From Wednesday June 1 to Sunday August 14 (0:00 a.m.)

Scottish Maritime Museum (Denny Tank)
Castle Street, Dumbarton G82 1QS

The Scottish kayaking expedition in northwest Norway was the result of two years of planning and fundraising after Jim Breen, Angus Mathieson, Bill Turnbull and Peter Wilson found themselves in a storm on an island off the west coast of Scotland in 1978 and made a pact. to embark together on Scotland’s first great sea kayaking expedition.

Leaving Harstad in northwest Norway at 8.30am on Tuesday July 1, 1980, the four friends traveled 394 miles (634 kilometres) around the two island groups of Lofoten and Vesterålen in the north -western Norway, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle.

Here, between Lofoten Point and Mosken Island, where tidal currents are forced through shallow waters creating a rapid series of whirlpools and whirlpools, they made the first crossing of one of the largest whirlpools in the world, the ‘Maelstrom’ or, as it is sometimes known, the ‘Moskenstraumen’.

Discover the full story, including how the team overcame not only the challenges of the Maelstrom, but also very severe magnetic anomalies, bland and repetitive meals, only mitigated by occasional treats of Angel Delight and Cabana chocolate, food poisoning and an unexpected heat wave!