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.