TWO women have braved big seas, strong tides and chilling winds to become the first female pair to kayak from the Outer Hebrides to St Kilda – and they did it in a replica 1950s wood-and-canvas kayak. The 40-mile crossing took Christine Stewart and Dolina Swanson, both from Stornoway, 14 hours with only 15-minute food breaks every two hours and a few sips of beer at the halfway point to keep them going.

They made the journey in an old-fashioned kayak to recreate the first such crossing to the archipelago in 1965 by kayakers Hamish and Ann Gow. As their boat was only completed last Tuesday, the pair had only one hour of training in it, on Tuesday night, before they set off on their attempt at 8.20am on Thursday.