Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Boat Maintenance

The skeg wire on the red Capella was well and truly bent, and the one on Tim's had not been well for sometime.

Found an article on Repairing a Skeg by Mick Buckley that was very helpful, and included a supplier for the replacement wire. Mostly followed Mick's article, but found that cheap bolt cutters worked fine for cutting the new wire to length.

Next job is replacing the deck elastics which have become tired and emotional.

Tuesday, 7 July 2009

A lazy week

Just put some of the Cornwall trip info on SeaKayaker - a few nice pictures, and a bit of text from me about the trips.

One of the trips raised an issue that seems to recur in sea kayaking - how to judge the seriousness of the outing. We were planning a trip from the Camel estuary (near Rock) round Pentire Head, through the Mouls channel to Smugglers' Cove. Looking at South West Sea Kayaking byMark Rainsley, we can see the Camel estuary bit as 'Grade A', and the rest as 'Grade B'. Despite good weather and neap tides, it felt like a 'Grade C' trip - why?

Most of the trip is exposed to the Atlantic swell. This can make the lumpy bit of Pentire head and The Rumps, lumpier still, but more importantly it severely limits the escape routes - particularly the leeward safety net that would otherwise be provided by Polzeath. I suppose if conditions had deteriorated, we would have headed for Port Quin - safe enough, but a painful carry at low tide.

As it was, the weather remained favourable, and it was a very good trip.

I think I have my next 'commando kayaking' trip worked out - though not quite sure how the trolley will handle the sand dunes..........