Hauling out

 I had phoned Tim Loftus as we sailed towards Rubha Reidh on Wednesday, and told him we would be arriving in Ullapool that evening. He was happy to meet us on Thursday in Ullapool between 08:30 and 09:00 and discuss what we wanted doing.

 

We had a good meeting, and it turned out that the tides were perfect for hauling Robinetta out at the yard either that evening or Friday morning. Julian and I needed to head south to fetch our car so we could clear Robinetta's cabin, and the best bus to take us left Ullapool at 10:00. We would not be able to get back until Friday afternoon...

Not a problem. We left Robinetta in Tim's capable hands, and he moved her and Worm to his yard, where we found them on Friday afternoon. Robinetta was already under cover, with her mast out (less work for us)!

 

I will update the blog with progress on the work, but meanwhile our Year End totals this year are

Distance traveled 555nm

hours under way 175

Engine hours 108

Northerlies

Yesterday, neither of us had any appetite for sailing in the rain. But we knew today wouldn't be perfect for heading north. The Inshore Waters Forecast had been for north or north-easterly winds but not much of anything and Windy had said there might be some big gusts on the nose.

But all the forecasts agreed it would be dry. I wanted to start early and we got off the pontoon at 7:25 in brilliant sunshine and a glassy calm.

 

Passing the houses by the shore south of the harbour made me think of the houses on the islands on the west coast of Greenland we had seen a year ago on Tecla. It's a very similar landscape.

  

The population of the highlands is tiny compared to 200 years ago before the clearances but still large in comparison to Greenland. The village of Gareloch is bigger than anything we saw in Greenland outside the 'cities' of Nook and Ilulissat. Of course, Gareloch relies heavily on the tourist trade, just like Greenland.

We motored out past ship island (Longa) and got a much stronger breeze than I had been expecting. It was north-easterly but had enough east in it that we could sail by heading a little out to sea. There were many crab pots but at least the ones we saw were well marked. As we left Loch Gairloch we were doing over 4 knots with an arrival time of around 5pm but that soon dropped to 2-3 knots.

Robinetta's main sail has been setting nicely all year and the new topping lifts are working well.

The weather was really clear and we could make out the Shiants and the north of Skye and the hills of Harris and Lewis. We were sure we could see further south past Skye to the Uists too but I'm not certain. It's hard to get a good sense of scale at that distance.

Most of the time, the chart plotter predicted we would get to Ullapool in daylight. But sometimes in the lulls it was way out to the small hours! But the sailing was so nice we didn't mind. We were really happy we'd had the day ashore yesterday. The views north towards Assynt are spectacular. Those are very tall mountains.

The patch on Worm was working too. Every now and then we pulled her close to check no water was coming in.

Windy had predicted more wind later in the day and so it proved. By the time we were passing Loch Ewe it was time to put a reef in. We weren't going very fast over the ground because the wind really was coming from where were were trying to get, but it was too strong for comfort with full main. This was also the time of day of the strongest foul tide. On the north side of Loch Ewe we found we really couldn't make any headway at all. On one tack we were being pushed into the loch and on the other we were being dragged back towards Skye!

We could have anchored to wait for the tide but, as usual, we just put the engine on and motored to Greenstone Point. Once we were no longer embayed, we could turn the engine off again and sail into Loch Broom. That was our last tidal gate of the voyage!

I feel a little guilty we didn't take pictures in Loch Broom. Hopefully we will get another chance. The views, especially to the south and east are very special and different to any that can be had from the land.

The south side of the outer loch isn't very easy to work out what's where. Of course its easy with the chart plotter but I still had some difficulty matching the entrance to Little Loch Broom on the plotter with what I could see on the water.

By 6pm, the wind was dying, and even shaking the reef out couldn't make our predicted arrival time earlier than about 10pm. Alison had phoned the harbour and we knew we were expected so that wasn't a problem but we realised we had a mutual desire for some chips! I found that the Seaforth chip shop is the latest opening and it stops serving at 9pm. Time for the engine! In fact, the wind died completely less than 1/2 an hour after we started the engine so we didn't lose much sailing.

We'd been told to go onto the hammerhead as they weren't sure how much space there would be in the visitors area but as we came in we were guided to a finger. We tied up quickly and the engine went off at 12 minutes past 8. Plenty of time to get to the chip shop!

Only 2 miles from our final destination of Johnson and Loftus' yard.

Flowerdale

 We had two options:

• fix Worm and head to Ullapool
• fix Worm and have a day ashore
  

The day was set to be grey and perhaps wet but with favourable winds. A late departure would not be bad for the tides. So my head was for the first option. But neither of us were especially keen.

But first I needed to do something about Worm. She was taking on water through a gash in the garboard strake. This had almost certainly happened in the Crinan Canal. I put a new blade on the junior hacksaw and cut a pied of 8 mm ply to fit and glued it on the inside using Gorilla Glue. The instructions said to apply pressure for two hours. The only way to apply pressure was with weights but we needed to get the plank level. Propping it up against the electrical pillar with a bucket under the quarter just about worked. I put the anvil and the 5 l diesel can on top of the patch and hoped no-one would knock it off.

It all seemed to work. Once the initial 2 hour cure was over, I turned Worm over and filled the outside of the gash with putty. I didn't know if that would stay in place in the water but it wouldn't do any harm.

Then I filleted the remaining mackerel and we had those for lunch. A young herring gull could obviously smell the remains in the cockpit where I'd done the fillteting.

 

After lunch we went for a walk. The weather was better than expected and stayed dry.

 

Fishing, weed, and more Worm

After visiting the harbour master, the showers, and the co-op we turned the engine on and launched Worm from her upside down position on the pontoon. We could feel the effect of the tide as we motored out of Loch Alsh and under the Skye bridge at 09:10: 1 knot against us, and a lot of swirls in the water that made keeping Robinetta straight a challenge.

Once clear of the bridge we set “George” to work. Visibility was so poor that we could not see Skye, or the Crowlins, and George could steer straighter than any human in the flat seas. We were afraid that we would be motoring all the way to the Gairloch. There was a lot of weed floating in the water, and crab pots to dodge, but with George working this was a one person job. Letting the other stay below in the dry.

The drizzle was persistent until the cloud lifted a little just off the Crowlins. There were seals about, and Julian started thinking about trailing the mackerel line later. I thought that this would be a good spot to try, so we cut the engine revs until we were going at 2 knots. Our first haul of the line had one mackerel on it, that escaped the hook before we could bring it on board, but we managed to get another on our second try. There were dolphins about, more interested in hunting than in us, so we were not sure if we should try the line again, but they seemed to loose interest so Julian let it out again. This time we caught 3, and decided that would be enough for us.

About half an hour after throttling up the engine missed a beat, and I immediately came back to neutral. It kept going so I throttled back up again, but the engine would not come up to full revs. Going into reverse worked as expected, but in forward gear the engine was struggling. We seemed to have something round the prop.

Reversing did not clear it, and we could see weed trailing from the depth sounder. We can not reach the prop with the boat hook from on board, so we turned the engine off, leaving George to keep us heading as straight as possible on staysail and mainsail. We pulled Worm alongside, and I got in, noticing that there was more water in her than the drizzle could explain.

I unhooked the weed from the depth sounder, and also knocked off a big chunk of barnacles. Poking around this the long boat hook freed up the weed from the prop, and when I was certain I could not feel anything else to pull free I decided the job was done. I had had to sit in the bottom of Worm to reach low enough to reach the prop, so my sailing trousers were sodden, as were the jeans they were supposed to protect.

The water in Worm worried me, and I decided to bail her, and suggested getting the towing pump set up. Julian agreed, and while he was getting that out I bailed. Quite soon I noticed that there was water flowing in, though a gash in the plywood. When Worm was dry this gash was above her unladen waterline, but as soon as anything made her sit lower she would let in water. The mystery of why she almost swamped on the way to the Sound of Sleat was explained.

There was nothing we could do about the problem until we reached port, so we rigged the towing compression pump, making sure it would work properly. I came back on board, and we realised that George had been doing a good job of keeping Robinetta safe. There was even enough wind to sail slowly, so once we checked that I had indeed cleared the prop we set the sails properly for a run, and once I had got dry I took the helm while Julian cleaned two of the mackerel and cooked them for lunch.

After a slow, but quiet hour the wind had died and we decided we should get going again under motor. We set George to work again, but he kept jumping off the tiller, and we realised that the sea state had increased. That is what happens when sea state comes up gradually. People do not notice, but machines do. It also started to rain hard, and persistently.

By 15:33 the wind had risen enough to sail, this time coming from the North West and we turned the engine off, then in another 45 minutes we needed to reef. An hour later the reef came out, and the engine went on. And it was still raining.

We did get another hour’s sailing, in the rain, as we came round the headland and into the Gairloch, but we were both cold and wet, and glad to get the sails down and head for the Flowerdale pontoon. There were two yachts already in, so we moored up on the larger one, and got Worm onto the pontoon. The compression pump had been working, but there was still about 4 inches of water in her.

We tried hooking up the electric, but the nearest outlet needed a card to access it, and our cable would not reach the one designated for visitors. No electric heater to dry out the cabin! We retreated into Robinetta, and got out our Dometic Spirit heater. We have to keep a through draft going for this to burn safely, but it did warm up the cabin and dry it and us off, so we were glad of it.

No pictures were taken today, not even of the dolpins off the Crowlins.

Sound of Sleat to Kyle of Lochalsh

 After bailing Worm we carried on into the Sound of Sleat under motor. I looked up the Antares anchorages - there are more than I would have guessed and the Armadale ferry port had quite a lot of yachts on moorings.

Then I looked out for Sabhal Mòr Ostag, the gaelic college I went to summer school in in July. It overlooks the entrance to Loch Hourn.

This reminded me that I should have been getting registration emails for term 2. I looked and I'd missed them in mid-August! I spent the next hour (probably 1/2 hour!) sorting that and emailing the registation forms and requesting a link to pay and downloading the course materials. My first tutorial is on Monday!

We got some wind then and sailed a bit but it didn't last. Nearing Kylerhea we got dolphins. Probably the same pod we saw in Loch Hourn two years ago but they had a baby with them.

 

Even at neaps the tide took us up to 8 knots at times through Kylerhea. We were surprised to find this true well north of the narrows too.

We texted the Kyle of Lochalsh harbour master at the Kyles and he responded and said we should find be able to find a space on the visitor pontoon. Kyle of Lochalsh lost most of its eating places during Covid and hasn't recovered. My phone told me only the chinese takeaway and the pizza takeaway were operating and I fancied pizza.

We got there in time to order but he had a big backlog. He reluctantly agreed to add us to the end. This turned out to be good for him as he subsequently had a cancellation. A good pizza. New York style, so lots of cheese but very tasty.

Muck. Eigg, and Worm

 After rigging an LED lantern just above the boom as a riding light I set an anchor watch alarm on out chart plotter before heading to bed. That way I would be woken if we moved more than 30m. Given we had laid out 25m of chain we would have to be dragging! Having the chart plotter on overnight also meant I could see exactly where we were if I woke in the night.

The wind came up as expected, and Robinetta rolled a little, but we had chosen out anchorage carefully and she did not shift except to face into the wind. It was not an especially restful night; I wake frequently when at anchor, just like when I had babies to check on, even though I can normally sleep through anything! I woke fully at 06:30, our normal getting up time at home, and put the kettle on for tea.

Rhum from Gallanach

By 08:10 we were ready to warm up the engine. The wind was still blowing quite hard and I had to motor up to the anchor to help Julian break it out. The sun was shining and the decks were dry, which was nice.

South West pointof Eig

Julian had gone onto the foredeck at first to bend on the no 2 jib, but started hauling up the anchor as soon as the sail was hauled out on the bowsprit. That meant he still had a lot of foredeck work to do as I motored carefully out of the anchorage, following our inbound track.

We had decided to head up the west side of Eigg and the conditions as we headed for its shelter reinforced that. Holding Robinetta's head into the wind to raise sail was not easy and as soon as I tried to sail off with two rolls of reef in the main I wanted all the reef I could get.

We reached across the sound of Muck towards the shelter of the Sound of Rhum making 4 knots with the waves just abaft the beam. There are worse places to have them and only occasional splashes came over the bulwarks. I had to keep letting the main out to counter the weather helm. In other words I had the sails set wrong for the heading.

A trip boat out of Oban motoring towards Rhum

As we came closer to Eigg the swell decreased and I had an absolutely lovely 10 minutes on the helm. Julian went below to put the kettle on just as the hills and valleys of Eigg began to affect the wind. Gusts and calms abounded, but we managed to sail almost all the way up the west side if the island.

At this point the wind died. I thought it would come back as we cleared the north end of Eigg. but it was really gone, and we were under motor all the way to the Sound of Sleat. Julian suggested we try out the new tiller pilot mount, and we set "George" to work. He was on the helm most of the rest of the day.

When we left the anchorage I had noticed more water in Worm than I expected, but did not think much about it. By the time we were closing on the Skye coast she was floating much lower in the water than normal, with the bow pulled up much higher than normal. I remembered the water I had seen, and thought it might be a good idea to rig our dinghy pump, so I got Julian to pull her forward.

We realised she was practically awash, and taking on more water with every wave from astern. Julian put the engine in neutral, so we were only moving on reefed mainsail and staysail. We got Worm up alongside Robinetta and Julian held her bow down while I did some frantic bailing with a bucket. "George" ignored all the fuss, and kept Robinetta on course.

Ten minutes later Worm was dry enough to return to her normal buoyant self. It was a salutatory lesson that even Worm will not always stay dry. Once she takes any water more is likely to follow. It would be another day before we discovered what had caused the problem in the first place.

Heading north again

 We woke to hazy sunshine, with dew damp decks and sail covers, and enough condensation in the cabin ceiling to drip onto our sleeping bags. After a cup of tea I moped this up with J-cloths. We left the sleeping bags and dry bags out in the cabin to air: they had kept the sleeping bags dry, but were themselves very wet outside.

We took a walk up to the farm shop after breakfast, and bought some frozen diced lamb to make a stew for tonight, using the stew pack we had bought yesterday as flavouring. The honesty box system works well as the shop is always open.

We were back on Robinetta and warming up the engine by 08:45, and five minutes later our old lady was backing out of her berth without problems.

We got the sails up as soon as we were clear of the North Channel out of Oban Bay, but there was very little wind at first. Then it came in and we had a lovely 40 minutes sailing towards Lismore on flat seas. Such a difference from last Friday! As we closed with Lismore the wind dropped, and our speed fell to under 2 knots. We put the engine on to get through the channel between Lismore light and Lady Rock, as there was a ferry coming up behind us and we wanted to stay out of its way.

Julian had plotted a course all the way to Eigg where our arrival time varied between 22:00 and 04:00, so we were not going fast enough!

Once we were clear of Lismore (and two ferries) the wind came back up and we were able to sail at over 3.5 knots again with the engine off.

As we approached Glas Eleinanan we spotted Provident motoring towards us. We changed course to get closer and confirm our identification and she went head to wind to raise sail before we reached her. We passed within 30 yards of each other (definitely Provident), giving and receiving complements. Julian took some video of her raising sail.

 

From that point on we had a glorious day’s sailing, reaching/running goosewinged all the way up the Sound of Mull. We had the neap tide under us, and occasionally made over 6 knots, never dropping below 5 until we were past Tobermory at 14:30.

As we headed towards Ardnamurchan we saw two fine boats coming the other way. One was a lugger and the other a gaff-rigged yacht.

The noon Met Office forecast had some bad news for us. A strong wind warning, gusting up to force 6 from the South East in the small hours. This made our proposed anchorage at Eig much less attractive, and we decided to head for Gallanach Bay on the north west of Muck instead. This is totally protected from all wind except northerlies (when it is dangerous to enter.)

Ardnamurchan Point made a mere navigation point in the slight seas, although the wind did seem to follow us around it, keeping us stubbornly on the edge of a run when we expected to be reaching. However once we decided to go up the east side of Muck instead of the west we went onto a nice reach. I went below and browned the lamb before tipping in the pre-prepared stew pack, a glass of wine (from a bottle we opened over four weeks ago) and 2 of water. Once it came to the boil I turned it down to low, and left it alone.

Approaching Muck we could see a mess of boats between it and Eig. This resolved into a fish farm as we approached. We tried gybing to pass between the island and the farm, but Robinetta’s speed fell below 3 knots for the first time this afternoon. Given we were only 3 nm from our destination we decided to lower the mainsail and motor instead. There was plenty of room between the fish farm and the shore, but the orange “keep away” markers were quite small, and on very long floating lines that we were careful to avoid. Once round the north end of Muck the fish farm vanished behind us.

Once we were at the reefs that fringed Gallanach Bay we turned off our chart plotter pilotage, and Julian pulled up the Antares Charts on his phone. These are much more accurate than anything based on Admiralty plots. I prepared the anchor while Julian brought us through the reefs, and we anchored in 6m under the keel, with 25 metres of chain at 19:00.

Our stew was ready to eat, with succulent meat and thick sauce, full of barley and vegetables. Our only quibble would be that it was a little salty for our palate. A glass of wine, left over from our meal yesterday, and biscuits and cheese to follow all eated in the cockpit made a lovely end to the day. Once the sun fell below the horizon we went below to listen to the promenade concert. A lovely end to a lovely day.

New topping lifts

 I made new topping lifts on Wednesday. 6mm poly hemp instead of 8mm but I think it will be fine. Spliced the lazy jacks on starboard but left port alone.

Got to the boat about 2:30 and fitted them. On the port side I tied in butterfly knots and threaded the lazy jacks through with a stopper knot. This way, we can adjust them and disconnect them completely if needed.

Hauled Alison up the mast to fit them. All went very well. Let her down again.

Tightened the shrouds. Hopefully the garboards will work a little less.

Lovely meal at the Waypoint.

Most relaxing and optimistic day we’ve had in a long while.

Northward Progress proves impossible

 The weather looked problematic, but we thought we had a window to get as far north as Tobermory. Julian rigged a temporary port topping lift using the spare halyard then we went shopping and had lunch before leaving the marina just after 2pm.

Our aim was to get past Lismore and into the Sound of Mull once the tide was in our favour around 3pm.

Unfortunatey we did not get that far. The South West 4-6 in the forecast turned out to be a solid 6, and only 20 minutes after raising the fully reefed main sail we decided to bring it down again. Just after we lowered it, and before Julian could get a sail tie on the boom and gaff dropped lower:- the starboard topping lift had failed in a similar way to the port one yesterday.

Julian's jury rigged topping lift meant that the boom did not drop onto my head. however the laxy jack lines need noth topping lifts in place to work, so the just lowered sail was flopping all over the place. Julian managed to get it under control using sail ties but the swell made it very stressful.

We saw another gaffer coming towards us past Lismore. With sails on 2 masts, and setting 2 jibs she seemed overcanvassed to us, but showed the sea state in the Sound of Mull must be flatter than where we were. We thought this was was likely to be the Brixham trawler Provident, who runs charters in the area, but could not be sure. After passing us she went head to wind to lower her sails close in to Kerrera, but that island could not provide any shelter and she had problems staying head to wind while her sails were lowered, just like Robinetta!

Consulting our chart plotter we saw that we were making under 2 knots, and would be in the rough seas for at least another hour before reaching Lismore. Given the gear failure and the swell conditions we decided to turn back to Oban.

Our speed doubled immediately, and 40 minutes later we were moored up on the fuel dock at Kerrera Marina, We took 16 litres of fuel, then went to berth C11, being told we would need to move in the morning. Luckily the marina soon found us a berth we could stay in for longer and we moved Robinetta and Worm there there before heading up to the bar for a drink.

We met Douglas Cook on the pontoon and learnt that he is now employed there full time. Later, in the bar, we discovered that he is the nephew of an old University friend of ours. It is a small world.

We retired to Robinetta for dinner after our drink, and discussed what to do next. The sea state does not look like it will get better for several days, and we need to be at home by Wednesday ready to attend my Father's funeral on Thursday. The only sensible thing to do is head home, so we decided to leave Robinetta here for a week.

Dorus Mor and the Sound of Luing

 It was not raining this morning, so Julian got the drill out and fitted the tiller pilot mount. He also rigged a line along the reefed boom as a trial, not because he expected us to be using it today!

The lock keeper came along and asked for our plans, and we said we intended to lock out today and head for Oban. We through we should leave about noon to have the tide with us through the Dorus Mor, but another yacht was also heading out in that direction, and they had asked for an 11:00 lock out. We were happy to join them; Morning Star is a big charter yacht with a professional skipper so we both trusted his timing through the lock. We were released together into the sea at 11:20. The sea state was noticeable but would normally be described as slight, but the wind was strong enough that we only wanted the staysail up until we were through the Dorus Mor. It was pretty much slack water between the islands and I did not even notice swirls on the water. A pussy cat of a passage!

Once clear of the Dorus Mor we got the mainsail up, reefed as small as it would go. However even with this little sail I could not hold Robinetta on course and after 20 minutes trying we dropped the main sail and went back to engine and staysail. While doing this the port topping lift failed. Luckily the starboard one held and we were able to safely stow the main sail. The just rigged "preventor" line came in handy for keeping the boom centered, and I was very glad Julian had thought of it.

Julian had plotted us a course through Cuan Sound, as it would offer us maximum protection from the swell. This meant heading up the East side of Luing then doing a lot of heading changes past Torsa. With the wind as it was and the strengthening tide I suggested changing to the simpler passage up the Sound of Luing. We would get similar protection from the waves and have much more sea room if anything went wrong with the engine. Julian agreed and we had a pleasant trip up the sound with the tide.

Coming out past Fladda was an experience. Suddenly we had the full Atlantic swell with a force 5 westerly wind driving it. Robinetta did not enjoy having this on her beam (neither did her crew) as we headed east to clear the Bogha Ghair shoal, but we coped and Robinetta was a whole lot more stable once we could head more into the waves. We only needed to do this for long enough to be able to put the waves on Robinetta's stern and head straight between Inch and Siel, aiming for Kerrera Sound.

Once past Inch the sea state was less extreme, with a longer pitch, and the wind was right behind us. This was not a good place to try raising the mainsail, but we unfurled the jib and goose winged it with the stay sail. The set up proved stable, so we turned the engine off and ran towards Kerrera Sound doing 4.5 to 5 knots over the ground.

Once we entered the Sound the jib became unstable, so we furled it, but were still making over 3 knots on the tide and staysail all the way to Oban's transit marina on the North Pier pontoons. We had thought about taking one of the community moorings, but they did not look especially calm as we went through them.

We took the first berth we came to, right next to Morning Star, whose skipper came and helped us moor up. They had passed us in Kerrera Sound, having stopped for lunch at Easdale. Morning Star is twice Robinetta's length, but her skipper still described the swell conditions leaving Easdale sound as "interesting".

The six hour trip from Crinan had shown us very varied in sea state, but the wind was a pretty constant top end 5-6. This is right at the top end of what is safe for Robinetta, especially since we are heading north for overdue repairs.

We finished the day with fish and chips, then a tourist ceilidh at The View on Oban high street, which was fun.

A wet day in Crinan Basin

 Julian did a little playing with the electronics and finsihed the tiller pilot mount he was making, but did not fit it, as that would have meant drilling in to the cockpit in the rain.

He also had an idea for rigging a line along the boom so we could hook our accidental gybe preventer on it when reefed. It was just too wet to do much, and I spent the day reading.

Why were we just sitting there? The met office forecast says it all.

Valid from 06:00 UTC 21st August.

Mull of Kintyre to Ardnamurchan point.

South or South West 6-6 increasing 6 to gale 8, veering West or North West 4-6 later. Moderate or rough, becoming rough of very rough. Rain

+24 hours. West or North west 4-6 occasionally 7 in north, backing South West 3-5 later. Rough or Very rough, becoming moderate of rough later.

Crinan Basin shenanigans

The weather reports of gales on Wednesday meant that we did not want to leave the canal before we had to, so our goal for today was just to get to the Crinan Basin. We woke to a grey sky, and wanted porridge for breakfast, but we had half an hour of bright sunshine at 8 a.m. so we went for a walk along the towpath.

The locks needed purging before they could be used, so we knew we would not be on our way before 9. By 08:45 it had clouded over again, and we put our damp wet weather gear on  before setting off down the last two Dunardry Locks in the rain.

The canal organization seemed impeccable. We were warned that we might need to wait for the two bridges to be lifted as the bridge keeper was doing water quality checks, but he appeared to swing the first bridge before we had time to moor up, and he was ready and waiting at the second. Here he warned us that there were two yachts heading our way in the narrowest part of the canal, but that this meant the Crinan Basin top lock would be ready and waiting for us.

We passed the two yachts and continued on our way, only to see the lock gates close as we rounded the sharp corner on the approach. This caused us a huge problem. The waiting basin seemed full of yachts, giving us very little space to turn around. The lady closing the gates seemed surprised to see us, and vanished down towards the bottom gate rather than reopen the top one.

Julian maneuvered Robinetta with great care, but Worm is always a a problem when reversing in tight spaces and it was a fraught five minutes before we were round and heading back up the canal, rather shaken. We had cleared the concrete abutments with inches to spare, but we did discover a nasty scrape in Robinetta's paintwork later. Julian suggested dropping me off at the first pontoon with space while he turned Robinetta and headed back to the lock. This is not seem sensible to me, and his plan was cancelled with we saw the lady from the lock walking fast along the towpath towards us.

We moored up and chatted to the lock lady. She had not known we were coming, and apologised for closing the lock. We would have to wait about an hour before she could open it again as it was already being reset to allow another two yachts up from the basin.

We agreed to wait where we were until the lock cycled and we saw two yachts coming past us. It was only 11:40, but the sun was shining again and we decided to take advantage and have an alfresco lunch in the cockpit. No sooner did we have everything out than it started raining again...

By 13:00 Robinetta was moored up in Crinan Basin, with Worm ashore and upside down. Heavy rain with occasional sunny minutes continued all afternoon. Our mooring spot was too far from the electric to reach it, we had no phone signal, or usable wi-fi. Julian got quite depressed since we knew the weather would keep us in port until Thursday morning.

Stretching our legs between rain showers took us to the sea lock, where we spotted that the yacht coming in was another Heard 28, like Capraia. We knew this one too. Oystercatcher of Glenarm had attended the Oban OGA rally we organised last year, and as well as Mike the skipper her crew was another friend, Kevin. We spent the rest of the day socialising in the Crinan Hotel, having a fine meal in the bar.

When Oystercatcher entered the lock there had been a large Finnish yacht close behind. They did not want to enter the basin, and moored up outside on a concrete jetty. The swell increased as the evening drew on and she was pitching and rolling dangerously where she was. The sea lock is always left open at night, to allow yachts to take refuge, so we walked over to advise them to come in. They took our advice and we helped them moor up in the lock before heading back to our respective boats.

Bad news and Bad weather

 I was woken in the small hours by a text from my sister. My father, who had been in hospital for several weeks, had just died. This was not unexpected, but I found it difficult to get back to sleep again, and was more than ready to get up at 6. 

Our aim for the day was to get into the Crinan Canal, and as far along as possible. There was heavy weather forecast and we expected to take refuge in the Crinan basin until Thursday until it blew through.

The weather was forecast to worsen as the day went on, so we replaced yesterday's no.1 jib with the no.2 to balance a reefed down main better. Julian got the main sail cover off and rigged the peak halyard, then did all the foredeck work. He asked me to check, and everything looked good, but after we left the shelter of the harbour and raised the main sail we discovered that he had run the peak halyard on the wrong side of the topping lift; a first time ever error. The peak halyard block got jammed in the topping lift, so we had to release the topping lift, which let the gaff fall into the cockpit. All this while fishing boats came past on their way to work...

By 08:10 all the jams were sorted and we sailed out of the harbour approaches with 1 roll of reef on the main. The entrance to the canal at Ardrishaig is almost due north of Tarbert, and the wind was almost due south, and rather than running up Loch Fyne we broad reached across it, with the swell just aft of the beam. Once we reached the Eastern side of the Loch we tacked round rather than gybing, using the time we were head to wind to roll more sail round the boom so we were reefed all the way down.

Our next reach took us a long way up the Loch, with Robinetta reveling in the conditions. Her transom stern is designed for waves from astern and she rose to them perfectly. We kept this tack most of the way to the next fish farm, only needing to gybe again once Big Rock was well astern. Unfortunately after the gentle roll of the waves beneath us on the other board heading across the waves felt very unpleasant. I had taken the helm after the gybe but handed it back to Julian after 20 minutes, and he kept it until it was time to get the sails down and enter Ardrishaig Harbour.

I called up the harbour master on VHF channel 74 and was answered immediately. He told me to go on to the waiting pontoon, but called us up again as we rounded the harbour wall and told us to go straight into the lock, which was ready for us. We entered the lock at 11 a.m, exactly when Julian had booked us to enter!

I was glad to be in there as the boats on the pontoon were rocking uncomfortably despite the harbour walls. Once we were raised to canal height the lock keeper told us we would he there for an hour before he could swing the bridge and let us into the canal basin. We spent the time stowing Robinetta's sails and tidying up the rig for the canal passage as well as having a cup of soup for an early lunch.

Two big yachts were waiting to come out of hte canal and as soon as they were released from Crinan Lock no 2 the lock keeper swung the bridge to let us out of the sea lock, and them enter it.Out three yachts did a careful dance in the basin, with Robinetta ending up entering Crinan Lock no 2 and the other yachts safely through the bridge.

In the summer months the Crinan Canal employs extra staff, and all the locks were manned. On all our previous transits we had been in a convoy, but this time we traveling in solitary style. Much less jockeying for position and worrying about Worm wandering around in each lock, but our passage would have been very slow with just Julian to work the locks.

As we rose up through locks 2,3, we crossed paths with the Atalanta we had met three weeks before in Ardrossan. They had got their engine sorted and been cruising north, but were now heading south again. We were also spotted by some OGA friends. Patrick, the ex OGA president and his wife were heading south in their Heard 28, Capraia. We stopped at the waiting pontoon at the top of Lock 4 and had a good chat. Patrick had come up from Wales along the West Coast or Ireland and the weather had not been kind to him. Capraia would be wintering in Glasgow before heading back to Wales next season, although Patrick said that the sailing had been so bad he was not sure he wanted another year of it!

Once we got going again we headed along the canal to Cairnbaan where we moored up on the waiting pontoon in the rain. We would have gone to the hotel for a drink, but it had shut down after COVID, and never reopened. The original hotel building still looks in decent condition, but the 1970s extension to the dining room is now derelict. 

Two yachts were heading down the flight, and at first the lock keeper suggested we wait until they were all the way down, but then changed his mind and let us enter the lower lock and raised it up. This meant he would only need to swing the bridge once to let us out, and the 2 yachts in. The lock/bridge keepers were very careful to impede the road traffic as little as possible.

At the top of the Cairnbaan flight we were asked how far we wanted to go. Our answer of "As far as possible", got us to the middle of the Dunardry flight of locks with two people manning the flight top speed things up. There is a pontoon, shower, and toilet at this position, and it was a good place to stop. We moored up there in the rain at 17:15 and the lock keepers headed home.

We shut the cabin door against the rain and the midges and had an early dinner of spagetti carbonara, before settling down for the night. We were relatively cosy on Robinetta, although we regretted not hauling Worm ashore and inverting her!

Getting back into the swing of things

I woke up at 6 a.m, and since Julian was also awake we put the kettle on the stove to heat for tea. By 07:20 we had the engine on and warming up ready to leave the marina.

As soon as we were clear of the entrance channel we went head to wind and raised the main sail, leaving in a couple of rolls of reef even though we still had the no 1 jib up. The sail balance worked as we beat down the Clyde in rather rolly seas, but the wind was light enough that Julian shook all the reef out within 20 minutes. %0 minutes later the reef went back in as the wind strength increased and we furled the job away.

The sea state increased as we approached Toward Point, and we had to keep an eye on the regular ferries on the Wemys Bay to Rothsay route. We needed the engine on to help us cope with steering in the gusts as we rounded Toward Point.

Once we were clear of Toward and approaching the entrance to Loch Striven we could sail again. The view up the Loch was marred by one of the ugliest fish farms I have seen, but looking back once we were past it the whole mess vanished into the background of the Cowal peninsula.

Half an hour later we were back under engine in the East Kyle, motoring straight into the wind while a fleet of yachts ran towards us. These were mostly under genoa alone and we suspected we had encountered a race as few of them flew ensigns. A careful watch ahead kept us clear of the approaching yachts, and we were lucky with our timing at Colintrave as the ferry docked before we got close, and only started to move again once we were past.

There were still yachts heading towards us, but they were coming through the South channel past the Burnt Isles where the tide was weaker. With the tide under us we headed for the narrower North channel. As we approached this a motor yacht headed into it, but with its greater speed it was past us before we entered the narrowest part, with only its wash to cause potential problems.

I had hoped to sail as soon as we turned south into the West Kyle, but the head wind came round with us, and it was not until we were passing the moorings at Tighnabruich that the wind became usable. I had gone below for a rest when I heard Julian taking the reef out and unfurling the jib. Then the engine went off and we sailed down the west Kyle all the way to Ardlamont Point. The sea was flat and Robinetta romped along at between 5.5 knots and hull speed. Julian on the helm had a lovely time, and I relaxed.

Leaving the West Kyle to enter Loch Fyne was not so relaxing. Three tidal streams were fighting for dominance, and beyond the protection from Ardlamont Point the force 5 wind was kicking up a wicked sea with a long fetch. It was jib away, engine on, and reef the main again. 

We had a destination to reach, but a yacht that had sailed down the West Kyle behind us turned back into its shelter rather than fighting to pass the Aldlamont Cardinal. 

Conditions moderated once the tidal streams smoothed out and we were able to turn the engine off and reach up Loch Fyne without problems, although we kept the reef in. By 17:45 we were moored up on the visitor pontoon in East Loch Tarbert after a very varied day's sailing, and after tidying Robinetta up and getting the sail covers on we went looking for dinner. 

A local suggested the Star Fish restaurant, and they were able to offer us a table, although by the time we finished eating every table was full. The food was very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A glass of wine would have been lovely but had to refrain as I was still on antibiotics that said "no alcohol".

Kip

 We set off bang on high water at 11 am, and took the first of the ebb through the narrows.

It had been drizzling a little on the row out to the mooring, but it was dry now and the sun was making an attempt at an appearance. We got the main up by Rhu with quite a deep reef and immediately felt the strength of the wind.

All was good until we came out into the Clyde. The sea state was worse than we had expected and we put the jib away while we got used to things.

There were several racy looking wooden yachts around and we guessed they must be 8m class boats from the sail mark. Beautiful. And so nice of them to come out to give us a send off 🥴.

Robinetta was having more fun than I was on the helm and she persuaded me to put the jib back out, which made things much better.

We had a cracking beat out of the river and down past Dunoon but it was tiring. After 2 1/2 hours on the helm I needed a break and it was reasonably calm so Alison took over but she only managed 40 minutes. She is still very weak from the quinsy. It was obvious that our original goal of the Kyles of Bute was too far in a strong southerly with the crew not at their best.

So we went into Kip Marina. It’s too near home for us to visit normally, so we haven’t been here since we chartered on the Clyde many years ago. And then, we only popped in to drop Alison’s parents off. They had come for a day sail, joining at Great Cumbrie.

10 miles is a very short distance, but it was the right amount for today.

Homeward bound

 After a shore day visiting relatives by train from Ardrossan we were ready to head home. The forecast was for a good sailing wind and a mostly dry day, but first we had to get showers and shop for lunch. On the way back to Robinetta we had a quick look round the marina, and found two yachts to drop OGA leaflets on. One, Grey Seal, was already on the register but without a photo, so Julian took care of that.

Next was filling up with diesel, and we motored over to the fuel dock. There was an interesting yacht moored up there; the Fairy Atalanta was designed by Uffa Fox, and heavily influenced by the lifeboats he built in WW2. This one had been rescued after 20 years ashore in Ullapool, and just had a reconditioned 1GM10 fitted. This had overheated on leaving harbour, so the owner had sensibly returned back to Ardrossan where she had been launched the day before.  After an exchange of information about what could go wrong with a 1GM10 we were ready to head out of harbour ourselves, but were warned. "It's a bit rough out there."

They were not wrong. Robinetta pitched and rolled violently in the entrance channel, and we could not go head to wind to get the main up to steady her as there was a ferry coming towards us and a reef blocking the way we wanted to go. We passed port to port with the Isle of Arran with plenty of searoom, but it seemed to take a long time to get clear of the reef.

Julian had put the no1 jib on before we left harbour at 11:50. This now seemed too large, but there was no way either of us wanted to go to the foredeck to change it! We got the main sail up, reefed down to the second cringle, and that balanced well with the staysail. As soon as we turned on to our course to pass between Little Cumbrae and the Ayrshire coast everything seemed to calm down as the seas rolled under us, and we stopped the engine at 12:19 and began to enjoy the day.

We always have the radio tuned to channel 16, and heard ferry Isle of Arran calling up the coastguard. One of the passengers had seen an empty kayak and reported it to the crew. A tense few minutes followed as the ferry turned round to retrace its route, then found and recovered the kayak. So far as anyone could tell it had been lost from the shore, and there had been no one on board at any time. The lifeboat was stood down, and the ferry went back on its route, at least half an hour late, having done exactly the right thing. This is a sort of drama that does not get widely reported but was interesting to hear.

An hour later we were almost becalmed in the lee of the Cumbrae islands. The sea was flat, and the wind very light. Julian is still not very well, and spent all his off watch time asleep, sometimes dozing off in the cockpit. I let him sleep for 15 minutes as we drifted before waking him by putting the engine on. Half an hour of motoring brought Robinetta half way up the east coast of Great Cumbrae, where we found the wind again. We should really have shaken the reefs out at that point, but somehow she seemed balanced even with the no 1jib, and the helming was easy so they stayed in until 16:15 when Julian took the helm. We let half of the reef out then, then all of it half an hour later, to head up the Clyde in fine style on a very broad reach.

The wind stayed helpful all the way to the Rhu Narrows, then died. With the tide under us we were able to put off turning the engine on even as we prepared to get the main sail down. This did not want to come as the gaff saddle was caught around one of the topping lifts, but eventually we got it stowed, and picked up the mooring at 20:35.

It had felt like a long day on the water but we were only under way for just over 8 hours. Most of that was sailing, under a variety of conditions. A full on day with plenty of interest!

Tidying up Robinetta after a fortnight away took a little while, but we were back ashore by 22:00. We will he heading off again in two weeks, for a three week trip north to Ullapool. Here's hoping for some gentle winds!

Another day of motoring

We wanted to make the most of the tide up the Mull of Galloway. This turned in our favour at 08:30, which was not too early, but did mean leaving before any of our friends from the night before were stirring. I dashed to the shop for milk and the makings of lunch, and we got away just gone nine.

Another day of steady motoring ensued, this time with a slight wind from the South. We did not bother raising the main today, and once again Julian slept whenever he was not on watch. He was on watch mid afternoon when the engine suddenly failed. A quick check of the fuel tanks revealed that the cut off valve in one of the fuel tanks for closed itself, and the other had run dry. We filled the tank from our cans, but had to bleed the air out of the engine. This was my job with Julian feeling the way he did, but he found the relevant pages in Nigel Caulder, and told me what to do.

After a couple of false starts the fuel was flowing again, and we left Ailsa Craig astern.

Bird life was abundant on the water. Rafts of Guillemots with their just fledged chicks, with the occasional razerbill and Puffin for variety. Gannets, herring and lesser black back gulls were also highly visible. I saw a big seal, which seemed very interested in us, staying on the surface and staring as we motored past, and the usual indifferent harbour porpoises cruised around. The most interesting “encounter” occurred in the distance. A whale sized splash attracted my attention, and a minutes later there was another one, this time with a cetacean coming fully out of the water. While it could have been a dolphin it looked much bigger given the distance. Julian did some online research and found that Northern Bottle Nosed Whales were known to exhibit this behavior in the Clyde. This is not a species we have seen before, or are common in now.

We reached Ardrossan harbour while we still had light, and I got the foresails stowed and ropes and fenders prepared in the approaches. I can called the Marina earlier, and knew to go onto Pontoon F, just inside the harbour, and take any vacant berth. However the pontoons were not labelled which made things more difficult! The first obvious vacant berth had me moving the fenders rather than searching for a port side berth I had set up for, and someone came to help us moor up. He was excited to meet us, saying “Is this the famous Robinetta?” It turns out that he has one of my books on his kindle, and I invited him on board to see her.

Our berth was just across the pontoon finger from an old gaff yawl with Albert Strange lines. There was no one on board when we arrived, but we could see the name Redwing, and we found her on the Boat Register. She turns out to be owned by a current Scottish OGA member we had never met (he lives in England). James and his crew (also a James) appeared back on board just as we were settling down, and we came out on deck and had a chat before inviting them below for a dram. Another convivial OGA evening ensued. Two in a row!

Heading north in calm weather

We had been checking the weather carefully, as we needed to head home after the weekend, and it looked as though the wind would be a bit strong on Friday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. That made us wonder if we should head home early, and give Sails and Sounds a miss. Julian worked from boat yesterday, while I took a bus trip to Newtownards to get some laundry done. He was meant to do the same today, but he woke up with a very sore throat and a stinking cold; in no fit state to work.

We decided it made sense to start heading north today, as while Julian had no mental energy he was up to helming in the windless conditions we expected. We wanted to get diesel which meant a walk to the local filling station with our cans. The 16 litres went straight into Robinetta’s tanks, and Julian decided he was up to another walk to get more while I went to get my pre-booked haircut.

The tide to leave Portaferry started in our favour at 10:30, but we were not ready to leave until 12:20 and the tide was running strongly through the marina. I made a mess of backing Robinetta out of her berth, and had to go back in and try again. Luckily there was no boat beside us and I did not hit anything, although it was far from an elegant exit.

The tide was running hard through the narrows, and we could see the named whirlpool, the Routen Wheel, in motion. We stayed well clear, but there were minor rosts all over the surface trying to take us off course and we were making 7-8 knots over the ground.

What wind there was was coming from the North West, meaning any overfalls were slight, and we were soon clear of the Lough. We had the tide in our favour for an hour, but after that it was a steady motor at 3.5-4 knots in a straight line to Portpatrick. We got the main sail up, but there was no wind to fill it. The sun was out, the air was warm, and the sea state smooth. Motoring for hours on end is not really our thing, but with no way to mount our autohelm we were hand steering the whole time. We took hour and hour about, with Julian sleeping to recover between shifts.

We got the unused mainsail down and neatly stowed, then began to add clothes as darkness fell, with Julian piling on the layers, even when below.

Entering a harbour in the dark is always an interesting exercise, but we did have a cheat for Portpatrick, having been there only the week before. Our previous track was still on our chartpotter and I could follow it in with confidence until we were close enough to use my eyes.

Once we were in the inner harbour I looked round for the best berth. There was only one yacht in, which had taken the berth we used last week, but the one behind it was just as good. I heard a call from the quay side, warning me about a big black buoy. This distracted me enough that I had to make my approach again, but this was not a problem. There were young teenagers on the quay with their father, and they took our shore lines so we did not have to climb the ladder. There was also a call from the yacht “Are you OGA?”

It turns out that the yacht, and the grandchildren, belonged to a Dublin Bay OGA member. We were invited on board for a dram and stayed until after midnight. They were heading South, to Portaferry for Sails and Sounds before returning to their home port.

A decent sail at last!

We left Peel at 7am. The wind was very light in the harbour and I changed up to the No. 1 jib. Probably the wrong place to make the decision but it turned out to be a good one.

We got the sails up in the outer harbour, near the visitor's buoys and headed straight out. It's roughly 28 nm to the edge of Strangford Lough and just a little north of west. We didn't want to get there until the tide turned in our favour, but being late wouldn't be too much of a problem.

The forecast was for southerly winds, maybe with some west in them, F5 at first and then dropping.

That turned out to be pretty accurate and, once clear of St Patrick's Isle we had rather more than we needed with all plain sail. But a deep reef in the main went in really easily and we let the staysail halyard off and the boat balanced nicely. The sea state was a bit lumpy but nothing to knock us back and Robinetta set herself in the groove at around 4½ knots. After an hour, I took the helm from Alison and felt the wind had dropped enough to set the staysail properly again and we carried on as a proper cutter. We took turns hour on hour all the way across. The sea state was worst near Man and was pretty flat after that.

In the middle, a cargo ship came south doing a very good impression of being on a collision course. We watched and watched and it looked like we might pass ahead of her but wisdom prevailed and I came off the wind to pass her port-to-port and go behind. We got and returned friendly waves with the crew on the bridge. It was really close!

Then we had a little rain - several dozen drops. After that the wind dropped a fair bit and we shook the reefs out of the main. It really was a cracking sail all the way.

The timing worked out perfectly as well. As we got to the Strangford Lough safe water mark we saw a yacht coming out on the last of the ebb but we never felt the tide against us. In fact the same yacht turned around and came back in again with us.

We hit about 7½ knots coming through the Routen Wheel, on almost a dead run with the tide strengthening under us and then put the engine on as we got near the twin beacons of Gowland's rock and Salt Rock. We could stem the tide easily so our speed must have been wind as much as tide powered. We got the sails down and motored into the marina. As expected, the marina didn't respond on either VHF or phone, but we got a grand welcome anyway and were helped in to a berth.

The best sail so far this year. That's what passage making should be like. None of this motoring into headwinds.

Time in port

Having arrived in the small hours of Tuesday morning I spent the next couple of  days relaxing and attending the Yn Chruinnaght music festival. Julian however was busier. The Peel chandler did have an appropriate bilge pump; it was even the direct replacement for our old one. However the design had changed slightly so there was work to be done to fit it in place so the pipe work did not leak. The one we had ordered online also arrived, so now we have a spare for the next time the pump goes.

When we switched on the running lights while heading to Peel the port one did not come on. At under 7m we are not legally required to have anything except on all round white, but it is better to have the full set. The connector had corroded, but Julian easily fixed this by shortening the power lead and using gel crimps to connect the lamp and the power. Of course this means we will need to cut the lead to remove the lamp, but at least it now works.

We plan to leave Peel on a 7am bridge lift on Monday morning, after all the festivities are over. Meanwhile we have enjoyed our holiday here!

A late start instead

 Monday dawned very damp, not that I noticed. I was laid up in bed with a migraine which did not begin to lift until nearly 10. I was in no fit state to head out, even though Julian did suggest we could leave at moon and be in Peel in time for the overnight flapgate lowering. However after a wander round Portpatrick in the drizzle I was beginning to feel better, and agreed we could head out, as long as Julian did not expect me to do anything except helm.

We cleared the harbour by 12:30 and set off down the coast. The tide was against us, but a gentle North West breeze meant it was worth getting the sails up. The drizzle faded, and the sun came out for the first time this trip. Even though the chart plotter was predicting we would not reach Peel until 8am I phoned Peel and said we could be arriving for the overnight opening of the flapgate, and they gave us a berth number so we knew where we should tie up. By 17:00 we were at the south end of the Mull, with wind over tide, but not much wind, and a slackening tide so while we noticed the overfalls they were simple to navigate.

Julian was pumping out the bilges every hour, and there was never too much to do. It helped that there was no rain.

A large pod of common dolphins came past, seemingly in hunting mode although they did play around Robinetta for about 5 minutes.

Once the tide turned in our favour we were making a steady 4.5 knots, touching 5 occasionally, and our predicted arrival time came down to 03:30, when the flap gate would be closing. We needed some time in hand, and we got it, arriving in Peel bay at 24:30. A VHF call to Peel Harbour master (answered by Douglas as Peel only works between 9 and 5) had them lifting the bridge for us and checking we knew where we were going. They had been briefed on Robinetta’s arrival, which felt very efficient. We were tied up with engine off by 0053, and as soon Julian secured Worm to the pontoon we got the bed out and crashed.

03:30 is the new normal

Another early start, with the alarm at 03:30 and us coming off the mooring at 04:30. Visibility was poor, and the drizzle did not help us feel enthusiastic for the trip, but by 05:00 we turned the engine off and with the full main, no 1 jib and staysail were sailing happily at 4-5 knots towards the East side of Holy Isle. Of course some of that speed came from the tide, but the wind was in our favour for the moment, and the rain had stopped.

We cleared Holy Isle and headed towards Ailsa Craig, with increasing swell making helming more difficult. When I took the helm at 07:00 I felt distinctly overpowered. I asked for a reef and we turned the engine on to help hold Robinetta head to wind. It fired up as usual, but when Julian put it straight into gear it faltered, then died. Julian put the reef in, without needing the engine, and when we pressed the starter again to check it came on without problems so we did not know what the problem had been. We still had the no1 jib, but rather than changing jibs we lowered and lashed down the staysail to balance the sail plan, which worked beautifully.

Holding the track to leave Ailsa Craig to port was impossible, and soon we were heading well east of it, but at least we were sailing. When Julian came back up at 08:30 he wanted the reef out, so I did that, and unlashed the staysail before going below for a sleep.

It is amazing what half an hour of shut eye can do for alertness levels and an hour is even better. When I came back on deck at 09:45 we were sailing happily along at 3 knots, making 4 in gusts. We were well off our straight line to Corsewall point (the northern tip of the Mull of Galloway) but it did not really matter.

The weather was still pretty gray, only one other yacht was visible, coming up relatively fast behind us, but it was not too bad a sailing day. I went below to write up the log, and before I came up a call came for us on channel 16. Styanna, the yacht behind us, wanted a chat, and when we went onto channel 72 we discovered that one of the crew was the skipper of Hanako, whose mooring lay north of ours at Clynder. He took pictures of us, and I took pictures of them, then we parted company since Styanna is considerably faster than Robinetta.

By 10:45 we were 5nm east of out best track, so we put in a tack before I took the helm. We were virtually going back on our track as the wind had gone very light, so I turned the engine on at 10:55. It then stayed on all day, but we were motor sailing, not just motoring.

Ailsa Craig remained stubbornly visible, and it still felt as though it were ahead of us at 14:00. A coaster carrying unknown cargo came round the south end, and it seemed as though it had seen us. At any rate they were a long way away. The next thing we knew they had turned, and their bow now pointed straight at us. We tacked away, grumbling about inconsiderate commercial vessels.

I don’t know if it was because the incident threw me, but when I glanced down through a slot in Robinetta’s floorboards it seemed as though there was water sloshing around in the bilges just below the floor level. I pressed the bilge pump button and nothing happened, so I went on deck and opened the locker to use the manual bilge bump. No water came out. Julian went below to check m if the water really was there, and the bilges were practically dry. The adrenalin hit left me shattered, but there was a more important issue to address, Why had the automatic bilge pump not responded when I pressed it? The fuse was the first thing to check, and it had blown, but replacing it did not make the pump work.

Bilge pumps do not last forever, and when we left Liverpool for Peel back in 2017 we had had the same situation. Using the manual bilge pump every hour when under way kept us safe then, and would do the same for us now, but Julian immediately went on the internet and ordered a new pump to be delivered to Peel Harbour Office. We expected that the chandlers in Peel would have one we could buy, but having a spare felt like a good idea.

We reached Corsewall Point an hour after the tide turned in our favour. This was just as well as the wind was now on the nose, and the sails could not help us. Progress down the coast was rapid, and on reading up the pilot book we learnt that the tide set fast across Portpatrick harbour entrance. That meant we would need to be close in on our approach.

Julian got the main sail down in some very lumpy seas so we would not have to worry about the wind direction as we headed into the harbour, then we closed with the coast. I had a very clear memory of the surrounding reefs, but Julian kept urging me to head in even closer. In the end I screamed at him to be quiet and let me concentrate. (I did apologise later). We entered harbour with no other drama, at 20:20, and found an empty berth against the wall which we tied up to as quickly as we could. Then we stripped off our sodden outer layers, and headed up the harbour ladder towards the Crown Inn. Would they still be serving dinner?

When asked the bar man smiled, and said last orders for food was 20:45, but since it was only 20:44 we were in luck. A fine seafood dinner made a great end to a long day. Julian checked the weather, and it looked as though Tuesday would be a good day to head south, so maybe we could have a day in Portpatrick to recover from 2 early starts.