From the southern tip of Islay it looks very tempting on a calm day as most of the confused water looks to be fairly close inshore and once beyond that just rivers in the sea with a bit of disturbance where they meet. Always several ships in view though so one might be busy on the VHF. Someone drove...

Adds weight and little strength, cosmetic scratches enhance that delightful patina people pay extra for in stone or enzyme washed fashion clothing. Wait until the weave is really showing through. I did fit one to a boat once and regretted it, after a few years the strip proved stiffer than the carbo...

years ago I had a winter windsurfing wetsuit with a very high neoprene seal skin neck and the same with the wrists. You tucked them under and the air pressure when you fell in tightened the seals very hard so they didn't leak at all. Having a dry zip it was always completely dry.

Maybe too late, but really easy to do, just leave the neoprene neck in place and fit a standard bellows style latex neck inside, it is the right size. I cut 2 plywood rings to make it really easy and used 'Xtreme' glue to give me time to smooth out all the wrinkles and then clamped it overnight betw...

Cliff nesting sea birds seem to be well aware of the risks. I was always surprised by some apparently ideal cliffs being unoccupied and the next corner being a crush of birds. After a few days of F9-10-11 brought our paddling in Lewis to a halt and massive drifts of foam inundated the coast, the uno...

Having let many paddlers try these boats over the years, the single most frequent complaint was of a claustrophobic feeling from being in the smaller cockpit opening. When the weather is grey and the sea big and cold, some paddlers are like snails and try to retreat into their cockpit, you see them...

The last thing you want rock-hopping is a throwline being looped around rocks by the surf, a good chance of loosing the throwline and just making things worse by being tempted to try and retrieve it.

Don't go for something too big and stable as it will soon become a barge. A low rear deck helps rolling, you will need room for your feet under the foredeck. Although I am small and light and paddle an anas acuta, we have a range of club boats so I've tried most things. The old style Northshore Atla...

As you get older the ocean cockpit keeps giving. Getting in you can sit down on the rear deck in shallow water and, having to shaken the water off your feet, slide in. So much easier than sitting right down low into a keyhole and then trying to fold your stiff legs in. Getting out, having slid neatl...

The problem with bungie is that the resistance increases and increases and then will suddenly decrease, using rollers and raising weights would give a more realistic effect, or rollers and lifting yourself up an inclined ramp which is how the fitness paddling machines work. However, I am just trying...

You will soon find you will want to paddle in more adventurous seas, or it will be thrust upon you by a sudden change in the weather, or rounding that headland, or a bit of wind against tide. There is also the tidal flow in estuaries, sometimes you just have to make some ground against it. The sea k...

Any sign of anything on the inside?

I didn't get on with the Valley hatch cover retainers at all. I glassed loops inside the hatches out of the way and put a tie from the inside so nothing to snag on the deck

These proposals cross posted from the white water forum are apparently from British Canoeing, but our club has not seen them until now, maybe only inland clubs were contacted? and the deadline is 28 February! Anyway, it looks as if sea clubs will be barely able to operate within BC if this goes thro...

Despite Valley trying to kill it off, the one and only is still available to order.

I have not been there for a while and wonder if you can still park and paddle from there. I'm worried that it might be on the North Coast 500 campervan trail so likely to be over-run in May.

Looks like someone is reinventing the Anas acuta, I'd love to try one.

6mm is also good and grips firmer, you might have to loosen the fittings to make it easier to thread. It fits easily if it is pulled out slightly thinner whilst threading or moving it along. An Ebay supplier has 6mm in an attractive black with reflective flecks and so far it looks like good quality ...

Very sad, many Portsmouth club members have paddled with this club and CKMer in France. Sandrine has joined us on paddles in the Solent as well. We are thinking of their family and friends.

Very straight forward, something I am happy to do on my own, it is a big target and the tides are light until near the Eigg coast where you would want to be paddling with them. Worth checking the CalMac timetable as this is the only shipping you are likely to meet.

They usually last a couple of years before slight leaks, initially it doesn't matter for day trips but becomes an issue on longer paddles, your wet and salty wooly socks are hard to dry in a wet camping environment. Replacing the fabric with 3d latex socks is pretty easy to do yourself and gives a v...

We have a double Triton, very stable -hard to imagine a capsize even when surfing-, very fast even with one person doing most of the work, easily outstrips all the others if we both work together and it is too easy to be tempted by the speed! Easy to right with one person stabilising while the other...

Great job.

Ours has a front bulkhead, hence my comment about allowing it to dry out. It is a very fast boat, all waterline, and stable enough on the move in waves. Not good for hanging around. Rolls so easily, like the Tahe Greenland it blurs the distinction between upright and upside down.

The hatch cover on the front is so you can dry the compartment byb leaving it off in storage, but you can pack small items. The cockpit rim is perfect for an ocean deck in proofed nylon or home made aqullisaq. Great boat, but wobbly at rest, not the best platform for photography!

If you lose the boat on a solo trip, say you are swimming ashore onto the rocks in breaking waves, having decided to land on a less than ideal bit of an unihabited Scottish isle rather than continue to even more dubious shores with a rising sea and the towline releases itself from your waist or unac...

A4 stainless steel penny washer and rubber penny washer on the inside, you can get them cheaply on ebay, quite small ones will do like 20mm x 4mm hole, then you can take them off if necessary

eOceanic, if you google this it will give you details of some anchorage or other and no link to the basic charts. However, scroll down to the chart, make this full screen and you can zoom and navigate your way to any place and scale you like. Various options for screen capture or direct printing. Bu...

I also use a homemade akulisaq (summer skirt) modelled on one I saw in the British Museum using proofed nylon and a bungie waist and deck seal. Getting the S shaped cut to fit the oval ocean cockpit took some iteration, but the waist is easy, a one afternoon project if you have a sewing machine. I'v...

Phoenix do a simple neoprene ocean deck, I've bought them through ASwatersports and they always seem to have them in stock. Probably about £60. This ocean fits an Anas acuta or the slightly rounder Skim cockpit it is quite flexible.

Any reviews of the peak wrap around?