ron-t kayaking blog
05 August 2012
The last few days have brought mixed fortunes - on Thursday, the predicted tide height was 4.1 metres, but the actual level was lower than on Wednesday. The low pressure was filling, with lessening effect on the tide level.
However the wave was rather unpleasant - it looked like a normal wave, but there was a very strong diagonal current flowing to the river left, which meant that it was a real fight to keep on the wave. There were some weird hydrodynamics going on - usually the incoming tide forms a distinct pressure wave against the leading edge of the north pier - it can be up to 300mm high sometimes. But on this occasion there was absolutely no pressure wave - the flow was just splitting cleanly. It would be a deadly condition if you got washed broadside against the leading edge of the pier.
Do remember - if you are coming down to this wave from above, stay well away from the pier. Either come down close to the shore, or well out in the middle of the main flow, well away from the north pier. There is a significant risk, especially in a sea kayak, of getting pinned up against the leading edge of the north pier in a strong flood tide.
A better bit about the evening was finding two other paddlers there - Miles and Fraser, who were up from Helensburgh. They have limited experience of the wave, but were doing well in an Aquanaut LV RM despite the size and unpleasantness of the wave. It was good to have some company for a change.
One of the odd characteristics of the wave was that about 1 metre out from the north pier, there was a null point in the diagonal flow. There was a very narrow bit where the water flow was straight down, if you could catch this one point, you were quids in for some surfing. But stray just a few centimetres to your left, and you were instantly sideways into the wall, and upside down. Both Miles and me suffered this, rolls just didn`t work because you were hard up against the wall, so we both swam. My first ever swim at the Falls of Lora. I`m pleased to say that all though Fraser was standing by, my self rescue worked.
Later on, once it had calmed down a bit, we ventured out to the middle, and I managed a surf for a couple of minutes on the second wave - including a couple of paddle twirls. So the evening certainly wasn`t wasted.
On Friday, the predicted tide height was 4.2 metres, so although it should have been higher than Thursday, it was actually a bit lower. The surfing on the wave beside the north pier was average, but by the time I ventured out to the middle, it was a bit too flat for surfing.
On Saturday, when I arrived, the wave was a bit flat, but over the next twenty minutes or so, it started to deepen and get a bit more useable. On one occasion, I was on the wave, but was getting a bit too close to the wall, so was trying to escape using a stern rudder on my right - and it was some fight - I was just beginning to move right when something at the bottom of my rib cage snapped - exactly like a rubber band that has been stretched too far. It just went twang. So that was the end of the evening.
I didn`t know my body was held together by rubber bands, but I do now.
02 August 2012
Last evening was interesting for two reasons - firstly, it was the first time I have had my Romany Surf RM out on the Spring tide - the evening surfing was quite successfull, though I spent quite a lot of time adjusting the backrest and the footrests. Despite the height of the tide, the very large wave was quite user friendly. The Romany proved it`s worth, it was surfing well.
The second interesting thing about the evening was the height of the tide - it was predicted to be 4.0 metres - it was far more than this. I think it was the highest level I have ever seen, and certainly the highest level at which I have played at the Falls of Lora. Loch Etive was also very high, again, the highest I have ever seen.
Looking at the pressure charts for midnight some 4 hours later, there is another deep low just to the west of Britain. Is it concidence these lows are coinciding with the Spring tides ?
As last time, the above image is Crown Copyright, and is reproduced here under the terms of the Open Government Licence, which requires me to include the following text -
"Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0"
24 July 2012
I wasn`t out yesterday evening, but I should have been - just by chance I crossed Connel Bridge just after high tide, and the water was up to the bottom of the big post. The predicted tide height was 3.8 metres, so it should have been below the top of the wee post, like it was on Thursday. So that is a good 20 cms higher than predicted.
The low pressure beside Iceland is still very much in control of the atmosphere in Scotland. Here are a couple of images from the Met office website showing the low. The first one shows the low just to the south of Iceland, and all the isobars that produced the wind and rain on Sunday, and the higher than predicted tide height.
By Monday evening, the low has slid just a wee bit round to the east of Iceland and has filled from 971 mbs to 981 mbs, but is still very much in control, and still affecting tide heights.
Fascinating stuff !
The above two images are Crown Copyright, and are reproduced here under the terms of the Open Government Licence, which requires me to include the following text -
"Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0"
23 July 2012
The Springs of the last few days were not predicted to be very large. On Thursday, the predicted height was 3.8 metres - it was probably about that. The high tide level was a few centimetres below the top of the wee post. The wave at the north pier provided the classic easy going surfing that you would expect at this level - though it was a bit tame, and somewhat lacking in excitement.
Wasn`t out on Friday, on Saturday, the predicted height was 3.9 metres, I think it would have been a bit higher than that, the surfing was quite good. In the final stages of the wave after high tide, the wave was allowing some quite long surfs, and I set a new personal record for paddle twirls - 16 in one shot on the wave. Not all in one go, one by one, correcting the line of the boat after each one. Eventually I lost the wave, but I must have been on the wave for several minutes. I also proved again that although it is great fun, the Anas Acuta is just too long for this wave, the bow was catching regularily before high tide.
On the Sunday, the very deep low pressure sitting to the south of Iceland had a major impact - strong winds from the west were pushing the Atlantic up against the northern half of the UK, and the level was quite a bit higher than the predicted height of 3.9 metres - it was above the bottom of the big post. An excellent meaty wave would have been quite exciting, however the strong wind made it unusually difficult to get on the wave - as soon as you headed out onto the wave, the wind caught the bow, and whipped it round to the left, and the only way to go was to paddle right down the wave train before you could escape from the current. I did manage to get on the wave a few times, but the wind just blew me straight off again, and ended up going down the wave train backwards. Right at the end I managed one surf long enough for a single paddle twirl, but it was a bit of a frustrating evening.
17 July 2012
Since I now have a blog that needs to be fed, I thought I`d look back at a quite unusual week - it was during the fortnight or so at the end of March earlier this year, when an atmospheric high pressure sat over the UK, and produced that amazing summer weather. I`ve mentioned it briefly on the page about the flood tide, but here is a bit more about it.
Being a high pressure, it had the effect of lowering tide heights significantly, and produced the most amazing waves out in the middle during the flood tide for six days in a row.
The surfing on the wave beside the north pier was pants all week, but the waves in the middle were fabulous.
There is something quite significant about this lowering of tide heights - because the high pressure lowers all the tide heights - high tide, mid range tide, and low tide. So although you get the same tide height range as you would for a more normal atmospheric pressure, this range is sitting at a lower average level than normal.
Normally, you only get very low tide tide heights when there are very high high tide heights, so there are big tidal ranges. But for these 6 days there were low low tide heights with a more average tidal range.
Sitting on the first wave, I could see the reef beneath me.
Now normally these waves are somewhat dynamic - except for the first wave, they have a habit of flattening out on a regular basis, and just when you think you`ve caught a wave, it flattens under you, and you drift backwards onto the next wave. Soon you run out of waves.
However during these six days, the waves were absolutely static, they didn`t collapse at all. They were also quite short and steep - unusually so - and often even the Avocet was digging its nose into the wave. I often had to lie back to keep the bow on the surface, just like in an old style river running play boat with an asymmetric rocker.
I have heard it said that you can`t transfer weight and alter the pitch of a sea kayak by leaning forward or back - in my experience you certainly can.
Sometimes I could pick up the first wave, surf that for a while then loose it, pick up the second wave, surf that for a while.
On one occasion I surfed the first wave, eventually got washed off, couldn`t catch the 2nd and 3rd waves, but picked up the 4th wave, and had a surf on that.
The best occasion was I think an early morning outing, I picked up the first wave, surfed the first wave for several minutes, eventually got washed off, picked up the second wave and surfed that for several more minutes before loosing it. I must have been surfing for the best part of 10 minutes in all. It was fabulous.
Sadly, I have never seen it like that again. But I don`t think we`ve really had another high pressure like that one since.
07 July 2012
The Springs over the last few days combined with a low pressure which weakened produced some odd effects, and proved again just how variable wave quality can be.
On the Tuesday, the predicted tide height was 4.0 metres at Oban, but it was quite a bit higher than that. The wave beside the north pier was really quite gnarly - the wave had a deep V-shape, and the pile on the river right side stretched right out to the apex of the wave, which is a lot more than usual. The river left side of the wave had a very definite wall instead of the usual ramp up on to the eddy. The Anas Acuta felt very twitchy on the wave, and it was quite difficult to climb up the wall and onto the eddy.
The wave in the middle was different as well - even though by the time I ventured out there, the whole thing was getting quite flat, the Anas Acuta just about surfed the first couple of waves - I even managed some paddle twirls. I went round three times, and each time was the same.
Later in the week the predicted tide heights were 4.1 metres, yet the tides weren`t that much higher - but the wave beside the north pier was very user friendly, and produced some good surfing. However the Anas Acuta is a bit too long for this wave when the tide is in full flow, it tends to dip the bow into the wave.
Although that wave was good, I didn`t get anything out of the waves in the middle.
However I did discover something about the ramp on the river left - the Avocet, with its very rounded chines, just surfs up and over it broadside on no problem. But the Anas Acuta, with its very sharp chines, digs into it, and rather bashes through and over it. But if you apply a massive amount of edge + lean, the side of the boat becomes the bottom as far as this ramp is concerned, and then surfs over it. It needs a bit of a brace though, with the Avocet you can do it hands free.
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