Safe in South Uist

 We planned a reasonably early start today, as the weather dictated we get across to South Uist today is we wanted to be there for the weekend, and 52nm is a long haul at Robinetta speed. Julian had set the alarm for 06:30, but we were both awake by 06:00, so that is when the kettle went on. We did not want to leave without visiting the Tobermory Stores to buy a couple of their excellent pies, and they opened at 07:00, so we actually had a leisurely start to the day, backing off the pontoon at 07:25. Julian set up the no.1 jib as we motored out of the bay, then we went head to wind to raise the main in the flat water of the Sound of Mull.

The wind was directly behind us once we were on course, so we centred the main sail and staysail, and left the jib furled.

Once clear of the Sound of Mull the seas stayed slight, although Robinetta rolled gently. We let the main sail out a little to try and use it, but the wind was light, and not in a good direction for where we wanted to go. With a possible force 8 later tomorrow we just wanted to get across the Minch into good shelter as soon as possible, so the motor stayed on. It stayed on all day.

The swell increased, with some confused cross seas as we got further offshore, making it difficult to hold the course of 310°M that took us straight across the Little Minch to our destination of Loch Boisdale. Julian and I took turn and turn about hand steering for 2 hour each from 09:30 which was. hard work. By 12:30 the main was just slatting about in the swell, doing itself and Robinetta no favours, so we went head to wind and Julian got it down, managing an amazingly tidy stow in the conditions.

The day ground on, poor visibility, swell that threw us around, and no wind. By 15:35 the swell was regular enough that I wanted to put George on duty: our tiller pilot is a lot better at steering a straight course than any human. Luckily he managed the swell well, and the rest of the afternoon was easier on the person on watch.

motoring towards the hidden land

Despite occasional sightings of blue sky ahead South Uist stayed stubbornly hidden in clouds, and we could not pick out our destination until we were less than 2 miles off. The swell went down though, and our chart plotter took us to the right place. We were tied up on a pontoon in Loch Boisdale Marina at 20:00, and the engine went off after 12 and a half hours of sterling service.

The Harbour Master might ask us to move tomorrow and leave this berth available for a bigger boat, but for now we were staying put.

I tidied Robinetta up while Julian made dinner (those excellent pies with new potatoes and baked beans). We had beaten tomorrow's forecast force 8 gale. Getting here had been a struggle, but the weather for the next five days meant we had had to arrive very early or not at all.

A good day's sailing

A mooch in the chandlery at Croabh Marina yielded a good haul. We now have a new (floating) towing line for Worm, and an 8mm buff braid line for the head halyard hardener. Amazingly they also had a stock of different sizes of teak plugs to cover screw heads, and would sell them individually, so I stocked up.

We were away from our berth at 09:26, and motored out into the loch. After discussing our sail options (which included not raising the main since we might be on a run) we raised a slightly reefed main sail, staysail, and no 2 jib and headed on a very broad reach towards Torsa in flat seas. We expected to gybe as we turned for the north end of that island, but we never headed to change Robinetta’s heading as the tide took us north instead. The wind was strong, and took us along at over 5 knots, meaning we arrived at the top of Torsa early, at 10:30, and the tide was not due to be with us until 11:00. However once we had gone head to wind to reef down we were at slack water and our engine could easily take us through the sound.

As we left Cuan Sound we encountered a very different sea state. Big (for us) waves threw is around as we motor sailed across then towards Easdale Sound. However the wavelength was long enough that the rolling was not threatening, and they caused us no problems entering Easdale Sound. The water here was flat, and with the chart plotter and depth gauge easily visible in the cockpit Robinetta went through without problems.

Coming out of the shelter of Easdale into the Sound of Inch we felt the full majesty of the sea; big regular waves, with the wind behind them. Once clear of Inch we motor sailed up the Sound of Lorne, heading due north towards the Sound of Mull, rocking and rolling for 2 hours. Every so often the stay sail flopped over, giving notice of a possible gybe as the waves rolled Robinetta, but the main sail stayed solidly in place, only once threatening to come over. A quick request to Julian to set the preventer meant there were no other threats.

An atmospheric view of Mull

As we reached Duart castle the seas flattened out and we set the jib then turned the engine off to broad reach into the Sound of Mull. We shook the reef our just past the castle and had half an hour of sailing before the wind failed and the engine went back on.

Duart Castle from the South

The fifteen miles up the Sound to Tobermory saw the engine go on and off several times as the wind came and went, as did the drizzle. The final 3 miles of the trip saw us broad reaching at over 5 knots, in an exhilarating sail that only ended as we turned into Tobermory Bay and got the sails down.

I had called ahead, knowing that the marina office would be shut by the time we got there, so I had the code for the showers and shore heads, and after doing a bit of shopping we showered, before heading out for a curry. It had been a great day’s sailing

Running up the Sound of Jura

We went to bed about 8pm last night, with a 4:30 alarm set.

It took about an hour this morning to get ready to leave. Some of that was due to the No 2 jib being wound the other way round from the No 1. It unfurled when I raised it. Luckily, there was a turn left round the drum so they should now both be the same way round. Having the end of the bowsprit by the pontoon was nice too. I could sort the problem standing on the pontoon.

It was calm as we left, and the sun has come out. It was going to be a beautiful day. We deserve one! Out in the bay there was a gentle southerly, but we were expecting more so I raised the main with a deep reef.

We sailed out on a lovely beam reach, gradually bending around Texa and onto a broad reach. The wind wasn't strong enough to warrant the reef, so we shook it out.

We broad reached for a while but the route was really a run. Eventually, we gave up gybing and swapped the jib for the "blue" sail. A spinnaker we were gifted a few years ago that we fly on long downwind days.

In the past we have flown it with one corner tied to the bowsprit and raised on the topsail halyard. This time I just used the jib halyard and tied on the jib sheets and flew it symmetrically. It worked really well. I tied the corners down on extra lines to the chain plates.

That got us to within 10 miles of Craobh. For some of the time we were doing a solid 6.8 knots.

The last bit was done under engine and staysail. More to keep control through the islands than for any other reason.

It was a grand day.

Putting things back

Another maintenance day.

I finished installing the new cable run to the accessories. It goes down the starboard side now. A simpler run. I've moved the trunking over and the running and anchor light cables now use it as well as the accessories.

The accessories didn't work. The same problem I had before. I looked in the switch box in more detail and found the problem. The spring in the fuse holder has partly failed. I've put some pressure on it with a piece of twine and it's working. We need a new fuse holder.

I replaced the tiller pilot cable with the same stuff I used for the accessories run. It's thick copper strands so the voltage drop should be minimal.

I put the solar panel wiring back the way it was but I have made the routing a bit better.

What a day!

In order to get round the Mull of Kintyre with the most favourable tide we needed to be away from the anchorage at 08:30. This was not a problem as swell had started coming into the anchorage around 5 a.m and we were both wide awake. Scooby Doo left half an hour earlier and we could still see her as we motored west, and Good Craic was hauling up her anchor ass we left.

As we left Sanda, Alison was keen to get close in to the Mull but we could tell we already had the tide with us so we aimed to get close in by the time we got to the west end of Carskey Bay.

We got the main up but there wasn't much wind. Then we saw that Good Craic was just outside us and seemed to be broad reaching. So we throttled back and had a go. It was also an opportunity to try the boom end preventer suggested by Brian Duff. It worked OK but we need to make it more efficient.

Then the wind went ahead and both Good Craic and ourselves went back to motoring. Alison went down below gto write up yesterday's blog. 

After a while, I decided to peak up. There was a crack and the gaff came part down. The peak hardener line had parted. The top fiddle block ran up to the turning block and stuck, stopping the gaff falling all the way down.

Alison came up and I asked her to drop the main fully. The throat did not want to come down fully, and it was rough enough that she needed to put on her lifejacket and safety strop before going forward to pull it down. We only managed to get one sail tie on, but it held the sail in place for the moment.

We motored on. 

We have done this passage before and the forecast suggested would be similar this time. But we got much stronger winds today. At times the wind was so strong on the nose that I could hardly keep course. The bow was being blown and pushed by the waves really strongly.

And of course, wind on the nose meant wind over tide, with overalls.

The line of overfalls off the corner west of Sron Uamha was especially violent. We got through but it was very hard work. The sail worked loose and getting another sail tie on was a risky task. Luckily, the sea state was better on the other side.

Then we should have been able to turn and head out to Islay, but the sea was horrible. Alison said it would calm down about a mile further north. So we headed towards Macrahanish Bay.

We got have done this before and just as before, we got more favourable tide. We got up to well over 6 knots over the ground.

Alison was right. We could see the point where the confused seas between the inner and outer channels round the Mull resolved. Beyond that was cleaner water. We headed onto course to Port Ellen.

The rest of the trip was fast and uneventful. I spent some of the time getting rid of the suspect accessories wiring and running new. In Port Ellen, there was a dredger at work but there was enough room around it and space on the pontoons.

We slipped into a berth straight ahead, and next to Sgarbh, a lovely varnished gaff ketch MFV.

I stepped ashore with a bow line and then Alison shouted at me for help. I made the line off and went to catch hers. As I tied us on loosely, Alison said there was a smell of hot plastic and smoke and the chart plotter had turned off.

I got on board and started looking. There was smoke in the cockpit but it was coming from the engine compartment. I went below and opened the hatch. I could see flames!

We have a new fire extinguisher in the engine compartment. I pulled out the pin and gave a squirt. The flames went out. I gave one more squirt and worked out that the flames had come from the power cable to the socket we plug George into. But the main damage was to the heavy duty cable from the alternator to the battery switch.

Fire out, we finished getting tied up. I started getting the burned cable off. It went right under the engine and was bolted to the solenoid. When I tried to get the nut undone, the stud sheared.

I got the cable out, leaving a mousing line to help fit it's replacement, and then decided to call Islay Marine. They said someone could come along but might not be able to do anything. I disconnected everything around the battery side of things to make any diagnosis easier.

The engineer knew what he was doing. He said he could make us a new cable and we discussed the problem of the broken connector on the solenoid. We decided we could just about use the broken stud if we only had one cable to attach. He spotted that the old cable had a hole in the insulation in the middle and the copper was totally corroded. That would be enough to make it overheat.

He went off to to other work. The weather was quite nice now and Alison was prepared to go up the mast to fetch the fiddle block of the peak halyard hardener.

I hauled her up on the jib halyard and she got a rope tied on and I was able to pull the block down. I got a piece of the old dynema topsail halyard and ran it round the blocks but it wasn't quite long enough. But it can be sorted later.

Alison and I went to SeaSalt to get fish and chips. While we were there, the engineer stopped in his van. He'd already made us a new cable, plus another short length we could use to join the two cables together. He also gave us a nut that would fit the stub of the solenoid stub.

I went back to the boat while Alison waited for our suppers. I got the new short cable on the solenoid and bolted the new long cable and the cable to the start switch to it.

Then Alison arrived with the food. After food, and a cup of tea, I got the new cable fitted and connected everything back up again, except the burned cable for George and the solar panel connectors. I want to do something different for that. We tested things and we now have a working engine and working instruments and house electrics again. And, the electric bilge pump of course!

I need a beer.

A lovely afternoon

Davar island 

We left Campbeltown Marina at 15:00 in bright sunshine with a slight breeze. Raising sail in the flat calm of Campbeltown Loch seemed ideal. Unfortunately by the time we had rounded Davar Island and were heading for Sanda the wind had died to nothing, and we were motoring in an oily calm. We lowered the main sail to decrease its UV damage, and covered ourselves in suncream to reduce ours. It was so hot that we both stripped down to shorts. Its not often I sunbathe topless!

2 yachts came past us, heading for Campbeltown. The second had a pod of dolphins playing around it, and as we passed each other the dolphins decided to change their playground. At one point we had 6 adult bottlenosed dolphins under our bowsprit! Then the Kintyre Flyer express came past heading back to Campbeltown, and Robinetta was abandoned for the speedier boat (which slowed down when the dolphins were spotted).

Dolphins on the bow

Julian laid out 20m of chain as we approached Sanda. We would be there an hour before high water, with an expected tidal range of 2m, so we were looking to anchor with 3-4m beneath the keel and an easy haul up in the morning.

There were two yachts already at anchor, leaving plenty of room, and we soon found a spot in our desired depth.

By 19:15 we were securely anchored, and I put on a risotto pack to cook. This requested a glass of white wine in the cooking liquid, but the only white wine on board was a bottle of Cava… This went down beautifully to celebrate the resolution of our battery charging problem. We had a lovely relaxed evening in a warm, sunny, and beautiful spot.

Alternator Woes

Yesterday, when we realised the batteries were not charging with the engine on, we looked up charging problems in our copy of Nigel Calder's Marine Diesel engines Book. It was quite doom laden. It basically says that if the belt is tight enough, the alternator is probably broken. It goes on to say how fragile alternators are.

I checked the belt. It was loose. Tightening it is quite difficult. Getting a line around and hauling on a winch did the trick. It didn't help.

Once in Campbeltown, ee came up with multiple ideas for how to survive without being able to charge the batteries from the engine but none were good.

There is a Yanmar group on Facebook where I've got good advice there in the past, although members in the US have a very different experience of parts and maintenance than we do in Scotland.

Some people on the group were very dismissive of what I had read in Calder. The consensus is that alternators are very robust and I should check the wiring first. That was very reassuring. Wiring is something I know how to check!

They also said that the charging warning lamp can fail and this stops charging. I read the manual and it says to always check that the light comes on and then goes out. But our light has never come on!

Then we had our next new problem. My DMM was on the blink. The display wasn't showing all segments and I could work out what it was saying. I checked the battery and it was good. Another thing that needed replacing.

We got shore power so at least we could charge our tech. I also got out our mains car battery charger. It's almost never been used. It seemed ok at first but then started giving strange readings and the mode button wouldn't do anything. Our third problem.

First thing this morning I copied out the wiring diagram from the owners handbook, including only the relevant parts. With a new understanding of the wiring, I could come up with some tests. Once I had a new DMM.

We went shopping. There is a big shop near the Co-op which is Campbeltown's emporium for everything farmers might need. They had a DMM, but no battery charger. We got a new one in another shop.

Now I could do some checks. After trying everything on the warning light path and none of my tests passing, I spotted something that wasn't on the diagram. A dull orange plastic box marked "relay".

It was clearly in-line between the alternator and the control panel, and in poor condition. I took the lid off and it was very unlikely to be working.

I took a picture and put it on the FB group and also searched the web for Yanmar and Relay. Yes! There was a YBW forum post from someone with exactly our symptoms. The consensus was that this is fitted to keep the alternator out of circuit during starting to reduce the load on the starter motor. The recommendation was to remove it.

The plug in the Yanmar wiring harness that is meant to go into the alternator was plugged into an inline socket connected to the relay and a plug of the same type went to the relay as well and was plugged into the alternator. So it was easy to take the relay out.

Success! The warning light now comes on and goes off and the engine still starts and the voltage display on the chart plotter show the voltage increases when the engine is on.

 

I cut the relay off and taped up the rest of the extra wiring. If we need to put a new relay in, we can just crimp some new spade terminals on the wires.

I'll get in touch with French Marine, who installed the engine and check this is the right answer permanently but for now it's panic over.

But it looks like we need to sort the stern gland again...

Regatta viewing and battery worries

We left Kip 07:50 and motored down Clyde towards Largs to see the start of that day’s race for the Richard Mille Regatta. This had attracted a selection of smart classic gaff rigged racing yachts of various sizes, and we wanted to see them.

 There was a bit of a breeze coming up the Clyde, so we motored towards Toward as we got the main sail up then turned towards Largs and sailed. When I went below to log the engine going off I noticed that there was more water in the bilges than I expected. I pressed the switch to manually start the bilge pump, and I could hear it working, but Julian could not see any water coming out. The pump was blocked again.

We are so used to this happening now that Julian went below while I took the helm, and after 15 minutes the bilge pump was restored to full function again, after he cleared the non-return valve. We continued sailing until just gone 09:00 when the wind faded away, and the engine went on again.

We got to the north end of Great Cumbrae at 10:20 and could see some smart classic racing yachts coming towards us, so we lowered the engine revs, and hung around waiting for them. Then we turned the engine off and drifted around admiring the yachts. We approached one of the smaller ones and asked what the course would be, and was told they did not know yet!

looking up the Clyde 

Arran in the background

We hung around as long as seemed sensible, trying to stay clear of any where where the start line might be, and after a while we were heading down the Clyde on the outside of Great Cumbrae at about 2 knots, carried by the tide and a little wind to give us steerage way. It did not look like the race was going to start any time soon, so at 11:35 we put the engine on and headed towards the end of Bute.

Our chart-plotter showed that the reported charge on our batteries was only 12V, which was lower than we expected, and it did not increase as we used the engine. We hooked the solar panel back up to charge the battery, but it did not seem to do much despite the sunshine. This was worrying. Julian went below to check the alternator belt. He thought it might be a little loose, so we turned the engine off again so he could tighten it. We sailed along nicely, and I got the jib out which took our speed up to around 3 knots, and I had a lovely sail while Julian sweated over the engine, tightening the alternator belt…

We stayed sailing even after Julian finished below, and only reluctantly turned the engine back as we turned to head north of Arran, which put the wind on the nose. The reported battery voltage stayed at 12V for a while, then dropped to 11.9V.

We did not get any more usable wind all the way to Campbeltown, and we worried and planned what to do it the alternator needed replacing. The thing to do first was hook up to shore power at the marina, and charge the battery, but would we get a berth? The marina manager said they were pretty busy when I phoned him at 3pm, and we would not be there for another 6 hours…

Campbeltown Marina is pretty small, and I got the bowsprit in as we approached, there were yachts on the outer pontoon we could raft against, but as I called to ask permission the reply I got was that a yacht had just left, and there was a pontoon berth free. He then walked along to it and helped us moor up.

We turned the engine off at 21:10, and headed straight for the Co-Op.

Settling off cruising again

I rowed out to Robinetta by myself at lunch time, with a full Worm load of luggage. We had already taken some provisions and Julian’s new (second hand) Brompton bike aboard on Sunday, but we were going away for a long cruise, so there was a lot to stock up with. I rowed back and went ashore to finish packing while Julian was at his Helensburgh Gaelic class, and as soon as he was back from that we rowed out together with the last of the provisions.

We cast off from the mooring at 16:45 and motored out of the Gareloch. There was hardly any wind in the forecast, but as we passed Rosneath Caravan Park we could feel a sailing breeze, so raised the mainsail.

Heading for Cloche Point

We spent the next 2 hours beating down the Clyde towards Cloche Point. Apart from the fact that the wind was coming from exactly where we wanted to go the conditions were perfect. Blue sky, warm breeze, and flat seas. We dodged a race out of the Royal Gourock Yacht Club, then rounded Cloche Point, expecting to be able to free of the sails and go onto a broad reach. 

round Cloche point

 Instead the wind died down and went astern. Our speed dropped to 2 knots and we tried fishing, but with no birds about we were not expecting any luck, and the line was empty when Julian hauled it in. Shortly after this we lowered the main sail and motored into Kip marina for the night at 20:30.

One of those days

 The Fife Regatta Rothesay Race was due to start at 10:30 at Largs.

Our plan was to meet a friend at Kip and sail up to Cloch Point to meet other local OGA members sailing down from the Gareloch and then head to Toward Point and meet another friend sailing from the Kyles.

But the sea state was much worse than we had hoped. A deep Atlantic low was making its way from Ireland to Wales bringing strong southerly winds.

We motored north, planning to raise sail when we turned round.

Moyra and Lavinia Rose were heading past Kilcreggan to meet us.

We saw them in the distance and decided to go head to wind to raise sail. It was getting very bouncy.

We got the main up with a reef and turned the engine off. We were able to head south but slowly.

We hoped the race would use the long course which would bring it towards us. This was likely as the short course would be a single beam reach.

The wind built and the waves got bigger too. It was really too much for little Robinetta.

Shane messaged us not to wait for him and then that they were turning back.

Michelle, our guest for the day, was unflappable. But we decided that it would be safer to head home.

This would be a dead run in big seas. We haven't yet set Robinetta to be able to set a preventer when reefed. So we dropped the main and motored.

© Michael Deveney

Once past the path of the Western Ferries, the sea state calmed down. We put the main back up with lots more reef in and sailed.

We managed to sail almost to the sugar boat. It was a really nice sail and we caught up Moyra who had also turned back.

The wind was building again, but without the fetch of the Firth. We hit 6 knots and it was getting too much, so we dropped the main for the last time and motored back to the mooring, passing Moyra as she turned towards her own mooring in Castle Bay.

© John Aston

Back on our mooring we had lunch and rowed ashore.

Sometimes it's best to go where the wind wants to take you.

A short trip

I had my monthly Gaelic conversation circle in Sandbank this morning but there was time before that to investigate the accessories problem. They worked last year but they had stopped. I started checking out the connections and found the chocolate block joining two pieces of flex together. Alison said "Why didn't you use gel crimps?". I didn't know. Probably they weren't on board. So I took out the chocolate block and put two gel crimps in. And everything works!

5 minutes well spent.

My Gaelic thing was super fun. We played the Gaelic version of "Scottish Quest". It's a good game.

Then we had lunch in the café at the marina and set off.

Today's wind was on the nose out of Holy Loch, more gentle than yesterday and due to die away.

So we had everything up and Robinetta sailed perfectly and gently straight towards Kip Marina.

On the way, we saw an unfamiliar red buoy. Possibly the race mark for tomorrow's race in the Fife Regatta.

The wind died as promised, but not until we were within half a mile of Kip. By 4 pm we were nicely moored in the marina.

A lovely little sail. This is feeling like a proper weekend.

Back to Holy Loch

We rowed out to Robinetta at 14:25, 2 hours before high water. Any earlier on the tide means a longer carry to get Worm to the water down the pebbly beach, which I like to avoid if possible. Once aboard it took us half an hour to get Robinetta ready to cast off her mooring. This is only our second trip out this year and we are not in practice yet. The wind was strong enough to feel cold, but we had sunshine, and the cabin felt snug and warm as I stowed our bags.

We bent on the no.1 jib, and once we were through the Rhu narrows Julian raised the main sail. I almost immediately asked for a small reef, which duly went in and we sailed off as close to the wind as we could get. This took us out of the Gareloch towards the Sugar Boat.

We were well heeled over, and I noticed that the diesel tank vent began to leak diesel. Once I shut off the diesel valve the leak stopped. I put the kettle on for a much needed cup of tea, while Julian helmed.

By the time we had drunk our tea we were close to the Sugar Boat, so we tacked and set off down the Clyde. There were dark clouds ahead, so I went below and put on my salopettes and sailing jacket. When I took the helm to let Julian do the same Robinetta’s helm felt heavy, and I asked |Julian for a little more reef. We did not need to tack again before reaching Holy Loch, but we shortened sail a few times, ending up with a fully reefed main and staysail as we passed Kilcreggan. The waves were building, but we were sailing across them, not into them, so Robinetta took them in her stride This sail configuration was giving us a steady 3 knots, with no stress even in the gusts.

By the time we were crossing the entrance to Loch Long Julian wanted the jib out again, and we had an exhilarating sail above 5 knots into Holy Loch, rolling across the short chop.

As we reached the shelter of Holy Loch the waves flattened, and the wind moved round and fell lighter, so we were very broad reaching towards our destination. We shook out all the reef, and sailed on for another ten minutes until it was time to get the sails down and stowed. We were tied up at Holy Loch Marina by 18:20 after a lovely sail.

We had come to Holy Loch to let Julian walk to his Gaelic conversation class tomorrow. Not the fastest way to get there, but definitely the most fun.