Sea Kayaking Memories

Whilst looking through thousands of slides last week, as I was trying to sort out a talk for a 60th birthday celebration, I came across a number of slides which brought back memories of sea kayaking over the last 30 plus years.

Also makes me think about how sea kayaking images have been lost as we have all made the switch to digital.

Holyhead Harbour at dawn towards the end of August 1980.  We are leaving for Ireland.  All was going well until 2 kayaks the same colour as ours were washed ashore under South Stack, resulting in a search being launched.  We were located by a helicopter, followed quickly by a lifeboat.  It took the edge of our trip so we returned to Holyhead.

Crossing to Bardsey in July 1981.  The hatches on my new Nordkapp were held in place by string.  My kayak was one of the first to be fitted with the new hatches, unfortunately the compound was unstable resulting in the rims collapsing inwards.  Valley were great and replaced the hatches without question.

A welcome beer in Carteret, France.  There were significant restrictions placed on kayakers who wished to paddle to France but in April 1984 we were given permission to cross from Jersey to France, by the French authorities, and here we are celebrating our passage to our nearest neighbour.

Surfing at St Ouen's in 1985.  KW7's were the craft of the day.  Still a great general purpose kayak.

Pete on a rocky beach in northern Norway, in August 1986.  We only had 2 days in 4 weeks when we were unable to paddle because of the weather.  We were heading towards Nordkapp.

Beachy Head Lighthouse in 1986.  Probably the most dramatic headland on the south coast.

Cap Frehel is one of the largest headlands in northern Brittany.  We paddled the length of the north Brittany coast back to St Malo before jumping on the ferry back to Jersey.

Its not everywhere that Osprey's nest on navigation marks.  Penobscot Bay, Maine 1995.

 An arch on Gola, off the north west coast of Ireland in 1996.  Exploring the uninhabited islands was a great way to spend a couple of weeks.

Some more aerial shots

It has been a while since I posted any aerial shots, so I as it sit grounded by fog, waiting for my flight home, I thought it would be appropriate to post a few pictures taken over the last few months.  Always keep a camera handy as you never know when the opportunity will arise to get some shots of classic kayaking areas from above.

 Alderney, a great but rarely visited, sea kayaking destination.  The breakwater at Braye is clearly visible.

Herm, towards high water.  Shell Beach is clearly visible.  Great paddling.

Final approach into Jersey with the delightful paddling area of the north west corner rising above the exposed rocks off L'Etacq.

The Needles, from almost directly above.

Entrance to Langstone Harbour, just to the west of Portsmouth.

 Galway Bay at sunset, as we chased the last rays of daylight across the Atlantic.

Svendborg in Denmark, where I had left from last year on a few days sailing.

In Irish Waterways

I found this quite an interesting book both from a paddling perspective and as a commentary on the way that society has changed over the last 50 or so years.  This book doesn’t fall into the category of sea kayaking but could be described as kayak touring.  The book describes a number of journeys undertaken the author between 1939 and 1949 on the inland waterways of Ireland.  The majority lasted about two weeks and they paint a picture of a country that no longer exists.

A double folding kayak was used to explore the classic waterways of the Shannon, Liffey and Corrib Lakes to mention three.  The preferred choice of transport to access the rivers were the train, how much more challenging would that be today.  What was interesting was the equipment that they carried, how many paddlers today carry a bow and arrow?  For some who are easily offended they might be shocked to read the description of the author shooting a Coot and then spending the day roasting the bird on a spit.  His opinion was that they were particularly tough!  They also hunted badgers using the bow and arrow and decided that they need stronger arrows because of the way that they broke.  Activities, which clearly no one today would admit too let alone put into print.

Disregarding hunting activities this is a delightful book which is full of adventures, involving weirs, bulls, bad weather, swans etc.  Many of the same problems, which affect paddlers today.  It would be a challenge though to paddle into a village in Europe today where there was no bread, meat or tinned but that was the situation, which existed in Drumsna, as they paddled the Shannon.

This is a book about change.  Change within society, where it is no longer acceptable to go around eating Coots.  But it is also a book about continuity.  The fact that so many areas of the waterways remain unchanged, as we paddle our craft we see a physical landscape, which has remained largely the same for hundreds of years.  This provides us with a link of generations of earlier paddlers.  Paddling these rivers today many of the views and experiences will be the same.  What has changed though is the equipment and clothing.  There is a fascinating collection of photographs in the book depicting innocence and freedom, which has been lost for many in the modern world.

So forget about being a sea kayaking purist, search out a copy of “In Irish Waterways” and immerse yourself in the Ireland of 60 years ago.

By Edward O’Regan

Published 2005 by Currach Press

Paperback 149 pages

ISBN 1-85607-915-5