Location	Accuracy
Distance to here
Time	Type
Signal	Battery

Notes

Setting out at the end of the west going stream from Groats on a lovely morning, the crossing was perfect in every way. I made a few course adjustments along the way to get the best of the tide, but it was a lovely paddle up to the Stalker.

Landing there was easy, although there was a significant amount of shite in the water (bits of seaweed and the like), so both I and the boat were covered in it.

I got changed and headed off for a walk with a view to getting some nice photos and video. It was a fairly uneventful walk, although I bumped into a couple of nice guys from Aberdeen who had sailed into the island's harbour the night before in a small yacht. Then William Simpson came by in his rusty, old Shogun (I didn't even know it was a runner) and we spoke briefly before I carried on heading up towards the lighthouse.

I got some photos and video of some of the heavy traffic that was passing through the firth that day, and then started heading back towards the Stalker. When I arrived there I had a short while left to relax before heading back to Groats.

The plan was to head pretty much due south of the island to avoid the last throes of the Boars, and then head east to Groats when I was clear of any rough bits.

The sea was very sedate, and there were no signs of any disturbances at all, so I decided to start turning roughly in the direction of Groats just before reaching the southeast corner of the island. This turned out to be a mistake, as the east going stream still had a reasonable push in it, which resulted in me drifting unnervingly close to the edge of the Boars, which had been completely invisible from my original vantage point.

At the point where I checked my drift (see map), I was probably no more than about fifty yards from some decidedly dodgy looking sea, so I adjusted my course to a southwesterly bearing and paddled hard. As it happens I was paddling too southerly and not enough westerly, and soon found myself stuck in the rough. As I got deeper and deeper into the Boars the waves started breaking on my beam, and it wasn't long before I capsized. In the huge waves there was zero chance of a roll, and very little hope of a self-rescue, so all I could do was hold on, knowing that the tide was on the turn in the next few minutes. After being in the water for nearly half an hour and drifting dangerously east (practically inline with Duncansby Head) the sea finally gave up and started to turn west. As the Boars only run on the east going stream, this left the sea calm and sedate once more and gave me the opportunity to get back into the boat, pump it out a bit, and head over to Sanwick to empty it properly and regroup my thoughts.

Amazingly my Pixel 7 was still tracking in its waterproof pouch, and my Pixel 3 was still working fine (I'm using it right now to type this) despite having no protection and being in the water for half an hour.

Arriving at the beach at Sanwick I was glad to have avoided a lifeboat rescue in some of the most dangerous seas in the northern hemisphere. Unfortunately there were now sizable waves washing into the shore, which made the landing rather wet and splashy. Annoyingly, this resulted in me losing my Pixel 7 in the sea despite it having survived half an hour underwater during my capsize ordeal, kind of like like running out of a burning building and getting run over by a bus.

It was annoying to say the least, and this close to leaving for Greenland it's not ideal to now be in a situation where I have to acquire a new phone AND SIM card in the next four days. However, I'm still alive and didn't need to be rescued by the lifeboat, which would have been embarrassing to say the least.

Leaving Sanwick the return to Groats was easy if a little grumpy, due to the loss of my phone.

All in all it was an eventful day. The outcome was good for those waters, so I can't complain, but next time I will make better decisions.

Pist-mortem

1. I should have stuck to Plan A and not taken my chances.

2. Having found myself close to the Boars I should have paddled due west until either I was free of them or their intensity fell due to the changing tide.

3. Having found myself in the Boars I should have paddled into them until their intensity fell, there than trying to paddle south, out of them with them hitting me from the side. I have no doubt I could have stayed afloat had they not been coming at me beam-on.

4. The efficiency of my pump is no longer adequate. It did the job but requiring far more effort than it should have.

5. Having re-entered the boat I should have checked my phone pouch to make sure it was properly secure.

6. I was testing out my drysuit ready for Greenland, where I would usually be paddling in a wetsuit. This was an incredible stroke of luck as half an hour in the Pentland Firth in a wetsuit would have probably left me hypothermic and a rescue from the emergency services would have been my only hope of survival.