Bad news and Bad weather

 I was woken in the small hours by a text from my sister. My father, who had been in hospital for several weeks, had just died. This was not unexpected, but I found it difficult to get back to sleep again, and was more than ready to get up at 6. 

Our aim for the day was to get into the Crinan Canal, and as far along as possible. There was heavy weather forecast and we expected to take refuge in the Crinan basin until Thursday until it blew through.

The weather was forecast to worsen as the day went on, so we replaced yesterday's no.1 jib with the no.2 to balance a reefed down main better. Julian got the main sail cover off and rigged the peak halyard, then did all the foredeck work. He asked me to check, and everything looked good, but after we left the shelter of the harbour and raised the main sail we discovered that he had run the peak halyard on the wrong side of the topping lift; a first time ever error. The peak halyard block got jammed in the topping lift, so we had to release the topping lift, which let the gaff fall into the cockpit. All this while fishing boats came past on their way to work...

By 08:10 all the jams were sorted and we sailed out of the harbour approaches with 1 roll of reef on the main. The entrance to the canal at Ardrishaig is almost due north of Tarbert, and the wind was almost due south, and rather than running up Loch Fyne we broad reached across it, with the swell just aft of the beam. Once we reached the Eastern side of the Loch we tacked round rather than gybing, using the time we were head to wind to roll more sail round the boom so we were reefed all the way down.

Our next reach took us a long way up the Loch, with Robinetta reveling in the conditions. Her transom stern is designed for waves from astern and she rose to them perfectly. We kept this tack most of the way to the next fish farm, only needing to gybe again once Big Rock was well astern. Unfortunately after the gentle roll of the waves beneath us on the other board heading across the waves felt very unpleasant. I had taken the helm after the gybe but handed it back to Julian after 20 minutes, and he kept it until it was time to get the sails down and enter Ardrishaig Harbour.

I called up the harbour master on VHF channel 74 and was answered immediately. He told me to go on to the waiting pontoon, but called us up again as we rounded the harbour wall and told us to go straight into the lock, which was ready for us. We entered the lock at 11 a.m, exactly when Julian had booked us to enter!

I was glad to be in there as the boats on the pontoon were rocking uncomfortably despite the harbour walls. Once we were raised to canal height the lock keeper told us we would he there for an hour before he could swing the bridge and let us into the canal basin. We spent the time stowing Robinetta's sails and tidying up the rig for the canal passage as well as having a cup of soup for an early lunch.

Two big yachts were waiting to come out of hte canal and as soon as they were released from Crinan Lock no 2 the lock keeper swung the bridge to let us out of the sea lock, and them enter it.Out three yachts did a careful dance in the basin, with Robinetta ending up entering Crinan Lock no 2 and the other yachts safely through the bridge.

In the summer months the Crinan Canal employs extra staff, and all the locks were manned. On all our previous transits we had been in a convoy, but this time we traveling in solitary style. Much less jockeying for position and worrying about Worm wandering around in each lock, but our passage would have been very slow with just Julian to work the locks.

As we rose up through locks 2,3, we crossed paths with the Atalanta we had met three weeks before in Ardrossan. They had got their engine sorted and been cruising north, but were now heading south again. We were also spotted by some OGA friends. Patrick, the ex OGA president and his wife were heading south in their Heard 28, Capraia. We stopped at the waiting pontoon at the top of Lock 4 and had a good chat. Patrick had come up from Wales along the West Coast or Ireland and the weather had not been kind to him. Capraia would be wintering in Glasgow before heading back to Wales next season, although Patrick said that the sailing had been so bad he was not sure he wanted another year of it!

Once we got going again we headed along the canal to Cairnbaan where we moored up on the waiting pontoon in the rain. We would have gone to the hotel for a drink, but it had shut down after COVID, and never reopened. The original hotel building still looks in decent condition, but the 1970s extension to the dining room is now derelict. 

Two yachts were heading down the flight, and at first the lock keeper suggested we wait until they were all the way down, but then changed his mind and let us enter the lower lock and raised it up. This meant he would only need to swing the bridge once to let us out, and the 2 yachts in. The lock/bridge keepers were very careful to impede the road traffic as little as possible.

At the top of the Cairnbaan flight we were asked how far we wanted to go. Our answer of "As far as possible", got us to the middle of the Dunardry flight of locks with two people manning the flight top speed things up. There is a pontoon, shower, and toilet at this position, and it was a good place to stop. We moored up there in the rain at 17:15 and the lock keepers headed home.

We shut the cabin door against the rain and the midges and had an early dinner of spagetti carbonara, before settling down for the night. We were relatively cosy on Robinetta, although we regretted not hauling Worm ashore and inverting her!

Getting back into the swing of things

I woke up at 6 a.m, and since Julian was also awake we put the kettle on the stove to heat for tea. By 07:20 we had the engine on and warming up ready to leave the marina.

As soon as we were clear of the entrance channel we went head to wind and raised the main sail, leaving in a couple of rolls of reef even though we still had the no 1 jib up. The sail balance worked as we beat down the Clyde in rather rolly seas, but the wind was light enough that Julian shook all the reef out within 20 minutes. %0 minutes later the reef went back in as the wind strength increased and we furled the job away.

The sea state increased as we approached Toward Point, and we had to keep an eye on the regular ferries on the Wemys Bay to Rothsay route. We needed the engine on to help us cope with steering in the gusts as we rounded Toward Point.

Once we were clear of Toward and approaching the entrance to Loch Striven we could sail again. The view up the Loch was marred by one of the ugliest fish farms I have seen, but looking back once we were past it the whole mess vanished into the background of the Cowal peninsula.

Half an hour later we were back under engine in the East Kyle, motoring straight into the wind while a fleet of yachts ran towards us. These were mostly under genoa alone and we suspected we had encountered a race as few of them flew ensigns. A careful watch ahead kept us clear of the approaching yachts, and we were lucky with our timing at Colintrave as the ferry docked before we got close, and only started to move again once we were past.

There were still yachts heading towards us, but they were coming through the South channel past the Burnt Isles where the tide was weaker. With the tide under us we headed for the narrower North channel. As we approached this a motor yacht headed into it, but with its greater speed it was past us before we entered the narrowest part, with only its wash to cause potential problems.

I had hoped to sail as soon as we turned south into the West Kyle, but the head wind came round with us, and it was not until we were passing the moorings at Tighnabruich that the wind became usable. I had gone below for a rest when I heard Julian taking the reef out and unfurling the jib. Then the engine went off and we sailed down the west Kyle all the way to Ardlamont Point. The sea was flat and Robinetta romped along at between 5.5 knots and hull speed. Julian on the helm had a lovely time, and I relaxed.

Leaving the West Kyle to enter Loch Fyne was not so relaxing. Three tidal streams were fighting for dominance, and beyond the protection from Ardlamont Point the force 5 wind was kicking up a wicked sea with a long fetch. It was jib away, engine on, and reef the main again. 

We had a destination to reach, but a yacht that had sailed down the West Kyle behind us turned back into its shelter rather than fighting to pass the Aldlamont Cardinal. 

Conditions moderated once the tidal streams smoothed out and we were able to turn the engine off and reach up Loch Fyne without problems, although we kept the reef in. By 17:45 we were moored up on the visitor pontoon in East Loch Tarbert after a very varied day's sailing, and after tidying Robinetta up and getting the sail covers on we went looking for dinner. 

A local suggested the Star Fish restaurant, and they were able to offer us a table, although by the time we finished eating every table was full. The food was very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A glass of wine would have been lovely but had to refrain as I was still on antibiotics that said "no alcohol".

Kip

 We set off bang on high water at 11 am, and took the first of the ebb through the narrows.

It had been drizzling a little on the row out to the mooring, but it was dry now and the sun was making an attempt at an appearance. We got the main up by Rhu with quite a deep reef and immediately felt the strength of the wind.

All was good until we came out into the Clyde. The sea state was worse than we had expected and we put the jib away while we got used to things.

There were several racy looking wooden yachts around and we guessed they must be 8m class boats from the sail mark. Beautiful. And so nice of them to come out to give us a send off 🥴.

Robinetta was having more fun than I was on the helm and she persuaded me to put the jib back out, which made things much better.

We had a cracking beat out of the river and down past Dunoon but it was tiring. After 2 1/2 hours on the helm I needed a break and it was reasonably calm so Alison took over but she only managed 40 minutes. She is still very weak from the quinsy. It was obvious that our original goal of the Kyles of Bute was too far in a strong southerly with the crew not at their best.

So we went into Kip Marina. It’s too near home for us to visit normally, so we haven’t been here since we chartered on the Clyde many years ago. And then, we only popped in to drop Alison’s parents off. They had come for a day sail, joining at Great Cumbrie.

10 miles is a very short distance, but it was the right amount for today.

Homeward bound

 After a shore day visiting my father (by train from Ardrossan) we were ready to head home. The forecast was for a good sailing wind and a mostly dry day, but first we had to get showers and shop for lunch. On the way back to Robinetta we had a quick look round the marina, and found two yachts to drop OGA leaflets on. One, Grey Seal, was already on the register but without a photo, so Julian took care of that.

Next was filling up with diesel, and we motored over to the fuel dock. There was an interesting yacht moored up there; the Fairy Atalanta was designed by Uffa Fox, and heavily influenced by the lifeboats he built in WW2. This one had been rescued after 20 years ashore in Ullapool, and just had a reconditioned 1GM10 fitted. This had overheated on leaving harbour, so the owner had sensibly returned back to Ardrossan where she had been launched the day before.  After an exchange of information about what could go wrong with a 1GM10 we were ready to head out of harbour ourselves, but were warned. "It's a bit rough out there."

They were not wrong. Robinetta pitched and rolled violently in the entrance channel, and we could not go head to wind to get the main up to steady her as there was a ferry coming towards us and a reef blocking the way we wanted to go. We passed port to port with the Isle of Arran with plenty of searoom, but it seemed to take a long time to get clear of the reef.

Julian had put the no1 jib on before we left harbour at 11:50. This now seemed too large, but there was no way either of us wanted to go to the foredeck to change it! We got the main sail up, reefed down to the second cringle, and that balanced well with the staysail. As soon as we turned on to our course to pass between Little Cumbrae and the Ayrshire coast everything seemed to calm down as the seas rolled under us, and we stopped the engine at 12:19 and began to enjoy the day.

We always have the radio tuned to channel 16, and heard ferry Isle of Arran calling up the coastguard. One of the passengers had seen an empty kayak and reported it to the crew. A tense few minutes followed as the ferry turned round to retrace its route, then found and recovered the kayak. So far as anyone could tell it had been lost from the shore, and there had been no one on board at any time. The lifeboat was stood down, and the ferry went back on its route, at least half an hour late, having done exactly the right thing. This is a sort of drama that does not get widely reported but was interesting to hear.

An hour later we were almost becalmed in the lee of the Cumbrae islands. The sea was flat, and the wind very light. Julian is still not very well, and spent all his off watch time asleep, sometimes dozing off in the cockpit. I let him sleep for 15 minutes as we drifted before waking him by putting the engine on. Half an hour of motoring brought Robinetta half way up the east coast of Great Cumbrae, where we found the wind again. We should really have shaken the reefs out at that point, but somehow she seemed balanced even with the no 1jib, and the helming was easy so they stayed in until 16:15 when Julian took the helm. We let half of the reef out then, then all of it half an hour later, to head up the Clyde in fine style on a very broad reach.

The wind stayed helpful all the way to the Rhu Narrows, then died. With the tide under us we were able to put off turning the engine on even as we prepared to get the main sail down. This did not want to come as the gaff saddle was caught around one of the topping lifts, but eventually we got it stowed, and picked up the mooring at 20:35.

It had felt like a long day on the water but we were only under way for just over 8 hours. Most of that was sailing, under a variety of conditions. A full on day with plenty of interest!

Tidying up Robinetta after a fortnight away took a little while, but we were back ashore by 22:00. We will he heading off again in two weeks, for a three week trip north to Ullapool. Here's hoping for some gentle winds!

03:30 is the new normal

Another early start, with the alarm at 03:30 and us coming off the mooring at 04:30. Visibility was poor, and the drizzle did not help us feel enthusiastic for the trip, but by 05:00 we turned the engine off and with the full main, no 1 jib and staysail were sailing happily at 4-5 knots towards the East side of Holy Isle. Of course some of that speed came from the tide, but the wind was in our favour for the moment, and the rain had stopped.

We cleared Holy Isle and headed towards Ailsa Craig, with increasing swell making helming more difficult. When I took the helm at 07:00 I felt distinctly overpowered. I asked for a reef and we turned the engine on to help hold Robinetta head to wind. It fired up as usual, but when Julian put it straight into gear it faltered, then died. Julian put the reef in, without needing the engine, and when we pressed the starter again to check it came on without problems so we did not know what the problem had been. We still had the no1 jib, but rather than changing jibs we lowered and lashed down the staysail to balance the sail plan, which worked beautifully.

Holding the track to leave Ailsa Craig to port was impossible, and soon we were heading well east of it, but at least we were sailing. When Julian came back up at 08:30 he wanted the reef out, so I did that, and unlashed the staysail before going below for a sleep.

It is amazing what half an hour of shut eye can do for alertness levels and an hour is even better. When I came back on deck at 09:45 we were sailing happily along at 3 knots, making 4 in gusts. We were well off our straight line to Corsewall point (the northern tip of the Mull of Galloway) but it did not really matter.

The weather was still pretty gray, only one other yacht was visible, coming up relatively fast behind us, but it was not too bad a sailing day. I went below to write up the log, and before I came up a call came for us on channel 16. Styanna, the yacht behind us, wanted a chat, and when we went onto channel 72 we discovered that one of the crew was the skipper of Hanako, whose mooring lay north of ours at Clynder. He took pictures of us, and I took pictures of them, then we parted company since Styanna is considerably faster than Robinetta.

By 10:45 we were 5nm east of out best track, so we put in a tack before I took the helm. We were virtually going back on our track as the wind had gone very light, so I turned the engine on at 10:55. It then stayed on all day, but we were motor sailing, not just motoring.

Ailsa Craig remained stubbornly visible, and it still felt as though it were ahead of us at 14:00. A coaster carrying unknown cargo came round the south end, and it seemed as though it had seen us. At any rate they were a long way away. The next thing we knew they had turned, and their bow now pointed straight at us. We tacked away, grumbling about inconsiderate commercial vessels.

I don’t know if it was because the incident threw me, but when I glanced down through a slot in Robinetta’s floorboards it seemed as though there was water sloshing around in the bilges just below the floor level. I pressed the bilge pump button and nothing happened, so I went on deck and opened the locker to use the manual bilge bump. No water came out. Julian went below to check m if the water really was there, and the bilges were practically dry. The adrenalin hit left me shattered, but there was a more important issue to address, Why had the automatic bilge pump not responded when I pressed it? The fuse was the first thing to check, and it had blown, but replacing it did not make the pump work.

Bilge pumps do not last forever, and when we left Liverpool for Peel back in 2017 we had had the same situation. Using the manual bilge pump every hour when under way kept us safe then, and would do the same for us now, but Julian immediately went on the internet and ordered a new pump to be delivered to Peel Harbour Office. We expected that the chandlers in Peel would have one we could buy, but having a spare felt like a good idea.

We reached Corsewall Point an hour after the tide turned in our favour. This was just as well as the wind was now on the nose, and the sails could not help us. Progress down the coast was rapid, and on reading up the pilot book we learnt that the tide set fast across Portpatrick harbour entrance. That meant we would need to be close in on our approach.

Julian got the main sail down in some very lumpy seas so we would not have to worry about the wind direction as we headed into the harbour, then we closed with the coast. I had a very clear memory of the surrounding reefs, but Julian kept urging me to head in even closer. In the end I screamed at him to be quiet and let me concentrate. (I did apologise later). We entered harbour with no other drama, at 20:20, and found an empty berth against the wall which we tied up to as quickly as we could. Then we stripped off our sodden outer layers, and headed up the harbour ladder towards the Crown Inn. Would they still be serving dinner?

When asked the bar man smiled, and said last orders for food was 20:45, but since it was only 20:44 we were in luck. A fine seafood dinner made a great end to a long day. Julian checked the weather, and it looked as though Tuesday would be a good day to head south, so maybe we could have a day in Portpatrick to recover from 2 early starts.

An early start south

 Having checked the tides for Saturday Julian and I decided that sleeping on Robinetta on Friday night and setting off around 4 a.m would get us an early start and let us take the last couple of hours of the ebb out of the Gairloch and down the Clyde. We had a houseful of guests staying, courtesy of our daughter and her partners who were with us for the summer, and getting Worm to the water’s edge and loaded up with a fortnight’s luggage was eased by having 6 people to help us with the task.

Once on board we got everything away, then settled down for an early night. Robinetta was rock solid on her mooring, and the sea smooth, but oddly enough I found it difficult to get to sleep although Julian drifted off easily.

The alarm went at 03:30 but the kettle did not go on for tea immediately. However we were motoring off the mooring by 04:25 on a windless morning. As we cleared the Rhu Narrows we felt a little wind on our faces, and decided to get the main sail up while we were motoring head to wind. This took longer than it should have done, as a second mast hoops of the season broke. Julian moved the hoops around and retied them, but at this rate we will have a laced on main sail by the end of the season. The ones we had put on as spares in Bristol are not lasting well.

As we followed the coast of the Rosneath Peninsula round into the Clyde the Southerly wind became useful, and we turned the engine off at 05:10 and reached towards Cloch Point. We saw the first ferry of the day heading for Dunoon, and a small cruise liner, the Azamara Quest passed us at 06:00, heading up the Clyde. The wind had gone very light by this point, but was still usable for another half hour as we closed on Cloch Point. By 06:30 our sail was over, and the engine took over to take us down the Clyde towards Bute.

Julian went below, and cooked us breakfast while I helmed, feeling progressively colder. Tee shirt, hoody, and oilskins had been plenty sailing, bit now we were butting into the wind I wanted some extra layers. I warned Julian, who put on his Erebus jumper before heading on deck with the plates.

Progress seemed very slow, heading straight into the wind and tide, and we lowered the main sail to reduce drag. This helped a little, but we were felt lucky when we reached 3 knots…. By 11:30 we were between Bute and Little Cumbrae, and the wind felt almost useable. The clouds had lifted a little and we could see where the sun was, which was a huge improvement on the previous 4 hours. We got the main sail up again, and tried beating past the end of Bute, but had to use the engine to make progress.

We did turn the engine off for an hour when we had more sea room but were only making 1.5 to 2.5 knots. We still had 10nm to go to reach our planned destination of Brodick, and since we wanted to be there in time for dinner we put the engine back on at 13:20.

Visibility got worse as the wind dropped, and the air was heavy with moisture. It soon began to rain, and visibility got so bad we needed to steer by compass as all landmarks disappeared into the murk. Steering 210° brought us into Brodick Bay, where we picked up one of the free mooring buoys at 15:38. Julian brought us up to it perfectly and I got the boat hook on the pick up buoy on the first attempt.

We had a cup of tea to warm up before rowing ashore in Worm to buy bread and fruit and have an early dinner. The rain kept on coming down and our oilies were soaked through, only drying off a little in the pub where we ate.

We were back on Robinetta just after 19:00. The wind was now coming from the North West, so we could have sailed towards Girvan for a shorter sail tomorrow, but the forecast wind force of 4-6 felt a bit too strong. Neither of us are very fit at the moment (not enough sailing) and we had already had a long day. The plan is to have another early start, and hope to pick up the last of the north westerly before it backs South West tomorrow.

More broken boom crutches

On my way back from shopping on Friday I spotted that Robinetta's boom crutches were only again hanging over the side of the boat. These were our spare crutches, that we had built for use when I was varnishing the teak ones. We were intending to go sailing this weekend anyway, so it was no hardship to row out to Robinetta and see what had happened. Alas, it appeared that these too were now broken, in a very similar way to the teak ones. We had not had any problems like this last season...

Julian had spotted one of our CA friends on AIS as they motored past Dunoon, and when we discovered they were moored up in Rhu marina we decided to pay them a visit in Robinetta. 

We got the sails up on the buoy and floated clear of it without putting the engine in gear, but it soon became obvious that this was due to the tide, not the wind. Once we put the engine in gear and throttled up there was an odd rattle coming from the engine; not what we expected only a month after a full service. We made it to Rhu and moored up on the pontoon, where investigation soon revealed that the alternator belt was loose. A quick look at the engine manual, backed up by internet research, and Julian had it tightened up properly. We should have noticed it during our engine checks....

After showing Robinetta to our friend Camilla, and admiring her much younger Westerly yacht, we finally managed to fill our water tanks ready for the season before setting off for a sail. The wind had built to a respectable force3 northwesterly we could not resist going for a sail.

Craigandoran Pier

We headed out of the Gairloch towards Craigendoran pier, gybing away from the shore when we had less than 5 m under the keel. We were at the top of the tide, so the chart plotter showed we were only in 2m. We carried on towards Ardmore, but by the time we could see round the Ardmore promontory and up the Clyde it was time to head home.

We started beating back towards the Gairloch, leaving the Sugar Boat to starboard, but with the tide now against us and the wind on the nose we did not make much ground on each tack. For a while we sailed in company with a larger Bermudan rigged yacht, but boat speed and the differing rig type meant we were left behind after three tacks. With the falling tide strengthening against us we gave up on pure sailing, and put the engine on. The revs not developing as expected, and we had to come out of gear. Julian put the engine in neutral, and it revved up properly, and once we put it back in gear it did rev up enough for us to make progress against the tide, although the throttle position suggested we had more revs than we did.

Once we made it back to the mooring we had a cup of tea and relaxed before putting the covers on. Julian also rigged an extra topping lift to keep the boom up. One of the lazy jack/topping lift ropes was on its last legs, as we did not trust it to support the boom with no crutches. After that it was time to get back in Worm for the row back to the beach.

A windy daysail

 We had booked to go to a CCC rally in Wreck Bay in the Kyles of Bute today, but when the midweek forecast showed it would be force 6 gusting 7 the event was cancelled. It felt like too long since we had sailed, so we decided to go out today anyway, as the forecast on the day was lower, at 4 gusting 6. Julian suggested we might might head up Loch Long, or up the Clyde a little depending on the conditions in the Clyde.

Rowing out to Robinetta an hour after low water was a bit bumpy and hard work with the wind from the north west, but our trusty Worm kept us dry and we got on board Robinetta without any problems. It was my turn to do the foredeck work, and all the lines seemed to have been run incorrectly. This must have been me, since I was the one who rigged her! Once I had bent on the no 2 jib Julian raised the main sail on the buoy, as we wanted to put a reef in. We had the engine on warming up, but sailed off the mooring.

There were 3 keel boats racing out of the Royal Northern YC, but Robinetta was the only yacht out for a pleasure sail. We broad reached out through the Rhu narrows without problems but by the time we were at the caravan park moorings and gybed to head across towards Helensburgh the wind gusts were becoming stronger, and the waves were noticable.We were still in the shelter of the Gareloch, but could imagine what it would be like in the Clyde, and we decided not to go further, but to begin the beat back up towards the narrows.

We had furled the jib before starting the gybe as it makes the process simpler, and since I was on the helm I decided not to fly it again. Robinetta's sail plan was well balanced and while she was a little slow in the lulls I did not want any more sail in the gusts! When Julian took the helm later he did try flying the jib, but asked me to furl it away as soon as the next gust came up.

We sailed up the Gareloch until we needed to start thinking about the exclusion zone around Faslane, then turned back towards our mooring. The gusty wind swung through 45 degrees depending on its strength, and making for a challenging sail. 3 hours on the water was enough, but we had enjoyed the trip.

Once back on the mooring we put the boom on its spare crutches before rowing back ashore in Worm. I only really needed to row to keep us on course, as the wind blew us ashore.

Heading back to Rosneath

 We left Holyloch under engine at about 16:00, having filled up the fuel tanks and spare cans at the marina. We expected to be motoring all the way home as there was very little wind, but Julian got the jib set up ready and hoisted the mainsail. What wind there was came from due East, so we headed south east at first, in the hope that we would be able to sail across the Clyde on our way home. 

We turned the engine off, and tried sailing, but were not making against the last of the ebbing tide, so  after 10 minutes we furled the jib and the engine went back on. All this was in bright sunshine, but looking up the Clyde the visibility was terrible. We could hardly see Helensburgh, and the rain was heading our way.

Within minutes we were motoring into a force 4 headwind. Did we want to use the wind to sail? Not really. The rain was pouring down and we had only brought our light weight walking coats rather than our wet weather sailing gear. I stayed on the helm for the whole trip while Julian took shelter below for a little, but he soon joined me in the cockpit again. The wind dropped to force 3, but the rain continued pounding down. 

Once the tide turned in our favour we sped up, and we did motor sail a little as we started to curve round into the Gairloch, but I was getting cold and Julian agreed that we just wanted to get home as quickly as we could.

By the time we were passing Rhu marina the wind had died completely, and the rain had gentled to drizzle. Julian got the main sail down and bagged the jib under way. By the time we were through the Rhu Narrows the rain had died away to nothing.

As soon as we picked up our mooring buoy at 18:45 I headed below to put the kettle on for a hot drink and change into dry clothes. Julian was not got as wet, and stayed on deck, getting Robinetta stowed away. The cabin felt wonderful and warm!

Next time we go sailing, however good the forecast, I WILL take my full set of foul weather oilies and footwear!

Sailing to see the engineer

 Robinetta's engine has not had a proper service since it was installed, just an oil change in 2022. This is pretty unforgivable since Julian constantly smells burning oil when the engine is run at anything near top revs and we want the engine to last.

There is a Yanmar approved engineer based at Holyloch Marina, so I tried booking a preseason service, only to discover that they are so busy that I needed to wait until Tuesday 21st May for a time slot. I kept an eye on the weather, and the days leading up to the service looked virtually windless, (2-5knots) but Sunday would be bright and warm, so Julian and I decided to take Robinetta over to Holyloch that day.

High water (which is when it is easiest to launch Worm off the beach) was around 10:30 so we launched her at ten and rowed over to Robinetta. The wind was light, but stronger than forecast, certainly enough to be worth getting the sails up and we were not in a hurry. The number 1 jib, full main, and staysail gave us 2 knots, and with the tide under us there was no need for the engine.

We had a pleasant and gentle beat out of the Gairloch, and Julian put our mackerel line out, although we were going a little too fast to expect to catch anything. When we turned onto a very broad reach down the Clyde at 3-4 knots we were definitely too fast and he pulled the line in.

It seemed a shame to stop sailing in such perfect conditions, to we headed into Loch Long. Unfortunately that put the wind almost behind us, and after half an hour I began to wish we had turned down the Clyde instead. With the flat sea, and no obvious movement I was beginning to doze off. We tacked round and headed down Clyde instead.

We passed the entrance to Holyloch, and the car ferries coming to and from Hunter's Key made sure to avoid us, but the wind dropped away to almost nothing as we got closer to the foot ferry terminal at Dunoon proper. That was when a pod of porpoises came past us, only about 50m away which is much closer than I am used to. We also saw guillemots as well as the usual gulls. 

With so little wind we decided to head back towards Holyloch, and we had enough steerage way to turn, but then we started going backward with the tide, so it was time for the engine again. It started fine, but it took a while for the revs to increase, which felt as though the engine was being starved of deisel. Looks as though the fuel filter overdue for a change (not at all surprising!). Luckily it corrected itself within a minute, and the wind came back within 15, so the engine went off again and we sailed towards Holyloch making about 3 knots.

There was a small gaffer beating out of the loch, which turned to come and see us. While it was on its way a motor launch called Late Edition slowed down as it passed us and circled around taking pictures, which they will try to sent us later. The gaffer turned out to be a Capecutter19 and it was fun to chat as we passed each other at 6 knots closing speed! He recognised Robinetta as being moored at Clynder so had obviously seen her there.

We sailed into Holyloch on a run, then got the engine on and sails down just before entering the Marina, where we were moored up on a finger berth at 16:00 after a lovely and varied day on the water. We will be in the Marina until the service is completed on Tuesday before heading back to our mooring.

A Sunday excursion

 Julian went out to check on Robinetta on Saturday, which was the first calm day since she went in the water. There he discovered that we had not plugged in the solar panel, and had accidentally left the radio on. A week of rain meant that the automatic pump had run quite often, so now the battery was flat.

Robinetta has two batteries, so he switched to the second one, and started the engine to charge the flat battery as well as hooking up the Solar panel. Running a marine diesel engine designed for propulsion solely to charge a battery is not good for it, and we had guests coming for lunch, so the battery only got a short charge. He manually pumped the bilges before coming ashore, as the electric pump did not seem to be working.

After our guests left we rowed out together as Julian wanted to check the electric pump connections. He immediately discovered that he had been trying to use it from the flat battery and it did work! However it was nice to get on board.

Sunday was another windless day, although rather damp. I had thought it might be good to motor round to Kilcreggan and anchor to go to the pub, but the rain put me off. None the less we headed out to Robinetta, with the idea of motoring up the Gairloch to charge the flat battery. The engine started without problem on the spare battery, and we dropped the mooring buoy at noon to head up towards Faslane.

By the time we were half way up the loch the drizzle had stopped and we were able to enjoy the surroundings. We were nearly past Faslane when I saw a plastic drink bottle floating on the water. This was a great excuse to have a play at maneuvering. Not exactly man overboard, but plastic flotsom retrieval is always a good idea...

It took fifteen minutes before Julian managed to get the boat hook on it (I had failed three times to catch it in a bucket) and I have no idea what any watchers at the base thought we were doing, but success and the better weather made us decide to go all the way to the head of the loch and pick up one of the 3 moorings supposedly belonging to the Anchor Pub.

There are several moorings near the pub, all of them different, and none labelled as belonging to the Anchor Pub. Given there was no wind, and very little tide we were happy to pick up any of the vacant moorings in deep enough water and row over in Worm to the pub for lunch. 

The Anchor is a pleasant pub, with good beer and food. Well worth the visit. They were surprised to hear we had arrived by boat, and none of the staff knew which were their moorings, or when they were last serviced, although the lady working in the kitchen could remember that they used to be serviced... We will go again, but probably only on a calm day like today.

We arrived back on our home mooring at 15:50, with a fully charged battery, having had a pleasant trip exploring our local surroundings.

A weekend away

 We belong to a facebook sailing group called Sailing Cruising Scotland. This weekend they had a Rally planned at Holy Loch Marina. As this is only 10nm from Robinetta's mooring we decided to go. The forecast was for very light winds, so potentially we would be motoring the whole way, which was not a problem with this length of trip.

Unusually our son Alex decided he would like to come too, so there were three aboard Worm when I rowed us out to Robinetta mid-morning on Saturday. The sea was totally flat (a bit of a difference from my last row out)which was just as well as we did not have much freeboard!

We were at mid flood tide, springs, as we came off the mooring, with not a hope of getting through the Rhu Narrows under sail with the wind we had. Once we were through the Narrows we did try sailing for 15 minutes, but at about 0.7knots we would miss the barbeque, so the engine went back on until we were passing Kilcreggan, with a little more wind. An hour later we had still not reached Cove, so the engine went on for 15 minutes, at which point we finally found a good wind and began sailing properly.

By 14.45 we were just off Holy Loch Marina, and put the engine on to take down the sails.

Most of the Rally boats moored up on the breakwater pontoon. We chose to go on the outside of the breakwater where we would be blown off. There was plenty of room since most of the boats had gone inside to be away from any waves. It was so calm that this was not problem for us. Once settled in we headed for the "cocktail bar" manned by the Cutters and Sloops group before moving on to the Holy Loch Sailing Club for the barbeque. 

The weather was perfect for the event, with bright warm sunshine. Even the midges were kind to us and stayed away! Alex got a little sunburnt as he is not used to being outside as much.

Sunday's sail home was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, although the wind came in earlier. We had a slow sail out of Holy Loch, but the wind came picked up as we passed the Ardmore Cardinal at the entrance, and we had a lovely fast sail home, touching 5 knots at times.

No submarine movements impeded our progress and we headed up the Loch a little to see Hanako on her mooring. We had met them on the rally and it was good to see where they kept the boat.

We got the sails down and Julian helmed us, very slowly, onto our mooring after a lovely weekend away.

Local sailing

It felt like a long time since we had gone sailing, given that Robinetta was sitting really close to home. However we had been busy with sailing matters, attending the Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival with our smack boat, and running an OGA60 event in Dundee, so this was our first free weekend since we got back from Oban. I felt quite desperate to get out on the water.

I rowed us out to the mooring in more wind than I was expecting from the forecast, and we hoisted the no2 jib, and reefed down a little as we raised sail, then began the beat out of the Gairloch. Julian has suggested we go over to Loch Goil, but that felt like a long way to me! He was helming and wanted a deeper reef after we got past the Rhu Narrows. 

Once we were out into the Clyde the sea state made Robinetta's motion uncomfortable and we decided to make it a short trip rahter than go anywhere. After a cup of soup lunch we tacked round to head into the Gareloch. As we reached the moorings outside Rhu Marina one of the Navy Patrol vessels approached us and asked if we had heard the radio announcement that the Narrows were closed for a submarine movement. We could honestly say that we had not. There was no sign of anything moving either, but we obeyed instructions and turned off course to beat about through the moorings, well outside the channel. 

Julian had been on the helm the whole trip, and after about five minutes he handed it to me. Tacking through moorings is bad enough, but soon after I had to turn away from the Rhu Spit, and run back through the moorings... We put the engine on just in case the close quarters maneuvering under sail got too difficult. Luckily nothing went wrong and first the accompanying tugs and then the submarine superstructure appeared over the top of the Spit. After about twenty minutes we were free to head up the loch again.

We turned the engine off and had a short sail up the Gareloch before deciding to head home. We were determined not to put the engine back on again, so practiced picking up our mooring under sail. It took three goes, but we did it!

Last day of the trip

We spent Friday visiting Brodick Castle, walking there and back along the Fisherman's Path. We were due a change in the weather, and it was cold, with a fair bit of drizzle off and on. We got back to Robinetta late afternoon, and decided to have a quite evening on the mooring rather than trying to go anywhere.

We wanted to make the most of the tide heading up the Clyde, so warmed up the engine and released the mooring at 06:45. There was a bit of a miscommunication between foredeck and helm on departure. I thought Julian said "Helm to port", while he actually said "Buoy to port". This resulted in Robinetta running over the pick up line, and we did catch on it for a short while. (When I checked astern the mooring buoy was trying to follow us.) Luckily a quick burst of astern before putting the engine in neutral saw the mooring drift towards the bow again, and the pick up buoy reappeared.

The weather was overcast, and the wind very light, but we knew it was due to get up to a force 5 later, so Julian bent on the no 2 jib for the first time this trip. We went head to wind and raised the full main straight after breakfast. The wind was from dead astern, so I set the preventor but the breeze was so light the engine stayed on for another hour. 

At the start of the day Julian had agreed to set a course so we would have an ETA to give our son who was expecting us for dinner. He did not think we really needed it for anything else since we could just head between Bute and the Cumbraes as we left Arran. However I was very glad of it when both our aiming points disappeared into the murk! Visibility was only really bad for about 15 minutes, and as the fog cleared the wind came up and the engine went off at 08:36.

We sailed along happily at just over 4 knots until we were between Bute and Little Cumbrae. Julian was helming, and beginning to find it hard work, and when I glanced behind I could see more white horses than I was expecting. I nipped across the cabin top and took off the preventor while Julian put the engine on, then we went head to wind to reef.

Reefing is normally easy. This was not. The throat halyard got stuck on something, and Julian had to go forward to free it. The problem line turned out to be one of the topping lifts, so he let it off, but the throat halyard was still reluctant to shift. Jiggling the peak halyard can help in this situation, but on this occasion all that happened was that it got free, letting gaff descend more than it should have. Without the topping lift, and in the swell, the end of the gaff fell past the boom and landed in the cockpit.

We gave up on reefing, and lowered the mainsail until the squall passed over. It took nearly half an hour to sort the lines, and when we felt back in control we turned the engine off and sailed just on our headsails at 3-4 knots. After we cleared the Cumbraes and had caught our breath we got the main back up, with a reef, and used the width of the Clyde to very broad reach north, gybing to recross the Clyde as needed. It was a really lovely sail after all that bother!

Just before Cloch Point we noticed a small yacht under motor, heading straight for us. It was bouncing around in the swell and we wondered what it was doing, until we recognised one of the crew who was waving and calling us by name. It turned out to be John Blackie, eager to tell us that his boat, Maid of Lorne, had been launched and was in Rhu Marina.

We carried on past the entrance to Loch Long and sailed into the Gareloch, eager to see our own mooring for the first time. It had been laid just that morning, and we had been sent its lat/long by text message, but we had no idea what it looked like.

The engine went on at 15:24, and as soon as we had the sails down we motored to where we expected the buoy to be. There it was, labelled "RB Marine 5 tons", with a tag on it with the license number. It was an easy pick up, and Robinetta was "back" at her new home with the engine off at 15:42

 

A place to return to

Being at Sanda, only a long day's sail from home with no tidal gates to worry about, made me feel very relaxed about the rest of the trip home. it was a gorgeous morning, so we had breakfast in the cockpit admiring the view.

 Julian did not start raising the anchor until 09:45, and we motored gently north with the flood tide under us all morning, although we did raise the main sail.

By 12:53 it felt as though there were enough wind to sail, so we stopped the engine 4 miles south of Pladda at the end of Arran, and sailed at 2-3 knots for a while. There was a small boat with two rod and reel fishermen aboard who shouted something at us as we inched past, giving them plenty of space. I did not hear what they said, but according to Julian it was "Get out and push!" Robinetta was doing less than 2 knots at the time... 

By 14:40 the wind was just too light to give us steerage way, and the tide was no longer with us, so the engine went back on for an hour, but then the wind came back, and we ran towards our chosen destination of Brodick. Julian remembered going there as a child, and wanted to visit again, and I had not been there since I was 18 on a university field trip.

As we crossed the entrance to Lamlash Bay we got a wind shift that required us to gybe, but rather than doing that we turned towards Lamlash and sailed inside Holy Island instead of along the eastern side as we had planned. It was a perfect solution as when we did gybe inside the bay we had a fast broad reach towards Hamilton Rock at the northern entrance to the bay.

Once clear of Hamilton Rock at 17:00 we came off the wind and ran towards Brodick. There are 15 free visitor moorings there, and we planned to take one. As we approached I could see that there were plenty of spare moorings, so rather than putting the engine on I sailed Robinetta into the right place to let Julian pick up the mooring line. The maneuver went well, given that I can not remember the last time I sailed onto a mooring!

That evening we were hailed by Jeremy Taylor who rowed over from his boat having seen us sail in. We invited him aboard, and had a lovely evening exchanging sailing experiences.

A long first day

We set no alarm for Saturday morning, even though we knew we wanted to get away early. We were woken as expected by light in the cabin and around 5.30 I suggested Julian put the kettle on. We were soon up and moving, but there were covers to remove and rigging to check so the engine did not go on until 06:40. There was a good NE sailing breeze that we knew would not last the whole day, so we wasted no time getting the sails up and by 07:06 the engine was off and we were sailing on full main and no 1 jib on a very broad reach out of the Gairloch and across the Clyde towards Gourock. We had to gybe in order to clear the west end of the town, and headed towards Dunoon for a while while we could gybe back onto course for the south end of Bute.

By 09:15 we were approaching Skellmorlie at nearly 5 knots running before the wind with the preventer rigged. The sea state was definitely “slight” but the sea was beginning to roll under us which was fine when the wind was steady, but every now and then there would be a lull and the course became more difficult to hold. We were expecting to go west of Great Cumbrae, but it was impossible to hold that course, so we decided to go east of the island. The sea state eased as we did that, but the wind followed us round, and after 10 minutes we decided to gybe and return to our original plan.

We crossed the Clyde, heading towards Bute. We were now heading across the waves which had build up as the fetch increased, but a very broad reach took us into the entrance to Kilchattan Bay, so we gybed back onto our course towards the south end of Arran.

By 12 noon the wind was failing, but we were still making nearly 3 knots. Then Julian’s hat went into the sea. This might have been it getting caught by the lazy backstay, but we do not know for certain.

Julian is very fond of his sun hat, and was not prepared to loose it, so I put the engine on and headed back towards it. We must have circled it 4 times before I managed to get Robinetta close enough for Julian to grab the hat with the boat hook. At one point he decided he needed to get into Worm and row for it, but luckily I reached it before then.

When we turned back onto course we discovered that the wind had died and we needed to keep the engine on. The rest of the afternoon saw us alternating between sailing and motor sailing but by 17:00 the wind was too light to use, and we dropped the main.

Dinner was a tin of chilli beans on orzo pasta. Suprisingly tasty when we added a couple of rahcers of chopped and fried bacon and just what we wanted.

We reached the anchorage at Sanda just after 21;00, helped for the last couple of miles by a knot of tide. The approach was full of tidal rips, but no overfalls and once inside the anchorage the sea was calm and flat.

There were already 3 boats at anchor there, but plenty of space for us. We dropped the hook in just under 4m, and after checking it has set turned the engine off at 21:18.

We knew that the wind was expected to increase in the small hours, along with a chance of thundery showers, so Julian lowered the jib and tidied up the stay sail with its cover. When putting out the chain he had asked if 14m was fine, and I had agreed, even though I had already decided we should have 20m. When the wind kicked up at 1 a.m I remembered this and could not get to sleep until I let out more chain…. This was after I had already spent time after getting ready for bed in order to tie up to tie Worm so she would not bump Robinetta. Then the wind woke me at 1, the rain woke me at 2, and swell began to roll us at 4. Not a peaceful night’s sleep!

60nm in 15½ hours.

Stroul Bay

We had left Robinetta and Worm in Rhu Marina. I’d originally wanted to get her to the house but the weather forecast encouraged discretion.

So we stayed on Robinetta on Sunday night and I got the first bus home on Monday morning.

It felt like commuting to the office! Alison stayed behind and did some tidying and came home around lunchtime.

Mid-week I got a call from the marina. There was another big wind due and they didn’t think Worm looked safe. It was really nice to feel our boats were being looked after. Luckily, Alison was in Helensburgh with her Dad’s car and could pop in on the way home. She brought Worm ashore and left her by the mast store.

Worm at Rhu

The weather forecasts were pretty changeable all week but in the end, Sunday looked like a good day for a short last sail.

The Ferry Inn - Rosneath side of the narrows

I still wanted to get Robinetta to Stroul Bay, so that’s what we did. The forecast was for a westerly wind but there was a little north in it. So we beat across into Rosneath Bay and then got a nice line into the narrows.

Rhu side of the narrows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Two large birds landed on the red channel marker. Far more colourful than I’m used to, I hoped for something exotic, but the later advice is that they were immature cormorants.

young cormorants

Alison wanted to head up the Loch first. The wind was very variable, sometimes we managed nearly 4 knots, at other times we dropped to below a knot.

It was lovely to finally sail the water we’ve seen from the road so many times over the last year.

It was nearing lunchtime before we got anywhere near the head of the loch, so we turned round and headed for Stroul Bay.

The moorings were quite busy, and we got some chain out and threaded our way amongst them. I wanted the ideal spot for photos, and to mark the best place to lay a mooring.

That best place was very near where it started shelving and before we knew it, we had almost run out of water! We backed out into 4 m and dropped the hook.

Anchored in Stroul Bay

 Lunch was a simple affair of wholemeal bread and tinned mackerel. I took a few pictures of the house. Then I got into Worm to row ashore. Alison preferred to stay aboard.

That was fine, I don’t often get to row Worm and she rows beautifully. I came ashore at the new little memorial garden across the road from the house. 

A retired gentleman and his dog have taken to spending their days there. He’s helping tidy up a bit around the new garden. A nice chap. He made the same suggestion we’d heard at the CCC event in Tarbert – ‘DJ’ in Rosneath can lay us a mooring.

Worm with Robinetta in the background

I’d taken pictures of the house from Robinetta. Now I took some of Robinetta from the shore and then headed up to the house. 

The view from the terrace

 I took some from the terrace – our first sight of Robinetta from the house! And then indoors and some from the dining room. Being able to watch Robinetta at breakfast will be perfect.

Framed by the dining room window

 But that’s really something for next year. For now, I could relax in the glow of a goal attained. We’d set off a year ago to get Robinetta north. We’d got stuck in Southwold and carried on in April. We’d had a few difficult passages, especially the departure from Grimsby, but everything had worked out.

I wandered happily back down to Worm and rowed back to Robinetta.

It was still early with good wind but Alison was keen to get back. The Gareloch was a little busy with Sunday racing for her taste.

We sailed back through the narrows and sailed around a bit in Rosneath Bay and then headed into the Marina. I made a complete mess of coming back to the berth. It was a lee shore but I could have done better. We ended up with Robinetta pushing against the pontoon in the middle of the pair of finger berths and crushing Worm against the pontoon.

Not much damage was done, except to our pride. I’ll need to repair Worm’s starboard bow again. Exactly the same place I had to mend last winter!

Now we need to arrange for her to come out for the winter.

The final leg

Well, almost.

I checked the forecast first thing and it was still showing 20 knot winds gusting nearly 40 knots from 4pm but the early part of the day looked good.

Alison agreed that we should go. There were plenty of places to stop if the wind or sea-state was too much. Rothesay, Kip and Holy Loch were obvious choices.

We left at 8am. Pretty much the whole CCC contingent left before us, or soon after. Winds were light and many just motored but we motor-sailed as far as the entrace to the Western Kyle.

After that the wind kicked in and we sailed. Alison said "We never checked the tides through the Kyle". This could be a problem. It was now springs. Alison checked and it looked like we would reach the narrows in the first hour of the foul tide.

When we got there I decided that if the tide was against us, then the southern channel was likely to have weaker tides than the main marked channel as it was wider.

I don't know what the main channel was like, but the southern channel was fine. We got through without difficulty. We had made great time to the narrows and it was now about noon. Of course the bigger CCC boats were going up to twice as fast as our 4 knots and were probably near their home ports by now.

Through the Kyles of Bute

As we sailed through the Eastern Kyle towards Rothesay the wind built steadily. As we got to the moorings west of Toward Castle we turned to put a reef in. Alison had forgotten the procedure. A good enough reason for it to be her turn! So we pointed head-to-wind and under instruction, Alison:

• dropped the peak halyard so the gaff was horizontal, 
• untied the throat halyard and re-tied it where the reef should be
• untied the furling line and hauled the sail around the boom until the luff was tight
• made off the furling line
• raised the gaff and made off the peak halyard

One might wonder if the sail would fall down while the throat halyard was loose. In practice it rarely does.

As we had reefed all the way down to the first mast hoop there was one more step. We untie the first hoop so that if we need to reef more, we can.

 That left the helm much easier as we came out of the Eastern Kyle into the Clyde proper and turned north.

Today was a busy day for the Coast Guard and the RNLI. The Campbeltown all weather and inshore lifeboats were tasked to three different incidents and the Troon ILB had to rescue some paddle-boarders from the river (Irvine?). All these were tasked by Belfast Coastguard on VHF channel 16 and we listened intenltly. Two of them started with DSC Mayday alerts. We took down the co-ordinates but they weren't near us so there was no need to try to help. The Campbeltown incidents included a small boat sinking near the Mull of Kintyre and a chartered yacht that had been dismasted in Loch Fyne. They all seemed to end without injury.

It had been a dead run all the way to Toward so we expected a reach in the Clyde. We thought that hugging the Cowal coast would give us the flattest sea with the least fetch. But there didn't seem to be much sea all across to the Ayrshire coast. The gusts on the Cowal side though, were getting rather fierce. We took the helming in turns. Alison set her 'helping hands' - a 2:1 purchase on the tiller. But she still found the gusts pulling the head around too much so we dropped the staysail and carried on with No 2 jib and deeply reefed main.

So after a while, we reset the course to head across the Clyde directly towards Cloch Point, where the coast turns east towards Gourock. The original course I had laid in took us all the way to Stroul Bay outside our house. But given the strong winds overnight, Alison laid in the course to Rhu Marina just the other side of the narrows.

We did get fewer strong gusts on the new course but the wind back around to behind us. It always feels strange when the wind is doing the opposite of the forecast, but local land forms change local winds beyond anything predicted. With the wind behind us, the jib was not helping, so we furled it and put the staysail back up.

 

 

Dunoon

Passing Dunoon we got our first view round the corner of Cloch Point and spotted the TV transmitter mast on the Rosneath Peninsula - we were nearly home!

Rosneath Peninsula

We got round the corner by Gourock almost bang on 4pm and so did the stronger winds! Sometimes punctuality feels like an overrated virtue. The strong winds were coming from the West blowing right up the Clyde towards Glasgow. Suddenly the sea state became much rougher too. The waves weren't big but there was a lot of spray. The helm became very heavy and it was time to reduce sail. We put the engine on and went head to wind and pulled more of the mainsail around the boom. It helped a lot.

Back on course, we left the engine ticking over in neutral so it was there in case we needed it in a hurry. We put our life-jackets on too. Robinetta was coping with the conditions fine but it was very hard work.

There is a sandbank between Gourock and Kilcreggan called the Rosneath Patch. Our course took us north of it and the seas and wind were pushing us even further north towards the Rosneath shore. Trying to keep on course against that I pulled the helm over a bit too far and the boom went crashing over.

An accidental gybe is the one thing all sailors will try to avoid. It can damage the sail and the rigging and worst case, it can cause dismasting. This one, given the conditions, was not bad at all. Thank goodness we had so little sail up.

We put some power on from the engine and got back on course, bringing the boom back over in a controlled way. I said I thought it was time to drop the main. I was thinking of carrying on with the staysail on its own, as had worked for us between Loch Eriboll and Cape Wrath. But as I was thinking about going head to wind again, the sea state was starting to calm down.

We couldn't tell if this was a lull in the wind, or if we were getting some shelter from the Rosneath Patch.

But it did get smoother and smoother and the wind did drop a little. We turned off the engine.

We eased around the red bouys marking the channel into the Gareloch and things just got easier and easier. After a while our speed had dropped to under a knot and I was thinking of shaking a reef out. Then I realised we still had the jib furled and we got that out and the sailing became quite delightful.

We got within a cable or two of the entrance to the marina under sail and then dropped the main and staysail and motored in to a berth.

We were still 1 nm from our final destination, but we were 99.9 % of the way there from Southwold!

We decided to spend the night on Robinetta rather than going home.

Rhu Marina

CCC Closing Muster

We joined the Clyde Cruising Club in the spring. CCC produces the cruising guides for Scotland and has events and log and photographic competitions. We didn’t know if it would be something that would work for us. None of the events earlier in the year fitted our availability but the Closing Muster looked possible. We registered earlier this week. The event consisted of a race from Rothesay to East Loch Tarbert and an invitation for any boats not wanting to race to converge on Tarbert for a reception and prize giving. The event started on Friday with a get together in a pub in Rothesay.

When we thought we might get into the Clyde on Wednesday the pub event looked possible, but a day later meant we would only be able to get to the Saturday reception.

Getting to Lochranza was perfect. If we didn’t go to the CCC event we were in the right place to head for home. If we did, we were only 10 miles from Tarbert.

Then we looked at the weather. There was a force 8 gale due Sunday afternoon when we would be on our way from Tarbert to Rosneath.

I was keen to meet the people from the CCC so we decided to go to Tarbert. If we got stuck there I could work from the Marina on Monday, or even for longer.

As we came out of Lochranza at 10am there seemed to be very little wind and all of it in the wrong direction. After trying to sail for about 5 minutes I put the engine on and headed straight for Tarbert. Alison had other ideas. She took over and got

Robinetta sailing nicely over to the Kintyre shore on a course that would allow us to beat up Loch Fyne.

Sometimes, one of us is just having a better day than the other.  In this case, I think the wind had picked up a bit and it was taking me a little longer to get going for the day than it was taking Alison. It’s great if when one person isn’t feeling on top of things that the other one can take the lead.

We did one long board over to the Kintyre coast and then another one towards the western end of the Kyles of Bute but the next tack went badly wrong. I was helming and discovered that after the tack we were going exactly back on our track. The wind had back to the west. We couldn’t work out if it happened just as we tacked, or if it had happened a little earlier and I hadn’t noticed.

\

So I tacked again and found we could go due north. Before it had been north-east. This new tack got us out of Kilbrannan Sound and into Loch Fyne proper.

There was a race coming down Loch Fyne. They turned near the entrance to the western Kyle and came back across our path. We had to give a couple of yachts water and then we were following this fleet up the loch.

Soon we were joined by another race coming from the southern end of Bute - we thought “this must be the CCC race.”
 

Of course all these big modern yachts were faster and could point nearer the wind than Robinetta. We persevered and made several more tacks and got to within 3 miles of East Loch Tarbert before deciding that we would be late for the reception unless we motored.

When we arrived, the area allocated to the CCC had just one spot left Robinetta could fit in. A space on the long pontoon which would not have been big enough for many boats, but was just right for us. We tied Worm alongside and slid gently into the available space.

We just had time to tidy the boat and go to the Co-Op to get some drinks and snacks to bring to the reception.

We had a great time and made some really useful contacts.