Kayaking/Camping Trip

Yesterday I got back from a camping/kayaking trip to Texa. To start with we kitted up and packed our bags. I went with my Dad and two friends of ours who unfortunately could not stay the night. Before too long we set out.

> We kayaked there from my house to Texa , taking all equipment with us in the boats. When we got to Texa, we decided to paddle around the island. Along the way we saw many birds and forms of wild life as well as some beautiful scenery

After we saw the breath taking views, we decided it was time to set up camp. We said good bye to our friends and landed are boats. The first priority was to get the tent set up the tent, then to get a fire started and finally to cook some food.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog! Asher.

Kayaking Symposium (after)

On the 28th, 29th and 30th of March, the Islay canoe club went to the West Coast Paddlers kayaking symposium at Loch Winnoch to take part in activities. I did two activities, forward paddling strokes for sea kayakers and balance games leading to self-rescue. In the morning with I did forward strokes. I learnt techniques that I had not tried before. I learnt to relax my knees into the middle section of the cockpit, taking the paddle out of the water at my waist and to use a rudder to steer where possible. In the afternoon I braved the balance games and self-rescue and learned a very important lesson the hard way. At the beginning of an activity I lost balance, fell out of my boat and began drifting away from my boat. The lesson was no matter what, keep hold of the kayak. I also learnt that to help achieve a self-rescue you need to build balance. One way was to paddle around with a rubber duck on your head or you could try crawling up to the front of your boat and rubbing noses with your boat. During the symposium I tried out one of the clubs new Delphin kayaks. I like this boat because it test me, making me a better paddler. The kayak is easy to handle and steer and can catch up quickly to some faster boats. It is just wide enough to be able to feel stable whilst narrow enough to look and feel sleek. We were very lucky to get such useful boats to fit young paddlers. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog! Asher

KAYAKING SYMPOSIUM

On the last weekend of March, me and my dad are going to go on a kayaking symposium with the west coast paddlers. on the first day we do two half days activities, my ones are forward strokes for see paddlers to brush up on some skills, and my second one is balance games leading to self rescue. after the activities we get to go camping in our own tent! I'm going to bring some tinder, kindling and my fire steel so that we can have a fire that night! The next day we go on a guided tour of the surroundings before going back home on the ferry. A blog will defiantly follow the symposium! I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog! Asher.

WHO'S THIS PACKAGE FROM?

Last week I got a package in the mail, it was from someone named Andrew Head who is a bush craft instructor. In the package, he sent me an extremely detailed letter, four detailed booklets of advice, tips and facts as well as a book called "the S.A.S survival hand book!" I shall be reading all of the above and post some key points from them on here, as well as writing a thank you letter to Andrew. I hopefully be going on my first trip in March! I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog! Asher

GREAT NEWS!!!

Last week when in the pool, I managed to do not one, not two, not three but four Eskimo rolls in a row for the first time ever!!! I know it's a bit late since my due date, but better late than never eh! M y instructor named Dave told me I had a few more crucial points to work on, but their out the way I can practice some more in the sea! more exciting news should be coming soon, so look out for it! I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog!

EDIBLE PLANTS

Last week I researched some edible plants that can be found in most areas, here is a list of where to find them and name (sorry about no picture type into Google imags.) 1. Number one is called Amaranth, this edible weeds is fully edible but watch out for spines on the leaves. Whilst being edible the plant contains oxalic acid, it is recommended that you boil the leaves before you eat them, after boiling DO NOT drink the water. This plant is native to the Americas but is found in most Continents. 2.Number two is wild asparagus, wild asparagus has a much thinner stalk the store bought stuff.When eating asparagus cook it like you would at home. It grows in the wild in most countries. 3.Number three is none other than that pesky weed, dandelions! The whole plant is edible, leves, flower roots and all, eat the leaves when their young, like most plants their leaves taste less bitter young, use the flower as a garnish for your dandelion leaf salad and boil the roots in water then drink the water as some dandelion tea! Found in grassy areas, parks gardens and more! Thank you for reading my blog I hope you enjoyed it!

Moving On

It seems like forever since I last wrote! Sorry about that, but now I have a new Endeavour! I've chosen bushcraft which strangly can relate to Kayaking! I am going to go on a trip to a place called Prhoig point which has a bothie on it. Me and my dad are going to go and stay in the bothie because it will help me to train myself in the arts of bushcraft. I am also going to go on a special kayaking trip on the last weekend of March! It's a bring your own tent trip so me and my dad are going to bring and test out our new Vango Banshee that weighs only 2.5 KG! When it's closer to the time I'll fill you in on it! I hope you enjoyed reading my Blog!

Endeavour Project - Final Trip

Hi! I am sorry for how long it has been since I updated this blog. Above is a map of where I went kayaking for my endeavour. Me and my Dad started at Lagavulin, then we went round the coast, towards the island of Texa then turned back to have lunch on a little beach. After lunch we started off again and went towards the little beach near the light house, which is behind our house! In total I paddled 10 Km and it took us 4 hours, including lunch. By the end I felt pretty tired, but was really happy to have done it. My Daddy was very proud of me. As you know my project is finished but I will keep on writing this blog as a record of what I plan to do in my kayaking adventure, and for proof in further exams. thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

ENDING MY ENDEAVOUR

The last time I wrote it was nearly time to have the class endeavour fair which is where everyone in my class shows what they have learnt in endeavour. today I finished off my endeavour by doing a kayaking trip from Ardbeg, to Texa, for lunch, and then back to the small beach behind our house. There were a few seals out there in the bay today, one of them even followed us for a little, so we got quite a few pictures of them and our surroundings.

Meeting Harold Hastie

My name is Asher, this blog is about a kayaking expedition from Islay to Jura that is for my Endeavour topic at school. This particular blog is about the day I went to see Mr Harold Hastie the coast guard. It was Sunday the 28th of April when I went to see him along with my Dad. When we arrived, we all sat down and talked together about my trip. Mr Harold Hastie said that it was a very ambitious task but with a lot of effort it could be managed. He also gave me some very good advice, he said that on VHF radio channel sixteen is the distress channel, his best tip was to not go on the trip if the weather was not good. He even told us what type of flare we should bring, he said we should bring red distress flares for in the afternoon and night, and orang smoke flares for the day because you can see smoke better than you can red when its day time. I hope you have enjoyd reading my blog!

What I Have Done

It has been a little while since I updated my blog, but I have got some things done! I have phoned Harold Hastie about my trip and a few days ago I went on a kayaking trip with my Dad. On the way we saw a seal, a comerant, a black guillemot and aeider duck. I hope enjoyed my blog!

WHAT TO DO?

It has been a long time since I last updated this blog, but I have got a lot done since I started it. here is a list:I have put info about my trip on many bits of paper and handed them out to members of the kayaking club, put info about the course to Jura I am taking, found one or two sheets of info about safety and what to take. Although I have got a lot done there are some thins that I need to do in the time span of 3 weeks. here they are: I need to call a coast guard called Mr Hastie and ask for advise, I need to practice long distance kayaking, and practice my Eskimo roll. I hope I can do it! well lets find out! thank you for reading!

KAYAKING IN LAGAVULIN BAY

On the 11 of February, 2013, Daddy and I went to Lagavulin bay. When we went there we met up with David to go kayaking, there was a lot of swell that day and that made it very difficult to stay straight. We went around the bay a few times and then went in through some of the rocks like in the picture. David also lent me something called a pogie, which helped keep my hands warm! I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog!

Pool Sessions

I know that I haven't updated my blog for a while but I will now. Since I last blogged the pool sessions have been split into two groups, I am in the experienced group.in this group we are learning to do the Eskimo roll, self rescue and how to rescue each other. One of the kayak instructors named Dave, said that he will have me rolling by May! I am hopefully going to go on the trip to Jura on the first weekend in May, because I have a long school weekend, and by then hopefully the weather will be good. Me and my Dad have started to plan the route we are going to take on the trip. I have started to take pictures of me and my Dad in the swimming pool practicing our kayaking. We still need some practice at it, though we do have some good ones.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog!

KAYAKING TOP TIPS!

Here are some useful tips for what to bring with you on a long kayaking trip. SIGNAL WHISTLES need to shout? save your voice and carry a whistle with you. ALL IN ONE FRISBEE TOOL! Its a multi use camp tool:fan fires, wind block, foot rest on wet ground, even a signaling device, if it has reflective tape on it. PUT REFLECTIVE TAPE ON KAYAK PADDLE You should put reflective tape on the kayak paddle and on the deck of the kayak. BRING EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT At the very least, bring a life jacket, paddle floats, water pump, emergancy light, emergancy food, emergancy water, a few flares and good knife as well. Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it!

CANOES AND KAYAKS, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

A lot of people get a kayak and canoe mixed up. So just in case your wondering what the difference is I am going to tell you. A canoe is made to so that you have to either kneel in the boat or sit in it. The paddle is also different to a kayak, it is a single bladed paddle. A kayak on the other hand has a double bladed paddle. The position you sit in a kayak is also different to the way you sit in a canoe, instead of kneeling or sitting with nothing over your legs you sit with your legs in front of you with a funny thing on top of the kayak called a spray deck that pretty much stops the water getting in to the boat. Did you know that it doesn't matter if you spell the word kayak backwards or forwards, it is still spelt the same! That is called a palindrome!

PRACTICE!

Last week at kayaking club I was practicing my long distance paddling up and down the swimming pool. Unfortunately there were a lot of people there so I did not get many chances in the kayak, hopefully this week I will have better luck.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog!    

Here are some helpful facts about preparing a route for a kayaking trip:

• Use an ordinance survey map instead of a sea chart. This is because we kayak close to shore, so we use a lot of land based references to navigate by. 
• Do not be afraid to add information to your map. Adding more information, such as reefs, rocks only visible at low tide and tide times, makes a land map even more useful for kayaking.
• Laminate the map to make it water proof. This will stop it from getting ruined by the sea and rain when on the deck of the kayak.
• Highlight land marks such as light houses and mountains. This will make them easier to spot when out on the water. 

This information was found on www.canoekayak.co.uk 

Here are some of measurement in my trip, these figures come from a website called digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk :

• The Paps of Jura are 5.52 KM from the sea.
• The route we are taking will be about 16 KM.
• The distance across the Sound of Jura at the shortest point is 1.08 KM

I hope you have enjoyed  reading this blog!

Bothies

        On our trip we plan to stay at a Bothy on Jura. The Bothy we will be using is at Cruib, which is on Loch Tarbert, at grid reference is NR 566 828. The initial distance from the map is 16 kilometres. Here are some facts about Bothies.

Bothies are remote man-made mountain shelters, usually constructed of stone, which can be used by anyone at any time, and at no cost. Bothies are largely a Scottish phenomenon and there are believed to be more than 300 north of the border. England and Wales are another story entirely: very little information exists about mountain shelters south of the border.

There are traditional hut-style bothies as well as modified caves and even holes under boulders. They include former stalkers’ shelters, shepherds’ huts and old stables, and they range in size anywhere from a garden shed to a six-room two-storey building.

Most bothies date back to a time when landowners kept separate quarters for permanent ground staff. The buildings haven’t been abandoned but, with the invention of the Land Rover, they’re simply no longer necessary for use by the ground staff. Landowners of today rely on the common sense of walkers to use the bothies appropriately.

There is a strict code of practice surrounding the use of bothies, and many in Scottish are looked after by the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA).

 

The Bothy Code 

The Bothies maintained by the MBA are available by courtesy of the owners. Please respect this privilege.

Please record your visit in the Bothy Log-Book.

Note that bothies are used entirely at your own risk

Respect Other Users

Please leave the bothy clean and tidy with dry kindling for the next visitors. Make other visitors welcome. If they are not MBA members set a good example.

Respect the Bothy

Tell us about any accidental damage. Don't leave graffiti or vandalise the bothy. Please take out all rubbish which you can't burn. Avoid burying rubbish; this pollutes the environment. Please don't leave perishable food as this attracts vermin. Guard against fire risk and ensure the fire is out before you leave. Make sure the doors and windows are properly closed when you leave.

Respect the Surroundings

If there is no toilet at the bothy please bury human waste out of sight. Use the spade provided, keep well away from the water supply and never use the vicinity of the bothy as a toilet.
Never cut live wood or damage estate property. Use fuel sparingly.

Respect Agreement with the Estate

Please observe any restrictions on use of the bothy, for example during stag stalking or at lambing time. Please remember bothies are available for short stays only. The owner's permission must be obtained if you intend an extended stay.

Respect the Restriction On Numbers

Because of over crowding and lack of facilities, large groups (6 or more) should not use a bothy nor camp near a bothy without first seeking permission from the owner.

This information is from:

http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog posting!

MAP READING ON THE COBBLER

Last week I went to a family house in Arrochar and climbed a famous mountain called the Cobbler, and I was the map reader for the climb. Our party consisted of, my dad, my uncle Jonny, my uncle Laci and my Grumps. When we were away my grumps gave me his hand held GPS. This will help me navigate, but I still need to learn to read a map. So now I have started to learn to read a map, now I need to learn to read a map from a boat.

Me in a kayak!

 Also last week a reporter from a teachers newspaper came to interview my class but unfortunately I wasn't there, so instead my mum and dad sent in some photos of me in a kayak!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog!