Having been watching the forecast to see what the ferry crossing would be like last Thursday it came as no surprise that Mike was keen to get out today. He and Kevin, up visiting for a few days, enjoyed a paddle in Loch Erisort yesterday and then, perhaps inspired by Justine’s latest DVD (watch the preview to the end!), had constructed a new mast for the video camera so were hoping for great conditions (i.e. lots of wind) and we weren’t disappointed…

Leaving my car at the Berneray bridge we headed to Gisla to launch. Whilst Mike experimented with the camera Kevin examined the depth of the bay… and so after a wee discussion it was decided that Kevin would drive up and meet us at Geisiader.

The down wind run was brilliant. The waves weren’t huge but we were pushed along by some good squalls, averaging around 5Kts without paddling up to over 10Kts surfing. It was quietest in the narrows but here we were doing 8Kts with no effort. Here we had a brief pause to swap the camera over.

The really interesting part of the trip was always going to be once we got round the corner and whilst we could hug the coast for shelter to start with the last 100m into the wind was easily the hardest part of the entire trip.

As we started to lug the kayaks up to the road we were surprised to see Kevin approaching with a new friend… Returning to the car after launching us Kevin had discovered the wonders of new technology. Mike had helpfully left his keys in the ignition and the clever car had locked itself. After failing to catch us flying down the loch Kevin had knocked on the nearest house and struck gold in the shape of Kim who had not only let him phone Jane to come with the spare keys but also run him down to meet us.

Whilst waiting for Kevin to return with the car we recorded a peak of 56kts on Mike’s wee anemometer. After an exciting few minutes loading the kayaks back on th car it was back to Gisla where Kim kindly invited us in for coffee.  The wind seemed to be starting to ease as we headed home and all there remains is to see the video footage… will Mike be as good as Justine on the big screen!