Sailing South from Stornoway

The alarm went at 4am, but it was 0450 before we'd drunk our tea and packed the bedding away. We hoisted sail on the mooring and sailed off, with only 15 seconds of engine assist to get us clear of the buoy and give us steerage way past the moored boats. We were very slow getting clear of Stornoway bay (1½-2 knots) but we sailed anyway.

We laid in a course for Barra, but did not expect to get there. It was a wish that could only come true if the wind stayed west, and it was due to go south west. At sailing speed we would not get there until gone midnight. By 8am we knew it would not happen as the wind was on the nose, and we changed our plan, heading south of the Shiants then diagonally across the Minch and down the west coast of Skye. We needed the engine to sail this course too, but at least the wind was helping, until it died away to nothing. The autopilot went on for the first time this year, and by 1500 we had the main down since it was doing nothing.

There were compensations for the motoring. We had blue sky and sea, glorious sunshine and scenery, and the air was warm enough for both us us to lose layers of clothing! There were small family groups of guillimots sitting on the water, and occasional solitary puffins. Gannets and fulmers flew overhead, but they were rare. Not as rare as yachts though! I spotted only 4 all morning.
 
We phoned Loch Tarbert (Lock Fyne) where we are booked into a traditional boat festival as we passed Loch Pooltiel and had phone signal.We booked ages ago, when we were first planning our trip, and before we decided to leave Robinetta in Stornoway, and have not really looked at the programme. There were no details when we booked, so we wanted to check it was actually going to happen! It is, starting on Friday with a reception, so that is our aiming point, timewise. There are high winds forecast for the following Sunday so we want to be somewhere sheltered then anyway. We do not have long to get there, but that is okay.

We got the main back up just off Neist Point when we got some wind, but it soon went (the engine was only off for 5 minutes.) There was a bit of swell off the lighthouse; two tide regimes meet here, and for a while we were slowed to 3 knots. We had lost the tide that helped us down the Minch now and progress slowed. We decided to head for an anchorage in Loch Bracadale and stay there for the night. Our ETA showed as 22.00, so we would still have light to anchor.

By 19.10 we were off An Dubh-sgeir, with a lovely view of Macleod's Maidens, and about to head into Loch Bracadale, but the ext forecaste changed out plans. By Thursday afternoon, when we were planning to go through the Corryvrecken there was a force 7 in the forecast. That is way too much wind to even think of taking Robinetta near the place.

With the benign conditions of this evening it made sense to push on as far as possible, to give ourselves more time to take the route through the Sound of Luing on Thursday morning's favourable tide, so we abandoned the unexplored beauty of Loch Bracadale, and headed towards Canna. We would not arrive until Midnight, but it is a familiar place, and if we felt up to it we could keep going and do an overnight passage. We raised sail again at 20.00 when the wind came in a little from astern, but there was not much of it, and the boom lifted with every swell, so it only helped a little. We got them down again at 22.30 before it became totally dark.

There were a lot of fishing boats gathered on the north shore of Canna, obviously after the same fish as the dolphins that swam past us at 23.00. The dolphins did not stop to play, just swam past at speed, but it was lovely to see them again. We picked up Canna's pilotage lights, and headed into the harbour on the leading lights. Much easier to see at night than in the daytime!

As we had feared all the moorings were taken, and 3 boats were already anchored, but there was a good gap between the end of the moorings and one of the anchored boats, so we dropped our anchor there. Our anchor light has stopped working, so Julian hauled an LED lantern up the mast on the spare halyard. Then we turned in at 00.20, with the alarm set for 05.30.