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!