Five club paddlers (Maria Hamilton, Mark Hamilton, Catherine Francis, Nick Gatherer and Brian Tyndall) responded to Fiona Mclay’s invitation to join her on a paddle round the Cumbraes as there was a window of opportunity, weather wise early Saturday morning.
We arrived at Largs boating marina 9am to be greeted by a mirror calm sea. After a short route planning discussion to consider the increased wind conditions later in the day, we set off across to Great Cumbrae and paddled anti-clockwise round the North end and down the west side.
We made quick progress, averaging 6kms per hour in our serene conditions and reached the southern tip (Portachur Point) by 11am.
After some chocolate in the boats for sustenance we paddled across the Tan to the west side of Little Cumbrae and travelled south taking in the scenery.
By the time we reached Gull Point at around 12:30pm, the sea state had picked up with waves pushing in from the south with some wind, as predicted. After some focussed paddling round the point and up the east side, we took a welcome break on Castle Island to ease our legs and refuel as the mist and rain started to set in and seep into our bones.
Somewhat sheltered by the island we paddled along the east side of Little Cumbrae and then made the more exposed crossing to the west corner of Millport Bay.
With the waves regularly pushing in from the south creating a short steep swell the paddle across the bay itself towards Farland Point challenged the Grade B newbie somewhat!
‘Focus on your feet and breathe’ I muttered. ‘SMILE and mind that yacht coming out of the bay’, Fiona shouted across (larger vessels take priority over smaller ones.)
From Farland Point, we turned north again up the east side of Great Cumbrae and into the Hunterston Channel, making our way further into calmer waters.
As the waves started to dissipate, we crossed the Channel back to Largs marina, mindful of the dinghy race taking place directly in our path back to the slipway.
So back to where we started at 3 pm. A quick change, some coffee/tea and cakes and debrief in the Bosun’s Larder.
We covered 27 kms in just under 5 hours of paddling without too much resistance from any tidal streams or wind. The swell challenged in places, so some route planning learning for me.
Many thanks to Fiona for suggesting the trip and to my fellow paddlers on the day.