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Canoe Boys Ð the sequel
A classic of sea kayaking
literature will be celebrated in a series of radio documentaries this summer.
ÒPlease
donÕt tell people weÕre re-creating the original voyageÓ, I asked Cailean
MacLeod as we planned this trip. ÒThereÕs no way I intend to paddle the west
coast of Scotland in a canvas canoe and a string vest!Ó
The Canoe Boys is the classic adventure story of the first epic Scottish sea
journey by kayak, and I defy any modern sea kayaker to read it without
clenched buttocks.
The equipment they used seems so primitive IÕd hesitate before taking it into
a swimming pool. Yet in 1934 Alastair Dunnett and Seumas Adam paddled
ScotlandÕs wild, west coast all the way from Glasgow to Skye. They were
either exceptionally foolish or heroically brave; probably both.
This
summer two of us will paddle key sections of their route as apart of a BBC
Radio documentary celebrating the achievement of the original Canoe Boys and
seeing how the places they visited have changed.
The original Canoe Boys werenÕt so different to us. They too wanted an
adventure that would pay for itself and had also managed to acquire two boats
of a new design.
Their plan was to paddle from Glasgow to the Outer Hebrides and finance the
trip by writing and posting back newspaper articles. On the 18th August 1934
they put their boats in the water at Bowling harbour but by the time they
reached Skye in October the weather had broken and they were forced to admit
their journey was over.
Yet it
was certainly not a failure as their literary legacy is a superb book, The
Canoe Boys, that is re-published this spring.
Even today this expedition is a challenge. ItÕs around two hundred miles with
some tricky hazards, including the Dorus Mor tidal race, the headland of
Ardnamurchan Point, and open water crossings to Muck, Eigg and Rum.
WeÕll have GPS, dry-suits and the very latest sea-kayaks all of which is
quite a contrast to their equipment.
P&H have loaned us two Quest LV boats with Kevlar hulls; although weÕve
just tested one so far, weÕve found it light, stable and ideal for our
voyage.
Our
predecessors used similarly innovative boats, two Lochaber design canoes
which split into three sections for carrying and had a small sail.
However, the central section looks awfully exposed, with straight sides,
covered only by a large spray-sheet.
ÒIt was like sitting in a fish boxÓ, confirmed marine archivist Duncan
Winning, honorary president of the Scottish Canoe Association.
As a child he sat in a Lochaber and agreed it would be unnerving to paddle
any distance.
Duncan
led me into a warehouse in a quiet part of Glasgow where the bare, teak bones
of an old kayak dangled from a roof girder.
ÒNow thatÕs a Queensferry, the design which followed the LochaberÓ, Duncan
explained.
He later showed me photos, taken for the Scottish HostellersÕ Canoe Club, of
young men, stripped to the waist, paddling QueensferryÕs on Loch Lomond.
ÒThe original Canoe Boys would have had an easier voyage had they waited for
this second design.Ó
However,
it was their safety equipment that left me open mouthed in astonishment. We
will carry the usual arsenal of flares, marine VHF, mobile phones and
buoyancy aids.
They sat inside a car tyre inner tube, andÉ that was it! Alastair Dunnett
described this inflated ring as a Òcomfortable backrest and a lifebelt in
emergencyÓ.
Now you realise why IÕm in no rush to re-create their experience, especially
on one stretch of water.
The Dorus Mor is gaelic for ÔGreat DoorÕ. It is a small gap between the
mainland and an island through which the tide rushes at a wild eight knots
and when the windÕs against it, the tide rears up like hundreds of startled
stallions.
The
original Canoe Boys were originally advised to paddle this at slack water,
but then the crew of a herring boat offered contrary advice, telling them to
take it at the flood and theyÕd be pushed all the way to Oban.
They were having a laugh! Since weÕll begin our voyage at Crinan weÕll face
the Dorus Mor on day one - talk about in at the deep end.
I asked local kayak guide Tony Hammock, of Sea Freedom Kayak, about this
fabled stretch of water. ÒIt doesnÕt really go slack,Ó Tony told me. ÒIt goes
full pelt one way, hand-brake turns, then charges back againÓ. What about
going through on the flood? ÒI hope youÕve got a good rollÓ, was his only
comment. I didnÕt dare reply.
Alastair
Dunnett described a wall of water, darting at and striking them; hands in the
water trying the seize and wrestle the paddles from their grasp; a moving
group of whirlpools with a noise like hissing thunder; the sea gathering
below their canvas and slatted hulls like a horse bunching for the gallop.
ItÕs a superb passage to read. I hope radio listeners will appreciate what
itÕs like to paddle.
The other modern Canoe Boy is Cailean Macleod, whoÕll probably breeze through
this as if it was a riffle on a stream. He features in the Falls of Lora
chapter of Justine CurgenvenÕs new DVD, This is the sea 3. Watching him cope
in that maelstrom is reassuring, but Cailean is not only there to stop me
drinking the Dorus.
I write for a living and, although heÕs not a journalist, so does Cailean, in
his work for The PrinceÕs Trust. WeÕd rarely paddled together, but IÕd been a
regular reader of his blog and I liked his style. Our personalities are very
different: IÕm a loud Geordie while heÕs a quiet, deep Islander from Lewis.
While that might be awkward on a long, intense expedition, it should be ideal
for our programmes as weÕll approach situations and people in different ways.
Kayaking
legend has tended to overlook the main reason for the Canoe Boys journey.
They were looking for stories to write to pay for their trip, and not only tales
of daring-do. The white-knuckle stuff was just to grab an audience and, once
they were reading, Dunnett and Adam delivered more serious thoughts about the
hardship of life in remote coastal communities. Through their newspaper
articles and book they analysed what they called, ÒThe Highland ProblemÓ.
ItÕs this side of the journey which fascinates us.
Seventy-three years after that voyage, whatÕs changed? In absolute terms,
life is better; health care, roads, education, working conditions have
clearly improved. But when compared, not with the past, but to the rest of
the UK, are things all that different? What are the new challenges? These are
the questions Cailean and I hope to answer.
Our
producer is Richard Else whose company, Triple Echo Productions, specialises
in making television and radio programmes in the worldÕs wildest places. If I
whimper like a baby in the Dorus Mor, Richard wants to record every syllable.
WeÕve tested audio systems by sticking microphones in condoms and taping them
in places where the noise of wind and water wonÕt drown out the sound of me
drowning. But IÕve drawn a line at using their clothing.
On land they wore kilts; on the water it was vest and shorts, with the
Spartan comfort of a canvas jacket when it rained.
Fine. But IÕll be in a dry suit, and thatÕs not up for discussion.
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