Saturday, 4 December 2010

A winter’s blast

This afternoon a few of us had a short paddle in Scapa Bay.  One of our party is recovering from a broken collarbone and four ribs so we just wanted to do something gentle.  I haven’t broken anything but am so out of condition, a short paddle sounded just right to me.

IMGP0438Peter and Johnny set out

The weather in the morning had been sunny and very calm.  Although winds were forecast, they had no materialised.  We set forth at about 1pm, in calm, if a little grey, conditions, with the rain stopping almost immediately.

IMGP0440Hemp Stack 

We decided to head as far as Hemp Stack where we played around taking pictures and video of forward and reverse sweeps to use on the website.

IMGP0442 The cameraman

Emerging from behind the shelter of the rocks we found ourselves with an irritating northerly headwind to contend with.  This increased in ferocity as we headed home.  By the time we landed it was a F5 gusting F7.  It had been F3 at most when we left.

weather

Wind after the calm

Although the strong winds were expected, it was an interesting reminder of how quickly conditions can change and how important it is to check the forecast!  By the time we landed it was both windy and very wet so I ran away to the warmth of the fire ASAP. 

Good to get out and blow off some cobwebs and excellent to see Peter back on the water. 

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