Kayakers: Geoff, Tim and Robert
Weather: Calm with hazy sunshine at times. Cold
Report: All previous “Thursday” meets had been cancelled due to the weather and we hope numbers will start to climb as it becomes part of the established pattern of events. Finnart was a new destination for Tim and Robert and, as ever, the landscape was sublime.
The paddle started and ended by a huge tanker tied up at Finnart. The Ashna is owned by an Indian Oil Company called Essar, and has a Gross Tonnage (crudely how much it weighs) of 156,417 and a Deadweight Tonnage (how much it carries) of 301,000 tonnes. By comparison the biggest cruise liner in the world has a GT of 225,282 tonnes but a DT of only 19,700.
From Finnart we crossed to Mark and after a quick inspection , that confirmed everything at the Bothy was in excellent condition, we pushed on to Carrick Castle for lunch.
A leisurely lunch was followed by a paddle along the south shore to the point where we crossed Loch Long. A pleasant paddle, with a light breeze behind us, brought us past Portincaple back to Finnart by around 2pm. Total distance was just over 12km in just over 3 hours paddling time. A lovely relaxing day.