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.

Back round the Mull of Kintyre

 We could have left Port Ellen in the small hours, and taken the early tide round the Mull, but this whole week we had wanted to relax, so we stayed in the marina all morning. Having a shower felt blissful! Julian mended Worm's rowlock mount that I had broken in Tinker'e Hole, and I filled the water tanks and sorted the rubbish. Julian also tried to connect a new mains outlet in the cabin, as there was electricity on the pontoon, but it only worked briefly. Probably a fault in the extension socket. We had managed without mains power so far, and would be on a mooring once we got back home, so it did not matter too much.

We motored away from the pontoon at 11:30, and raised sail in Port Ellen Bay. We would have had to pay for another day's mooring if we were in the marina after mid day, but we did not want to reach the Mull much before 20:00.  There was no need to push ourselves under motor when there was wind to move us, however slowly. We had a lovely couple of hours sailing before the wind died completely, then the motor went on to take us towards the Mull. 

By 17:00 we had to motor quite hard to keep our rendezvous with the Mull at slack water. The tide was against us as it flooded past the Mull and up the Sound of Jura. However the sea was flat calm, with very little swell and I cooked dinner underway. We have discovered "Cooks and Co" pre-prepared Risottos packs, and they are very boat cooking friendly. One pan, and we have all the ingredients suggested to add.

We  were "sailing" in company with another yacht that was also heading for the mull. It was obvious that we both had the same plan to avoid paying another day at Islay and to reach the Mull at slack water. Once there we took  Robinetta in close to the mull while the other yacht stood off a little and there were no overfalls on either course. Once round the Mull we headed for Sanda, while our companion in travel headed up the Clyde, possibly toward Campbelltown. We had gone far enough, and dropped anchor at 21:47 to spend a peaceful Midsummer eve.

6 distilleries sighted and a Winery visited

 We dropped the mooring at five to seven, and began the trip to the north end of the Sound of Islay. We raised the main, but it was not really doing anything, in fact it might have been slowing Robinetta down as there were head winds.

Julian ducked below to check out the breakfast options, and received an enthusiastic "Yes, please" at the suggestion of bacon and egg with fried bread. It is not easy eating that sort of meal while helming, but it made a lovely start to the day.

The head winds continued, but were slackening, and the sea state (never bad) got flatter, so we made good time and entered the Sound at 09:20. The tide helped us through at 5-6 knots on low engine revs and we passed three distilleries on the Islay shore without even thinking about stopping for a visit. I had been slightly worried that there might be overfalls at the south end, but roughest water with wind over tide was at the narrowest part of the Sound, by the lifeboat station. We steered closer to the Islay shore, and were soon away from the disturbance.

By 11:00 we were out of the Sound, but still being helped south by the tide. By the time we reached Ardmore point (our fourth distillery) the wind was no longer heading us, so we turned the engine off and sailed.

Julian wanted to go behind Texa, and approach Port Ellen that way, so we turned onto a run, and headed into the passage. I never like being on a run, the wind was light, and the swell was constantly lifting the boom, the passage was narrow, and I did not feel like I had much control on the helm. I was not a happy helmsman! We glimpsed Lagavulin behind the reefs, but stopping did not feel like a good option.

Once we were behind Texa and could come off the run the sailing improved, and we romped past Laphroig into Port Ellen, dropping the sails jut before the ferry pier. Twenty minutes later we were securely tied up on the pontoon.

Islay marina had everything we wanted, but I felt very tired and stressed by the sail in. I had bruised a rib while securing Worm to Robinetta at Kerrera, and now the adrenaline of organising the event had faded it hurt whenever I moved too fast. Julian suggested a visit to Islay Wines would help, so we walked there, and had a tasting, coming away with four bottles.

We had hoped to eat at the hotel or the Bistro, but both were full, so we got takeaway fish and chips (plus a battered haggis) from the Bistro and ate on board.

Starting the sail home

After all the socializing of the weekend it felt good to get some down time, but we needed to get back to the Clyde by the end of the week. The forecast was overcast, and the winds variable, and we decided to head for Colonsay. It meant we did not need to plan for the tides much, and could take our time in the morning. Julian paid the farm for the mooring using the internet as neither of us felt like going ashore.

We came off the mooring at 08:45, and motored down the Sound of Kerrera. In fact we motored most of the day, only managing to sail for an hour as we passed Inch. There are new moorings at Scalasaig Bay on Colonsay, and we picked one up at 18:18. They seemed very far out from the shore, and like this morning neither of us felt like going ashore. We could pay for the mooring on line again, so we did. It is very convenient being able to do this!

We might have avoided tidal planning this morning, but this evening we needed to make sure we could get through the Sound of Islay tomorrow. The tide would be favorable between 06:12 and 12:32, so we needed to be away early.

The mooring were subject to swell, and we moored Worm alongside Robinetta so she would not wake us in the night.

Oban - Parade of Sail

We had a lazy start to the morning then got the water taxi to Oban to host the Distillery Tour. We only had a few takers for the tour but the Distillery were great and managed to sell nearly all the tickets and refunded us for those. I really enjoyed the tour.

Then it was back to the Marina to get the boats over to near the Sailing Club to assemble for the parade of sail.

We tootled around in the bay letting our young helm, graciously lent by Young Larry, get the hang of the boat and then headed off bang on time at 3:10 and led the fleet in towards the Corryvreckan (not the whirlpool, the pub on the quay), turning parallel to the promenade and past the north quay and the transit Marina. It was great looking behind and seeing the fleet following. We did see people on the shore stop to look.

© Stephen Lawson Photography

 

Two boats had joined the parade that I wasn't expecting. A Drascombe Longboat we'd seen moored on the OSC moorings and a modern gaff cutter. The cutter turned out to be Lazy Wind, OGA North Wales boat. They didn't know they'd make it so hadn't registered. Both were most welcome!

We got back to Kerrera Marina and got fuel then snuck away. I needed downtime from being sociable. We picked up one of the farm buoys behind Heather Island and settled down for a quiet evening. I cooked pasta with chorizo, our standby.

Three down, none to go. A successful event.