Seonaid's Legs

The strange objects in front of the kayak are called 'Seonaid's legs'. They are somewhat high-technology and, therefore, difficult to explain to a layman but, basically, they act as ballast in a lightly-loaded sea kayak venturing out into choppy waters.

They consist of the legs off a pair of fashionable jeans filled with sand and tied up at both ends, which are placed in the fore and aft stowage compartments.

The reason they are named after Seonaid is that the original jeans came from Seonaid Canning at a time when Seonaid's friend Rachael didn't have a pair to spare. We are now on our eighth pair, and they have served us very well.

So it was with considerable pleasure that we saw Seonaid, for the first time, venture out in one of our kayaks. She was a natural, taking to the sport like a duck to water - except without getting wet. These sea kayaks aren't easy to adapt to: a friend of ours who is a Royal Marine managed to turn one over within minutes of getting into it.

Seonaid made a couple of practice runs up and down the Ormsaigbeg shore, then, as can be seen in the bottom photo, set off for America.

Normally the Diary doesn't write about anyone without checking if it's okay with them, but Seonaid's Mum said this was okay - so it's gotta be.