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!
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| 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.
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