A long and tiring day

After a long and sheltered stay in Lochboisdale Marina, while Julian learnt more Gaelic and danced “reels and quadrilles” it was time to set off south. We had a guest sailing with us, hoping to go all the way to Port Dinorwic with us. Mary, an experienced small yacht sailor, had just finished a trip on Eda Fransen, and had asked to join us for a change.

We left Lochboisdale at 07:20 with a forecast of N or NE 3-5. The wind felt quite strong as we left the marina, and we had bent on the no.2 jib. As soon as we had enough sea room I put Robinetta head to wind so Julian could raise the main sail, and he hoisted it with a couple of rolls of sail reefed round the boom. There were noticeable waves here, and they got bigger as we cleared the entrance to the loch.

Our course towards the south end of Mull put the wind just aft of the beam, a lovely point of sail for a gaffer. There was no gybe risk, but I asked Julian to set the preventer to stop the boom lifting too much in the swell. All 3 of us were in the cockpit, being rather rolled around, and when Julian went onto the cabin roof without putting on his lifejacket and stop Mary and I were a bit taken aback. Luckily there were no big waves while he was up there and he got back to the cockpit without incident, but Mary and I both had our hearts in our mouths, and told him off for being reckless.

The point of sail was good, but steering in the swell was very hard work and after an hour of it I handed the helm over to Julian. 20 minutes later he asked for a reef. We were sailing at about 6 knots, and he was worried about stressing the rig. Mary went below to give us room in the cockpit and we put the engine on to go head to wind. I tried pulling the reef in, but there was too much wind in the sail, so Julian had to swop with me. He was able to get the reef in, and we ended up reefed right down to the lower main sail baton, which is all the reef we can put in. We went back on course at a more reasonable speed.

Mary came back up into the cockpit as soon as she could; being below had made her feel a bit seasick. I did not blame her. I had felt queasy when in the cabin, and I am used to Robinetta’s motion in heavy seas. Neither of us felt like eating any breakfast, just a ginger biscuit, which settled my stomach, but made Mary feel worse.

A couple of hours later we went head to wind to shake out half the reef, and this time when Mary came back up she was in a bit of a rush, to be sick over the side. In another couple hours we went head to wind to shake out all the reef, and Mary was sick again. She was not having fun.

By the time we had got to within 5 miles to the west of Coll the engine had to go on to propel us on our way. We were still being rolled around by the waves, but they were slowly decreasing. Our sail was doing nothing and centered against the swell, but with the wind now dead astern it filled and backed every now and then, stressing the rig. We decided to bring it down. Mary went down again for the process, and when she came up she was sick again.

We rounded the top of Coll inside the outer most breaking rock, and headed due south. There were no breaking waves now, but still some swell that had Robinetta rolling a bit.

After about half an hour Mary confessed that the trip was a bit more stressful than she had expected. Today had shown her that she could no longer cope with small yacht sailing. She would need a day ashore to recover from the conditions today, but knew we needed to keep heading south if we were to make our meeting at Port Dinorwic. She decided to head home.

Before we invited Mary aboard I had promised not to kick her off Robinetta in a place with no public transport, so now the hunt was on for a good place to set her ashore. We would be able to reach the sound of Iona this evening and there would be busses tomorrow, but getting her ashore would be tricky.

Our original plan had been to anchor at Gometra Harbour, which we would reach at about 21:00. Instead we could head for the pontoons at Ulva Ferry, which were only 1 nm further if we took the tricky north entrance. This was a passage Julian was keen to try, and we had the Antares charts for it, but there is a patch with only 1 m above chart datum, and we would be there just an hour before low water. Julian checked the tides, and there should be 1.3 m of tide, giving Robinetta at least 1 m beneath the keel. We decided to go for it.

There is a community bus from Ulva Ferry that meets the bus from Tobermory to the ferry at Craignure.

Mary phoned the harbour master at Ulva Ferry, who confirmed there was space to go alongside, so we headed into Loch Tuath. The seas went flat as we did so, so we put the tiller pilot, George, to work and I went below to cook. Mary did not want much, but Julian and I had new potatoes, baked beans, and ham, for a much needed meal.

The passage through Ulva sound is quite short, but not for the faint hearted. We got the lines and fenders ready before we entered it, then Julian acted as pilot, giving careful instructions to me on the helm. Our least depth below the keel was 0.8 m, then we were through and approaching the pontoon.

A helpful person appeared from one of the already moored up yachts, and we were moored up with his help at 21:18.

Mary spotted what we hadn't. The bus has to be ordered by 16:00 the previous day. She left a message anyway.

It had been a long and tiring day.