www.ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk

[Mark R]

Please have a read through the suggestions on the front page about how the new site will work/ be structured.

If you came here from www.ukriversguidebook, see www.ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk

Comments/ suggestions please. What do you think of the Trip Report idea? The Almanac? If something stinks now, it'll be much harder to fix later!

Cheers,


-----------Mark Rainsley

[Mark R]

I haven't had any feedback on the framework I set up to record trip reports (see www.guidebook.free-online...rbeck1.htm for a completed example).

Any comments/ suggestions for this format, before I proceed further with it?

Cheers,


-----------Mark Rainsley

[Craig Addison]

It's looking good so far Mark, thanks for all your hard work, looks like it's going to be a useful & informative resource.
I'll see if I can dig out (or at least write) some trip reports. Dave Evans has penned a few in the past, he might just let you use them if you ask him nicely.

Craig.

[MikeB]

Ideal. It captures all the relevant info on stuff like tides and flows, as well as the nice-to-have stuff on the likes of flying feathered creatures.

The only possible downside could be possible confusion between "free-hand" reports and the "format" style.

Personally, I think both have a place and as the resource develops then it may be possible / desirable to create a more formal sub-division.

As to that development, could the clickable map concept be expanded a bit to show trips / paddling areas linked to the various reports? Rather like the Canoeist index to back issue trip reports?

Additionally, how about asking Mr Wilcox and others from the SCA, NWSK and SESK etc if some of the existing reports on their sites could be used here?

The reports do need more pics (speaking as one who has never contributed any pics of course!)

Mike.

[Mark R]

'Additionally, how about asking Mr Wilcox and others from the SCA, NWSK and SESK etc if some of the existing reports on their sites could be used here?'

Seems a bit cheeky actually, especially given that a lot of work has gone into making these sites very good. Indeed had either the NWSK or SESK sites been aimmedd nationally rather than regionally, I wouldn't be attemptiing this site.


-----------Mark Rainsley

[Douglas Wilcox]

"Mr Wilcox???" sounds much too like Mr Bean!!

DOUGLAS says any photos on the Scottish Sea Kayaking Photo Gallery site can be reproduced here. A link to www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgenetics/seakayaking.htm would be appreciated.


It is a Photo Gallery so there are few words and therefore compliments the rich text of this site.

Am I the first external site to link to ukseakayakguidebook?

I have only been sea kayaking for a few months so there are not many trips on the site yet, though there are quite a lot of photos! I will try and write up some trips for this site. The mountain part of the photo site has been going a little longer and gets heavy traffic. Try this link:
www.google.com/search?sou...tain+photo

Here are a few more weather/conditions related links lifted from the mountain and windsurfing section of
www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...allery.htm

NOAA weather buoys
www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Un...gdom.shtml
See what's coming, wind spped, direction, air temp, dew point, air pressure and trend, wave height, period and sea temp.

Wetterzentrale
www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/brack5.gif
Sea temp from the UK met office!

BBC Radio Scotland, Outdoor Conditions Forecast
www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/ra...ml#weather
audio recordings of hill and sea forecasts broadcast at 19.13 Monday-Friday, 06.58 and 18.58 Saturday and Sunday, great if you miss the live broadcast.

Weatheronline
www.weatheronline.co.uk/c...49&LANG=en
UK wave height forecast

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
www.ecmwf.int/products/fo...uv850_z500
6 day European isobar forecast.

WeatherUnderground
www.wunderground.com/glob...03154.html
Current conditions for UK towns , 7 day forecast, sunrise, sunset and moon phases

UK hydrographic Office
www.ukho.gov.uk/tidepredi...ortid=0424
UK tidetables for next 6 days

Scotlandonline.com
www.scotlandonline.com/we...ialist.cfm
UK 3-5 day inshore outlook from the met office for free!

Airport information and weather
www.tmdg.co.uk/weather/
Current windspeed and dir (METAR) and 18 hour forecast (TAF) at UK airfields. You need to enter the 4 letter airfield identifier from this site:
www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml

Cheers, DOUGLAS!

[Mark R]

Thanks, will make use of the links.


-----------Mark Rainsley

[MikeB]

"Indeed had either the NWSK or SESK sites been aimmedd nationally rather than regionally, I wouldn't be attemptiing this site."

Fair point.

mIKE.

[Jim]

Now that I've come to a natural break in post US stuff, it's about time I contributed to the new website:

Lendal (flash site): www.paddles.co.uk/enhanced_site.htm

Lendal (regular site): www.lendal.com

Knoydart: www.knoydart.co.uk

I have loads of GPS related links to sort through, there is some excellent shareware and reasonable freeware for getting GPS info onto your PC/Mac/Palm to trace over maps and make up waypoint databases, if I haven't put something together in a couple of days give me a nudge!

JIM

[Alec]

I agree with Mike we do need more pics. It was actually the comments of support from this board and pics on Douglas's site that inspired us to break out of our cycle of just going back to Largs because we knew it and felt safe there. The pics I saw were
www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...oness4.jpg
and
www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...swell2.jpg
and
www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...unain2.jpg
These pics seemed to capture the space and solitude that we had been missing at Largs. Thanks to this site and Douglas's pics we have now been inspired and have already found some great places to paddle.
Alec
PS I did my first roll in the pool last week!!!!

[MikeB]

Great to hear! You might want to think about going up to the Sound of Jura as well!

Launch out of Croabh Haven area and (if its nice and settled) run up to Easdale. Then, you can think about running up towards Oban - thats a bit exposed with no landings though.

Turn right to pop under the Bridge over the Atlantic at Tigh an Trish where you can shore camp on the shore opposite the pub, just below the road. Nice and close to the pub too :b

Alternativly, run thro Cuan and camp on the island or run up Seil Sound. Check your tides though if you are planning on going thro Cuan :D !!!!

Back down Seil Sound to Croabh Haven.

If the weather is agin you, or you have any concerns, then go from Croabh Haven and up Seil Sound instead. Nice and sheltered. It can be a little bouncy East of Shuna.

Another nice day trip for you is Oban and round the island. Can be a bit exposed at the West end. but you'll get plenty of warning.


Mike.

(Oh - and practise your rolling on the way up - - - -)

[Jim]

"Another nice day trip for you is Oban and round the island"

Kerrera. It's one of the SCA's annual trips for beginners I think.

JIM

[MikeB]

It is indeed :D

And, of course there's always the SCA Solway Coast trip in mid August - - - - - - -

That'll be nice too! :smokin

[Helen]

And, of course there's always the SCA Solway Coast trip in mid August - - - - - - -


Are we going Mike? Double is looking good. Catch up with you soon

Helen

ps - I want nice weather - and car trouble is no excuse for forgoing the Club Bondage Weekend!

[Helen]

Club is looking for new members - anyone wanna join?!

Helen

[Jim]

"ps - I want nice weather - and car trouble is no excuse for forgoing the Club Bondage Weekend!

ppps ... Club is looking for new members - anyone wanna join?!"

Just what sort of club is it? For a minute there I thought we were talking about kayaking but I'm not sure anymore!

JIM

[Helen]

Umm - Got a bit confused (easily done - if you're me! Maybe I should explain )or maybe not, as the case may be. Decided to have a club BONDING weekend - but thought I might get more response if I billed it as a BONDAGE weeked (for obvious reasons!). 6 Replied! Me and 5 guys! I went as representative for the female contingancy! BIG MISTAKE - we almost got asked to leave - Thanks Rab! Think things are sorted out now - Have decided that I am the only NORMAL person in the Club - HELP - PANIC - Ummm.. Suggestions welcome - HELP again! Where have I gone wrong! I just wanna do my best, bond etc, etc.
C people on the water (maybe) if not otherwise detained!)

Helen

[Helen]

Still didn't make myself clear - we went Bowling! (and drink flowed freely!). Took me most of the day to recover.

Think I'll stick to paddling in future.

Helen

[Jim]

"I have loads of GPS related links to sort through, there is some excellent shareware and reasonable freeware for getting GPS info onto your PC/Mac/Palm to trace over maps and make up waypoint databases, if I haven't put something together in a couple of days give me a nudge!"

I hate not coming through with promises, better late than never:

Probably the best piece of shareware in the world, but only if you have a Mac! This up to date piece of software magic even works on my ancient powerbook 160 (System 7.5.5) with the addition of some extra libraries from apple. For PC users, their links page is really comprehensive too! www.gpsy.com/

For Palm users try this out: www.gpspilot.com/
With the right leads and a mobile phone with a modem and infrared you can download maps as you travel, at any scale, and keep track of your position. I pre-downloaded some useful maps before we went to Washington and loaded in some co-ordinates of nice places to visit (like REI stores) - fantastic, on the first day I was able to give instructions like: "turn left at the fire engines and then take the 3rd left after that....".

I don't currently have any GPS software on my PC because compared to the above everything I tried sucked! There are however loads of utilities for transferring those all important tracks and waypoint files - many of which are listed on the GPSy website above.

For equipment these people are pretty cheap www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

and for specialised leads if you can't make your own try these guys www.pc-mobile.net/ (actually in Japan I think).

Maps

There are several sites where you can download maps including
microsofts mappoint mappoint.msn.com/(hnok3w4...blast=true
and our old friend streetmap www.streetmap.co.uk/
Unfortunately you'll have to do some calibrating yourself to make any use of them. The GPSpilot software actually gets into mappoint (actually vicinity which is now part of mappoint) and gets pre-calibrated maps that work straight away - I haven't worked out how to do this without GPSpilot though.

If you want to buy maps on CD try DeLorme www.delorme.com/ who have a bias towards the US as do National Geographic maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/

Garmin also have a range of map CDs covering the whole world, and also a range of charts www.garmin.com/

Many outdoor shops are stocking anquet's maps on CD anquet.co.uk/ but they seem hideously expensive compared to the American brands :-( Compare an entire state for $99 with the english lakes for around £100!

Manufacturers, well who is really in the handheld outdor market, Garmin www.garmin.com/ and Magellan www.magellangps.com/en/ are the main ones but Silva www.silva.se/ also have some.

Hope some of you find some of that useful!

JIM

[MikeB]

That looks good!

[Douglas Wilcox]

I got every OS sheet in the North Britain OS 1:50000 series for £160. North Britain goes down to Yorkshire (Ok I know it really starts at Watford...) Because I climb, hillwalk, mountain bike snowboard and WW I might get more use than those who just use the sea but I thought it was really good value. It works both ways with Garmin and Magellan GPS units. Only limitation is you can only print to A4 because of OS restriction. Because I am so old I can no longer see properly so I can print out in larger scale to read without glasses.
Douglas

[sub5rider]

"Because I am so old I can no longer see properly so I can print out in larger scale to read without glasses.
Douglas"

Ho..ho.... If you can read without glasses, your not _that_ old ! I struggle to see the end of my RPM without specs.

Anquet maps, doesn't I/f with GPS very well, it's a kludged add-on, IMHO. Memory Map is slightly better in this respect but OziExplorer is the best - and when it can import Anquet or Memory Map maps it'll be the bees knees....
Nigel, aka Sub5Rider, Onioneer