Canoeing in the Sea

Bens by Boat 2009 training session - 6th September 2009

The North Sea section is potentially the most time consuming and difficult bit of the trip. Neither of us had paddled in the the sea before so we thought a crash course was in order. We now have at least a rough idea of what to expect between Spey Bay and Inverness.

Paddling in a rising and falling sea is trickier than flat water. It's not a stability issue - The boat we're using is wide and flat, built like a tank and relatively difficult to capsize. The problem is that the bow paddler is frequently lifted quite a way above the water so can't comfortably reach to paddle and we found sitting him anywhere closer to the middle was unpleasant.
Face straight into the incoming waves and the bow paddler gets wet. Face dead away from them and the stern paddler gets wet. Go side on to the waves and the risk of one rolling into the boat is higher. The angle has to be just right to make for pleasant paddling.
Speed was lower than on flat water. A stopwatch, Google Earth and some rudimentary maths credited us with a bit over two miles an hour.
Weather forecasts said it was a force three/four but we're not really experienced enough to comment. Any more highly qualified salty sea dogs care to offer an opinion?

Check out http://www.bensbyboat2009.blogspot.com

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