A previously unexplored venue for many of us, Largo Bay provided a sea-borne stage for an exploration of group paddling and some seakayak-specific skills.
The Temple car park in Lower Largo, approached through a meandering street including the original Robinson Crusoe statue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Selkirk boasts toilets and direct access to the beach. An 0900 rendezvous meant spaces were plentiful – unlike when we returned….
After suitable faffing and a beach briefing from Michael the twelve paddled eastwards parallel to the beach and the Fife Coastal Path, stopping for elevenses at a much smaller expanse of sand near Ruddons Point. As the easterly wind was already starting to freshen, a couple of us poked our noses round the corner to assess potential progress and deemed it possible to head for Shell Bay, if not for Earlsferry and Elie.
Catching some small shelter behind a few isolated skerries at the mouth of the bay, we split into two groups and made good use of the chop and increasing breeze to practise turning both up and downwind; then headed further into the small surf of Shell Bay for a low-tide lunch involving a virtual expedition to reach the rocks under the Path, meanwhile noting the revealed presence of some considerable angle-iron stanchions driven vertically into the right-hand bed of the bay – not a place to surf, or indeed paddle, at higher water.
The group relaunched via a paddler corridor between sandbanks and soon caught the wind from the east at our backs, making for plenty of skeg use and some bouncing around all the way back to Largo. In increasing conditions, Mark probed the landing spot and brought us in one-by-one.
Everyone coped well with the conditions on the day and paddled well as a group. The right decisions were made at the right time in the context of the ability and experience of the paddlers, for some of whom it was their initial paddle with the club. Debriefing in the car park, we could now see white horses and a stiff F3/4 giving the local dinghy club quite a bit of fun. Coffee and cake at the excellent and friendly local cafe finished off a satisfying day.
Thanks to Mark Anderson for organising; to Michael Wilkinson for practising his leadership skills; and to everyone else for keeping their promises to not be a problem.