise or dolphin fin that I’m used to. It was black

Issue 49 with a patch of grey behind the fin but I had no idea what it was. Then some minutes later we heard more blows and 1km away we saw the same tall fins of 2 or 3 animals. What was incredible was the noise. We could hear the whoosh, whoosh of the blows and only now and again see them. I wanted to follow them but we had a job to do and another 45km to go, so we had to keep pushing on. What we didn’t realise at the time was what we had witnessed had been a small pod of Orca’s. On arriving home I got out my fin identification book and covered over all the names. There was no mistaking them. Sometimes we see wonderful and rare events without realising it! I’ve been scanning the sea ever since in hope of seeing another!

I enjoy playing silly games to pass the time and would keep an eye on the time by announcing at each milestone, “3 hours done – that’s a club trip! 6 hours in – that’s a full day club trip! 9 hours out – that’s a full day peer paddle!” And we still had over 5 hours to go, enough to make one laugh out loud! Other small things keep one amused, like the Fulmar that becomes your friend for a few minutes as he circles or calling to the passing Gannets as they stare down “whacha lookin’ at!”

The journey both ways had been perfect.

Steady paddling with flat calm water. I had even thought to myself – this could be done as a club trip – well maybe not quite! Then sea conditions began to change as the wind increased. The return leg had a different atmosphere, not helped by the fact that we were paddling to the end of a very distinct weather window. The morning forecast had predicted fog and wind “later”, later being defined as 12 hours or more, and we knew we’d still be out there at that time. We suited up as the waves splashed over the boats but by now we were on the home straight. The home straight being 20km out made me laugh again! We put the heads down. It’s hard paddling into the setting sun and it makes landmarks difficult to spot but we felt confident as we sighted the South Rock tower on the horizon. I felt uneasy as the wind gradually changed to the north and it wasn’t long before the hardest part of a 115km journey was about 22

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association again. Knowing that land had to be close we to unfold. kept our focus sharp. And then we smelt it.

We were taking a break and I was peeing away into my bottle (another joy of the open Land! It wasn’t the sight of land but the smell of it that brought smiles to our faces. And within crossing) when I noticed the first signs of trouminutes the sea state had eased off. We were ble. I remember asking Claire to take a bearing obviously entering a sheltered area and then on the tower and I’d explain why in a minute. the first jagged rocks appeared. We entered a Before I had filled the bottle the South Rock small cove 2km north of Kearney at 2215 (14 tower had disappeared! A sea fog had rolled hours 15 minutes after leaving) in the thick fog down the coast to about 6km offshore. We had and dark. a bearing and ETA to the tower and then The relief was immense and maybe I Losing one of your senses after all your other over reacted but I kept thinking that this wasn’t senses are struggling is hard. Visibility was 20 over until we were safely back in Belfast. I metres. Trying to focus after 13 hours on the grabbed down jackets and warm hats from sea was going to be tough but absolutely eshatches and made sure we had a snack and a sential. But we couldn’t afford to make misdrink. At the end of the trail to the beach was a takes. We had to keep everything tight as we house and although we had a trolley with us, we knew there was no VHF coverage in the area. chanced it and rang the bell. The woman of the And having the Belfast Coast Guard’s phone number was little use as a rescue in such condi- house got a bit of a fright when she saw two crazy wide eyed kayakers trying to explain what tions would be near impossible. From entering the fog I had calculated 25 minutes to the tower. had happened. She kindly gave us a lift down the road and we began packing for home.

But making land was all that really mattered.

At midnight, forty one hours after leaving We paddled hard as the wind increased again.

As we approached the shallower water close to Belfast we arrived back at the door and stumbled inside. I didn’t have the same sensation as some reefs we could hear the waves breaking for the Scotland crossing. There was no jumpbut couldn’t see a thing. ing for joy or whoops of excitement, just the On reaching the point where the tower was supposed to be, but wasn’t, we took a new feeling inside that we had done something big. bearing. As soon as we headed off and no more We had used every last ounce of energy, all our skills and determination and we had made it. than 30 metres away the South Rock tower Since then, some friends have noticed a loomed out of the mist, a good sign and a boost change in me. And yes, I did have a few quiet of confidence too. A small race south of the weeks afterwards but my search for adventure tower made going tough and difficult to keep our bearing as we were being surfed off course. at sea hasn’t ceased. I’d like to think I’m planWe were going parallel to the land but paddling ning something big in the future, but who knows! across the breaking waves would not be the 22/23 May 2010 wisest decision in the world. Staying close toKayakers: Conor Murray and Claire Hughes gether was hard. We kept on checking each other by shouting over the noise of the wind and (Belfast Kayak Club) Kearney, Northern Ireland to Peel, Isle of Man. waves. Things happen fast in these situations and decisions have to be made quickly, so I reDistance: 60nm. Time: 11 hours 30 min/ acted to deteriorating conditions.

14hours 15min We tacked to the northwest to minimise the chance of capsize or separation. I kept note Wildlife: Puffin, Shearwater, Gannet, Fulmar, Porpoise, Dolphin, Seal, Orca, Sea Otter, Jellyof our bearing and time travelled on it in the fish; Lions Mane, Barrel, Common, Sea gooseevent of having to relocate. In the fog time berries. slows down. We both felt as if we Everything was swirling. We tacked south west 23

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Treasna na dTonnta

Issue 49 nign and non threatening could if preceding other negative events, constitute a threat to me.

Every negative event causes me to reassess my vulnerability to further events. For example, forgetting a water bottle is not life threatening NI to Scotland per se but dehydration will make me more fatigued by the end of my paddle and fatigue will

by Tadhg de Barra impair my decision making and dull my eskimo roll. Will I have critical decisions to make at the Three weeks before. end of the paddle- is it likely that I will need my Perfect weather. Heat haze. I found Donroll? aghadee and found a 24-hour garage and found To counter this slippery slope to tragedy, an early opening greasy spoon. Travelling to I am constantly and actively trying to stack posiany new place, you worry about necessities tive events in my favour. One such positive such as food, toilet and water. Of course, I event would be to have the Scottish coast in would find them. Why worry? People there must view. This would mean a negative event such eat, drink and toilet too. I thought the kayak was as a GPS breakage or compass falling overready. I thought I was ready. I went out, south of board would be less threat to me. However the Copelands. while I didn't have the Scottish coast in view, I For me there is only one real threshold in was satisfied with the level of risk I was assumsea kayaking, that of going beyond my wading ing- the GPS was working and tethered! I went depth. Going out farther than I can swim is no to sea. threshold. Only vaguely do I know how far I can One never know how one will feel on the swim. And I do know enough about tide, wind eve of a big paddle. Physically, you are quite and temperatures to know that assumptions of wary of having an off day. Just as some days, swimming distance are unreliable. No, for me, you cannot feel the blades and all is smooth there is only one threshold, that of going from and clean, there are rare off days when the the coast father than you can wade home and paddles seem leaden and the kayak appears to after that you are at sea and it does not matter if be towing a bucket. You are just feeling yourself it is fifty meters or miles. out making sure you are not having one of I had done my calculations, my tidal those rare off days. You will not feel the same planning. I was satisfied with my weather winas your best training day paddle. The kayak will dow. The only unsatisfactory element was that I be heavier in the water, with all your added could not see Scotland on the other side, which safety gear and you will be overdressed, overI had hoped to do. For me, it is all about stackhydrated, over-fed, over-caffeinated and overing positives in my favour and reducing my vulexcited. It takes time to settle. nerability- let me explain; Much But it did. As I paddled out to sea, all felt research into “tragic accidents” shows that they good. However, on the water, things were not rarely occur in the wake of a single catastrophic happening as they should. I primarily use a event. Far more likely is that they occur as a reGPS for reading my speed and my speed was sult of a series of negative events which, each down despite knowing that I was making a reahaving occurred in succession, finally result in a sonable effort. Similarly, the direction of drift of terminal event. Unfortunately, much of our psymy kayak on the tide was not as I had anticichology focuses on the terminal event, much to pated. I was drifting quite rapidly north when I the neglect of preceding and contributory expected to be ferry gliding north across the events. Aware of this insight, I try to use it when south going flood. This was not right. This was paddling solo. I am always wary of negative quite a “negative event!” My tidal planning was events which though in and of themselves beoff – on a run whose crux demands accurate 24

A Gesture of Solidarity

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Treasna na dTonnta tidal planning. On my first big crossing. I was not happy. This was a fundamental error and I recognised it as such. It immediately undermined my confidence in my ability to safety accomplish this crossing. No Scotland in view and now this! I had an image of myself hurtling down a slippery slope.

I turned around and paddled back to Donaghadee, my tail between my legs but curi-

ous to know what had gone wrong. Incidentally, the paddle back to Donaghadee south of the Copelands was quite a slog- another anomaly.

Subsequent analysis showed two contributory factors to the error in tidal planning. Firstly, in my excitement to get the crossing done, I had launched an hour or so early. While I was aware, I was doing this, I hadn't factored this into my tidal planning. Thus on my planning sheet on my deck, I didn't have an explanation for what was happening on the water around me, which unnerved me. Also, the tides on the NI side of the crossing tend to be stronger and more sustained. Thus at HW Dover, while flow

Issue 49 may be a minimal 0.2 knots of flood in the middle of the channel, it is still ebbing northerly near the Copelands at an impressive 1.2 knots.

A lesson learned. Second, as I was heading back into shore an hour later, the southern rim of the Copelands was channeling the ebb against me, further increasing its strength.

Fortunately, I had the fitness to make good progress through that.

Two weeks before.

Perfect weather again. I had sorted the tidal planning issues and my confidence had returned. I managed to get a day off work and headed north in blazing sunshine. I hoped to be able to see Scotland this time. It was five days into a High Pressure system and all was settled.

The wind predictions were so good I thought I might meet other paddlers making the crossing.

Is it still a solo paddle if there are others on the water near you? I became resentful. Unnecessarily so. I remember peeking at the sea through the rows of redbrick houses as I en26

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association under full steam are passing both behind and in tered Donaghadee and my heart sinking. Fog. front of you. I tended to only look forward toThick fog, as bad as I had seen it. The air cooled dramatically as I neared the harbour, in- ward my destination rather than looking back to see what sort of trouble I had gotten myself into. dicating that the fog was well established. Fog It is a cliché with crossings that you paddle for is a significant negative event. Apart from the hours without landmarks appearing to come any navigation and sea-sickness difficulties, chances of a rescue craft finding a kayak in fog closer to you but.... The trick was to focus on landmarks around your target and only episodiare small. It greatly worsened my vulnerability. cally check your target. Then you begin to noPerhaps the fog may have cleared out at sea but this as not an assumption I was prepared to tice its slow steady increase in size. The closer you get to your destination, the more you have make. I went for a paddle late that afternoonagain in fog to test my navigation skills and pad- to fight the urge to point the bow at it. But you dled around the Copelands. I could see little ev- must maintain your predesignated heading because the tide continues to work close to the idence of the fog clearing further out from land coast. I pulled into Port Patrick four hours and and the ships in the channel were still using nine minutes after setting out. Normally I advofoghorns. I returned home quite frustrated. Is cate paddling home on crossings, toward the fathis crossing a runner? More than that, I wonmiliar, but there is a unique thrill to have dered if my demands for “perfect” sea condipaddled to a different country in your kayak. tions were unrealistic? Was my risk The accents were different, the money minimisation unreasonable and incompatible with a sea crossing or sea kayaking in general? was different, the signs were different and I Lesson learned; go early in your High Pressure found this different place in my little kayak. After washing the sea salt from my face, I sat in the system. More research on fog, its types, its forsun and ate a hearty pub meal enjoying the mation and its unpredictability. Again I waited. sense of otherworldliness. After an hour or two, the tide had turned and I took to the sea again.

The day of.

While the normal habit is to paddle home, my Early July. Perfect weather window. Marching sole resolution was to complete the crossing. season. I passed tens of unlit bonfires on my When I got back out to sea, my light northerly way up to Donaghadee, which despite its obviwas now a wind blowing against an ebbing tide. ously Gaelic name (Domhnach Daoi, meaning The sea state had picked up. Not significantly, "Daoi’s church") is predominantly Protestant. but there were white caps all about. I paddled The town was festooned with Union Jacks. out a kilometre or so and studied my GPS as I Bored ex-army types wondered the streets – did so. My speed in the rougher water had larger cans, military surplus clothing, smashed noses, weathered skin - a self appointed under- dropped. A quick calculation informed me that I would probably arrive to Donaghadee close to class who owned the streets this month. Much dusk. I was not happy with this situation. Thus I like Paddy's Day when the Irish village drunk is king for a day. Here I was with my southern reg elected to paddle to Stranraer and get the ferry home the next morning. In terms of distance, it car and stupid looking boat on the roof... But was much the same. Another 40kms. But it Scotland was in view. I left contact details on the windscreen as I often do during a long pad- meant that any paddling in the dark would be done inside the sheltered waters of Loch Ryan. dle and again chatted to Belfast CG, who have I saw a little of Scotland as I paddled around the always been amiable. There was a light “Rhins of Galloway,” the hammer head peninnortherly wind F2/3 but it was with a flooding sula is which Portpatrick sits. I pulled into Kiltide so they together calmed the sea wonderlantringan Bay to phone home to inform them of fully. It did not take long to see Killantringan my change in plan. The peninsula is a wild lighthouse about 2kms north of Port Patrick. place. To find mobile phone coverage, I had to You know you are well out to sea when ships 27

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Treasna na dTonnta climb a high hillock on the northern side of the bay.

I was quite fatigued by the time I rounded Corsewall lighthouse. I had been battling a light headwind for twenty kms. As could be expected, the wind died toward evening depriving me of a tailwind down Loch Ryan. It was a safe if slow painful 20kms slog with regular food stops and shoulder stretches down to Stranraer.

My opinion of golf has always been low. I concur with Mark Twains view of it as a “long walk ruined.” Its jowly adherents, a bunch whose sense of social exclusion is as well developed as their paunches have destroyed some of Ireland's greatest beauty spots. Sorry but hitting a ball into a hole in a field with a stick is not a sport and will never rank alongside subtwo ten marathon or summiting a Col in the Tour. Yet again, golf was to incur my wrath. As I hobbled around the streets of Stranraer, dead on my feet, I found all the B+Bs booked out because the Scottish Open was in town. Drunken golfers spilled out of pubs. Needless to say, my yellow drysuit attracted some less than inspired comments which the protagonists chums found hilarious. In the end, I rang the harbour master and got permission to camp on the yachting harbour pontoon for the night. It required some elaborate rope work as my small Hilleberg Akto is not self supporting. Behind the locked harbour gate, rocking gently on the pontoon, with my trusty kayak beside me, I slept the sleep of the dead.

The next morning, I wheeled the kayak to the ferry to Larne and from there took a taxi down to Donaghadee to collect my car. The driver was another ex-army type. He had spent a lot of time in London, a city we both liked. He carried two phones on his dashboard, one for the girlfriend and the other for the “ather w’man.” It was 13th of July, the morning after the 12th celebrations. He confided that he had had a difficult job juggling the two interested parties for during the previous night's celebrations but eventually had had to choose. He expected consequences this morning.

When he heard that I had kayaked across to Scotland on the 12th of July, he was

Issue 49 full of congratulations. I believe he assumed I was a fellow Loyalist and the kayak trip was a gesture of solidarity toward my Scottish brethren across the channel.

Before he could delve further into my motivations, one of his phones rang. He was left with some explaining to do. Having passed a succession of scorched craters where the bonfires once stood, we finally pulled into Donaghadee. I was left alone with my motivations and thoughts of the sea.

Basic Trip Info; Typical plan is over and back in one/ two days.

Access small dingy harbour 500m north of main harbour in Donaghadee Landfall Portpatrickuse Killantringan Light 2kms north of Portpatrick to guide you acrossSlow crossing is 7 hoursfast 4 hours.

Leave half an hour either side of HW Belfast from NI side to avoid small overfalls that can form near LW Contact Belfast CG giving Trip Plan /ETAs Ships/Ferries no problem Ideally use a still windless day- remember wind with tide will calm and wind against will pick the seas up Do near neaps Typical bearing off is around 22 degrees

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Irish Sea Kayaking Association

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