Words
Sarah Webster
Photos:
Sarah Webster,
Celine Meier
and Alan Jary
This was my first visit to the Scillies since I came as a child on a family holiday in the 1970s. Now I was on the intermediate sea kayaking course run by Sea Kayaking Cornwall (SKC).
Sea kayaking the Scillies
The people There were 13 of us in the group, including two Belgians, two Swiss, and one German man named Dominik, all drawn here by the wonderful sea kayaking opportunities offered by this little archipelago. Dominik had been slightly delayed by the weather conditions, having flown here in his own small single-prop aeroplane, a Grumman Tiger, and entertained us with anecdotes about air traffic controllers, “They told me if I started the engine, they would call the ambulance… The other three seats in the plane were taken up with my kayaking kit.”
Our coaches were Geoff Cater and Andy Mullins, who met the rest of us on the quay in St Mary’s as we disembarked the Scillonian. Geoff and Andy clearly had a close bond of friendship and, as the week went on, we learnt that this was born of two epic adventures that they had undertaken paddling around both Britain and Ireland.
Camping
Most of us chose to stay at the Garrison campsite, which is well run and has a small field set aside for SKC; a wonderfully flat pitch, sheltered by the traditional Scillonian Pittosporum hedges, with the roar of the sea ever-present. By the time we had walked to the campsite, our luggage had already been delivered and there were small trolleys available to trundle it all to the SKC field. There were many very tame sparrows and blackbirds and Geoff warned us that hedgehogs were also rife. Sure enough, on the first night, I was awoken by a hedgehog rummaging around my bags in the porch of the tent! Hedgehogs are not native to the islands and were introduced to St Mary’s in the 1980s. With no natural predators, their numbers have grown and, sadly, they now present a great threat to ground-nesting birds, as they eat their eggs.
The boats
The boats were a mixture of composite – Romany, Explorer, Pilgrim by Nigel Dennis Designs, Rockpool and Tarantella by Taran, and plastic – Scorpio, Delphin and Pyranha Venture.
I paddled the Romany and found it very good. SKC keep the boats at Porthmellon beach, which was the starting point for all our adventures.
Paddling
On a short, ‘shake-down’ paddle on the first afternoon, Geoff and Andy encouraged us all to use the week to step outside our comfort zone, and into our ‘stretch’ zone, while acknowledging that beyond this, there was a ‘terror zone’, where most of us learn very little. They encouraged us to let them know when we were at these limits.
Each morning, we met at Porthmellon Beach, to plan the day’s paddling, according to the wind conditions and sea state. Geoff explained how to use various weather apps to look at wind and swell and compute this with the state of the tides.
On the first day, we circumnavigated St Mary’s, a distance of 10 miles, in an anti-clockwise direction, setting off past the Garrison and Porthcressa Beach, stopping off at Old Town for a coffee and at Bar Point, at the north of the island, for lunch. We saw seals and shags (for which Scilly has the third largest colony in the UK) and on our return to Porthmellon, we were able to practise rolling. The day was topped off with a barbecue at the campsite in the evening.
The next day, 13th August, Geoff explained that this would be the last chance this week to get to St Agnes, due to the predicted winds, so we set off on a straightforward paddle of some 2.5 miles to this pretty little island. Once there, however, Geoff came round to each of the group and explained that as the conditions were relatively calm, we would take the opportunity to reach the Bishop Rock Lighthouse!
Bishop Rock Lighthouse
We fuelled up, and prepared ourselves for a good hour’s paddle each way. “You do realise what a rare treat this is?” said Rob, an experienced Scillies paddler. As there was a slight north-westerly stream, we initially headed for the Western Rocks, and the lighthouse gradually came into clearer view. We saw a large flock of Manx Shearwaters, and several gannets. Apart from these, and a fishing vessel some way off to the north of us, this was a completely desolate seascape.
The Bishop Rock Lighthouse was constructed between 1852 and 1882 to warn sea-farers of the treacherous Bishop Rock and Western Rocks, saving many lives. As we approached the rock, the swell increased to 1.5m, with considerable clapotis behind the lighthouse. Only Pete, a para-trained army man, had the sang-froid to take a selfie with the lighthouse in the background.
On the return journey, the weather closed in, and the visibility became poor, meaning that we could no longer make out the domed lighthouse on St Agnes which we had been aiming for. Geoff and Andy switched on their VHF radios so that they could communicate with each other and Geoff took the lead, taking a compass bearing on the St Agnes lighthouse, while Andy brought up the rear.
Those at the flanks were asked to keep the group in a tight box, effectively forming a diamond formation that we would use later in the week for sea crossings. This was by far and away the most committing sea paddle I have ever done. I felt a pang of frustration as we reached rocky Annet, as it is forbidden to land there and was very tired when we finally reached St Agnes at 3:30pm for lunch. Suitably restored, we returned to St Mary’s, buoyed up by our achievement. Definitely at the upper end of our stretch zone, we thought.
The next day, after a debrief on the beach, we headed out to Tresco for a very good hot chocolate, then on past St Helen’s where we first heard, then saw, lots of seals. Then on to Round Island where there was more clapotis and the dramatic rock formation Men-a-Vaur. Four of the group opted to circumnavigate this, while the rest of us had had enough of clapotis and were content to wait for them to reappear on the other side.
After lunch on Tresco, the group split again, with some braving a strong headwind around the north edge of the island, while the rest of us paddled back around the south-east. Once reunited, we paddled back to St Mary’s, by which time the swell and the tidal stream were both considerable and we needed to ferry glide – something I have only really experienced before in a white water setting – to reach our target of Porthmellon beach.
A further highlight of the week was paddling out to the Eastern Isles – Little Ganinick, Great Ganinick, Little Ganilly, and Great Ganilly, to see the large colony of grey seals. They seemed as interested in us as we were in them, coming up behind our boats and then disappearing again with an enormous ‘splosh!’
When we stopped for lunch, those with drysuits took the opportunity to swim amongst them. On the return paddle there was a strong headwind, and our diamond formation soon dispersed. As the slowest paddler in the group, I was offered a tow, and Geoff and Andy took the opportunity to demonstrate how to set up different methods of towing as I simply flew along!
‘Classroom’ session
One of the notable features of SKC is the strong relationships that they have built up with people and businesses on the island, for example the sailing centre where the boats are stored, The Beach bar restaurant, who let us use their loo in return for quite a bit of business in the evening and the campsite, where Geoff helps load the luggage on to the truck for the Scillonian.
presentation
One such connection is with Nick, a fellow paddler, and owner of the Mincarlo guest house, a large house next to the lifeboat station. On the one day when the conditions were too rough for paddling, Nick and his wife Bryony let us use the dining room of the guest house for a classroom session. Geoff and Andy gave us a presentation about their extraordinary circumnavigations of Ireland and Britain over coffee and biscuits. In the afternoon, some of us visited the award-winning Island Gin distillery which has taken Bishop Rock as the inspiration for its brand.
Skills development
The final day of the course was spent developing our skills in setting up different types of tow, rolls and deep water rescues. I tried out Céline’s carbon fibre Greenland paddle; great to paddle with but rolling will require a little more practice!
The course over, it was time to break camp and say our farewells. We had gelled as a group and paddled a distance of 55 miles, the 17-mile round trip to Bishop Rock being the longest. At this point, Jeff Allen arrives on the scene, ready to run the advanced course. “If they can circumnavigate the whole archipelago,” he said, “they should be able to paddle back to Sennen. That’s the idea of it!” Fancy a paddle, anyone?
Most glad I brought
Neoprene trousers
Touring cag
Wish I had brought
My lovely touring paddle
A sponge
Didn’t use at all
Pogies
Insect repellent – too windy!
