End of a long season

 Robinetta was hauled out at Craig's Big Shed in Rosneath in the middle of October, and she is now safely undercover for the winter. Once she has dried out a little it will be time to get to work on her paint and varnish.

It has been a long hard season for her, and having her inside the shed feels like a huge relief.

We have spent a lot of time aboard this year, with long weekends, 2 fortnight cruises, and a 1 week cruise to finish. We also did get one day sail in our new local area!

Robinetta began her travels at the start of April in Southwold, Suffolk, and reached the Gairloch in the Clyde by the end of September. She traveled 1127nm in 333 hours, split over 42 days underway.

The new engine gave sterling performance over 264 hours, although we have some concerns over the fact that it is burning oil when under high revs.

The latest blog collection will be available under the title "Round Cape Wrath" at the start of December, available from all the usual places. Please have a look at the publishing pages for links when they become available.

Stroul Bay

We had left Robinetta and Worm in Rhu Marina. I’d originally wanted to get her to the house but the weather forecast encouraged discretion.

So we stayed on Robinetta on Sunday night and I got the first bus home on Monday morning.

It felt like commuting to the office! Alison stayed behind and did some tidying and came home around lunchtime.

Mid-week I got a call from the marina. There was another big wind due and they didn’t think Worm looked safe. It was really nice to feel our boats were being looked after. Luckily, Alison was in Helensburgh with her Dad’s car and could pop in on the way home. She brought Worm ashore and left her by the mast store.

Worm at Rhu

The weather forecasts were pretty changeable all week but in the end, Sunday looked like a good day for a short last sail.

The Ferry Inn - Rosneath side of the narrows

I still wanted to get Robinetta to Stroul Bay, so that’s what we did. The forecast was for a westerly wind but there was a little north in it. So we beat across into Rosneath Bay and then got a nice line into the narrows.

Rhu side of the narrows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Two large birds landed on the red channel marker. Far more colourful than I’m used to, I hoped for something exotic, but the later advice is that they were immature cormorants.

young cormorants

Alison wanted to head up the Loch first. The wind was very variable, sometimes we managed nearly 4 knots, at other times we dropped to below a knot.

It was lovely to finally sail the water we’ve seen from the road so many times over the last year.

It was nearing lunchtime before we got anywhere near the head of the loch, so we turned round and headed for Stroul Bay.

The moorings were quite busy, and we got some chain out and threaded our way amongst them. I wanted the ideal spot for photos, and to mark the best place to lay a mooring.

That best place was very near where it started shelving and before we knew it, we had almost run out of water! We backed out into 4 m and dropped the hook.

Anchored in Stroul Bay

 Lunch was a simple affair of wholemeal bread and tinned mackerel. I took a few pictures of the house. Then I got into Worm to row ashore. Alison preferred to stay aboard.

That was fine, I don’t often get to row Worm and she rows beautifully. I came ashore at the new little memorial garden across the road from the house. 

A retired gentleman and his dog have taken to spending their days there. He’s helping tidy up a bit around the new garden. A nice chap. He made the same suggestion we’d heard at the CCC event in Tarbert – ‘DJ’ in Rosneath can lay us a mooring.

Worm with Robinetta in the background

I’d taken pictures of the house from Robinetta. Now I took some of Robinetta from the shore and then headed up to the house. 

The view from the terrace

 I took some from the terrace – our first sight of Robinetta from the house! And then indoors and some from the dining room. Being able to watch Robinetta at breakfast will be perfect.

Framed by the dining room window

 But that’s really something for next year. For now, I could relax in the glow of a goal attained. We’d set off a year ago to get Robinetta north. We’d got stuck in Southwold and carried on in April. We’d had a few difficult passages, especially the departure from Grimsby, but everything had worked out.

I wandered happily back down to Worm and rowed back to Robinetta.

It was still early with good wind but Alison was keen to get back. The Gareloch was a little busy with Sunday racing for her taste.

We sailed back through the narrows and sailed around a bit in Rosneath Bay and then headed into the Marina. I made a complete mess of coming back to the berth. It was a lee shore but I could have done better. We ended up with Robinetta pushing against the pontoon in the middle of the pair of finger berths and crushing Worm against the pontoon.

Not much damage was done, except to our pride. I’ll need to repair Worm’s starboard bow again. Exactly the same place I had to mend last winter!

Now we need to arrange for her to come out for the winter.

The final leg

Well, almost.

I checked the forecast first thing and it was still showing 20 knot winds gusting nearly 40 knots from 4pm but the early part of the day looked good.

Alison agreed that we should go. There were plenty of places to stop if the wind or sea-state was too much. Rothesay, Kip and Holy Loch were obvious choices.

We left at 8am. Pretty much the whole CCC contingent left before us, or soon after. Winds were light and many just motored but we motor-sailed as far as the entrace to the Western Kyle.

After that the wind kicked in and we sailed. Alison said "We never checked the tides through the Kyle". This could be a problem. It was now springs. Alison checked and it looked like we would reach the narrows in the first hour of the foul tide.

When we got there I decided that if the tide was against us, then the southern channel was likely to have weaker tides than the main marked channel as it was wider.

I don't know what the main channel was like, but the southern channel was fine. We got through without difficulty. We had made great time to the narrows and it was now about noon. Of course the bigger CCC boats were going up to twice as fast as our 4 knots and were probably near their home ports by now.

Through the Kyles of Bute

As we sailed through the Eastern Kyle towards Rothesay the wind built steadily. As we got to the moorings west of Toward Castle we turned to put a reef in. Alison had forgotten the procedure. A good enough reason for it to be her turn! So we pointed head-to-wind and under instruction, Alison:

• dropped the peak halyard so the gaff was horizontal, 
• untied the throat halyard and re-tied it where the reef should be
• untied the furling line and hauled the sail around the boom until the luff was tight
• made off the furling line
• raised the gaff and made off the peak halyard

One might wonder if the sail would fall down while the throat halyard was loose. In practice it rarely does.

As we had reefed all the way down to the first mast hoop there was one more step. We untie the first hoop so that if we need to reef more, we can.

 That left the helm much easier as we came out of the Eastern Kyle into the Clyde proper and turned north.

Today was a busy day for the Coast Guard and the RNLI. The Campbeltown all weather and inshore lifeboats were tasked to three different incidents and the Troon ILB had to rescue some paddle-boarders from the river (Irvine?). All these were tasked by Belfast Coastguard on VHF channel 16 and we listened intenltly. Two of them started with DSC Mayday alerts. We took down the co-ordinates but they weren't near us so there was no need to try to help. The Campbeltown incidents included a small boat sinking near the Mull of Kintyre and a chartered yacht that had been dismasted in Loch Fyne. They all seemed to end without injury.

It had been a dead run all the way to Toward so we expected a reach in the Clyde. We thought that hugging the Cowal coast would give us the flattest sea with the least fetch. But there didn't seem to be much sea all across to the Ayrshire coast. The gusts on the Cowal side though, were getting rather fierce. We took the helming in turns. Alison set her 'helping hands' - a 2:1 purchase on the tiller. But she still found the gusts pulling the head around too much so we dropped the staysail and carried on with No 2 jib and deeply reefed main.

So after a while, we reset the course to head across the Clyde directly towards Cloch Point, where the coast turns east towards Gourock. The original course I had laid in took us all the way to Stroul Bay outside our house. But given the strong winds overnight, Alison laid in the course to Rhu Marina just the other side of the narrows.

We did get fewer strong gusts on the new course but the wind back around to behind us. It always feels strange when the wind is doing the opposite of the forecast, but local land forms change local winds beyond anything predicted. With the wind behind us, the jib was not helping, so we furled it and put the staysail back up.

 

 

Dunoon

Passing Dunoon we got our first view round the corner of Cloch Point and spotted the TV transmitter mast on the Rosneath Peninsula - we were nearly home!

Rosneath Peninsula

We got round the corner by Gourock almost bang on 4pm and so did the stronger winds! Sometimes punctuality feels like an overrated virtue. The strong winds were coming from the West blowing right up the Clyde towards Glasgow. Suddenly the sea state became much rougher too. The waves weren't big but there was a lot of spray. The helm became very heavy and it was time to reduce sail. We put the engine on and went head to wind and pulled more of the mainsail around the boom. It helped a lot.

Back on course, we left the engine ticking over in neutral so it was there in case we needed it in a hurry. We put our life-jackets on too. Robinetta was coping with the conditions fine but it was very hard work.

There is a sandbank between Gourock and Kilcreggan called the Rosneath Patch. Our course took us north of it and the seas and wind were pushing us even further north towards the Rosneath shore. Trying to keep on course against that I pulled the helm over a bit too far and the boom went crashing over.

An accidental gybe is the one thing all sailors will try to avoid. It can damage the sail and the rigging and worst case, it can cause dismasting. This one, given the conditions, was not bad at all. Thank goodness we had so little sail up.

We put some power on from the engine and got back on course, bringing the boom back over in a controlled way. I said I thought it was time to drop the main. I was thinking of carrying on with the staysail on its own, as had worked for us between Loch Eriboll and Cape Wrath. But as I was thinking about going head to wind again, the sea state was starting to calm down.

We couldn't tell if this was a lull in the wind, or if we were getting some shelter from the Rosneath Patch.

But it did get smoother and smoother and the wind did drop a little. We turned off the engine.

We eased around the red bouys marking the channel into the Gareloch and things just got easier and easier. After a while our speed had dropped to under a knot and I was thinking of shaking a reef out. Then I realised we still had the jib furled and we got that out and the sailing became quite delightful.

We got within a cable or two of the entrance to the marina under sail and then dropped the main and staysail and motored in to a berth.

We were still 1 nm from our final destination, but we were 99.9 % of the way there from Southwold!

We decided to spend the night on Robinetta rather than going home.

Rhu Marina

CCC Closing Muster

We joined the Clyde Cruising Club in the spring. CCC produces the cruising guides for Scotland and has events and log and photographic competitions. We didn’t know if it would be something that would work for us. None of the events earlier in the year fitted our availability but the Closing Muster looked possible. We registered earlier this week. The event consisted of a race from Rothesay to East Loch Tarbert and an invitation for any boats not wanting to race to converge on Tarbert for a reception and prize giving. The event started on Friday with a get together in a pub in Rothesay.

When we thought we might get into the Clyde on Wednesday the pub event looked possible, but a day later meant we would only be able to get to the Saturday reception.

Getting to Lochranza was perfect. If we didn’t go to the CCC event we were in the right place to head for home. If we did, we were only 10 miles from Tarbert.

Then we looked at the weather. There was a force 8 gale due Sunday afternoon when we would be on our way from Tarbert to Rosneath.

I was keen to meet the people from the CCC so we decided to go to Tarbert. If we got stuck there I could work from the Marina on Monday, or even for longer.

As we came out of Lochranza at 10am there seemed to be very little wind and all of it in the wrong direction. After trying to sail for about 5 minutes I put the engine on and headed straight for Tarbert. Alison had other ideas. She took over and got

Robinetta sailing nicely over to the Kintyre shore on a course that would allow us to beat up Loch Fyne.

Sometimes, one of us is just having a better day than the other.  In this case, I think the wind had picked up a bit and it was taking me a little longer to get going for the day than it was taking Alison. It’s great if when one person isn’t feeling on top of things that the other one can take the lead.

We did one long board over to the Kintyre coast and then another one towards the western end of the Kyles of Bute but the next tack went badly wrong. I was helming and discovered that after the tack we were going exactly back on our track. The wind had back to the west. We couldn’t work out if it happened just as we tacked, or if it had happened a little earlier and I hadn’t noticed.

\

So I tacked again and found we could go due north. Before it had been north-east. This new tack got us out of Kilbrannan Sound and into Loch Fyne proper.

There was a race coming down Loch Fyne. They turned near the entrance to the western Kyle and came back across our path. We had to give a couple of yachts water and then we were following this fleet up the loch.

Soon we were joined by another race coming from the southern end of Bute - we thought “this must be the CCC race.”
 

Of course all these big modern yachts were faster and could point nearer the wind than Robinetta. We persevered and made several more tacks and got to within 3 miles of East Loch Tarbert before deciding that we would be late for the reception unless we motored.

When we arrived, the area allocated to the CCC had just one spot left Robinetta could fit in. A space on the long pontoon which would not have been big enough for many boats, but was just right for us. We tied Worm alongside and slid gently into the available space.

We just had time to tidy the boat and go to the Co-Op to get some drinks and snacks to bring to the reception.

We had a great time and made some really useful contacts.

Campbeltown to Lochranza

Rainbow over Kintyre

There isn’t much to tell about today.

It was delightful.

We had a favourable wind all day which took us from Campbeltown to Lochranza, mostly in gorgeous sunshine but with a little rain here and there, just so there could be a lovely rainbow. The wind strength was very variable but for most of the day it was constant in direction and we were on a nice close reach. Towards the end it veered north and in the gusts we were pushed a little too much to the Arran side but in the lulls we could hold the course and we never needed to tack.

We tried fishing a number of times. Every time the wind dropped and our speed dropped below 2 knots we put out the line. And immediately the speed came back. I think we were being watched.

We caught nothing.

Alison saw a dolphin but I was looking the wrong way.

At the Lochranza end the wind was a bit more than ideal. It’s coming into the loch and making the mooring a bit bumpy. The sea state isn’t ideal for going ashore in Worm so we’ll stay on board tonight. If its quiet in the morning we might venture ashore. We want to be in East Loch Tarbert a little before 5pm for the Clyde Cruising Club Closing Muster. But it’s only 11 nm.

Into the Clyde at Last!

I hope that isn’t a spoiler – yes, we have made it!
 
It was a very bouncy night on the mooring off Gigha until the small hours when it calmed down. We thought about heading to the pontoon to pay but decided to do a BACS transfer once we get home.
 
First on the agenda was the re-instatement of the bobstay. I retrieved the broken end from the block on the chain. It had been tied on with a bowline. Most of the other end was intact. It was long enough to do the job but not quite long enough to have enough to make off at the boat end. I’d brought it inside the night before, but it was still too damp to properly heat-seal. I did what I could with the ends of the three strands and took it forwards.
 
With the bowsprit reeved and the end of the chain on-board it was easy to put an eye splice on the block on the chain and thread the line through the tackle and back into the boat. I added another line to the end with a sheet bend and we were in business.
 
The wind was very light, but it was, as forecast and hoped for, from the west. The Mull of Kintyre was back in the plan! We were tired from yesterday, and from a disturbed night on the mooring, so we decided that if we got round the Mull, we would anchor at Sanda Island. This is a small island just off the south-east end of the Mull of Kintyre. It is currently owned by a Swiss Millionaire but normally uninhabited. The anchorage has reasonable shelter and it would be almost 10 miles shorter than going to Campbeltown. I put in a course on the chart plotter just to the western end of the Mull, so we would have a constantly updated ETA. We wanted to be there about 14:50, just as the east-going tidal stream started.
 
We dropped the mooring without incident and headed south. We got the main up but the light westerly breeze wasn’t going to get us to the Mull by the time the tide turned in our favour, so we motor sailed. It was so light that George was a good option and we pressed him into service. If this is the first page of our travels you’ve come across, you’ll need to know that George is the tiller pilot. If you’ve read about him before, you’ll know that getting a good mount for George has been a never-ending struggle.
 
Recently, we’ve pressed the portable anvil into service as it has a hole in the top that’s perfect for the peg. Some days, lashing it down works perfectly and others it doesn’t. Today was of the second kind. I had two goes and Alison had two goes too and neither of us could stop the anvil tipping over. I think the left-over swell from the previous day’s strong southerly winds was just too much.
 
The result of this was that the microprocessor in the tiller pilot – George’s ‘brain’ was a little confused as it didn’t have a stable place to push the rudder from. It was working but needed continual adjustment to keep us on course.
 
Meanwhile, the weather was dull, but getting gradually better. Re-tracing yesterday’s somewhat wild run from Machrihanish was a long and, perhaps even boring trip, but with George’s assistance it was an easy journey. We needed to keep the engine on all the way to maintain speed but there were no problems.
 
Once past Machrihanish, we came in really close and once we knew we weren’t going to be late we turned the engine off and sailed gently along the coast. I reset the route on the chart plotter to take us into the Sanda Island anchorage. The sea was almost a flat with a gentle swell coming in from the south. The sun was properly out now and we had blue skies and green hills. As we turned the first corner, we brought the mainsail in and gybed it over – perhaps a little sooner than it would have come over on its own but now we’d be on the same tack for the rest of the trip.
 
The gentle breeze took us round in bright sunlight and a calm sea. The contrast with yesterday was amazing.

Mull of Kintyre lighthouse

With the wind from the west, rather than the north-west, which was also in the forecast, Alison suggested we could go onto Campbeltown. With the likely speed we would get, we could be there around 7pm, or 8pm at the latest. As George had done most of the work in the morning and the sailing was so easy, we weren’t as tired as we had feared we would be.
 
Alison put the new route in. It looked good but we thought we could still divert to Sanda if the wind wasn’t good at the Clyde end. I started wondering where the Clyde actually started. I decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that we would be in the Clyde once past the red channel marker buoy to the east of Sanda.
 
As Sanda came nearer we could make out the conical form of the Ailsa Craig beyond. We’d seen it last in 2017 when we came north on Robinetta’s 80th anniversary cruise. Then we’d come up from Port Patrick in company with Molly Cobbler to the Scottish OGA Campbeltown Muster. We’d also sailed past in 2016 from Largs on the way to Ireland. Robinetta had passed her once before, in 1937, on her maiden voyage to the Clyde. The Ailsa Craig is visible for miles and I remember being aware of it as a child on holiday in Scotland. Once of its claims to fame is that all curling stones are made from rock quarried on the island.
 
The village at the end of the Mull of Kintyre is called Southend. It doesn’t have much in common with its more famous namesake in Essex, although they both have caravan parks. There is also what seems to me to be a ridiculously large hotel, which I remember from our cruise in 2017.

Arranman's Barrels Buoy with Sanda behind

We passed the red buoy, and we were in the Clyde! At Alison’s suggestion we celebrated with caramel wafer each!

As we turned gently north and trimmed in the sails, we came onto a beam reach which took us all the way to Davaar Island outside Campbeltown Loch. The wind was dying now and what was left would be on the nose in the loch so we dropped sails and motored in. We got a wonderful sunset and came into the Marina in full dusk.
 
We took the only free finger-berth in the marina. We phone the number on the gate and Calum answered and texted us the codes for the gate, the toilet block and the wifi. All set up very well for a late entry.
 
Once settled-in we walked into town to the ‘Crew’ fish and chip shop and bought fish suppers and took them back to the boat to eat. Lovely freshly cooked fish and chips and just the right quantities.
 
Yesterday it felt like the weather wanted to keep us out of the Clyde. Today we were welcomed in like VIPs.

Davar Island at the entrance to Campbeltown Loch

Making for the Mull of Kintyre

"If you can't lay the Mull, you can't make the Mull," Julian decided in the middle of the afternoon. The forecast was for Southerly winds, and the Clyde Cruising Club advice was not to try for the Mull, but we decided to see if we could do it anyway.

We had left Port Ellen just after 08:00. I backed Robinetta out of the berth, and almost speared her berth mate with the bowsprit. However almost was the operative word and no contact was made! Then we realised that the boom crutches were still on, and getting them untied was not a simple operation in the swell of the bay. After setting sail (no 2 jib and full main) we realised that we would need the engine on to lay our course for the Mull.

After an hour Julian noticed a cardinal ahead, I checked the course and I had plotted it to clear the Otter Rock, but even with the engine we could not hold our course up tide of it. We came off the wind slightly and cleared the cardinal and the rocks it warned about to port. That course was easier to steer aand we stayed on it, but within the hour the wind had backed more to the East and we were being headed. We furled the jib and motor sailed on full main and staysail.

Breakfast was tea, and hunks of Co-op olive bread, so was elevenses with the addition of a pear each. Packet soup seemed the ideal lunch, as neither of us felt like cooking under way.

After a while I looked forward, and noticed that the bob-stay tensioning block was hanging loose at the end of the bowsprit. Sometime after we furled the jib the line must have parted. I already had my life jacket on, but tied myself to Robinetta with a strop before going forward to investigate. I took the boat hook with me as I did not want the bobstay chain hanging under the boat with any rope on it. That had happened in Padstow and it had fouled the rudder. Luckily the line we use to pull the bobstay chain ouy of the way when we anchor had held and I used this to pull the chain on board. The tensioning line had broken close to the chain, so there was no dangerous rope in the water either.

We saw another yacht heading for the Mull, coming down from Gigha, and they were a reassuring sight. At least we were not alone in our desire to pass the Mull today. They had no sails up and we decided that it was time to lower our main sail too.

The next coupld of hours were frutrating. The sea state got up. We could not make our course. We were making less than 2 knots. The yacht ahead vanished southward. 15 minutes after I went on the helm for my stint I realised that while I could make a course for Rathlin Island I could not hold Robinetta on course for the Mull of Kintyre. We needed a rethink.

Five minutes later everything was different. We were running on staysail and engine, heading for Gigha at 4.5 knots. The relief at being able to hold a course was huge, even through the following seas made it quite hard work. Julian wanted to get the main up straight away, but I needed a bit of time before we went head to wind again, and persuaded him we should try the jib and staysail goosewinged first. Unfortunately the swell meant this did not work, and the bowsprit felt vulnerable without its bobstay, so we furled the jib and went head to wind to raise, and reef, the mainsail.

Raising the main was not without its problems. The sail got caught on the redundant top mast bracket on the boom and Julian had to go forward to clear it, then once the sail was raised the gaff saddle refused to sit flat against the mast and we had to bring it down and raise it again. All while holding Robinetta head to wind in a nasty swell.

Once under way we had four hours of steering with the swell rolling us round. The sun did come out just after we began sailing, as though saying “Good call, you did not want to go round the Mull of Kintyre today anyway.” Then after half an hour the clouds covered the blue sky again. The main never threatened to gybe and we were making 3 ½ – 4 knots, so the engine stayed off until we reached Ardminish Bay. Robinetta did not want to make the turn into shelter, so we put the engine on to go head to wind to drop the main. Turning made the wind strength obvious: 5 gusting 6.

We picked up a mooring buoy close to the pontoon. The three yachts on the pontoon were moving more than looked comfortable, and the ones on buoys looked better. Our mooring had no pick up line, but that is not really a problem with Robinetta’s low bow. Julian made a perfect approach and I got a first line through the shackle on top, made it off, and had time to rig a second for a bridle before Robinetta dropped back.

Once secure Julian cooked dinner. Bacon, egg, haggis, tomato, potato and cauliflower which all vanished rather quickly. By the time we had finished it was full dark. Robinetta was bobbing and rocking in the swell, but not too much to stop us getting the bedding out and heading for an early night. It had been a stressful day.

Lussa Bay to Port Ellen

A calm day, with little wind. The anchor came up clean and we set off under engine, which stayed on virtually all day. We put “George” to work, and he took us along the coast of Jura without incident, although he did loose power a couple of times when I trod on the lead.

The Paps of Jura

The weather was bright at first, and although it clouded over later it did not rain, and we managed 20 minutes of very slow sailing midmorning. Gigha appeared out of the mass of the Kintyre peninsula, and seeing it in the distance reminded me that it was supposed to be one of Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite stopping places when on holiday in the Royal Yacht. It was her funeral today and I spent a few minutes contemplating her life.

We saw quite a few seals as we come past Texa, and on the many rocks and reefs in the entrance to Port Ellen, but there have been no dolphins today. This was disappointing after 34 miles in 10 hours. Maybe they hated the engine noise as much as Julian does!

The Islay pontoons had plenty of space and knowing we had to pay for 10m (£25 a night) we did not bother to reeve the bowsprit, just tied up Worm beneath it. We decided on a shore day tomorrow, walking the 3 Distillery path, but today was a diet day, so we only a pot noodle each for dinner!

Across to Jura

 

Puilladobhrain

After a bowl of porridge for breakfast I hauled the anchor up, and we motored out of the pool at 09:00. We were not the first yacht to head out since one had left at 6am, but the others were still at anchor when Julian got the mainsail up just about where we had dropped it the evening before. The wind was quite light but seemed useable, so the engine went off at 09:27 as we headed for the Sound of Inch. This was where Robinetta had crossed her 1938 outbound track back in 2014, taking 77 years to complete her first circumnavigation. She had completed her second back in Plockton, where we crossed our own track from 2014, so this one only took 8 years… Julian and I have now been round 1½ times. Why do I feel that circumnavigations matter so much? I suspect in the end it is just fuelled by desire to claim an achievement.

Easedale

The wind came and went but by 10:05 it had definitely gone, so we motored through Easedale Sound. I had plotted a very precise course though this, but moored boats and empty moorings meant I ended up ignoring it, and trusting the depth gauge to keep Robinetta safe. It worked, but I was glad to be going through under engine.

The next sound we needed to traverse was the one we had planned the tides for. These can run at 7 knots at springs, and even at neaps, like now, we did not want them against us. We were one hour into the favourable tide, and Cuon Sound gave us no surprises. Maybe it was just that we have been through so many tidal channels since we were last here in 2014…

As we cleared the sound at the north end of Torsa the breeze became usable so we turned the engine off and went onto a very broad reach. Drizzle set in with the wind, but neither of us cared; being able to turn the engine off and sail made the trip worthwhile.

I had phoned Craobh Marina before we entered Cuon Sound to check that fuel would be available around lunchtime, and got a positive reply and instructions to call again when we were moored up on the fuel dock. All too soon we had to get the sails down and put the engine back on. But at least the rain stopped.

The stop itself was very efficient. We filled up with diesel and water, and took a short walk to the marina shop, and were motoring away inside 30 minutes. This was our first chance to fill Robinetta’s fuel tanks by hose since Arbroath and I was relieved to learn we only needed 6 litres in each tank although we also filled our cans. This should be enough fuel for the rest of the season, and certainly the rest of this week.

Julian got the sails up as soon as we were clear of the marina, and the engine was off within twenty minutes. Progress was slow, and Julian found an anchorage at the north end of Jura where we would spend the night. Then the wind died completely and the engine had to go back on.

Five minutes later the wind came back, from a much more useful direction and the engine went off again. The sky was overcast and visibility only “moderate”, but the wind was a lovely westerly force3 and we were making such good time that Julian decided to hunt out an anchorage further south. He found Lussa Bay and showed me pictures… The distance looked right so I agreed.

As we closed with the coast of Jura the wind increased and the tide under us helped Robinetta touch 6 knots occasionally. The sea was flat, but with the surface swirls and eddies that spoke of tide rips. We were only a couple of miles from Corryvreckan, and this area was marked as “tide rips” on the chart so we were not surprised so see them, but happy they were in our favour. Our speed dropped to a merely respectable 3½-4 knots once we were clear of the area.

Once we were within ½ nm of Jura’s coast the wind became flaky as the hills of the island slowed and sped up the wind, and by the time we got to Port Bàn Mhic-a-phi I decided I wanted a reef. Julian began to furl the jib away and the port jib sheet came off after having been fine all day! We got the reef in (3 rolls round the boom) and sailed on with the main and staysail, still making nearly 4 knots. The sea state remained smooth and we reached Lussa Bay at 18:25, only dropping the main and turning the engine on as we went head to wind entering the anchorage.

We anchored in 3m of water and I was able to see the anchor touching the sandy bottom.

Lussa Bay Anchorage

Tidal range her was less than a meter at neaps, so we just put out 15 meters of chain and were snug for the night. There were no other boats in the bay, and the scattered houses visible when we anchored had no lights showing when it got dark. And it got very dark. No moon or star light could make it through the cloud cover, and our anchor light was the only illumination outside the cabin.

We left Worm on a long line, and she stayed well astern. Gentle swells occasionally rocked Robinetta, but nothing to disturb us. We were tired after a full day on the water, and did not bother going ashore to explore.

Back on Board, Kerrera (Oban) to Puilladobhrain

Gallanach Ferry

We got the train to Oban, arriving at 11:20. We had already decided to get the Calmac Ferry not the marina one as it was cheaper and more frequent. Also the best Kerrera ferry for the train time was already full… The ferry from Gallanach ran every half hour, and was a mile and a half walk from the train station, then a mile from the disembarkation point to the marina. We stopped for lunch first, so arrived at Gallanach at ten to one. That was when we discovered that the ferry stopped running for lunch and the next one was not until 14:05.

A cool breeze and overcast sky meant that the wait was chilly, but dry. A queue of people had built up but we had been waiting longest so got on the first crossing. This was still too late to take Robinetta to the fuel pontoon which was only available until 14:00 on Saturdays. I wanted fuel since we had not been able to fill the tanks except via cans since Arbroath. My first task on arrival at the marina was to check the fuel level in the tanks (about half full in both), then tip in the final 8ltrs from the fuel cans we had filled in Mallaig. The forecast was for variable winds for the next 3 days, so fuel might be an issue. I am not sure how long it will take me to get over running a tank dry on the way to Grimsby!

Worm did not need to be emptied, and Robinetta was dry inside too, so it did not seem there had been much rain while we were away. We had been shown another Mouse Pram just finished built in the shed when we were left Kerrera, and now we saw it floating beside Worm. They looked quite different as the new dinghy was painted not varnished.

The wind felt strong and gusty in the marina, so Julian bent on the no 2 jib before we backed off the pontoon at 15:55. Twenty minutes later we were sailing down the Sound of Kerrera at 5 knots. The wind did not stay that helpful all afternoon, but we persisted with sailing, and did not put the engine back on until after we had dropped the main sail just outside the anchorage at Puilladobhrain. There were 7 yachts already at anchor, and another came in just after us. It started raining as we picked out the best place to drop the anchor.

Bridge over the Atlantic

Seven miles made for a short sail, but we had started late, and by the time we were anchored it was 19:00. We had thought about walking to the pub, but the rain discouraged us, and we spent a quiet night on board. We needed to do a little planning anyway.

We had thought about heading down the west side of Jura, and anchoring overnight in Loch Tarbert. (Yes, yet another Loch Tarbert!). My desire to get fuel as soon as possible meant a change of plan, and we decided to head for Croabh Marina, then carry on down the sound of Jura instead.

Loch Aline to Oban

Towards the entrance from the Anchorage, Loch Aline

After a very peaceful night at anchor we prepared to leave in a leisurely fashion. Julian wanted to haul the anchor up before breakfast, but it was still 08:30 before we were motoring slowly towards the entrance. There was a little wind coming from ahead, so we got the main sail up with the hopes that we could sail once we were in the Sound of Mull. The forecast was for an easterly 3-4, becoming variable 3 or less, Easterly was not a perfect direction, but perfectly usable with the tide in our favour.

Our hopes were fulfilled, and by 09:10 we were sailing at 3 knots with the engine off, aiming across the Sound. One of the reasons we had pushed on to Loch Aline yesterday was to have a short trip today. Robinetta felt perfectly balanced, and the scenery was superb. Julian went below to cook, and then passed up a plate of egg, bacon, haggis, black pudding, tomato, and potato scone. There can be few better places to eat such a feast, with the sailing so easy we could let go of the helm to use our cutlery.

Of course, there was that "becoming variable" in the forecast, and our speed dropped as the morning wore on. By 12:10 we were being carried purely on the tide, and since we were approaching Lismore it was time to get the engine on to give us steerage way. Under sail we had settled on passing between Lady Rock and Duart Point, but with the engine on the most direct course to Oban lay between the Lismore light and Lady Rock, so we changed course, and were made immediately aware of the strength of the tide.

In order to pass through the center of the channel we had to aim at the light house, not at all in the direction we were going. The ferry and fishing boat that came past during this maneuver did not seem worried by our apparently aiming at them, even when we suddenly sped up to 5 knots. They must be used to leisure craft doing odd things in the area!

The absence of wind made the tide rips little more than swirls in the water, and the potential overfalls were only visible when the ferry wake crossed them, but the chart is littered with warnings!

We were moored on a pontoon in Kerrera Marina by 14:00, right next to a pretty gaff yawl. Her owner came over when he spotted us, and Julian recognised him. We had last met Robert in 2015, at the East Loch Tarbert traditional boat festival. He had been sailing a 2 1/2 ton Hillyard then, but had rebuilt Sula, his current boat, from a wreck. His work had so impressed other wooden boat owners in the area that he was now working almost full time as a shipwright.

We tidied up Robinetta and Worm, before catching the 16:00 ferry from the marina to Oban. Our train was at 18:11, and we were home by 21:30. It seems quite odd to be able to sail in such a lovely area so close to home.

Loch Moidart to Loch Aline

We had a very peaceful night and a mostly dry one. The morning started bright but overcast but there was a little wind.

Over on the shore by the road, I counted three tents. It seems to be quite a popular wild camp site. I did a little exploring by Google Maps. The road runs along the River Sheil and about an hour’s walk along the road would get one to a bus stop. Of course, the campers were here with their vehicles. The castle is accessible across the strand at low water and there are 360 ° photographs on the Map.
 
We should have done some exploring ‘IRL’ – in real life! But last night it was wet and this morning neither of us seemed in the mood.
 
When I first looked, at high water, the water was completely still. Unfortunately, it was very polluted, a horrible brown sludgy film surrounded the boat. After a while it started moving, initially towards the shore by the road, and then more out past the castle. The currents here are complicated as the water can get out south of the castle, between the castle and Riska, between Riska and Shona or even between Shona and the mainland, depending on the state of the tide. It can also come in all those routes and additionally fresh water comes in down the River Sheil and the River Moidart.
 
I cooked breakfast and we hauled the anchor up and left. Hauling immediately after eating is not a good idea. It took both of us in turn to get the job done. Next time we will eat afterwards.
 
A light breeze was coming into the outer loch. It felt like it should be on the beam once we were on route to Ardnamurcan, so we got the main sail up.
 
The next loch along to the west, and the only one before Arnamurcan Point, is called Kentra. The name felt strangely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. On the chart there is a narrow entrance into a wide bay, but the bay dries entirely. The internet yielded the probable reason for the name’s familiarity. There is a lovely classic yacht with that name.
 
Kentra is an anglicisation of Ceann Traigh. Ceann is of course the word for head or end used all over the place, including in our own house-name Kenmuir. Online dictionaries suggest traigh can be used in several ways including beach and seabed. In modern Irish tra is the word for a beach. The word is probably the same as the Germanic equivalent strand. I don’t know if traigh is a Viking loan word into Gaelic, or an older similarity going back to Indo-european. Ceann Traigh is used in three ways here – the settlement of Kentra, Kentra Bay – the drying part of the inlet, and Loch Ceann Traigh – the navigable entrance.
 
The ebb had some power in it, adding a knot to our speed. Over on the land, the skies were clearing. It was going to be a nicer day than forecast.

 When we’ve passed before, we’ve been well out to sea. Coming from Moidart give a very different view and the lighthouse is initially seen through the rocks from the land side. We passed close in. More yachts than we have seen at sea all summer were either leaving or entering the Sound of Mull. We weren’t the only one with sails up, but everyone was motoring.
 
Heading into the Sound the wind started to pick up. It was right behind us. We let the main out and set the preventer and it was doing something but not enough to turn the engine off. Then it came in a little more strongly from the beam and I put the jib out and throttled back. We were sailing! We were managing 2 knots so off went the engine.
 
The wind came and went and veered and backed but we managed to keep the speed up in the 1½ to 2 knot range nearly all the way to Tobermory. It was warm and not quite sunny but there was plenty of blue sky. The views into Loch Sunart were especially fine. This was the kind of gentle pleasant sailing in glorious surroundings that one dreams of. We tried fishing but didn’t catch anything.
 
From the lighthouse north of Tobermory we motor-sailed. There was still wind, but we had around ½ knot of foul tide and we would not have got to Loch Aline before dark without the engine. We could have stopped earlier – in Tobermory or Loch Sunart but I wanted to be near Oban in the morning to be in a position to get the train home in the evening.
 
Alison telephoned Kerrera Marina and booked us in to leave Robinetta there.
 
Heading down the Sound of Mull, we saw a yacht coming up. I said – “there is a ‘not white’ boat”. Alison said “I think its wooden and it might be a gaffer”. She was right. A lovely gaff cutter called Alice of Penrhyn.

 
Half-way down Alison spotted a big oil tanker coming behind us. We were right in the middle of the channel, taking the best line towards Loch Aline. We headed over to the edge of the channel on the Morvern side to let it pass.
 
On the way to Loch Aline we were passed by a yacht called Hot Toddy, they took our picture and we exchanged waves. They went into Loch Aline too and went onto one of the pontoons.
 
We headed up the loch to the anchorage area. On the way I saw a gannet diving so we put out the fishing line again and caught two fine fish. That was supper sorted!

 
There were many boats on moorings and at the pontoon but only one other in the anchorage area and we anchored without problems. I cleaned the fish and made a fine supper of sauteed potatoes with garlic and pan-fried fish with onions and tomatoes (and garlic). I turned the pan juices into a little sauce with wine and flour. Delicious! Thanks are due to the crew of Suzelle, who gave us the bottle of wine back in Gairloch.

Mallaig to Loch Moidart

We arrived late to Robinetta last night. The train should have got into Mallaig at 23:39, but was delayed so did not get there until 00:05. It was not actually raining, but even in August nights are chilly around Midnight, and the air was damp. Multicoloured lights projected onto the cliffs behind the marina offered a patch of cheer, and Robinetta’s LED cabin lights are not bright enough to show how grey the white cabin paint looked as we got the sleeping bags out and fell into bed.

We woke earlier than expected, with bright sunlight flooding through the port holes in a welcome change to the forecast grey. We took our time getting up, but it was just after 8 when we headed for the shore heads, stopping to pay our marina fees on the way. We were told that the harbour chandlers did not open on a Saturday, so we would have to get our fuel in cans from the garage, which did not open until 10:00. Luckily the Co-Op opened well before then, so we were able to get provisions before heading back to the boat for the fuel cans.

After a chat with our pontoon neighbours in Tzatziki we headed back ashore to pick up pastries and coffee from the Bake House for breakfast. We also bought fresh bread from there before getting our 17 litres of fuel from the filling station. Once that was in the fuel tanks we got Robinetta ready to go, only just remembering to fit our new radio before turning the engine on.

Getting the electrics right for the radio took a while, and they were not right when we backed off the pontoon to leave Mallaig at 11:40. We either had the radio or the chart plotter… by 13:00 normal service had resumed. The new Standard Horizon radio has its own GPS so the extra electronics board Julian fitted in 2017 has finally been removed. Not that I expect it to stay gone. The new power connections need refining, and our forward facing depth gauge can not work without that board. The quick fix depth gauge I screwed at the stern has done us for several years now, and we may never go back to the NASA system despite its “new” transducer.

Leaving Mallaig

We were making for the head of Loch Moidart which is only 18nm from Mallaig so we were not in a hurry. As soon as there was a hint of wind Julian got the main sail up. There was barely enough of a breeze to give us steerage way, but we pretended there was and turned off the engine while we ate lunch. After that clouds began to cover the blue and it seemed like a good time to put our oily trousers on. It began to rain, and Julian went below for a nap while I helmed for the next hour.

No wind appeared with the rain, so when Julian came back on deck we decided to get the main sail down before we began picking our way through the rocks and sand bars off Loch Moidart. The shear size of Eilean Shona between the North entrance and the South entrance into Loch Moidart makes it seem like the two are not connected, and from our navigational standpoint they are not. We were aiming for the south of Eilean Shona and the Clyde Cruising Club pilot describes this as one of the most complicated entrances in the area. Having a chart plotter in the cockpit makes pilotage much easier that having to constantly identify islands to take bearing on. The CCC did have some essential advice and a chartlet that let us identify Eilean Raonuill and make sense of the chart plotter display. There were seals hauled out on Roanuill, but the tide was pushing us past the island with its leaning identification pole and we took no photos. After picking our way past other smaller rocky islands we were in the loch and pilotage meant avoiding a sandy spit, which had useful islet called Sgier na Claidheamh acting like marker buoy for its south end before he headed north again toward our chosen anchorage near Riska Island.

As we approached Riska we saw 3 Canadian style canoes, and certainly felt like a worthwhile place to explore that way. Riska is an almost perfectly circular island, totally overgrown by trees, and it looked as though no one had set foot there for years, with fallen trees in the gullies and no obviously landing places. We were at the top of the tide, and there might well have been sandy beaches to land on at low water, since we had to cross a bar to the north of the island which mostly dried at low water springs.

Castle Tioram on the right, Riska on the left

We reached the anchorage at 18:00, and I laid out 33m of chain as we were in 11m of water. It was deeper than we prefer, but the best spot to avoid possible cables on the sea floor. It began to drizzle as I dropped the anchor, and it set in for the evening, so rather than rowing across to look at Castle Tioram we retreated into the cabin for the evening.

Castle Tioram from the anchorage