Falls of Lora ebb tide
When I was taking some general photos at the Falls of Lora, I saw a lone paddler in a play boat surfing on the big waves across the other side of the narrows, so I headed across the bridge. It was at the peak of the early October 2010 Spring tides, the high tide level at Connel was 4 metres, and the low tide at Connel was 0.6 metres. So the tidal height range was 3.4 metres.
Here he is, surfing the first green wave, known as the Forever wave. This photo also gives a good view of the positioning of the play waves relative to the bridge, the reef, and the white water below the reef. Just to the left of the steel girder of the bridge you can see a significant wave with a large pile - this is the Main wave.
What you can`t see in this picture is the very strong eddy line that runs diagonally across the north side of the narrows below the bridge, from the north pier across to the whitewater below the reef - this eddy line is characterised by rather large and very hungry whirlpools that just love kayaks complete with paddlers, swimmers, and rescuers - they all eventually get spat out somewhere beyond the bridge - usually unscathed, but there have been some injuries.
Here is another view of him on the Forever wave.
Here he is having a go on the Main wave, with the large pile.
A bit later, I`m up on the bridge again, and he`s away onto another wave - I think this is the Ultimate wave.
Some good surfing there !
These next photographs of playboats on the ebb tide were taken on 06 November 2010 around midday. Low tide at Connel was at 11.43, so the waves were beginning to lose their punch. The previous high tide height was 3.8 metres, the low tide height was 0.7 metres, so the tidal range was 3.1 metres - a fairly modest Spring tide.
All these pictures were taken from the top of the north pier. To start, here is a wider view of a boat on the main wave -
Here is the position of the main wave in relation to the north pier, and the large eddy to the south of the north pier -
Now for various photos of the guys on the main wave - they all make it look so easy !
When I was there, most of the activity was on the main wave, but occasionally elsewhere.
Finally, here is the very confused eddy line with the whirlpools that curves round the large eddy to the south of the north pier. It looks fairly benign in this picture, I was advised that it was a lot worse earlier on. The tidal range on this day was fairly modest for a spring tide.
Finally, here are links to three videos on YouTube showing playboaters on the ebb tide. There is some pretty hard core playboating going on in these videos. You may need to have the Flash player installed on your computer to see these - it is a free download from "www.adobe.com".
Here is Jon Haylock on the top wave - a superb bit of surfing.
YouTube - surfing on the top wave
On the main wave
A longer video with activity on many of the waves
Sea kayaks on the ebb tide
It is quite rare to sea kayaks playing on the ebb tide when it is a big Spring tidal range - not only does it require a lot of skill, but there is a significant risk of hitting the bottom with the bow, and in a composite boat, that can mean snapping off the bow.
Ouch !
I haven`t found any videos on YouTube of sea kayaks playing on a Spring ebb tide at the Falls of Lora, however the DVD called "This is the Sea - 3" contains a video of some advanced paddlers in sea kayaks on a very big October Spring ebb tide. Entitled "Scottish tidal races", the video also includes footage of the same paddlers on the Grey Dogs tide race.
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