It was a pity that the weather led to cancelling the grade A paddle and disappointing the 33 people who’d signed up it , so a plan B for a more demanding paddle from Aberdour got punted out.
5 hardy souls met me at Silver Sands ( Dave Towsey, Jamie Jordan, Andy Longmate, Neil Black, Brian Tyndall) in the mud and murk and steady F4/5. A quick chat with the cold water swimmers ( true heroes) and then a flog into the wind to check that Dave’s sciatica could be overcome and off we surfed downwind past the Hawcraig and then across the bay , towards the Inchcolm landing pier. Having SUCH fun in the driving rain, and stiff headwind we then rattled round the island dodging breaking waves on the E end, meeting the tame seal at the West end and then snuck into the toilet shelter for a v sociable lunch. Naturally the wind got up, and we debated on which route to take back to Aberdour. In the end a sophisticated seakayaking strategy was employed- brute force and grunt into the steep seas and wind ( Mortimers Deep ebbing against the wind). The odd face was washed ( and there were some odd faces right enough) but impressive progress made in 40 mins back to the beach.
Surprisingly no photos were taken, but I was able eventually to prise my white knuckles off my paddle shaft. Thanks to Neil Black, Dave T and all the others who offered leadership help in the original trip. Very well done to my companions who very competently and calmly coped with some more testing conditions making a grey day into a great day .