A short sail south to Mingulay

We spent Thursday in Castlebay, repairing Worm and putting Danish oil on Robinetta’s cabin sides. The weather was overcast, with mist wreathing round the hills, and we did not want to do much. Today was clearer, with a light breeze, and we decided to head for Mingulay. It is only 11nm from Castlebay, so we were not in a hurry to leave, and caught the 10:30 bus, which goes to the ferry and airports, then returns in a circular route.

Leaving Castle Bay

Once back at the marina Julian launched Worm, and we set off for Mingulay at 12:30. We raised sail in the Castlebay approaches, and headed for Mingulay under sail, not minding that we were doing less than 3 knots on a run.

Once we turned south we were broad reaching and sped up.

Robinetta at anchor in Mingulay East Bay

The sea was calm, and the light wind kept us going past Vatersay Sandray, and Pabay. It was a lovely sail until the wind went very light as we approached East Bay on Mingulay. We headed into the bay under engine, to see a flock of sea kayaks sitting just off the beach as they decided where to land.

I headed us slowly towards the beach, hoping to get to 4m beneath the keel before we dropped anchor. We seemed to be getting very close to the steeply sloping beach, and I lost my nerve, and told Julian to drop anchor with 6m under the keel. We had 25m of chain ready, and Julian let out another 10m when I told him our depth. We were only an hour before low water, with 3m rise of tide expected.

Once we were secure on the anchor I rowed us ashore. The pilot book warned about problems with landing due to the swell, so we picked our place and moment carefully. We got ashore without problems, and had a short walk. Low clouds were drifting in over the hills from the west, and we spent less than an hour ashore. Still, we got to explore the deserted village of East Bay.

Relaunching Worm as carefully as we had come ashore, we got back to Robinetta with sandy feet, but no water in the dinghy.

Deserted village on Mingulay