On the sea at last..

Five of us launched at Crosby beach on Bank Holiday Monday for a wee trip on the Mighty Mersey.

Nicky kindly carried the paddles....the new boat is so light it is self-supporting...

The trip got off to an auspicious start when I tucked my VHF radio under my deck elastics, and my water bottle plopped into the murky river.

5 minutes of 'follow the bottle' passed before I gave up.

We went over to New Brighton for lunch, back over to the Liverpool side alongside the Arena, Albert Dock , Pier Head and Liver Buildings and back to Crosby and the Iron Men.

23.5k/14.5m in 4.45 hrs, a very pleasant day out with excellent company.

My nephew Stan provided admirable backup bringing paddles and using great imagination by sending my watch over the beach by the simple means of attaching it to my incredibly intelligent Labrador, Freddy, who ran 200m to bring it to me!

Crosby 'Danger' sign aka the Sh*t Outflow..

Where's me bottle?...

My new kayak has now been christened 'Tootega' following a suggestion by my brother in law Clifford following my 'Pimp my Kayak' post!

In Inuit mythology, Tootega is a wizened old goddess, who lives in a stone hut and has the ability to walk on water.

I like the water bit .

Launched!

We went up to Coniston this morning to launch Boat. It was a beautiful sunny day in Liverpool when we left, and a cold windy one in Cumbria.

Here's me on the bank wishing I had worn more thermals....

The boat handled very well, it seems to be faster than my Aquanaut, and certainly turns more quickly. I only went out for half an hour, as my right shoulder is playing up again, but that was enough to satisfy me that the project has been a success!

The only niggly problems were the spraydeck lip is a touch lower than my other boat, and it was fiddly to get my deck on, [however it wasn't my usual one and is a bit tighter], and a small amount of water got into the hatches. I've traced this to the finger indents on the lids being a little deep, so I'll fill 'em with epoxy and file shallower ones.

Even with the wind trying to weathercock the boat it was so much easier to turn than my Aquanaut!

We weighed the boat and it came in at just under 24kg, which isn't bad as its got a heavy layup on the hull, and the marine ply bulkheads are 1.5kg, where weight could have been saved with foam.

Thanks are due to my bro-in-law Dan Kenyon for taking the pictures and editing the video.

www.dankenyon.com