All plans change with the weather. The OGA rally dinner on Friday was a great success, only one person who booked failed to get there, and his place was taken by a single handed sailor of a Wylo called Matthew.
However the weather on Saturday and Sunday meant that no on the water activities were sensible, and the band expected to play on Saturday evening cancelled. With an eye on the weather ahead the rally dispersed on Saturday morning, to head home north or south. We left Kerrera on 09:20, heading for Croubh, or Ardfern, or Crinan, depending on how the day went.
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| Sequoiah in Kerrera Sound |
Sequoiah was going to head north for the Caledonian Canal, but she sailed south down Kerrera Sound with us. We were motor sailing, with very little wind, but it was just about worth unfurling the jib as we sailed in company, taking photos of each other before Sequoiah turned back.
We worked out that we should be able to make Crinan before the lock keepers stopped working, and we would have a favourable tide the whole way. I phoned Crinan, and they said they had room for us, although we might need to raft up. So we settled down to make sure we kept up at least 4 knots.
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| Sender II |
This is a short passage, but full of rocks and mooring buoys to avoid. We went through without problems. As we aimed for Cuan Sound we noticed 2 Bermudan yachts behind us. They were sailing hard, beating into the wind across Easdale Bay, and we soon realised they intended to sail into Cuan Sound. We lowered the engine revs to let the first one get past us before entering the Sound. We were worried that having them tacking ahead of us could make it difficult to avoid them in the narrow channel, but this did not happen as they sped ahead.
Julian was keeping a careful eye on them, and saw how the wind caught them as they turned to pass Cleit Rock, and decided we should reef. This worked perfectly, and we were reefed well down as we came off the wind on turning west of the Cleit rock. We got the jib out, and throttled back, and sailed at 7 knots with the tide under us towards the north end of Torsa. This was the only part of our trip where we were not sailing as close to the wind as possible, and it was over all too soon.
The second yacht came past before we reached the end of Torsa, and was well clear before we turned back onto the wind, heading for Shuna Sound. Another 3 yachts came round the north of Torsa as we watched, and we thought they must be racing. We were not, so we furled our jib, and fully reefed the main sail as the wind became very strong in the gusts. Drizzle turned into rain as we left Shuna Sound, and by the time we were heading for the Dorus Mor it became torrential.
Luckily the sea state stayed slight, nothing to cause Robinetta problems, and we were well up to time on our ETA at Crinan. The strengthening wind caused Robinetta to heel, and I was having to round up to spill wind in the gusts, so we got the main sail down 2 miles north of the Dorus Mor.
Motorsailing on staysail alone got us through the Dorus Mor at 2 knots. The favourable tide was slackening, and the wind was on the nose, but once we were through the narrow passage we could come off the wind slightly and sped up again.
By the time we reached the sea lock at Crinan we were soaked through and cold. Luckily there were two lock keepers waiting to take our lines. They needed patience. I had tied a 5m and a 10 m line together to they would be long enough in the lock as we were close to low water, but I had not tied the stern lines together well enough, and it came apart when Julian threw it. We lost the black line. Meanwhile I was totally failing to throw the bow line high enough until the lock keeper extended a boat hook, which I managed to reach.
Once we were tied on at the bow I headed back to the cockpit, and tied another line on to the stern, Julian was justifiably unhappy with my ineptitude as he fended us off from the other side of the lock with the boat hook.
It took me two goes to get the stern line onto the boat hook, but we were finally secured.
Once Robinetta was floating at the height of the basin Julian went to pay for the transit, and get the codes for the toilets. The lock keeper grumbled that we had not told them about the bowsprit and Robinetta would not fit where they had planned, so I got the bowsprit in, which was the first time I had done it in a while. It did not want to move, and I spotted some paint missing from the deck beneath where it's inboard end had rested.
Once we were in the basin I changed the fenders over to the port side, and Julian got us into the tight space where the lock keeper was waiting to help us in. It was a real relief to be tied up securely. We pulled Worm ashore and tipped out the rain, then Julian went off to the heads while I got the covers on. Sender II made it into the Canal well before us, and had already headed down the canal to moor at Belanoch before we entered the basin.
We are in for a wet and windy night. Julian complained that it was always raining in Crinan, so I reminded him that we only came here when the weather was bad. That cheered him up a bit, but he hates canals, and locks. There is no Wi-Fi here, or phone signal, so we headed for the pub after dinner, to get some weather information and post this blog
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