richi

Not true I'm afraid. The concept of the kayak mackerel race was first started by me at the Mudeford Demo day 3 years ago. It has since been copied by others for their meets with my blessing but none have been so deceitful to claim it is there idea up till now. SHAME ON YOU! I wonder how long it will be before someone claims that they invented the anchor reel or the pot bouy tie But I suppose that is life.Some people innovate whilst others imitate

Great report Al,looking forward to getting up that way again myself

After paddling round the island last year and taking 26 hours :-[ to do it I had been planning on giving it another go.Last year I hadn't planned on going round in one go,it just happened when I was half way round I'd been putting in a fair bit of training and had been studying the tides for suitable dates,had originally planned on next bank holiday but as the summer species should be in full flow(and the tope season )then,I decided to go this weekend. Only thing about this weekend was the suitable launch times either 2am or 2pm.Opted for the 2am and fri evening went to bed at 8pm for a few hours sleep with the alarm set for midnight. BEEP! was woken with a start and jumped out ready to go only to find I'd been sent a bleeding text!great!how my phone is still in one piece I'll never know! Finally midnight came and it was time to get ready,load up and head to the launch site which on this occasion was to be Calshot. Got down to the beach where a few guys were fishing and rigged up for my 2am start,which ended up 5 minutes or so late due to a lengthy chat to the coastguard. So at 0205 I set off with the ebb towards the Needles The ebb was helping a great deal once I'd got in the main channel and I managed 9.4mph going past Hurst. Hit the needles in 2hrs 25minutes It was eerie threading the Needles at night and there was some surf on the bridge Headed onwards to St.Catherines,was struggling a bit on this leg,nearly dropped off to sleep a couple of times Finally made it to St.Catherines after a further 3 1/2 hours making the time now 8am Dunnose with St.Catherines in the distance Onwards past Dunnose and Ventnor staying offshore in a direct line with Culver Made it to Bembridge Lifeboat station just before midday Mistook my Lepe mark for Calshot on the gps :-[and ended up paddling against the tide right on the last bit(just when I needed it ) Finally made it back to Calshot after 13 hours 25 minutes Boy was it hard lifting the yak on the roof after that!

Weather was looking doubtful for today's planned trip resulting in a lack of haste in making the launch time.I eventually launched 50 minutes later than planned at 0950.Todays intended mark was close to where I'd fished on my last Solo trip approximately 5 miles south of the Needles. A good day ahead? I think so made it to the mark after a few hours paddling with the help of the ebb and the sail once I'd reached the Needles.Took a route straight through the shingles and dolphin bank,hit a spot where it was 6ft deep dropped the anchor(number 233) and let out 100metres which was ample today.It was lovely to be out at one of my favourite spots again first fish to the yak was a doggie that was so shy it tried to hide his face in my drysuit second fish was a new species for the year................a pout judging by the look of shock on the pouts face,he's never seen a yak before pout,dog,pout,dog then the rod bent over this wasn't a dog or a pout,it was actually having a go,,,,,,,,what is it,,,,,not pulling like a smoothy,,,,not headbanging like a cod,,,,,,,,,ah!!!!!!!!!!!!! now I was feeling happy the ray was too,it behaved perfectly,opening it's mouth to allow me to easily remove the hook whilst sitting there quietly.I maneouvered it to relaunch position so that it could slide gently from my leg into the water. but it wouldn't let go!!!!I think it may have wanted to hump my leg or something The wind picked up in the afternoon as predicted and after getting tango'd at anchor numerous times I decided to call it a day and head for home. Flipped up the sail and I was away made speeds up to 9kts on my return and hit some rough spots en-route the trap was playing up a good un 2 new species,21 miles,interesting seas,my kind of day

I'll be there Snatcher along with quite a few others from Anglers Afloat.I think most are staying at the caravan/camping site at Sandhead, link below http://www.sandsofluceholidaypark.co.uk/

Absolutely Right! when I paddled round the I.O.W. last year,I used neoprene paddling gloves(proper paddling gloves not fishing ones!) to start as I found it helped with my arthritis,after around half the journey one of my hands did end up like a shrunken prune and it became painful/impossible to continue to wear the glove on that hand as the skin was really sore. Now if I wear gloves it is my woolly lined waterproof ones in winter

I love the first two photos Zzip,good luck with the comp mate

http://www.bournemouthcanoes.co.uk/bargains.htm

nearly true I didn't even know about AN when I started,to be honest I didn't have a clue either but I survived :DI was very grateful when either Zzippy or SpeciMan put me on to AN,it was the no.1 forum in those days and I met some good friends on here that I still fish with now,sadly most of the yakfishermen from the early days don't post here anymore

I don't expect everyone to agree mate that's why I said in my opinion,I understand and agree on the merit part but I still think Mark deserves some credit.He has also improved this year as a paddler considerably,helped a lot of people into the sport and caught some blennies that most would be proud of

100 launches is an absolutely outstanding years launch tally Mark(anything over 50 is serious in my opinion anything under 10 pathetic),some in extreme conditions,pure dedication. You must have gained loads of experience this year well done

thanks Keith,totally agree with your comments and I will continue with my demo days ( I have been approached from other companies since they have seen the successes we had but I only have so much time and I will only demo products that I believe in) I wish someone had been doing it when I started mind you I didn't even know that forums existed back then

great Liz!

sounds interesting.I would think I'll more than likely be there I was at cano expo last year with Johnsons that Brookbank did a great job of organising one question: Can I take my scupper pro round the holme pierrepont course? I know the best man for your safety talk,I'll have a chat with him