Loch Faskally Bimble - 14/9/2008

Brian and I demoed two kayaks from Brookbank Canoes in Perth. It was a good chance for Brian to try out the Dagger Approach, a kayak that had been suggested to him by a previous instructor. We headed to Loch Faskally aka the River Tummel below the Linn of Tummel, just above Pitlochry, for a quiet paddle in the rain. Brian took to the Approach, aka the Tub (or BattleTub if I can poach Charlie's boat name), pretty much immediately. I had a Dagger GT 7.5, which I would have enjoyed more if the hip pads had been a little more girl shaped or non existent. Circulation is for sissies.

We explored the base of the Linn of Tummel and the last few hundred metres of the River Garry before heading down toward the Pitlochry end of the loch. Skeg or no skeg, I couldn't keep up with Brian. On the Garry, Brian found an old Tennents can which formed a game for the next hour or more trying to land the can on each other's boat. I had to rely on skills more than speed because Brian was far too fast in the Approach. Most useful skill? Trickery.

A bit below our get in/out, we swapped boats for about 10 minutes. I didn't like the BattleTub at all, far too big, but I could see immediately that it or it's smaller 9.0 sibling would be a great boat for Brian. The GT was a bit too snug for Brian, but he thought it would be genius to paddle it with his knees sticking out. That lasted less than 30 seconds before he was in the drink. Sadly, Brian found that inhaling while dunking into the water doesn't work as well as exhaling. I shoved the boat toward the beach while he coughed and dragged himself there. He was much happier and more comfortable back in the BattleTub.

We pottered around a little more after Brian's excursion before calling it a day. On the way back to Brookbank, we stopped at a cafe for warm drinks, food, and most importantly meringues for pudding. The conclusion of the boat demo was reached on the way back. Approach 9.0, pending a final test in the shop. When to buy it is another matter that we will figure out sooner or later.