Ravenglass Seaquest 2011

Seaquest is a sort of cross between sea kayak racing and orienteering. This years event at Ravenglass was delayed 24hrs due to strong winds and took place in perfect conditions today. At eleven o'clock all competitors lined up besides their choice of craft ready for the off. It was certainly a broad range of boats that made their way round the three estuaries of the rivers Irt, Mite and Esk. Most were in sea kayaks, some in canoes, double kayaks, river kayaks and a single surf ski. There was also a fair contingent of Epic and Taran racing sea kayaks. The idea of the event is to navigate round as many checkpoints as possible within a three hour time limit, with points for checkpoints visited and points deducted being late back.

This years course was perhaps shorter than last time I entered, and I managed all checkpoints with about 15 minutes to spare. The distance I covered was about 21km. I was assisted somewhat by having John Bunyan just in front of me all the way round, both as a target to chase and to help find the checkpoints.

I came first in the womens sea kayak class and was also pleased to see that I was the first person to finish in a touring boat as opposed to a race boat. I think I would have been third in the mens' race too!

This was a fantastic event and thanks must go to Annette and Phil for organising it once again.

Pre-race 'which way are you going' discussion

In the Esk

Making a run for the finish

The Cumberland ring, sea pictures

Skerton weir in Lancaster, our start point for the sea section of our journey Flat calm conditions as we leave Lancaster

Hard to believe it's only March. This is Morecambe Bay.

Oystercatchers on Walney, start of day 2.

Stopped for lunch while we waited for the end of firing at Eskmeals range. Took the opportunity to eat some more scrummy Cumberland sausage

It was a tad chilly when we woke up at St Bees, perhaps it is March after all.

Cooking up Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding at Allonby

Camp fire at Allonby

Not a lot of view on the last day

Where are we going anyway?

Surfing a very small bore in the Solway

At last, in the river Eden again

River Lune

Setting out from Beckfoot, lovely weather but where's all the water?

Jim getting warmed up in preparation for the Strid

Sean very nearly cooling down on the Strid

Stangerthwaite weir

Jim spies the butty van

Big fish caught just as we passed, now who says paddlers spoil the fishing?

Finishing in Lancaster. Three of us pretty tired after three long days paddling.

Some photos of the Eden

Scandal Beck, just starting out Weir just before Appleby

Caves at Eden LacyThe classic white water section

Armathwaite weirClose to the M6, near Carlisle

Check out my latest adventure

Along with two friends, Jimski and Sean I'll be setting out to begin the Cumberland Ring on Saturday. This is a circumnavigation of the Lake District...well, sort of. We'll be starting on Scandal beck, aiming to be scandal free, and cruising on down the Eden for two days, then completing the circuit with the River Lune and the coast between Lancaster and Carlisle. We'll be writing a blog of our journey which you can find at http://cumberlandring.blogspot.com/ . Please sign up as a follower and keep in touch with us as we go along.


Here's me blogging away.

I won!

Here's me at the start...

Here's David ready to go...

And I got to the finish first in a time of 2hrs 12 minutes. My route was somewhat shorter than David's at 18.5km compared to his 23.7km and of course he had all the hills.

Here's my speed profile. The first bit is a touch variable as I was paddling upstream just where Windermere becomes the river Leven, trying desperately to stay out of the current. The first little blip is where I put my pogies on, and the second is when I realised that my footrests were not in the same place each side. Apart from that, there were no stops. The slightly faster bit in the middle is where I tried wash hanging a small power boat. It worked, but it was going just a little bit too fast for me and I couldn't keep it up for long.

The gauntlet's been thrown

Which is faster, me in my boat, or David my boyfriend running? Tomorrow I'm going to find out. He's challenged me to a race from one end of Windermere to the other. His route is slightly longer than mine, and includes a few ups and downs while mine includes a short stretch of adverse current at the start and then, I hope a favourable wind along the 11 and a half miles of England's longest lake.

We're going to start at Newby Bridge and race to Waterhead at Ambleside. To see who wins you're going to have to log on tomorrow and check out the blog.