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I fancied doing the whole length of the loch (23 miles) in prep for Monster-The-Loch (MTL), which is 21 miles with a following wind on Saturday 19th.
The last time I paddled the length of Loch Lomond was in the late 1960s.  
Weather looked ideal, with 12mph southerly wind, some rain, but warmish at 16°C.  I chose the Ski. 
Emily, my daughter, drove from Inverness to Dollar in the early morning and we left Dollar at 10am in her car for Balloch. 
Rained all the way, and was misty too, but all cleared at Balloch and I was able to set off in the Ski with long rudder, BA and cat tracker in the pocket. 
Following wind as predicted, which eventually enabled me to up my speed to over 10.6kph. 
You can see me starting to get help from the waves in the blue graph below after half an hour.  No white horses but a few runs without paddling. 
The Rossdhu headland reduced the waves a bit, and eventually I passed in between the islands and lost the help from the waves. 
On the north side of the islands, Emily picked me up on the drone and took some movies and stills as I paddled past Luss, 70 minutes after leaving Balloch. 
As you can see from the picture below, an absolutely stress-free paddle, except the waves were now coming across me from the south east, rather than directly behind,
but no problem with that, as they weren’t big.  Plan was to make Tarbet the next waypoint, then on to Ardlui. 
That divides the loch into three almost equal segments of 7 or 8 mls.
After only about fifteen minutes from Luss the wind freshened sharply from the SSW. 
Within minutes, it was up to gale force with massive katabatic gusts blowing spume off the tops of the small waves. 
The wind caught my paddles so strongly that I had to down tools frequently and just use them as outriggers for balance.  See the drop in the blue graph. 
But then the waves grew in size and I was forced to paddle hard to catch them. 
If I hadn’t I would have been wallowing in the troughs with white horses breaking over me, which is even worse.  So I risked it, and started to try to catch the waves. 
The wind was so strong at times, it kept me up to speed in the waves with very little effort on my part. 
A massive change.  So, with downing tools, then being pushed along by wind and waves, my heart rate dropped dramatically and my speed increased (see graphs). 
I had to get to shore, but I couldn’t turn side-on to the waves, so I just kept speed up as best as I could to reach the Inverbeg spit – how lucky was that. 
I rounded the point into sheltered water and was able to get out the Ski easily. 
Meanwhile, Emily was in Tarbet waiting for me, but on checking her cat tracker, spotted I had landed at Inverbeg. 
So she drove back and found me in the holiday park quite easily, as the tracker is accurate to within a few metres. 
I was so glad I had fitted the long rudder, worn a BA and taken the cat tracker – three very good decisions, which were a bit out of character, I know. 😊
Now for ‘Monster the Loch’ on Saturday.  At present, it is predicted to be a fresh SW wind, which could be tricky for lots of boats. 
Will be interested to see how it pans out on the day.  I’m taking the Marlin River Racer with understern rudder, so will be very happy in any wind.  
Might suit me just fine if it’s a strong wind up the loch.
Would love to do it in under 3 hours.  Will report back next week.
(PS. On the same day a yachtsman reported the same problem off Arran, and had to down sails smartly and take shelter in Lochranza)
Picture below:  heading north up Loch Lomond, opposite Luss and going for the deep V in the far distance, some 10 miles away or more. 
Not another boat in sight.  10mph following wind… soon to change dramatically.  Overall: 97 minutes for 10.5 miles.   6.5mph (10.4kph)