Good Riddance July

July has been a torrid month, despite starting on a high with the ordering of the Marsport Merlin K2 for DW 2011. Being the School Holidays in Scotland, Beaujolais has rather let his guard down on the weight control front. Having enjoyed lots of good food and fine wines, Beaujolais is back up to 16 […]

Chust Sublime- But timing is questionable

Chust Sublime, was the expression used by Para Handy to indicate his complete contentment with the world. For those of you who have not read Para Handy by Neil Munro, which records the voyages and adventures of an old Clyde/ West of Scotland Puffer (circa 1910) and its drunken crew…it is a great read. This […]

Beaujolais bottles it

Rough water- I distrust rough water in K1’s or K2’s. The only sections of the Devizes to Westminster Course I fear are on the River Thames. The section around Windsor was rough due to the wash caused by the commercial sight seeing ferries, I struggled with this and indeed with one particular skipper (The Windsor […]

The Mug

This morning there was a Buccaneer rendezvous at the Boathouse at Auchenstarry. We have been threatening to meet up for some time in order to celebrate the ordeals of the past 12 months of kayaking frolics. Only three Buccaneers were present for the Full Scottish Breakfast, but since one Buccaneer can come across as a […]

The Phoney War

These are strange times. It’s the Summer Holidays in Scotland, but no ones told the weather Gods. The DW 2011 appears a long way off, but as I found last year failure to start earlier enough can be problematic especially if you get hit by injuries or old back problems flare up. Essentially we know […]

Cortisone and Beaujolais renew their vowels

This morning Cortisone and Beaujolais boated back in the Condor K2 for the first time since the Glasgow Edinburgh. Given that we have hardly spent any time together over the last few months, our initial inter crew communications were cordial and respectful…for about 10 minutes..when normal service was resumed. The decision to paddle the K2 […]

The Boat

A most informative day was spent at Marsport in the company of Paul Ralph and “the Stig”. Jack and I were interested in finding a boat faster through the water than the Condor, but with enough stability for us to handle the rough tideway section of the Devizes Westminster Course. We were also looking for […]

Dilemmas and Decisions

Over the last few weeks a number of dilemmas have arisen. 1. Eddystone Lighthouse Challenge- should I join Louis this August for an attempt at cracking this one. 2. Is the Condor K2 the boat for Jack and I to paddle the DW2011. 1. The Eddystone Challenge dilemma has resolved itself, my experience in a […]

K1’s

Jack and I have decided that the best way to prepare ourselves for DW 2011 at this point in our development is to boat as much as possible in K1’s. There are numerous benefits to this arrangement…distance certainly does make the heart grow fonder. The aim is to try to get ourselves comfortable in K1’s […]