Kirti and I just did a four-day trip from Tarifa, Spain, which is on the Atlantic end of the Strait of Gibraltar, through the Strait to Algeciras, then across Gibraltar Bay to the west side of Gibraltar. Then a circumnavigation of Gibraltar to the east side, and on the last day a big open crossing to Ceuta on the African Continent. The trip was lead by Nigel Dennis of the Anglesey Sea and Surf Center (ASSC) of NDK fame. We had 13 paddlers in the group, which was mixed in the sense that it including several BCU 5* paddlers and a couple of people who were not much above 3* level. We passed through two oceans (well, one ocean and one sea) and camped on two continents in four days! It was a great trip, and ended up being more of a challenge than we expected. The first day and a half were basically a pleasant tailwind trip along the southern coast of Spain. It was blowing about force 4-5 and we got a fairly easy ride. The afternoon of the second day we crossed Gibraltar Bay, which is an open crossing of 5-6 NM with extremely heavy shipping traffic. We used anchored cargo ships and oil tankers as safe-havens, hopping from one to another while crossing busy shipping lanes. One guy on the trip (Jeff Allen) was doing the group leadership part of his 5* assessment this day, so this was some useful 5* training for me because I was able to follow closely. It was definitely interesting, and definitely not one of those fabricated tests that you normally get in an assessment. As we got further across, the wind picked up and it started to get quite rough as the increasing fetch began to take effect. The least experienced kayaker in our party was in trouble and capsized and wet-exited. I was the first there to rescue him since I had been asked to keep a close eye on him. We set up an assisted tow (with me assisting) and Nigel Dennis towing us in. We had lots of clapotis as we reached the other side and the guy I was assisting seemed quite uncomfortable about how rough it was. Towing looked like hard work, and Nigel definitely earned his pay dragging us both in under those conditions. I was a bit bummed out because I really wanted to paddle instead of help stabilize the victim. I would have even preferred to do the towing. Oh well, that probably would have been hard work. I did get to go back out and play for a while, though and I got a few pictures of Nigel sweating. The circumnavigation of Gibraltar was a fun trip. Nice weather, moderate winds and just enough chop to keep things interesting. Some nice caves on the east side of the rock too, although I wasn’t too keen on the raw sewage outlet on the end of the point. I found out the hard way that it is definitely best to give those things a wide berth! We found a nice fishing village with a sheltered cove and beach to bivy in for the night in preparation for our big crossing. The big open crossing on the last day was a bit of an epic. The forecast was for a northerly wind, force 2-3, which was ideal since that is a tailwind and not strong enough to make things rough. The surface current flows permanently from West to East into the Med (despite what the chart says!), and we were starting at the east end, so needed to maintain a ferry angle (SW) to make our crossing. There was no margin for drifting east since the Med widens dramatically on both sides east of Gibraltar and Ceuta. I thought this plan left us a bit exposed, but in the past they had experienced relatively weak currents on this crossing, and they didn’t want to start farther west because it would have put us in line with the busy high-speed ferries that frequently cross the Straits between Algeciras and Ceuta. Anyhow, as soon as we left the shelter of the Rock of Gibraltar we had a head wind from the SW. It seemed ok at first, but as we crossed it got stronger (to force 4-5) and so did the current. We started to drift east wards at an alarming rate and it soon became apparent that we could not return to Gibraltar and may not be able to make it to Ceuta either! At that point it was basically a race against wind and tide. We were really at their mercy, and what was already a long crossing 16 NM was about to become much longer. We split into two groups (several experienced paddlers in each) and had the faster group try to make shore so that if necessary they could arrange a rescue for the other group. It was a real slog from then on. I was in the faster group with three German guys who were all very strong and experienced, Nigel Dennis who was in the Triton II (tandem) with the guy who capsized the previous day, and towing Kirti, and another guy, Steve Porter, who was probably the weak link in our group, but still seemed to be a fairly strong 4* paddler. It was no easy task keeping up with this group, and I was glad nobody asked me for a tow! There were four paddlers in the other group, including Fiona Whitehead (BCU 5*, coach L4), Jeff Allen (the guy doing his 5* assessment), a Norwegian guy called Eivind Nordeide. These three are strong paddlers and towed the fourth member of the group, Stephan Barker, most of the way in. In the front group it took us almost 7 hours of full-on paddling before we landed. No time to stop for a drink or food, and the whole time battling into a force 4-5 head wind and 2-3 knot current. The Rock of Gibraltar (where we left from) was in the distance at a constant angle off to starboard, and Jbel Musa (a big mountain in Morocco where we were heading) was in front of us and not getting any closer! Ceuta, our last opportunity to land on the south side was gradually slipping west (because we were slipping east despite our ferry angle). The trouble was, we were paddling hard for a long time and nothing was getting any closer. We just seemed to be marking time which was more than a little demoralizing at times. Its at times like this that you realize how long open crossings really are a gamble against the weather. We did finally make it though, and I had a dozen or more nasty blisters on my hands to show for it when we stopped. Everyone had blisters, even the guys who paddle every day. I had to burst half a dozen of them and tape up my hands just so I could hold the paddle in order to paddle the last couple of miles around the headland to the port in Ceuta. It wasn’t pretty. The other group had a four-person in-line tow going and took a good 45 mins longer than us to make it to shore. At first we couldn’t see them on the horizon, even with binoculars from a high rock, and Nigel was within 10 minutes of calling for a rescue when they finally came into sight. He claimed that it was one of the toughest tows he had done, which is something coming from a guy who has been at the top end of sea paddling for over 20 years. Personally, I thought it was nearly as hard as trying to keep up with Jeff Norville on our trip around the Brooks Peninsular on the West Coast of Vancouver Island last year. Overall, I kind of enjoyed it in a perverse kind of way. It actually felt like we had paddled to Africa! |