#164 - Six Ways Around Ireland: Multi‑Craft Ireland Circumnavigations with Rob Henshall


Today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast features Rob Henshall, who has circumnavigated Ireland six times in six different craft — from a Nordkapp kayak to a Contessa sailboat, plus a laser dinghy, a windsurfer, and more. Rob shares how he started on the water, the minimalist gear that carried him around the island, and what kept him going through 66 days and countless challenges.
Along the way he recalls near‑misses (including a foggy night with a container ship), close encounters with dolphins, Guinness-courage and pub moments, and the lessons learned across multiple expeditions.
00:09 - Introduction to Paddling the Blue
01:50 - Meet Rob Henschel
04:34 - Early Adventures in Sea Kayaking
07:44 - The Dream of Circumnavigation
10:35 - Overcoming Doubts and Challenges
13:25 - Essential Equipment for the Journey
15:30 - Setting Off on the Adventure
19:55 - The Duration of the Journey
21:32 - Memorable Moments at Sea
22:50 - Capturing the Experience
26:20 - Awe-Inspiring Scenery
26:54 - The Nordkapp Connection
28:08 - Next Adventures on the Horizon
40:48 - Lessons Learned from Each Journey
43:23 - Connecting with Rob Henschel
44:29 - Future Guests on Paddling the Blue
46:00 - Closing Remarks and Reflections
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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the
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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.
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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.
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Welcome to today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.
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Rob Henschel has circumnavigated Ireland in more types of craft than likely any person.
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Six separate trips, each in a different boat type.
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A kayak, a laser dinghy, a windsurfer, a longboat, a catch, and most recently, a sailboat.
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And today we talk about that early experience in a kayak and how the different
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trips compared and contrasted.
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Before we get to today's conversation with Rob, I offer a wide range of programs
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in the Great Lakes and beyond, from paddling skills, instructor certifications,
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workshops, CPR classes, wilderness first aid, guided trips, and more.
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If you're interested, visit paddlingtheblue.com, click the courses and trips
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link at the top of the page, and let's get out and paddle together.
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And James Stevenson and Simon Osborne at OnlineSeaKayaking.com continue to produce
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great content to help you evolve as a paddler and as a coach.
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surfing, coaching, documentaries, expedition skills, and incident management, and even more.
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here is your opportunity to just get started.
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Visit online sea kayaking.com use that coupon code
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with me so thanks to simon and daniel for hosting me on their one of their recent
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Enjoy today's interview with Rob Henschel.
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Welcome, Rob. Thank you for joining Paddling the Blue today. How are you?
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Great, John. Thanks very much indeed. Delighted to be with you and honored, I suppose, in a way.
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Well, thank you again for joining
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me today. Let's start with a little bit about what drew you to water?
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Well, that's a lovely question. I do have a rather lovely answer to that.
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And as a child, we holidayed, camped in a caravan and tent up in North Donegal.
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And I must have been only probably about two, three years old.
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I was put out in the tent. It was an old Icelandic tent along with one of my sisters.
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And we'd sleep on a camp bed and sleeping bag.
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Coincidentally, the very sleeping bag that I took with me around Ireland on my first trip.
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And this was a lovely place on Luxwilly called Ballymastocker Bay and the sound
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of the sea would just swish,
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swish and swish me to sleep every night.
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And the sea got into my soul and it never really got out of it,
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being able to get rid of it.
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And also I was very fortunate to live on the shores of Belfast Lock as a child.
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So I grew up with boats and messing about in the sea.
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And I never really looked back. I was sort of sailing from a very early age
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and messing about in clinker dinghies.
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Going out fishing, catching mackerel and stuff like that for dinner.
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Eventually I built my first canoe, a five-class canoe, when I was over at school
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in England, and then when I left school I had that back at home and I paddled
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off into Belfast Lough by myself.
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Relatively inexperienced, and paddled along the shores.
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Dreaming of further adventures. And then as they got a bit more proficient,
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I'd set off across Belfast Lock itself.
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It was only a few miles across, but it was still a great adventure.
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And then paddle back again. And that was just sort of the start of it.
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But then I met a lovely man called Robert Livingston when I was at college in
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Belfast after school, studying, what was I doing? Business studies.
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It's such a long time ago, I've nearly forgotten what I was studying.
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And he was in charge of the canoe club.
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So we did a lot of paddling together, both abroad and on the sea.
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And we had some good adventures together in groups.
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And I sort of improved my proficiency, as it were, in sea kayaking.
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And I never really looked back from there. What were some of those early abroad adventures?
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It was with the Canoe Club from the Northern Ireland Polytechnic and two successive years.
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We took a minibus and a trailer load of kayaks to events on rivers in North
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Spain and also a bit of paddling in France as well on the way and on the way
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back. So it was a good adventure.
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I was pretty useless, but I loved it and really enjoyed it.
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Well that sound of the sea like you said it got into your soul and never left
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that's wonderful so why paddling well I think it was something that I could do by myself,
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and I didn't have to depend upon anybody else to be doing the activity with
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me like sailing in a dinghy that required a crew I could then go,
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paddling by myself and I joined my own company Good night.
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So tell us about that first boat that you built. Well, I can't even remember what I called it.
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I think I called it, it was a bit of a barge really, but it was actually built
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from a mold that we made from boats.
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And I can't remember the people involved, but the boat was involved in the original
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film that was made by the UK people that went over to paddle the Grand Canyon.
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Now, it's a long story, but I don't know the story really.
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There was a group from the UK, day, probably back in the early 70s,
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late 60s, early 70s, they paddled the Grand Canyon.
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And the school that I was at just happened to have one of the boats on loan
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and we stole a mould off it, took a cast off it and built the mould and made
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a number of canoes from that mould.
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But it was very strong canoe, very well made to the extent that it was very thick and strong.
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And it would have been a slalom-type canoe, whitewater slalom-type canoe.
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So it wasn't particularly, certainly not a sea kayak, you know,
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which I moved towards, you know.
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Now, when you say canoe, I want to make sure that we're level-setting for our
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audience. I know that the word canoe and kayak are often interchanged,
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and now are we talking more of a kayak style or an open canoe?
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We're talking kayak style. Okay.
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Not open canoe. Although I do open canoe. I love open canoe.
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Sure great skills I love it any boat is a good boat right.
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So now you've circumnavigated Ireland in many different types of craft and likely
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more than just about anybody, more different types of craft.
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So I understand kayak, a laser dinghy, windsurfer, sailboat, longboat, catch.
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Wow, that's quite a range. So am I missing anything?
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Well, just probably the last one, which was just last year, which was the Contessa
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32, which is a sloop, yeah?
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And I sailed with that solo, which is lovely, yeah. All right.
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Now, when did you get the bug for saying, I need to do a circumnavigation?
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Well, that would have been sort of embryonic in the early days of when I had
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my first little kayak paddling as a young teenager. and the idea of paddling around Ireland,
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seemed obvious and logical to me, that you could just keep going one day and
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just keep going and going and going.
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I would mention this idea to my parents and my sisters, siblings, which I had quite a few.
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They would laugh me down all the time.
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Every summer holiday when I came home from school I'd be saying,
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I'm going to think about doing this this year.
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I didn't. I didn't get around to it.
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I didn't have enough equipment, didn't have the right boat or anything like that.
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But sooner or later, I did acquire those bits and pieces and the skills too.
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And I came back one summer holidays from college, when I was over there in a
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college in England, studying leisure and recreation.
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And I said to my mom and dad, listen, this is it, I'm going to go for it this year.
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And again, they all doubted me and stuff, but they just gave me more determination.
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And I got my last bits of equipment together. In fact, my father getting me
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an inflatable roller, which would have been used, I suppose,
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for dinghies and things like that, possibly sometimes.
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That was a sign for me that, okay, I think he thinks he knows I'm going to go now.
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It was a very handy little piece of extra equipment, which got me a lot of problems
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sometimes being alone, getting my craft over rocks and beaches and things like that.
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And that's how it sort of came about I'd done a little bit of solo paddling,
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enough in the kayak that I got in the Nordkap to realise that I actually really could do this,
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although I did have my own doubts I suppose deep down and.
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But I didn't really know that much about sea kayaking, to be honest.
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You know, I mean, I had my proficiency, had my sea proficiency or something like that.
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And I'd been away on a couple of expeditions with my friend Robert I was telling you about.
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We'd done trips out from Mackel out to Clare Island, Inishterk,
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Inisboffin and onward, and also the Aran Islands and things like that.
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So a couple of, you know, week to 10-day holidays and things like that with groups of people.
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But to be honest, I preferred it by myself. I preferred being by myself.
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And I went around the Donegal Coast by myself and thoroughly enjoyed it as a
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sort of a preamble the year before going off. I thought, this is it. This is good.
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So how did you know that your skills were where they needed to be?
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To be honest, I didn't. And as a result, I have suffered for the last 50 years
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with imposter syndrome.
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I don't know if you're familiar with that term. I am, yes.
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And that's probably one of the things which sort of kept me going in other activities,
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not the sports or my adventures, still trying to prove to myself that I am good
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enough and always doubting that I'm not that great.
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But I'm not sure how I came to the point that I knew that I was actually good
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enough, because I still don't even feel that I was good enough.
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But I still managed to paddle the whole way around Ireland without capsizing,
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put it that way. All right. That's a success.
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And I think that's pretty successful.
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You know that I've got one hell of a recovery stroke, you know?
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And I obviously could roll and can roll quite well. But I mean,
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even practicing rolling just before I left.
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I broke my paddle and still managed to get up with just half the paddle, do you know what I mean?
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But that paddle that I broke actually turned then into my second paddle,
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turned into a split, which I made myself at home in the garage.
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Okay. Out of necessity.
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My spare paddle was, yeah, out of necessity and probably lack of funds.
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And the actual paddle that I did use was a Lendl Seamaster.
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I don't know if you would remember that. I know the name Lendl.
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It was a chunky split paddle.
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Yeah. Yeah. But it was a Seamaster, it was called. So it had a sort of like
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an Eskimo elongated type. Yeah.
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Okay. But it was a split paddle, so it was already quite heavy.
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And I wasn't familiar enough with the good equipment that was around at the
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time that I could have got a considerably lighter paddle.
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So I was paddling the whole journey with this really heavy split paddle as my
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main paddle which I think was really a bit stupid you know what I mean?
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But it was a lack of awareness in relation to what other equipment was available like.
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The spray decks that I had for the Nord Cap I used two,
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there were two nylon ones not neoprene but they were just nylon and so I used
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two and I wore a life jacket which I thought was a good move but the life jacket
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wasn't like an expedition buoyancy that there were around at the time.
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It was actually, what do you call it, standard, it's a BSI 3595 life jacket.
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Now, it's sort of a British term for, you know, the buoyancy is at the front,
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do you know what I mean, and at the neck.
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So I think that that's the style that we would refer to here as a horse collar.
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Yes, probably, yeah, that's a little thing, yes, yeah. Okay.
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And so the equipment that I had was really pretty basic, except for the boat,
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which was brilliant, you know?
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And like I mentioned earlier, my sleeping bag, it was a sleeping bag that I had since I was a child.
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And my tent, my tent was the tent that I bought in a local supermarket,
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I suppose, what you would call a Walmart, you know what I mean? Yeah. Okay.
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But this was, and this was, you
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know, really basic as well. It was a two-piece, but it was a lot of fun.
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I suppose a two-man tent, but it had two poles, you know, basically two poles
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up and a ridge pole, which carried the inner, and then a flight sheet went over the top of that.
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So it was all pretty basic stuff. And I look back amusingly now at the equipment that I had.
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I even had an umbrella with me.
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And that wasn't to keep the rain off. It was for a bit of downwind assistance
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but i gave that up after about a few i gave that up after a few a few if you,
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a few near near misses or whatever and you're nearly
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capsizing with with it blowing out turning inside out sort of thing like that
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you know but it's all good fun all right good learning yeah so here you are
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with with two nylon spray decks a heavy paddle that you're using is your primary
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paddle another one that you've broken sawed off put back together and you're
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using that as a split paddle on your deck.
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You've got a horse-collar PFD, a child-sized sleeping bag, a tent that you bought
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at a supermarket, and a Mary Poppins sale.
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Absolutely. All right. Hilarious. This sounds like a great adventure.
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But you've got a Nordkapp.
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Excellent. Absolutely. The Nordkapp made the difference, I think.
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All right. And even though the paddle was heavy, it worked well. Yeah.
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It's not necessarily the equipment. It's what you make with the equipment.
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And you were able to make the circumnavigation.
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So that's what's in. And you did it with a smile on your face,
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I'm guessing. although there may have been times that that wasn't the case.
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Absolutely. I was happy by myself most of the time,
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but there were times of desperation when you're in a bit too much pain and the
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weather's against you for a lot
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of the time and too often you get too much headwind too often in a row.
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It can be very depressing and you want to give up, but you know you can't for
00:15:53.207 --> 00:15:57.167
yourself and for your just got to keep going. You do keep going.
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Sure, now where did you take off from? So I took off from home,
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which was on the shores of Belfast Lock, and literally went down through the
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shore gate, which we called it,
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straight into the sea, and turned left, and kept going. So I was going around anti-clockwise.
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Okay. And I had no idea at the time how many other people had actually paddled
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around Ireland, whether it was a common thing that was done or not.
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I'd heard of a group the previous year from a college in North Wales called Bangor Normal College.
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There was a group of three fellows that paddled around, but they went in a clockwise direction.
00:16:39.707 --> 00:16:45.747
And then there was a guy the year before that, I think, in 79, a guy called Tom Daley.
00:16:46.287 --> 00:16:48.627
He paddled on his solo.
00:16:49.553 --> 00:16:54.073
By himself, but he paddled in a clockwise direction. But I had no idea that
00:16:54.073 --> 00:16:58.273
when I was setting off that I was doing something for the first time,
00:16:58.533 --> 00:17:01.373
as in an anti-clockwise solo circumnavigation.
00:17:02.033 --> 00:17:07.573
I had no idea, but it was only decades later that I realized and found out that was a fact.
00:17:08.853 --> 00:17:12.373
Yeah, I interviewed Tom quite a while back, and so that was an interesting journey
00:17:12.373 --> 00:17:14.933
as well. And why did you choose anti-clockwise?
00:17:15.953 --> 00:17:21.693
Do you really want to know why? It was because my parents and family were on
00:17:21.693 --> 00:17:25.973
holiday in Donegal a couple of weeks after I would have started.
00:17:26.353 --> 00:17:31.313
If I'd gone the other way, if I'd gone clockwise, I would have missed them on holidays.
00:17:31.693 --> 00:17:34.613
So I managed to get a day off and spent a day with them.
00:17:34.973 --> 00:17:40.013
And I met up with them in County Donegal where they were on holiday a couple
00:17:40.013 --> 00:17:42.353
of weeks after starting. So that's the real reason.
00:17:42.773 --> 00:17:46.993
Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that, right? It was a time when there wasn't
00:17:46.993 --> 00:17:48.393
as much information available.
00:17:48.653 --> 00:17:52.473
Only a few people had paddled around that were known at that particular time.
00:17:52.593 --> 00:17:56.673
And so there probably wasn't enough information to know what the preferred route
00:17:56.673 --> 00:17:58.833
was, whether it was clockwise or anticlockwise.
00:17:59.313 --> 00:18:04.173
I knew the preferred route in relation to sailing was clockwise. Okay.
00:18:04.953 --> 00:18:09.433
Mainly so that you have coming up the west coast, you have any bad winds or
00:18:09.433 --> 00:18:14.373
whatever behind you rather than beating into them. So, but it's irrelevant really
00:18:14.373 --> 00:18:16.553
in relation to canoeing, I think, you know? Okay.
00:18:16.933 --> 00:18:19.413
Although bikers would still say
00:18:19.413 --> 00:18:24.073
that, yeah, anticlockwise, it certainly wouldn't be done so frequently.
00:18:24.473 --> 00:18:29.873
And it's more challenging, yeah. All right. Now, how did you communicate along the way?
00:18:30.713 --> 00:18:32.373
I'm horrible. I didn't.
00:18:33.553 --> 00:18:38.373
When I say I didn't, I did a little bit. Okay. I had a stock of postcards,
00:18:38.713 --> 00:18:40.273
pre-stamped postcards with me.
00:18:40.875 --> 00:18:48.135
And I would find a letterbox very occasionally and send off an up-to-date of
00:18:48.135 --> 00:18:50.095
where I was to my parents, but
00:18:50.095 --> 00:18:54.955
by post which they probably arrive a week later with them. It was crazy.
00:18:55.435 --> 00:18:59.255
Certainly, I'm in these parts of Ireland where the telephone system wasn't that
00:18:59.255 --> 00:19:03.915
great, and this is long before any other form of communication.
00:19:04.775 --> 00:19:10.485
I did telephone occasionally if I came across a a coin box.
00:19:10.885 --> 00:19:15.445
Okay. Coast cards. That's my communication method. Okay. It's crazy. Yeah.
00:19:16.085 --> 00:19:19.085
Yeah. And you just hope that it gets to the person in time. Going off.
00:19:20.465 --> 00:19:24.425
Yeah. Well, it was, it was more, it was more of an update each time as to,
00:19:24.485 --> 00:19:26.665
you know, where it got to, where it'd been, you know? Sure.
00:19:27.005 --> 00:19:31.305
And sometimes people would mess, be laying messages for me or something.
00:19:32.485 --> 00:19:37.425
And, um, I was, I was a bit selfish, I think, in relation to letting,
00:19:38.185 --> 00:19:41.985
and keeping them at ease, as it were, as to that I was, in fact, okay.
00:19:42.845 --> 00:19:46.005
But after a while, I think they probably got used to the fact that I was away
00:19:46.005 --> 00:19:51.525
and were not going to communicate that much and that I was surviving okay.
00:19:52.465 --> 00:19:55.725
So how long did the trip take? That's a long time ago now.
00:19:56.085 --> 00:20:03.165
It was 66 days. Okay. I left on the 23rd of July.
00:20:03.885 --> 00:20:08.945
So I was paddling on into the autumn a bit. The 26th of September was when I finished.
00:20:09.765 --> 00:20:17.385
And I remember now I took the actual paddling days were 45 paddling days,
00:20:18.125 --> 00:20:24.545
and I would have taken 21 days off in all over the July, August, September.
00:20:25.365 --> 00:20:34.245
And the days off with bad weather holidaying I suppose yeah and a couple of days flu as well yeah.
00:20:35.096 --> 00:20:38.476
Under the weather a couple of days. Yeah, no sense in hurrying around, right?
00:20:38.536 --> 00:20:40.676
You might as well take some time off, like you said, for holiday,
00:20:41.296 --> 00:20:44.476
and you wake up in the morning and say, today's not the day that I should be
00:20:44.476 --> 00:20:47.176
paddling based on the weather, so stay on shore.
00:20:47.876 --> 00:20:51.596
Absolutely. And of course, this was in the days and the times when people weren't
00:20:51.596 --> 00:20:57.316
doing expeditions to break records or to do things quicker.
00:20:57.536 --> 00:21:02.596
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, a lot of people in the last few years have been
00:21:02.596 --> 00:21:06.996
in relation to paddling around Ireland and I've been trying to break records
00:21:06.996 --> 00:21:10.116
all the time, and I was there for a holiday.
00:21:10.656 --> 00:21:17.976
I was there to enjoy myself, and certainly there's no intention at all to try
00:21:17.976 --> 00:21:20.356
to do it quickly or anything like that.
00:21:20.456 --> 00:21:25.036
I was on a college holiday, even though I knew by this stage that when I was
00:21:25.036 --> 00:21:29.116
nearly finishing that I was going to be late back anyway, but I'd already managed
00:21:29.116 --> 00:21:33.156
to ring the college in the range and tell them that I wasn't going to be back in time.
00:21:33.276 --> 00:21:37.396
Is it okay? told them what I was doing and they said wow that's great keep going
00:21:37.396 --> 00:21:42.596
see you when you get back and so yeah it was one great holiday you know,
00:21:43.405 --> 00:21:47.085
which I think you're allowed to have on kayaks, yeah. Do you remember any of
00:21:47.085 --> 00:21:50.625
those specific moments that were most memorable? Finishing.
00:21:51.925 --> 00:21:53.865
It had to be finishing, really, I think.
00:21:56.505 --> 00:22:01.345
The weather had turned cold the last week, and coming up the East Coast,
00:22:01.465 --> 00:22:02.585
just easy enough paddling.
00:22:03.005 --> 00:22:05.545
There was quite a lot of headwinds, a lot of hard work.
00:22:07.965 --> 00:22:10.845
Finishing was great, just realizing that my dream had come true,
00:22:11.745 --> 00:22:13.565
and that was actually magical.
00:22:14.205 --> 00:22:19.965
There are times when you're out by yourself and you come across a pobous dolphin
00:22:19.965 --> 00:22:24.485
and you've been paddling with the killer whale for a bit and things like that.
00:22:25.305 --> 00:22:29.925
You feel so blessed and you sort of start to feel at one with the environment
00:22:29.925 --> 00:22:33.605
that you're in when you're paddling on good days, especially if you've got the wind with you.
00:22:34.085 --> 00:22:40.105
I think it's very joyous occasions sometimes when you're paddling at all.
00:22:40.845 --> 00:22:44.105
Generally, it was absolutely amazing. Yeah. Super.
00:22:45.465 --> 00:22:49.805
Now, were you able to carry a camera with you? And do you have any photos to look back on?
00:22:50.859 --> 00:22:57.339
Very, very few, unfortunately. I did carry a camera, again, very, very poor camera.
00:22:57.639 --> 00:23:02.939
I'm trying to remember what it was called, but it wasn't even 36 mil, you call it?
00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:07.619
No, but this wasn't. This was less than that, so the slides were very small.
00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:11.099
So a very small camera in a waterproof housing.
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:19.299
And I forget what the scale of them was, but they have degraded in time, that's unfortunate.
00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:25.199
A couple of years ago, I sent them all off to try to go along with many of my
00:23:25.199 --> 00:23:29.139
other 36mm slides from other expeditions to get digitized.
00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:33.839
The quality was, unfortunately, the pin back was very, very poor,
00:23:33.919 --> 00:23:40.119
and I've since lost the USB stick with all the expedition photos on,
00:23:40.199 --> 00:23:43.959
so I'm going to have to search the house and eventually find them.
00:23:44.159 --> 00:23:48.819
Hopefully I'll find them again. but certainly I know my camera was very substandard,
00:23:48.939 --> 00:23:50.019
which is such a pity really.
00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:56.459
Yeah, but I do hold some great visual memories in my mind. The headlands,
00:23:56.619 --> 00:23:58.459
there's some great headlands as you're paddling around.
00:23:59.339 --> 00:24:03.519
And I think you tend to remember the bad headlands when you've had a bit of
00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:07.359
difficulty, like a tough grounding of Marlon Head.
00:24:08.296 --> 00:24:11.416
At the very northern tip of Northern Ireland, of Ireland.
00:24:13.996 --> 00:24:18.356
And I stayed up right away, but I had very strong winds and tide against me,
00:24:18.436 --> 00:24:21.756
so I had to paddle across to get shelter.
00:24:22.316 --> 00:24:27.936
And I learned my own loop head. I thought for a while in my discussions with
00:24:27.936 --> 00:24:31.456
other people about loop head, oh, this must be called loop head for a reason.
00:24:32.756 --> 00:24:37.196
It almost felt that I was looping my fanatic when I was passing it.
00:24:37.196 --> 00:24:38.696
The headlands are great.
00:24:39.016 --> 00:24:42.056
But the biggest problem, I think, was, well, all the headlands are potentially
00:24:42.056 --> 00:24:45.996
problematic, but it'll all depend on wind against tide, you know,
00:24:46.016 --> 00:24:47.616
tide direction, and so on.
00:24:48.456 --> 00:24:52.456
And it's always best, obviously, to be rounding any headland with the tide,
00:24:52.816 --> 00:24:54.496
and hopefully with the wind as well.
00:24:55.636 --> 00:25:00.316
And, you know, many of the headlands are quite tough, but it was all any tough
00:25:00.316 --> 00:25:05.416
time, I think, was countered by the solitude of the good times.
00:25:06.036 --> 00:25:11.136
Paddling in really calm water. I went across Donegal Bay, there was hardly breath of wind.
00:25:11.836 --> 00:25:17.256
I did maybe 32 miles straight crossing and there wasn't a ripple on the water.
00:25:18.376 --> 00:25:22.456
That was just amazing. When you come across something like a mandarin tucked,
00:25:23.256 --> 00:25:29.336
in the middle of Donegal Bay, I think this is a bit odd, but incredible. That's amazing.
00:25:30.271 --> 00:25:35.011
Yeah, aside from those headlands, Malonhead, Loophead, you know,
00:25:35.011 --> 00:25:40.311
those tough times, in addition to Donegal Bay, any other particular moments
00:25:40.311 --> 00:25:41.891
that just left you awestruck?
00:25:41.891 --> 00:25:48.051
I think any time that you manage to get to the shore when you've had a tough
00:25:48.051 --> 00:25:56.591
day, there was that sense of relief rather than being awestruck.
00:25:57.751 --> 00:26:02.591
But some of the North Mayo coast is spectacular.
00:26:03.691 --> 00:26:10.151
There's a place called Sleave Tui, Donegal, which runs around to Sleave League, plus Glenn Columkill.
00:26:10.151 --> 00:26:16.331
And it's very beautiful, very majestic cliffs, caves, and arches,
00:26:17.051 --> 00:26:20.211
you know, a lot of places totally inaccessible from the mainland.
00:26:20.751 --> 00:26:26.271
So as a sea kayak, you're going and paddling on places where people rarely have
00:26:26.271 --> 00:26:29.271
ever paddled past and through before, you know?
00:26:29.451 --> 00:26:34.231
So I think that is, you know, it's a bit like climbing a mountain for the first time.
00:26:35.071 --> 00:26:41.531
I mean, these are the early days of sea kayak in Ireland. And so you were literally,
00:26:41.531 --> 00:26:45.591
you were canoeing on, kayaking, sorry, on a burgeon territory,
00:26:45.771 --> 00:26:47.671
you know. So it's really beautiful, you know.
00:26:48.191 --> 00:26:51.971
It's a nice feeling there. Do you still have the Nord Cap? Ah,
00:26:52.051 --> 00:26:53.111
funny you should say that.
00:26:54.611 --> 00:27:01.311
I do. All right. But I had my first hip operation back in 2010.
00:27:02.274 --> 00:27:08.134
Where are we 2018 and i discovered that after the operation my hip wasn't quite
00:27:08.134 --> 00:27:10.834
the right shape and there's a bit of sort of metal or something that's sticking
00:27:10.834 --> 00:27:15.534
into the side of the seat and i find it very uncomfortable to to sit here now
00:27:15.534 --> 00:27:18.034
i've had my other hip done i don't think that,
00:27:18.574 --> 00:27:24.014
about it's going to balance up but now i've got hold of another valley kayak
00:27:24.014 --> 00:27:27.414
aquanaut i don't know if you've heard of that i i actually have one yes new
00:27:27.414 --> 00:27:33.034
valley canoe products you have one Okay, so that's what I've got now. Yeah, lovely, great.
00:27:33.234 --> 00:27:36.354
Okay, I don't think they're that common. I think they've stopped being made.
00:27:37.134 --> 00:27:39.914
But it's just wonderful to paddle.
00:27:40.614 --> 00:27:45.294
And with sort of a Greenland Lomo five-glass paddle, that's only a few ounces.
00:27:46.234 --> 00:27:49.914
And, you know, and asymmetric blades, which you can just, you know, just so light.
00:27:50.874 --> 00:27:54.334
The equipment nowadays is just so good. So good, you know? Yeah.
00:27:54.454 --> 00:27:58.834
So you've made a few upgrades since then. Obviously, a proper spray deck. Oh, yes, yeah.
00:27:59.574 --> 00:28:04.034
But I don't get out enough, though. As I get older, when I retire from sailing,
00:28:04.154 --> 00:28:06.614
I think I can keep kayaking, which is something good, you know?
00:28:07.114 --> 00:28:08.194
But we'll see how it goes.
00:28:08.734 --> 00:28:12.594
All right. So speaking of sailing, you've, as we talked about earlier,
00:28:12.834 --> 00:28:15.054
you've circumnavigated in many different types of craft.
00:28:15.234 --> 00:28:20.474
So when was that next circumnavigation after the kayak, and what craft did you use for that next one?
00:28:21.234 --> 00:28:27.254
The next, I used a laser. Yeah? Are you familiar with the laser sailing diggy? Yes.
00:28:28.183 --> 00:28:31.843
Yeah, small boat as well. Just a standard, bog standard laser.
00:28:32.323 --> 00:28:36.883
Yep, yep. So I put a couple of little hatches in the front of that,
00:28:37.123 --> 00:28:38.143
in the front of the cockpit.
00:28:38.343 --> 00:28:42.963
I had a small, what we'd term as blue barrels, do you know what I mean,
00:28:43.163 --> 00:28:44.963
that would fit inside the cockpit.
00:28:45.543 --> 00:28:50.743
A dry barrel, equivalent of a large BDH container. I don't know if you know.
00:28:51.563 --> 00:28:57.763
And yeah, so I just off I went. All right. And how long from the kayak trip to that one?
00:28:58.283 --> 00:29:04.163
Oh, this trip was really quick. It was three weeks actual sailing.
00:29:04.383 --> 00:29:08.143
Yeah, so it was 21 days actual sailing, and I think I was away for about 26
00:29:08.143 --> 00:29:11.443
days, so it was under a month, you know. But it was, again, it was a holiday.
00:29:11.863 --> 00:29:16.183
It was something that had never been done before, so it was just really a bit of an experiment.
00:29:16.763 --> 00:29:20.903
But there were times I'd fly around. But it turned out actually to be the toughest
00:29:20.903 --> 00:29:29.223
of all the trips that had been on physically and mentally in relation to the physical aspect,
00:29:30.083 --> 00:29:35.583
there was quite a lot of energy that was acquired all the time sailing the boat,
00:29:36.003 --> 00:29:39.783
and I lost a lot of weight, and my bum would get really sore.
00:29:41.524 --> 00:29:48.024
Uh what do you call it salt sauce bomb i had a dry suit which was good a two-piece
00:29:48.024 --> 00:29:52.564
dry suit which is good but it's sort of it wore through nearly and one thing or another,
00:29:53.864 --> 00:29:57.764
but i have a couple of great stories on the stadium unfortunately they were
00:29:57.764 --> 00:30:03.504
one day after the other i was caught in a storm off my brandon down and kerry
00:30:03.504 --> 00:30:08.364
and i was very lucky very lucky that I didn't get dashed up on the rocks.
00:30:09.024 --> 00:30:12.064
It actually got too windy to even sail even fully
00:30:12.064 --> 00:30:17.864
heavily reefed down and capsized gear inside the boat kept shifting forward
00:30:17.864 --> 00:30:28.344
and the boat would catapult and I landed on the side of the boat or even the
00:30:28.344 --> 00:30:31.324
daggerboard and sort of hurt my rims badly.
00:30:31.324 --> 00:30:36.784
And it was a rather unpleasant experience.
00:30:37.724 --> 00:30:43.044
But I got out of it okay. I managed to just let the sail fly completely and
00:30:43.044 --> 00:30:48.064
managed to steer a little bit and avoid the cliffs of Sauce Creek.
00:30:48.964 --> 00:30:56.584
And I went to Brandon and got into a place called Brandon Harbour. or whatever.
00:30:58.144 --> 00:31:03.204
But then the next day, I then had a feed of Guinness up in a pub.
00:31:03.584 --> 00:31:06.824
I'd actually been to before when I was kayaking and they actually recognized me.
00:31:07.804 --> 00:31:10.404
It took a lot of my gear up to dry out and stuff.
00:31:11.424 --> 00:31:13.284
Got the forecast for the next day.
00:31:14.604 --> 00:31:17.804
Good feed of Guinness. Great forecast for the next day.
00:31:17.984 --> 00:31:24.644
So I set up fairly early with wind hoping to make a big cross into the Aran Islands.
00:31:25.744 --> 00:31:30.584
But the wind sort of came and didn't come and disappeared and the sea fog come
00:31:30.584 --> 00:31:33.144
in and crossing over then from,
00:31:34.071 --> 00:31:42.151
from Kerry Head. At the mouth of the Shannon, there was a sea mist came down and it didn't depart.
00:31:42.351 --> 00:31:44.351
The wind just went and the sea mist came down.
00:31:45.091 --> 00:31:46.791
And it was already getting a bit late.
00:31:47.751 --> 00:31:50.791
And I could hear the shore, but I couldn't see the shore.
00:31:51.091 --> 00:31:54.491
I could hear waves breaking on the shore and they slowly get further away.
00:31:54.551 --> 00:31:57.391
So I thought I was getting sailing further away from the shore
00:31:57.391 --> 00:32:00.451
but eventually it basically got dark and
00:32:00.451 --> 00:32:03.591
it's committed then to to sailing or
00:32:03.591 --> 00:32:06.991
drifting through the night then in the distance i could
00:32:06.991 --> 00:32:09.771
hear this sort of thumping sound just got
00:32:09.771 --> 00:32:14.491
louder and louder it was rhythmical it was pitch dark at this stage and fossil
00:32:14.491 --> 00:32:20.351
resistance was amazing but this thumping sound was the sign for propeller going
00:32:20.351 --> 00:32:27.671
through the water and it got louder and louder and louder and louder and closer and closer.
00:32:28.171 --> 00:32:30.331
And I was absolutely.
00:32:31.505 --> 00:32:34.885
I wouldn't say panicking, but I was actually filled with quite a bit of fear.
00:32:35.265 --> 00:32:41.985
The sand was really coming down on me, and I didn't know what to do quite,
00:32:42.185 --> 00:32:46.925
really, because I didn't want to get out the torch out of the cockpit,
00:32:47.165 --> 00:32:51.285
because if I got swamped by waves from this boat or whatever,
00:32:51.465 --> 00:32:56.845
just as it was coming down on me, then I would have got into more difficulty.
00:32:57.385 --> 00:33:02.765
I got my torch out and shot it on the sail, and the beam from the torch could hardly reach the sail.
00:33:03.145 --> 00:33:08.465
The fog was that dense and the sail was getting louder and louder.
00:33:09.305 --> 00:33:17.085
Eventually, I eventually looked up and there was this sort of red glow about
00:33:17.085 --> 00:33:23.145
100 metres away up in the sky and it was the, what do you call it.
00:33:24.585 --> 00:33:34.125
The superstructure of a trot of a container ship, just glowing sort of orange in the mist.
00:33:34.845 --> 00:33:39.325
And it passed by literally with feet to spare.
00:33:39.885 --> 00:33:45.905
And I collapsed back into the boat, stretching my feet across into the water
00:33:45.905 --> 00:33:50.785
and tried to get off to sleep as the propeller accelerated away.
00:33:51.105 --> 00:33:55.885
So there seemed appeared to be slowing down that I might have been might have
00:33:55.885 --> 00:33:57.905
somehow appeared on on their radar,
00:33:58.465 --> 00:34:04.865
but it didn't I well I don't know now I never found out but they missed me and
00:34:04.865 --> 00:34:10.805
it was a beautiful moment shortly after that when I lay down with my feet across
00:34:10.805 --> 00:34:14.085
the boat my head almost just off the.
00:34:17.192 --> 00:34:23.732
And a big, came right up beside my head, a couple of dolphins,
00:34:24.152 --> 00:34:26.972
and they're right, right, right beside me.
00:34:27.312 --> 00:34:29.612
And it was as though they were coming to tell me that, look,
00:34:29.712 --> 00:34:32.692
Rob, don't worry, we were here all the time. We'd have pushed you out of the way.
00:34:33.792 --> 00:34:39.312
And where Transplata was, I was in the middle of the Shannon Estuary,
00:34:39.452 --> 00:34:46.872
and I had nightmares for Motsaf because of this.
00:34:47.192 --> 00:34:51.592
And I recovered eventually from it, but it was probably one of the worst experiences
00:34:51.592 --> 00:34:58.572
that I had afloat by myself, nearly getting run down by a container ship.
00:34:58.952 --> 00:35:01.012
Yeah, that's terrifying.
00:35:01.472 --> 00:35:06.812
The fog was still there. Yeah, the next day the fog was still there and I don't
00:35:06.812 --> 00:35:12.452
think I got to where I originally intended the Aran Islands till about maybe
00:35:12.452 --> 00:35:16.252
four o'clock the afternoon the next day and again,
00:35:16.812 --> 00:35:18.652
all in total non-pissibility.
00:35:19.032 --> 00:35:22.332
I hadn't a clue where I was, to be honest. I should have, but I hadn't a clue.
00:35:22.712 --> 00:35:27.132
No GPS with me or anything like that and I was on the back of,
00:35:27.272 --> 00:35:32.332
arrived at the back of Inishmore, Inishmore Island and then sailed around the
00:35:32.332 --> 00:35:37.292
island once the thorough was to land in the camp and rest.
00:35:37.812 --> 00:35:39.752
It was Kilmerfee Harbor.
00:35:40.632 --> 00:35:45.132
It was a great trip, but it was a tough one mentally because of that.
00:35:45.927 --> 00:35:50.187
But it had its rewards as well. It's got a great way of, when you're by yourself,
00:35:50.327 --> 00:35:54.287
you can sort of spiritually connect with everything there is around you.
00:35:54.847 --> 00:35:58.667
And with the waves, the winds, the sea, the boat that you're in,
00:35:59.327 --> 00:36:05.727
you sort of, seagulls, dolphins, whatever, you sort of become in union with everything.
00:36:05.967 --> 00:36:08.007
And so that's an absolutely wonderful experience.
00:36:08.467 --> 00:36:13.987
That's an impressive story. So after the Brandon incident, Mount Brandon and
00:36:13.987 --> 00:36:17.487
Brandon Harbour, You said you sought out a Guinness, it sounded like.
00:36:18.427 --> 00:36:22.727
How long after the incident with the container ship did you also say,
00:36:22.887 --> 00:36:26.387
I need to go get some more confidence of Guinness? Oh, the next night.
00:36:27.867 --> 00:36:32.947
Yeah, probably when I landed in the set-up camp, I do have a tendency to find
00:36:32.947 --> 00:36:34.827
and try to find the nearest pub.
00:36:35.187 --> 00:36:38.267
It's always quite interesting because you're meeting amazing people.
00:36:39.107 --> 00:36:42.347
But the funny one actually about that incident was I did go to a pub and I met
00:36:42.347 --> 00:36:45.507
a fisherman and he couldn't understand why he didn't have an anchor.
00:36:47.847 --> 00:36:52.727
And he said, could you not even have a rock with a long rope you could have dropped down?
00:36:53.327 --> 00:36:56.527
I don't think he really understood the sort of craft that it was on. Yeah.
00:36:57.990 --> 00:37:02.010
Now, you mentioned, I think it was in Brandon, where you said that they had
00:37:02.010 --> 00:37:04.510
recognized you. So, you went into a pub, they had recognized you.
00:37:04.810 --> 00:37:10.110
How much time had elapsed from the kayak circumnavigation to the laser circumnavigation?
00:37:10.870 --> 00:37:14.490
Nine years. Nine years, yeah. All right. And then you moved.
00:37:14.650 --> 00:37:16.050
I left an impression, yeah, yeah.
00:37:16.570 --> 00:37:19.670
And then you moved from there to a windsurfer a number of years later.
00:37:20.770 --> 00:37:25.170
Yeah, yeah. Just two years later. Okay. And I actually went to the same pub
00:37:25.170 --> 00:37:27.310
as well. I actually went back to the same pub.
00:37:27.990 --> 00:37:30.070
And then going, oh, not you again.
00:37:31.490 --> 00:37:38.750
Yes, so windsurfing, yeah. I learned to windsurf, I could make windsurfing 10
00:37:38.750 --> 00:37:41.450
years, or no, less than that.
00:37:43.610 --> 00:37:49.410
I was windsurfing from the early 80s. Yes, from the early 80s.
00:37:49.590 --> 00:37:53.870
So I've been windsurfing about 10 years. and again when
00:37:53.870 --> 00:37:56.910
I was sort of canoeing when
00:37:56.910 --> 00:38:02.270
I was kayaking and sailing on the laser I was sort of dreaming you know well
00:38:02.270 --> 00:38:11.130
you can surf this and so as I was as I was sailing around I was genuinely thinking
00:38:11.130 --> 00:38:14.890
that this is this is possible and started looking into the possibility of doing that.
00:38:15.410 --> 00:38:19.190
And it's a rather unique achievement, I think. It was, again,
00:38:19.570 --> 00:38:24.670
all my trips have been solo and self-sufficient and not supported by land up sea.
00:38:25.490 --> 00:38:33.230
And the windsurfing logistics was such that I thought it was possible to do unsupported in any way.
00:38:33.550 --> 00:38:38.490
So I had a dry bag, quite a large dry bag. I can't remember how many liters,
00:38:38.790 --> 00:38:40.870
but I could take quite a lot of equipment in it.
00:38:41.550 --> 00:38:45.550
And I sort of had it sort of velcroed and strapped on the front of the board.
00:38:46.090 --> 00:38:53.030
And then I had a meat, sorry, probably about 20 litre rucksack on my back.
00:38:53.939 --> 00:38:57.739
And then it's in a bomb bag as well with some essentials in it,
00:38:57.879 --> 00:39:02.479
you know, like credit card and one thing, another tobacco.
00:39:04.299 --> 00:39:10.499
And yeah, so I set off again. It was from Belfast Lock for that trip.
00:39:10.939 --> 00:39:16.879
Played with bad weather, either too much wind or no wind at all. But I managed to do it.
00:39:17.579 --> 00:39:24.019
Can't remember offhand on time it took. For that trip, was that longer than
00:39:24.019 --> 00:39:26.699
the kayak trip or shorter than the laser trip?
00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:33.519
It was longer than the laser trip and shorter than the kayak trip.
00:39:34.099 --> 00:39:36.479
It was probably around about six weeks, I think.
00:39:37.179 --> 00:39:43.399
And again, it was very exciting. Yeah. You mentioned that the laser was possibly your toughest.
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:47.499
For me, that windsurfing trip, that just sounds like the one that is just the
00:39:47.499 --> 00:39:53.739
most intense. I mean, that's impressive circumnavigation for sure, as all are.
00:39:54.439 --> 00:40:00.379
Okay. But no, I think if the conditions were right, if the wind was right, it was easy.
00:40:00.699 --> 00:40:04.039
You know, the board would be going well, you'd be hooked into the heart and
00:40:04.039 --> 00:40:06.319
your harness would be hooked into the windsurfing boom.
00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:09.439
You know what I mean? Yeah. And you could sit down and relax almost. Yeah.
00:40:10.139 --> 00:40:14.219
The difficulty with the windsurfing was when they became calm and there wasn't
00:40:14.219 --> 00:40:20.419
enough wind to hook in. And so it was very, very tough on the balance.
00:40:21.315 --> 00:40:24.715
Especially with the weight of my equipment on the board as well.
00:40:24.875 --> 00:40:27.715
It made the board very, very unstable.
00:40:28.275 --> 00:40:33.315
It was just a very tricky balance all the time if the wind was too light.
00:40:34.455 --> 00:40:38.495
So days when there was no wind were exhausting.
00:40:38.835 --> 00:40:43.975
I could have maybe only traveled maybe 10 or so miles, whereas on a good day
00:40:43.975 --> 00:40:48.835
I could travel 50, 60 miles and not feel any effort at all from doing that.
00:40:49.475 --> 00:40:53.835
Of all the trips that you've done, what would you say if you summarized the
00:40:53.835 --> 00:40:55.895
similarities of each of those trips?
00:40:56.395 --> 00:40:59.575
Well, obviously, because I've known them in the same location,
00:40:59.755 --> 00:41:04.055
it's visiting the same pieces of coastline often.
00:41:04.315 --> 00:41:10.555
The same islands or new islands or intentionally going to places that you've
00:41:10.555 --> 00:41:12.955
visited before or intentionally not going to them.
00:41:12.955 --> 00:41:21.075
The solitudes, the fact that you were undergoing an adventure which was so special to yourself,
00:41:21.415 --> 00:41:29.415
you not only achieved those, but the journey itself was so rewarding on each of them.
00:41:29.515 --> 00:41:33.515
They were all very rewarding in that context.
00:41:33.515 --> 00:41:38.295
That pub that you visited on the kayak trip and the laser trip,
00:41:38.915 --> 00:41:43.435
your most recent trip just last year on the sailboat on the Contessa,
00:41:43.635 --> 00:41:44.815
did you visit the same pub?
00:41:45.793 --> 00:41:54.353
I didn't. It was crossing my mind so much, but I was wanting to get home,
00:41:54.453 --> 00:41:57.993
as it were, coming up to the west coast, and it was brilliant weather.
00:41:58.173 --> 00:42:03.273
I had lovely weather, so I had to make good use of the wind at the time for
00:42:03.273 --> 00:42:05.493
that particular day that I would have been passing there,
00:42:05.693 --> 00:42:10.173
and it would have been coming in a little bit too much and taking up a day that
00:42:10.173 --> 00:42:15.433
I could have spent advancing northwards back towards Sligo, where it started from.
00:42:16.013 --> 00:42:19.913
All right. Well, maybe on your next trip. So, is there a next trip in mind?
00:42:21.553 --> 00:42:25.793
Well, I kept saying this time that this is definitely the last trip.
00:42:26.353 --> 00:42:31.513
And I'm at the age now when I think the risk increases with your balance on board deck.
00:42:31.893 --> 00:42:36.273
The risk is a lot higher, although I'm more safety conscious now I'm older.
00:42:37.653 --> 00:42:44.173
I'm actually heading to Norway this May, but I'm going with somebody else on my boat.
00:42:44.373 --> 00:42:49.733
They're coming with me and hope to sail to Lofoten and do a lot of exploring
00:42:49.733 --> 00:42:51.933
up there, maybe towards the Nordkap.
00:42:52.293 --> 00:42:56.473
It's sort of a spiritual return, really, I suppose, after Nordkap,
00:42:56.653 --> 00:42:59.373
after what Valley Canoe named their boat, Nordkap.
00:42:59.793 --> 00:43:04.813
Your first circumnavigation in a Nordkap and heading to Nordkapp now.
00:43:05.573 --> 00:43:09.993
Yeah, that's a nice sort of rounding the circle as it were, completing the circle.
00:43:11.273 --> 00:43:14.033
But I hadn't thought of it and tested it that way, but yeah.
00:43:14.433 --> 00:43:18.193
After six circumnavigations all in a different craft, that's a very,
00:43:18.373 --> 00:43:21.813
very impressive record and congratulations on that and I really appreciate you
00:43:21.813 --> 00:43:24.173
taking the time to share those stories with us.
00:43:24.373 --> 00:43:28.613
How can listeners connect with you if they've got additional questions or just
00:43:28.613 --> 00:43:29.673
like to connect with you?
00:43:30.233 --> 00:43:35.973
I'll give you my email, John. Okay. if they wish to individually talk to me. It's Rob Henshaw.
00:43:36.692 --> 00:43:41.572
Or 11, as in 11, at gmail.com. All right.
00:43:42.212 --> 00:43:45.132
Excellent. Anybody wants to write to me or talk to me or whatever,
00:43:45.492 --> 00:43:52.392
or I think my Facebook, what do you call it, your profile or whatever on Facebook
00:43:52.392 --> 00:43:55.612
might have even a phone number on there, a mobile number.
00:43:56.132 --> 00:43:59.912
All right. Well, we'll put links in the show notes. You can find me on Facebook
00:43:59.912 --> 00:44:02.732
Messenger. You can find me on Facebook Messenger too.
00:44:03.092 --> 00:44:06.252
All right. Actually, we will put links there in the show notes.
00:44:06.252 --> 00:44:09.012
So folks are going to make that connection with you. And again,
00:44:09.172 --> 00:44:10.592
I really appreciate you taking the time.
00:44:10.752 --> 00:44:14.872
And obviously you've got other circumnavigations in the longboat and in the
00:44:14.872 --> 00:44:17.412
catch, and we didn't really even get a chance to talk about the Contessa,
00:44:17.552 --> 00:44:20.552
but those are all wonderful, amazing trips at the same time.
00:44:21.132 --> 00:44:22.852
And again, thank you very much.
00:44:23.612 --> 00:44:27.532
Yeah, I do have one final question for you. Who else would you like to hear
00:44:27.532 --> 00:44:29.092
as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?
00:44:29.672 --> 00:44:34.572
John, there's a lady, a really tough lady from the same county,
00:44:34.572 --> 00:44:39.332
of eminent moment here in Northern Ireland, a lady called Elaine Alexander,
00:44:39.672 --> 00:44:42.212
but to most people she's known as Shooter.
00:44:42.772 --> 00:44:45.552
She's paddled around Ireland by herself.
00:44:46.192 --> 00:44:50.312
She's done a lot of paddling on expeditions round about the place.
00:44:50.712 --> 00:44:56.752
She may have been to Greenland, she may have been to La Foden itself, and certainly Norway.
00:44:58.292 --> 00:45:04.472
She's an amusing character, a very, very tough paddler. She might be very interesting to talk to.
00:45:05.092 --> 00:45:07.872
Excellent well we will we'll look her up and
00:45:07.872 --> 00:45:10.792
talk to you about making the connections there and you know
00:45:10.792 --> 00:45:16.192
and thank you again i i we appreciate it and you're on your way to to nordcap
00:45:16.192 --> 00:45:19.832
next are you taking any of that original equipment uh the maybe the child-sized
00:45:19.832 --> 00:45:25.852
sleeping bag or no the sleeping bag was gone i think that's one gone but it
00:45:25.852 --> 00:45:28.052
did it came it also came on,
00:45:28.878 --> 00:45:31.438
I think it came, no it didn't, it was just the one expedition,
00:45:31.678 --> 00:45:37.318
but it was probably one of the first fiber pile, no not fiber pile, what do I mean?
00:45:38.218 --> 00:45:42.618
Holofill, Holofill type sleeping bags. They would have been from 19,
00:45:42.978 --> 00:45:46.938
I would have got it, probably 1959, something like that, yeah?
00:45:47.198 --> 00:45:51.098
Okay. So it was that old, but it is long gone. All right.
00:45:51.878 --> 00:45:55.378
Well, Rob, thank you very much for taking the time. I appreciate you all listening
00:45:55.378 --> 00:45:58.158
to your story and sharing that with the world. Not at all, John.
00:45:58.158 --> 00:45:59.458
It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much.
00:46:00.558 --> 00:46:04.358
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00:46:46.928 --> 00:46:51.988
Thanks to Mike Conroy from way back on episode 97 for making the connection with Rob.
00:46:52.388 --> 00:46:55.688
It's always a pleasure to talk with the early pioneers of our sport who did
00:46:55.688 --> 00:46:57.848
things that few thought would be possible at the time.
00:46:58.068 --> 00:47:01.348
That is an impressive number of circumnavigations, and you never know,
00:47:01.488 --> 00:47:03.248
there may be another in Rob's future.
00:47:03.488 --> 00:47:05.768
I wonder what type of craft he would choose next.
00:47:06.088 --> 00:47:10.128
As a reminder, you can find programming and trips for me at paddlingtheblue.com.
00:47:10.208 --> 00:47:11.228
I hope to see you on the water.
00:47:11.508 --> 00:47:16.188
And if you're not already a subscriber to onlineseacayaking.com or onlinewhitewater.com,
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have a chance to use that coupon code PTB podcast to check out and you'll get
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10% off just for being a member of the Paddling the Blue community.
00:47:24.548 --> 00:47:27.808
Thank you as always for listening and I look forward to bringing you the next
00:47:27.808 --> 00:47:30.928
episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast. Thank you.
00:47:33.208 --> 00:47:36.748
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling
00:47:36.748 --> 00:47:40.928
the Blue on Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
00:47:41.148 --> 00:47:44.068
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00:47:44.088 --> 00:47:45.928
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00:47:46.108 --> 00:47:49.368
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00:47:49.688 --> 00:47:55.128
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00:47:55.288 --> 00:47:58.408
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