The first grade A paddle of the year and we could not have asked for better weather! However, a higher tide for launching would have helped. We arrived on a frosty clear morning before 9am hoping to get on the water by 9.30 we did not manage to get going until 10am. We had decided to launch from the wee beach, but the water rapidly disappeared (LW 10.40 0.9m). It was 1.0m when we launched at 10am and it was a long walk along the shore in the mud. I would suggest you really need 1.5m to launch easily even on the wee beach..
Once on the water we forgot about the launch and paddled along the coast in beautiful sunshine and no wind! There were 15 of us so we paddled as 2 groups though kept in close contact along the way. We headed past Dalgety Bay and over to Inchcolm passing lots of sunbathing seals on Long Craig and Haystack. We stopped for lunch on Inchcolm. There were a group of 5 paddlers from West Coast already there and we were also soon joined by 20 paddlers from Fife. There now 40 sea kayakers on Inchcolm which was a bit crowded! We had a leisurely lunch in the sun and a good look around the abbey before setting off back to NQF.
The incoming tide helped speed us back to NQF so we had a very gentle, sociable paddle paddle back to the rail bridge and landing in much easier tidal conditions than when we left. Well done to first grade A paddles for Morag Green, Alison Holt, Samuel Stevenson, John Sheldon and John Shields. The 2 groups were led by Richard Hope/Russell Henderson and Andy Young/Tim Gibson.
It was a really enjoyable day out!