The Jubilee is the last surviving Sgoth Niseach -Ness-type skiff- to have played an active part in the former line-fishing industry of the isles.The Jubilee was built in 1935 by John MacLeod. My pal Alec John, also one of the Guga crew that head to Sula Sgeir each year, now skippers people out in her for day trips & tends her mooring in all weathers.
Her renovation cost in excess of £10,000.

I'm a little confused as to why Reed habitually cover their items in decals. I've just taken delivery of a new Akullisaq - a greenlandic style of spraydeck which benefits rolling & touring in summer conditions where a Tuiliq would otherwise cook the occupant. After a discussion with Chris in the cutting room we devized a cunning plan to make the Akullisaq fit the keyhole cockpit of one of my kayaks, since the Akullisaq is traditionally cut for ocean cockpits. Reed have never made one like this before. Lets just say its great, well thought out & well tailored. BUT WHY COVER IT LOGOS!
Gah...everytime I get a new peice of Reed, I end up sitting on the floor with a black waterproof dye marker subduing the white advertising. I KNOW WHO BLOODY WELL MADE IT! Why graffiti the thing & ruin a sleek black garment with crass advertisements?? If it didnt have Reed stamped all over it, I'D STILL KNOW WHO BLOODY MADE IT, since i don't have Alzheimers...yet. To my mind, if an item needs advertising it should be through the kayaking communities.
Who made that? Reed did. Oh I'll get one. l like it!.
How simple is that! I feel ike a floating f*cking billboard for manufacturers. I have tested that I would still know it is a Reed garment because the first day my Acuta arrived I stripped the decals from it. Same with my Lendal Wings. Not once have I wandered outside & shocked myself into confusion about the make & model...Oh I have a Nordkapp!! or is it the Feathercraft!?! Maybe that's my skin on frame qajaq? Help I'm lost!!..

Brrr brrr -brrr brrr: Hello reed Chillcheater..
Ah yes hi, can I have an aquatherm garment without logos please?
Oh we can't really do that...
Eh?...you can't not put them on? Are you being held at gunpoint by the logo police?
Hold on, so I'm paying YOU to become a floating advert with a Reed rubber stamp on my forehead? Maybe I should advertise Cillit Bang by shouting at seals & pursuing kayak groups in the dark since there is some in the bothy toilet?

Brookes can manage not to turn their tuiliqs into advertising oppurtunities...Unfortunately I can see no chemical way of removing these decals from the aquatherm material without damaging it so subduing them permanently is the best evasion of playing fiddle to advert world. What's more, & very apparent in the photo below, the method of welding these logos to the garment invariably leaves permanent round stamp marks inside a square outline also embedded within the aquatherm fabric which eventually weakens & occasionally fails at those points. So, apart from all that, bloody great kit.

Hand subdued advertising


Hybrid Akullisaq logo subdued

That'll be my Wednesday rant.

Kayaking without lights, colours still vivid on the Harris machair, pinnacled by a brief darklight of ultraviolet at 2am & some tide of light returning at 3am - we oar it all the night, weavin' olden' dances - minglin' hands & minglin' glances - 'till the moon has taken flight.
It's just become apparent how swiftly we are creeping away from dark days & pale skin into warming seas & salt on the lips, bare hoofing the sands with postive strides, kayaking & rolling while half the planet sleeps. The flash on my camera is becoming reluctant to fire at 11pm, the street lights, reluctant to soak these quiet parades of stone wall in orange sodium. It's always a pleasing thing when the midnight sun starts tuning up across the Hebrides...
Returning shoreward, boosted by a 4mtr rolling swell, dragged like a compass point to climb this gate again & portage home...I fell over, all be it impromptu, & found myself laid down beside the winter bleached boards, the smell of coconut filling the air, the qajaq spine still tied to my legs...& took this shot...& slept.
78 miles solo...ending in a ditch awash with sleep, light rain tapping the bivi skin...it's a tough life :o)