The Sea

The section of the trip from Spey Bay to Inverness (the North Sea) has the potential to slow us down and complicate things. Tides and wind aren’t a huge a concern on the rivers and canals but could cause us to lose a day’s progress or wash us out to Norway on the seafaring leg!
As neither of us had travelled by canoe on anything apart from lakes and rivers before an afternoon at the beach seemed as though it could prove useful to get a bit of experience, as well as being a worthwhile outing in its own right. With the Met Office forecasting winds of 3 to 4, gusting 5 and sea state slight to moderate, we headed to Jaywick, Essex on Sunday to get familiar with wind and waves.





It turns out we have to be a bit of a distance from shore to avoid the breaking waves close to the shore. This was the first thing we discovered, getting fairly wet just pushing the boat off the beach. Keeping in mind the difficulties of sorting out a capsized boat without dry land close by (see our previous blog on this very subject) we are faced with a necessary (but still not outrageous) risk.
Keeping the canoe stable isn’t too difficult. Even taking friends for a spin around the bay the added weight (more than the weight of our two weeks’ kit) was easily manageable.
We’d quite like it if the sea was mirror flat for our trip, a pleasant temperature and came with a ready supply of sunshine and refreshing light breezes. Unfortunately; being October in Scotland it’s more likely to be cold and raining with waves and gales for the few hours of daylight we’ll get. Sitting on the beach waiting for poor weather to pass isn’t ideal but is far better than making slow progress and getting soaked and cold.
With quite choppy conditions and the odd white horse, the Jaywick foray was a good preview of the type of sea conditions we are likely to face. We learnt a lot about how the boat handles and a few key things to avoid. The more canoeing specific stuff is omitted here, at a risk of boring the broader audience, but can be seen in the video description on youtube.

As an important aside, thanks and recognition must finally go to our photographer, benefactor and all round good-egg, Julie. Most of the photos and videos we put up she’ll have taken and she’s also the only person so far to donate on our fundraising page (http://www.justgiving.com/bensbyboat2009). She can be seen in the photo below, albeit from a distance so as not to steal too much of the limelight.





More soon. Stay tuned.