Papa Stour Get Together

Everyone met at Melby for the crossing to Papa Stour on Friday afternoon. The forecast for the weekend was winds from the N. and NW. Due to the winds over the week the sea was a little lumpy and there was a nice ocean swell coming in.

In the evening a few groups set off for a look round the coast but they all turned back before turning on to the northern coast at Willies Taing or on to the western coast at Swarta Skerry. Here there was a magnificent breaking wave that reared up before tumbling over on itself.

On saturday the entire gathering bar one went for a walk. Wherever people went, they were met by the splendour of the almost barren island and the engaging coastline.

In the evening the group settled to watch a slide show from this year's guest speaker, Mike Dales. Mike's three slide shows over the weekend gave his perspective on different journeys around Skye, Jura and in Baja.

On Sunday the winds had eased a little and again different groups set off on their own agendas. A large group went anti-clockwise and explored some of the coast, taking in a number of caves and arches.

There was motion on the sea that brought in larger sets every now and then. One of the main features in Papa Stour is Christies Hole. This is a long sea cave where the roof has collapsed in two places. This creates an arch to a pathway, then through another longer arch and ends in a cave lit up by a hole in the ceiling. There are also a few extra small tunnels that play around the cave. As the group entered in a long strung-out line a large set of waves created quite a bit of interest.

There was a bit of up & down motion for us as we moved on to Lyra and Fogla Skerry. Here the skerries are intersected and honeucombed with tunnels and caves. The group explored where they felt comfortable in the sea's motion.

The group split up with some returning the way we came, and eight of us carried on around the island.

After the skerries and round the headland at Bordie the sea was full of short, steep waves. An exciting and wet paddle aaround the headland, then further exploring of the coast back to the campsite followed.

In the evening was another slide show from Mike and a fascinating short slide show from Katie, a Shetland club member who is part of SNH and had been involved with underwater exploration of Papa Stour.

The evening once again went on for hours of socialising. The campsite emptied on Monday morning with the local paddlers getting ready for work and the visitors carrying on their holidays with more paddling and touring Shetland.

Next year will be the 10th Papa Stour event. If you've never been you are missing out on some great paddling. If you have been before, remember you told yourself that you would love to return.

Kevin Linklater