Midlifekayak

Last night we pitched our tents on the edge of the sand dunes and sought a little protection from the wind behind two signs that, ironically, said “no camper vans overnight”. We checked with a couple of locals and they said it wouldn’t be a bother.

I stuck my head out of the tent first thing and checked the state of the sea and wind. It looked a touch more settled. Double checking the wind forecast it looked like we would get westerlies until we reach the end of Kerry Head and soon after that it would be backing to west southwest.

As I made some porridge on the sea wall, Geoff made up some cheese rolls for the day’s journey. It was going to be a longish one. 32 miles without the chance of getting out of the boat. So a committed crossing.

We both discussed the sea state, swell, which was forecast to reduce, and wind direction. It wasn’t ideal still as the weeks of westerlies and northerlies had built up a lot of energy in the swells, but it was going to be the best opportunity for a week for us to get round Loop Head and up to Kilkee.

We launched just after 8am and made great progress with the ebbing tide along Kerry Head. 5 miles, and around an hour and a half later, we were bouncing through some lively but manageable clapotis and stream around the headland.

We were encouraged. We thought that if this was a sign of what it might be like around Loop Head, we would be fine.

Loop Head appeared before us, almost exactly 10 miles away. It should take us around 2.5 hours to get there.

The wind did indeed start to back and was now coming over our left shoulder. We were getting a bit of a shove.

The swell didn’t appear to have died down from yesterday despite the forecast, but we were both feeling comfortable. We pushed on.

An hour later I asked Geoff if we could raft up so I could take a pee. We normally only need to raft in the biggest of conditions. Geoff grabbed hold of my boat, up wind of course so he didn’t get splashed!

We had our first cheese roll and commented on how we could now start to see the detail on Loop Head. The lighthouse and surrounding fields occasionally illuminated by some sunshine before the clouds closed over again.

Another hour of concentrated paddling later, we were a mile or so south of Loop Head and half a mile wide of it. We were anticipating some clapotis and wanted to stay out as much as possible. We stopped one final time before going round the head, had a drink, bite to eat and a pee.

We were ready to go. With a little trepidation we moved onward. As we approached the point under the lighthouse the expected clapotis started, it was a little bigger than around Kerry Head but certainly manageable.

We were a little relieved but we also recognised that the north side of the Head would be subject to the worst of the northerly swell.

As it turned out we were right. I am not sure I can describe quite what we faced over the next hour and a half so I won’t try. In summary though, the westerly swells met with the northerly swells at this spot, combined before bouncing violently of vertical cliffs and rebounding into and onto us.

As we battled with the confusion, the amazing cliff colony of Manx Shearwaters and Fulmars swooped down to hunt and check out us mad kayakers. It would have been an amazing sight to stop and video. As it was we had other things on our minds – including the horrifying thought that we might have 14 more miles of this before the safety of Kilkee.

As it was, it did eventually settle down a notch. We would still face tough conditions for the next three hours but not quite as extreme.

Geoff and I have paddled more than 4000 miles together over the last 14 years or so, and there are probably 3 occasions when we thought that “we really shouldn’t be out here”. This was one of them and is now top of the list.

If you have been following our blog over the last week or so, you will know we have faced some difficult stuff. The apparently fixed position of the jet stream which is creating the north and westerlies, means that the whole of this coast is being battered by big seas. The winds themselves aren’t too bad but when combined with swell and big cliffs, it is a different story.

Geoff and I always review our planning when something like this happens. We felt like we did everything we could to stay safe but sometimes you find yourselves in an unpredictable situation and you have to rely on your own skills and calmness to get out of it. We did, but it could have been different and that fact isn’t lost on us.

In our first two weeks of this expedition we had good conditions and we made almost 300 miles. Since arriving at the west coast of Ireland we had 9 days off and only one decent paddling day. The other days we have made progress but often at the very edge of what is enjoyable and safe.

The forecast for the next 10 days suggests we might only get 1 or 2 days paddling in. Just as a comparison, in 2015 when we circumnavigated Ireland, we only had 2 weather bound days in the 6 weeks it took us to complete the whole trip.

After Loop Head, Geoff told me he had had some moments where he had been quite scared. That’s the first time I have ever heard him use that word. Me on the other hand, I get scared a little more often.

We don’t share all of this to dramatise or exaggerate, but we are both now having to rethink whether, without a shift in weather systems, we can continue this expedition. At the moment, what we planned to be a 4 month expedition tops, is looking more like 5.

Gosh this all sounds serious and depressing. It isn’t. We are having an extraordinary time. We feel so fortunate to be able to do this. Every day is an adventure and is providing us with memories that we will treasure. We just want to be sensible and balance our desire to do this and keep our promises to ourselves and our families, to stay safe.

Even on our stressful paddle into Kilkee, we were marvelling at the incredible coastline and birdlife.

We even saw our first Sun Fish today!

Tonight we are looking forward to heading to the Greyhound Bar where we had quite a few pints the last time we paddled this coastline.