Around the outside and surfing blind..

We left Achill on the ebb flowing North, late in the afternoon. We paddled for the first hour or two with a beam wind. We decided we had to go around the outside of the Fannad Peninsular even though there is a shorter and safer route through Bel Mullet, we felt pretty sure our attempt at breaking this record would fall foul if we chose the inside route. This meant that we could turn the Tarans downwind and let them do what they do best, we flew and even though we are both feeling quite drained of energy now we couldn't resist running the wind to the outside.

By the time we reached open ocean it was dark, a new moon meant only the stars would help illuminate our progress. We both felt quite anxious, knowing there's a parcel of wind on it's way and decided to stay afloat until the wind arrived. This meant skirting close to land but avoiding the swells which last night seemed to be about 1-1.5 meters. At about midnight the wind started to pick up and we committed to a surf landing. This to both Harry and I, is one of the scariest aspects of sea kayaking. A surf landing on an unknown shore in the dark. We both came in as close as we could on the backs of the swells until we felt the spray being blown back off the breaking wave just in front of us, then we paddled like crazy. Neither of us escaped the next swell, but luckily Harry bent to the left and had to do a defensive low brace, I managed to break right and ran the wave diagonally to the beach. Harry didn't quite make it to the beach, finding him self amongst rocks he decided to bail and walk his kayak through the last of the breakers to protect the rudder. We are now settled down in the dunes somewhere south of Frenchport. An exciting night.

The Morning after......http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=54.15467,-10.10117&ll=54.15467,-10.10117&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1