Tramore to nr. Ballymacart Cove - 40k Yesterday and today we experienced the full force of the Waterford sea kayaker's hospitality. Mick and his family took us in and when it came out that it was my birthday a surprise was prepared while Mick took us into Waterford. At dinner time a birthday cake miraculously … Continue reading 5/5 Day 15 – Waterford sea kayakers →

Equipment failure I'm afraid. Our SPOT Gen 3 jumped in a rock pool during a lunch time battery change today. I don't think it will come back to life so we need to see if we can sort out a replacement. As a temporary measure I have set the map up to use my phone … Continue reading Limited map updates! →

Ballymoney to St Helen's Pier - 57kms The quiet beach we'd had to ourselves overnight was great but camping on sand certainly has its drawbacks - gritty oats for breakfast. Packing up camp without transferring buckets of sand to your kayak is a challenge and I'm sure we'll all be living with it for several … Continue reading 2/5 Day 12 – Sentimental journey and big ferries →

Rush to Sandycove, Dublin 36k Lesson learnt today: don't paddle up hill! F4-5 southerly winds all day made this one the physically toughest so far as there wasn't any respite from the constant headwinds. What you might call a real slog. We were on the water just after 7. It was another grey day and … Continue reading 29/4 Day 9 – Martello Towers and Kittiwakes →

In respone to the following comment from my brother, Ian (a non-paddler), I thought I'd put together a separate post. If you're taking a day off (!) and have time on your hands, for those of us unfamiliar with expedition kayaking, it would be interesting to hear some of the logistical consideratiotconsideratiotns for such a … Continue reading Trip planning: packing, food and water →

Not the usual kayak campsite Lessons learnt today: keep your mouth shut when launching in surf and to remember I'm on a trip not just out having fun in the surf. We were up before the sun today and launching the boats just after it came over the horizon. We needed to get on the … Continue reading 24/4 Day 4 – Crossing the Border →

South of. Ballywalter 40 kms of hard paddling into an F3-F5 headwind and this is the best the Ards Peninsula has to offer.

Heedless to any outrageous fortunes the typical British sea kayaker will make the nobler choice of going without: the Inuit fishermen from Greenland didn't use rudders on their kayaks so why should we! A shift in weight to edge the kayak, some deft paddle strokes and a tweak on the skeg slider is all that's … Continue reading To rudder or not to rudder? →

Hopefully is won't be needed. Pump fitted to back of seat: