Sea Shepherd

Wednesday nights are for coaching, but I try to get on the water earlier than the group meets to get some rolling in, so, I was floating around at Scapa when I noticed Phyllis racing down to the pier and a well known local kayaker jumped out and rushed down the slip, shouting, 'Steve Irwin is here!!!! Lets get to Hatston!'

carry on coaching...

 Off we went to the 'Dark Side' and launched from the slippery slip, the coaching session being designed to get us up close to the MY Steve Irwin - the flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Just back from the Faroes and on her way to London the ship was anchored in Kirkwall Bay.

2 blue boats

 I had a chat with a couple of crew about their experiences in the Faroes: Operation Ferocious Isles.

chatting not coaching...

 I did not know while we were visiting the ship that the sea Shepherd conservation Society owned its very own island here, not far from where they were anchored, at Green Holm. The association between the organisation gives the island another layer of interest having created its own mini seal sanctuary back in 1985.  The only time I have been there involved a few alarming moments paddling hard and getting no where while ferry gliding on what seemed like an enormous river... so it was reassuring to read their observation of 'white water rapids'! Read about their Orkney visit here.

 After all the excitement we carried on kayaking and finished our coaching session under the pier at Hatston before touring the basin in the dark. Head torches on, it felt cold. I had now been on the water for more or less 5 hours and not paddling very hard for most of it, it felt like winter.

Kirkwall basin

We might manage a couple more evening sessions of the weather holds - I'll be wearing my gloves!

All photos by Mary Saunders aka Northern Kayaker.

A little bit of Burray

A beautiful day and a paddle round the east coast of Burray from the 4th to the 3rd barrier.

blue sky

Burrayness lunch spot with Roseness and Copinsay on the horizon.

Hundreds of geese made a noisy fly past.

Seals at Bu Sands

I had the closest encounter yet with a seal.

Junior was very brave and came within a couple of metres of the boat before splashing and swimming underneath. 

Paintballers' playground.

The first swell

Orkney from a different viewpoint...

The First Swell - The Shorties entry from Tim Boydell on Vimeo.

Storm roll

This footage is from a couple of weeks ago and is at about the stage where I am starting to feel its solid enough on one side to start building up the other side. If I fail on the other side I can always go back to the side I started on and analyse what works. I find if I start a new set of rolls on both sides its more problematic to build up a muscle memory.

Since then I have taken these rolls out into F4 and a following sea and I am quite happy with how they work (apart from a couple of unexpected mouthfuls of briny water). 

I am nearly at the stage of making a list of the rolls and tackling them in an organised fashion. I really enjoy getting a new roll, but its a bit of a solitary business up here, so any feedback is most welcome.

Unfortunately I seem to be unable to comment in reply to those left on posts here on blogger so I am posting in FB too, it has been great to get involved in conversations about GP rolling and watching everyone develop or finesse their rolls.

Copinsay and The Horse

A trip to Copinsay with Kate and Mary.

After checking my tidal planning and estimating how long it might take to make the crossing we set off, only to be greeted by the man who caught the lobster we had enjoyed for tea the night before.

'He was delicious! Thank you!'

 About 45 minutes of paddling later we approached the pier.

Nearly there.

 After being warned that we were making a dangerous landing we decided to proceed to The Horse.

Kate decided it would be rude not to.

Mary, mid- channel.

Leaving The Horse.

Back over to Copinsay.

Approaching the light.

 Great slabs lie at the bottom of the cliffs at the side of Copinsay exposed to the open ocean swell.

As we paddled along the swell washed gently up over the slabs before powerfully rolling back down.

Kate and Mary paddled the margin. I watched from a little further out...

Rockfalls and caves.

 Further along past the light the cliffs receded and the caves were high above the slabs.

From the lighthouse looking back towards Deerness and Mainland Orkney.

 We climbed the hill to the light, after a bit of lunch with another solo paddler we met on the shore.

The cliffs from above.

Looking back towards The Horse.

 After a quick explore we signed the visitors book and headed off again.

'Look who has been here!'

Before leaving we encountered hundreds of seals, Mary sat on some rocks and paddled the tiderace.

Aground.

The wind blew us back to Newark on a pleasant following sea.

A great day of paddling and exploring!