Setting out again

After breakfast on board I went hunting for the cloth tape I use for taping the mast boot on. I used this for a temporary repair to the stay sail. There was not quite enough to tape both sides of the sail, but I reinforced it with some Gorilla tape, and hopefully it will see Robinetta as far as Oban. There is no sail maker at Mallaig.

We headed ashore to shop, then Julian put the stay sail back on its boom, and lashed it in place. After a full set of engine checks it was time to turn the engine on, but we left it for a while, and ate lunch before heading out. This also let one of the ferries leave its berth without us need to worry about being in its way.

I set in a course for Rum while the engine warmed up, and Julian set up the no2 jib, then he let the mooring go at 13:10 and we headed out.

The sea state did not seem too bad while we raised sail, but as soon as we were on course towards the Point of Sleat it seemed to kick up. We were on a fine reach, but not heeling too badly, and the sails seemed well balanced. Then I actually look at the main, and it was luffing horribly. It was time to pull it in to set properly, and reef down to balance the no2 jib that way.

The sky was grey, the sea state was uncomfortable, Rum, only 14nm away, was indistinct and covered in cloud. I could see sunshine to the north of the Sound of Sleat, and when I mentioned it to Julian he just grumbled that it would be gone by the time we got there. It was time for a rethink.

We tacked round, and headed for Loch Nevis on a very broad reach. With the waves on the stern quarter not the bow Robinetta’s motion became a lot easier. There was sun on the mountain we were heading towards, and the views were much closer.

The wind was very gusty, and as we approached the entrance to Loch Nevis we were going from 3-5 knots with the gusts. It was fun at first, much more enjoyable than heading to Rum, but I was beginning to get tired. Julian took the helm, and when the strongest gust yet hit us and it was time to gybe away towards Inverie I could not bring the main sail in. We held our course for a little, then tacked round instead.

We were getting close to the Bogha Don beacon, and the wind had gone lighter, so we rolled the jib away, ready to gybe. The another gust hit us, and we had to put the engine on to get Robinetta head to wind to put a bigger reef in.

Bogha Don must be an 18th century mis-hearing. Bogha is a bow. Bodha is a submerged rock that water breaks over. Don could either be dona, or donn. Julian's money is on Bodha Dona, "badly breaking rock".

Sailing away from Inverie to get sea room we though about heading towards Inner Loch Nevis instead. There was a strange shape in the distance, so I headed below to have a look at the pilot book. I should have known better. The strange shape was Eda Fransen, heading towards us with her main sail up and no foresails set. Once she was past us Julian checked on the anchorages available and decided they were too far up the loch.

 The sun came out, and Inverie was calling us. There are moorings there, and we saw a large pod of dolphins leaping out of the water. We turned our engine off as they came towards us, but they were not interested in playing, just fishing. We sailed for 15 minutes before putting the engine back on to get the main sail down and pick up a mooring. We hoped to do this under stay sail, but the gusty wind made it difficult. Even after getting the stay sail down it took 3 goes to pick up the mooring. We had been out less than 3 hours, but it was definitely time to stop.

Inverie is not well sheltered with wind from the south west, and we are bobbing about on the mooring with no desire to get into Worm for a bouncy trip ashore. The sun was soon lost behind the clouds, and it began to rain. Hopefully the weather will be better in the morning!