Gone Paddling Sea Kayak Circumnavigation of Britain 2010

Sea mist this morning added to a general feeling of tiredness to mean a delayed start.  Once visibility improved, another fun launch through 2-3ft surf was followed by a simple crossing of Plymouth Sound and back – after 126 day – into Cornwall. Approaching Rame Head the wind picked up and the swell became more noticeable in the overfalls; after turning north-west toward Portwrinkle the NW wind became frustrating, but wasn’t as bad as the day traveling up Chesil Beach.  I called it a day at Looe rather than continuing to Fowey because the wind strength seemed to be increasing, and the tide was about to turn. 

So, a short day on the water, but with only 40 or so miles to go before Falmouth, and 6 days to get there, the opportunity to do some fundraising in busy Looe was too great to miss. 

James

Conditions when I launched at Hallsands today were quite different from those when I landed here on Sunday.  Wind was NE F4-5, with choppy waves dumping onto the steep shingle beach - the thinking was that once around Start Point, the high cliffs would provide enough shelter to skirt around the coast as far as Wembury – the difficult bit would be getting off the beach and getting to the tide race just off the point.

Timing was crucial to the launch, jumping on the kack of the kayak between waves and paddling out with the deck off and my legs hanging over the side – quite a lot of water washed over the sides and flooded the cockpit – but at least I was off the beach.  After emptying the cockpit I noticed feeling quite sea sick, but knowing how important it was to get around Start Point before the tide race kicked up too much I pressed on, focussing on fixed objects on the end of the headland.  The skeg had jammed during the launch when a few small stones found their way in, which made boat control awkward in the short steep waves.  After getting around the main headland, as expected the conditions eased a lot.  Wind shelter was provided by the cliffs, and the west-going tidal stream kept progress at a good pace.  The estuary at Salcombe was windy, before more shelter was provided from Bolt Head through to Bolt Tail.

Lunch was eaten on the water in order to make the most of the west-bound flow; Bigbury Bay was crossed from Bolt Tail straight to Stoke Point (allowing lee-way for the effect of the offshore wind), before following the cliffs again to Wembury Bay.  Turning North once Wembury came into view, I passed Great Mew Stone away to the west and landed through 2ft clean surf at Wembury.

James

Today was spent travelling back to Devon after the wedding, and with tide times and wind conditions as they are, effectively no paddling time has been lost.  The forecast looks reasonable for the few days, and having set the 4th September as the landing date there’s no immediate pressure to put in massive mileage every day.  With the Bank Holiday weekend coming up, daily distance will more likely be determined by places to stop for fundraising than by the maximum distance paddlable.

James

Another wedding, which means another couple of days away from the coast.  With the wind conditions as they are at the moment, there’s no question about taking the short time off from the expedition. 

James

Another day of strong winds, another day off the water. 

If I’d still been in the Solent, or somewhere down the East Coast, I’d be a bit more concerned – but with 2-3 days more paddling needed to get to Falmouth, I’m not overly worried. 

James

The landing party has been semi-sorted for Saturday 4th September.

Originally I’d been aiming for just before the bank holiday weekend, in order to finish in August, but with the forecast at times reaching 30+ knots westerly, there was little chance of me making it in time.  The National Maritime Museum Cornwall can’t let me land on the BH weekend itself because of a major exhibit taking up the whole pontoon, and family can’t make the weekdays because of work – therefore the next best day to aim for is the 4th.

All are welcome to pop down to the museum.  Timings TBC, but that’s the target date.  With less than 100 miles to go, there’s hope for at least 3 days of decent-enough weather in the next two weeks…

James

Another day with the whole of the UK under a red line on the inshore forecast – even a few miles from the coast, in Exeter, it’s very blustery – the report on the windfinder website shows 6-7 knots SW for the majority of the day off Salcombe.

Today was a good chance to get some more repairs done – another layer of gelcoat was needed on the keel strip in various places of wear and tear, the foam padding had all but disintegrated from the thigh braces and the piece of carpet on top of the repaired hole in the hull needed re-sticking.  Not major jobs but best to keep on top of them when possible.

James

A brief gap in the strong winds allowed a short but satisfying paddle from Torquay to Hallsands this afternoon.  The timings of the tides prevented further progress around Start Point, but four and half hours of eerily calm waters, patchy mist and barely a breath of wind after putting in at Torquay, I was close to the beginning of the more exposed coastline from Start Point around to Plymouth.

Hallsands had been where I was aiming for on Wednesday before the westerly winds forced me to stop at Torquay, so to finish off that day’s mileage means I’m now in a position to get straight around the last main headland as soon as conditions are more favourable – probably in a few days’ time.  Driving back from Exeter to Torquay ate up some of the morning, and it was 11.30 before I was paddling off; Brixham and Dartmouth were the main towns to pass, and after stopping for a quick bite to eat on the water at 1pm I pulled up at Hallsands slightly ahead of schedule at 15.45 – so 18 miles in just over 4 hours.

It was strange, in a way, paddling past Dartmouth and Mew Stone (the large rock just offshore to the east of the river mouth) – because this had been the location of the first paddle Joe and I did together when we first collected the boats in January.  Back then, with practically no experience paddling offshore, the Mew Stone had seemed an awfully long way to paddle away from the cliff; now of course, having crossed Mount’s Bay, the Severn, Barmouth Bay, the Solway Firth, the Firth of Clyde, parts of the Minch, the Firths of Tay and Forth, the Humber, the Wash, the Thames and the Solent, the Mew Stone seemed spitting distance from the cliff.  I noted how perception changes over time, and wondered how wide Carrick Roads would appear when I round Zone Point in a few days, and look across towards Falmouth.  It’s only a couple miles – the last “crossing” into Falmouth Harbour – but it will either seem like nothing at all, or if the wind is strong and in the west, a hundred miles!

Stroms struck in the evening a couple of hours after getting off the water, and yet more winds are forecast for the majority of this week, so it may be a few more days before Start Point can be tackled.  The Met Office marine forcast has a red line, again, around the whole country, as a deep low sweeps in from the Atlantic.

So near and yet so far.

James

The third day sitting out the winds since arriving at Torquay.  Sunday’s forecast looks reasonable at the moment, but that said, it’s fluctuated windly every day since wednesday, so a call will have to be made this evening RE whether to continue tomorrow or not.

…

Also, since it’s now 4 months into the expedition and in theory it’s only a few days back to Falmouth, I thought I’d collate a few updates on some of the endurance feats of people I’ve met along the way…

Mike, Tyler and Landon are now 1000 miles into the cycle ride across America.  I met Mike and Tyler in Scotland on the Isle of Skye way back in early June. They are aiming to raise $40,000 dollars ($10 per mile) for Darkness To Light’s campaign to end Child Sex Abuse. For more details check out www.pedalforprevention.com

Mary and Becky have just finished their circumnavigation of Britain, sailing anticlockwise (the other way from me) – they landed in Tollesbury in Essex a couple of days ago having been at sea for 68 days.  More details at www.jellyfishadventures.blogspot.com

Charlie is now 500 miles into the cycle stage of his challenge, having already fnished the swimming stage of his event, www.theworldtri.com.  The BBC hailed this as “possibly the most difficult endurance challenge ever conceived” – swim, cycle and run from the source of the River Thames to the summit of Mount Everest.  Charlie has swum to France and is now cycling across Germany.

Marcus has now finished his kayak circumnavigation of Britain.  Marcus was travelling clockwise but started in Skegness on the east coast when I was half-way up the west coast – however he was travelling at record-setting pace and actualy arrived back in Skegness on the same day that I did!  Marcus has become the 16th person to successfully complete a kayak circumnavigation of GB, which hopefully should see me become the 17th in a few days time.  I’ve found this trip extremely tough at times, and to think that not only has Marcus has equalled the record of 80 days start-to-finish, but also to have done the whole thing solo, without land-support, is astonishing.  More details at http://marcusdemuth.com/GreatBritain2010.aspx

James

As predicted, 20-30 knot winds off Salcombe, so no paddling today. 

At least, not for me… Konrad had a bit of a play in the wier near St David’s station – having brought his kayak along for the week there had not been an opportunity to use it much in the sea, so spending a bit of time spotting for him from the banks and taking photos seemed the least I could do.

Other than that, a pretty uneventful day catching up on some rest and thinking about arrangements for Falmouth.

James