Chris Gordon , Phil Burgess and myself had a great time paddling from Coldingham to Fast Castle on the Berwickshire coast. The promised 2 foot of surf was 3-4 and those of us who decided it was too warm to wear cag regretted this as several cubic feet of seawater struck me square in the pan!
Phil suggested that the swell would mean having to go the long way around various rock outcrops- Why ? We negotiated lots of moderately turbulent water with a degree of timing , luck and support strokes. The swell was straight onto St Abbs head so many of the normal channels were impassable and surging water was easily reaching 10 feet in the narrower ones. Chris managed to surf down one generous channel and added a dinge to the bow of her boat in the process. We rockhopped all the way to Fast Castle seeing climbers on the Soutar, plenty of bird life and the odd seal. Lunch on the sheltered pebble beach at Hurker. We made our way back the same way , the swell hadn’t easd at all. Phil managed to capsize in one turbulent section and while Chris and I were begining to think of a rescue – he rolled up no problem!.
Coldingham beach still had significant surf but now had a large population of surfers & swimmers. We managed to land without any capsizes or impalings by choosing to aim for the right side of the beach and avoid the few rocks there as well!
A great day , great company and beautiful coastline!