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Sea
Kayaking Starts Here. After hiking the
Pacific Crest Trail in 2002, Liz Krol and Simon Willis went looking for a new
challenge. What they found
surprised them both.
Ships are fine, but I
don't like boats. I once asked a
Royal Navy officer, during sea trials of his new destroyer, if there is a
definitive size at which one became the other. He replied, "You can put a boat on a ship, not the
other way around" and left it at that. So no one is more surprised than I am, that our new
sporting passion involves bobbing around the ocean in something so small, you
can put it on a car roof rack. Sea Kayaking is like
backpacking, only better. No
matter where you hike, there's usually evidence someone was there before
you. It doesn't have to be a
fire ring or garbage; the very presence of a trail or even a guidebook proves
you're following the beaten path.
When my partner Liz and I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2002, what
started as a wilderness adventure ended up feeling as though travelling a
well-worn route. We had superb
experience, but were backpacked out!
A year later and our Gust rucksacks were still in the cupboard. Now our bright yellow sea
kayaks take us to places only seals and sea birds have explored. Or at least, that's how it feels, and
that's what counts. We pack the
boat's watertight hatches with a tent, stove, food and all the paraphernalia
we'd normally lug on our backs.
We'll glide out of a sea loch; past seals hauled up on rocks, and
follow the coast. When it's time
to stop, we'll find a beautiful sheltered beach and haul out too. And when we're gone, we won't even
leave footprints; they'll wash away at the next high tide, making the place
pristine for its next discoverer. We've had to learn new
skills, and still consider ourselves novices, taking to the ocean with
trepidation. Doug Cooper of
Glenmore Lodge proved to be an excellent, patient instructor. In one week Doug taught us what would
have taken us more than a year to learn from books and friends. From calculating tidal flows, to
route plotting, to manoeuvring a sixteen-foot floating, plastic banana, we
crammed a lot into that week.
Doug helped overcome my dislike of small boats, and gave us the
confidence, and ability, to rent a couple of sea kayaks and hit the high seas
by ourselves.... and return! We
enjoyed it so much we went out and bought our very own kayaks. Living in Glasgow, in the
West of Scotland, we are close to a coastline that Sea Kayakers regard as
world class. Hundreds of islands,
from the tiny specks of rock to the great misty Isle of Skye, are all within
easy reach and offer perfect paddling.
Instead of packing rucksacks for a Friday night getaway, we load boats
onto the car roof. I even look
at maps differently, studying coastlines, not contour lines. We won't stop backpacking. In time we'll integrate the sports,
so we can paddle into remote areas and then hike the mountains. But right now I feel the same sense
of excitement and anticipation that I felt before my first overnight hike in
the English Lake District, a sense that I'm standing on the threshold of a
wonderful way to explore the world's wild places. |
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