Onward to Barra

We decided that we might as well go straight to Castlebay, Barra, today. There was very little wind in the forecast, so it would be a motoring day. As long as the waves from yesterday's sailing breeze had gone we would be able to put George on the helm and sit back.

That is almost exactly what we did. We did get the main sail up at the north end of Rum, and had half an hour under main and jib as we headed to the south end of Canna, and another hour sailing after lunch, but George had no problems helming when we were motor sailing.

The sitting back bit did not quite happen. When Julian got the sail cover off the stay sail before letting go of the mooring buoy at 07:45 he discovered that the tape we had used to mend the stay sail in Mallaig had come off along half its length. I spent over half the trip to Barra sitting in the cabin sewing it in place. I knew I should have sewn it on in the first place, rather than just relying on the self adhesive!

Motor sailing towards the hazy horizon

We did the 45 miles from Rum  in just over 11 hours. The light breeze kept the sails full, but with that distance to cover we wanted to keep above 4 knots, and that meant having the engine on as well. This meant George could be used, and all our tech got a good charge. The horizon was hazy, but the sky overhead was bright blue, and the sun sparkled on the water.

We were tied up in Castlebay Marina by 19:00, which gave us enough time to walk up to the Fish Box Kitchen and get scallops and
prawns for dinner which we ate in the cockpit with a glass of wine. Lovely.