Loch Lubnaig bimble -- 11/6/2006

First posted on the Song of the Paddle website.

On Sunday, Lucas and I drove up with Charlie (urchaidh) to join Mr. & Mrs. Tenboats, Silvergirl, Paul and the Silverchildren for part 2 of a demo day at Strathyre. Mr. & Mrs. Tenboats were the first to greet us, but the midges said their hellos, too, especially to Charlie. According to the elder Silverchild, Saturday featured nine hours of against the wind paddling and they were all pretty tired. As such, we enjoyed a pleasant bimble on Loch Lubnaig, launching from the Tenboats’ camp







and following the wee (and low) river out to the Loch.





Rather than assemble the Pakboat, Lucas and I borrowed a hardboat from Tenboats’ fleet. He paddled bow and I paddled stern. Probably because of the flexibility in seat position in the Pakboat, the hardboat felt a bit wider. However, it lacked the anti-rocker of an unladen Pakboat, so it tracked much easier.



The wind had picked up a little as we got out to the loch. At lunch, Paul took each of the kids for a sail using Tenboats’ rig. He seemed to translate his experience as a sailing instructor to canoe sailing quite well.





While Jade enjoyed her turn at sailing, Tenboats gave Ewan a brief lesson in poling









...and Charlie continued to talk himself into buying a Prospector.







The wind kicked up a bit more and the sun finally came out for a while. After lunch and demos, we paddled upwind for a bit longer before heading back toward home. I found paddling into the wind to be easier for controlling direction than paddling away from the wind. On the paddle home, the wind kept pushing the boat to my offside. If I was solo, I would have struggled more (or perhaps become a right-hander for a little while), but instead, Lucas provided propulsion while I just ruddered in the back. Isn’t that what stern paddlers are supposed to do? ;)



We reached the shelter of the river and the wind became more manageable. Lucas took a lounging break and left me to do all the work for a while. Perhaps to make up for the loch crossing? Silvergirl, Paul and family finished their last hurrah at sailing before the shelter of the river meant they had to paddle again.







We paddled and dragged boats upstream to camp where some opted for more demoing, poling practice and/or swimming practice.







Thanks for a nice day on the water!