Seekajaktour: Umrundung Irlands im Seekajak 2015

Ups – achievements
Seamanship
I knew we were not bad in finding our ways and chasing the weather, but this
was another level …
Trust your nav-skills from eastern Frisia
Navigating for more than 3 hours on compass course and hitting the island
We left Knightstown on Valentia Island in complete mist. The visibility dropped down
to 50 m. The sea was flat. And paddling was rather boring. I almost fell into the water
“dozing of” after more than three and a half hours of paddling into nowhere, the
visibility got better up to almost three hundred meters and we hit the eastern shore of
great blasket.
Try the apps and trust the locals
Catching the right weather window and moving to Inish Turk
The navigational forecasts were o.k. for daily planning, but what would we have done
without modern apps and experts like Dermot from Inishbofin and Brian from
Galway?: We had already been weather-bound on Inishbofin for two days (due to
force 8 to 9 winds) with the prospect of being stuck for another day, However, we
discovered on Windfinder a tiny weather window between 5 and 9 o´clock in the
morning (confirmed by Windguru and Magic Seaweed). But only when Brian and
Dermot confirmed this we decided to go. At 5 o´clock on the water we made our way
to Inish Turk. The swell was still big but the wind had really decreased. We were
even tempted to proceed to Clare Island, but then tried to be sensible. So we “just”
went to Inishturk and arrived at about 8 o´clock. When we looked out to sea one hour
later it, was white with foam and spray again. The weather window which had
allowed us crossing the sea had closed. So the combination of modern apps with
“old-school-knowledge” from locals allowed us to sneak through tiny weather
windows …
Any mile is a good mile
The Annestown break-out
We had already been weather-bound at Annestown for two days, well looked after
by Ewen MacMahon and Stewar. Even Mick O´Meara, the future record-breaker of
going round Ireland popped in. However being stuck after just one week of paddling
really got on my nerves. So when the wind was supposed to drop down, I urged poor
Mirco to break out in a force 6 Wind sneaking through breaking waves of
Annestowns “sheltered Beach”, according to Oilean. After 3 hours of paddling we
pushed in for a break in a lovely rocky cove. Mirco did not feel well and had a long
nap. Later on he felt better , even the wind had dropped and we continued. Mirco
was in his normal high spirits again, longing for any rockhopping occasion possible. I
for myself was happy that I had coped with the most challenging conditions ever for
me. Good that I did not know that for me there were going to be many more
challenging conditions ahead … Anyway on that day I learnt – I can cope.
© Christian Dingenotto 2015
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