Sitting out the gale in Lochboisedale Harbour

Robinetta is creaking against her lines, but the shock cord loops are doing a great job of damping the motion. We started with shock cord on the fore and aft main mooring lines, but the stern was taking very little strain compared to the bow, so Julian moved the shock cord to the second bow line instead, the one holding the bow away from the finger berth. This is not a line we usually deploy, (we did not use one in Mallaig) but the shelter from the marina walls decreased noticeably as the tide came in during the evening, and Robinetta moved more, hence Julian decided to move the shock cord.

Worm is on the pontoon, upside down. There are no boats moored past us on this arm of the marina, so she is not in anyone's way and it is much better for her than being in the water, Gusts run across the water raising angry ripples and mini waves, while beyond the sheltering arms of the entrance there are white horses despite the short fetch in the Loch.

Walking along the pontoon towards the shower block requires care; the brand new pontoons are wide, with good traction, but the wind is so strong that leaning into it becomes automatic, and it could blow a child over and off into the water in an instant. There are no children here though. The seven other sailing yachts and 1 motor yacht are all crewed by adults. Robinetta is the smallest, but probably the one riding out the gale with the least fuss. Her mast is shorter, so less caught by the wind, and she sits lower in the water than the others yachts, despite her high cabin sides, so dances less in the gusts. As I write this, at 22:20 Julian reports than the wind speed in the last ten minutes has been 23mph gusting 41. I am glad to be in harbour, and on a pontoon with no worries about rowing ashore!