Onward to Barra

We decided that we might as well go straight to Castlebay, Barra, today. There was very little wind in the forecast, so it would be a motoring day. As long as the waves from yesterday's sailing breeze had gone we would be able to put George on the helm and sit back.

That is almost exactly what we did. We did get the main sail up at the north end of Rum, and had half an hour under main and jib as we headed to the south end of Canna, and another hour sailing after lunch, but George had no problems helming when we were motor sailing.

The sitting back bit did not quite happen. When Julian got the sail cover off the stay sail before letting go of the mooring buoy at 07:45 he discovered that the tape we had used to mend the stay sail in Mallaig had come off along half its length. I spent over half the trip to Barra sitting in the cabin sewing it in place. I knew I should have sewn it on in the first place, rather than just relying on the self adhesive!

Motor sailing towards the hazy horizon

We did the 45 miles from Rum  in just over 11 hours. The light breeze kept the sails full, but with that distance to cover we wanted to keep above 4 knots, and that meant having the engine on as well. This meant George could be used, and all our tech got a good charge. The horizon was hazy, but the sky overhead was bright blue, and the sun sparkled on the water.

We were tied up in Castlebay Marina by 19:00, which gave us enough time to walk up to the Fish Box Kitchen and get scallops and
prawns for dinner which we ate in the cockpit with a glass of wine. Lovely.

Sun plus wind

I've been pretty down in the dumps since Stornoway. We haven't had a decent day's weather on the boat. Either too much wind or none at all and no sunshine to speak of. Some days the visibility has been less than a mile and the cloud base has been a few hundred metres.

This afternoon promised sun. The forecast wind was 8 knots gusting 12 from the south. A bit calm to move Robinetta but more would have created too much swell.

It was a flat calm with a hint of blue sky at Inverie this morning. So we put the No 1 jib on and raised the main on the mooring and motored off. Next stop Rum.

We picked up a pod of dolphins near Bogha Don (or Bodha Donn as I think it should be). Lots of young. We normally think of them as common dolphins but I saw a picture today that makes me think these might have been Atlantic white sided. They followed the boat for a while doing lots of jumps but we didn't get any pictures.

Then a second group came to play near Mallaig.

After that there was a huge group of mixed seabirds on the water. We tried fishing but we weren't very patient.

Then a third group of dolphins and a Minke.

Breaks in the clouds came and went but the blue seemed to be winning.

We could feel a tiny bit of wind. As we got out into the Sound of Sleat, it got more noticeable. After a while we were heeling a little so I throttled back and put the jib out. The sea was still glassy but there was enough wind to move us at 3 knots! The engine went off.

Entering Loch Scresort, Rum

mThe trip to Rum was lovely. The wind dropped away for a few minutes and then started building. Two miles from Rum we needed to reef but the sea was still slight. Eda Fransen was there at anchor and gave us a wave. We dropped the sails, shaking out the reef, and picked up one of the new visitors buoys around 2pm.

After a cup of tea, we rowed ashore and walked to the shop, past the “castle”. By now, it was brilliant sunshine and the woody path’s shade was welcome.

Rum has excellent walks but my toe is still a little sore, although it is healing well. So after an ice cream, we headed back.

Aboard, we caught up on emails and read it for a bit and then I cooked the venison meatballs we bought at Inverie, with spaghetti and a jar of Ragu.

After dinner, we rowed ashore again to visit the otter hide.

We didn't see any otters but I did see a heron.

This is the sort of day I desperately needed.

 

A bumpy night

The Inverie moorings lived up to their "not sheltered" label but Robinetta was secure on her mooring. We tried tying Worm alongside to stop her bumping the stern, and it worked for a while, but at 2 am the line was making a lot of noise. I got up and let her off astern, and the rest of the night was quieter.

We woke up to heavy rain, and noticable swell. The mooring was not exactly comfortable, but moving  did not appeal either. By lunch time the swell had died down enough to contemplate rowing ashore, so after a sandwich lunch I bailed Worm out, and we headed ashore to spend the afternoon in the Old Forge Inn (they do not serve meals on Mondays).

The coffee, beer, and whisky were excellent, and we spent the afternoon there. Visibility was poor, but we were snug and dry in the Inn.

Setting out again

After breakfast on board I went hunting for the cloth tape I use for taping the mast boot on. I used this for a temporary repair to the stay sail. There was not quite enough to tape both sides of the sail, but I reinforced it with some Gorilla tape, and hopefully it will see Robinetta as far as Oban. There is no sail maker at Mallaig.

We headed ashore to shop, then Julian put the stay sail back on its boom, and lashed it in place. After a full set of engine checks it was time to turn the engine on, but we left it for a while, and ate lunch before heading out. This also let one of the ferries leave its berth without us need to worry about being in its way.

I set in a course for Rum while the engine warmed up, and Julian set up the no2 jib, then he let the mooring go at 13:10 and we headed out.

The sea state did not seem too bad while we raised sail, but as soon as we were on course towards the Point of Sleat it seemed to kick up. We were on a fine reach, but not heeling too badly, and the sails seemed well balanced. Then I actually look at the main, and it was luffing horribly. It was time to pull it in to set properly, and reef down to balance the no2 jib that way.

The sky was grey, the sea state was uncomfortable, Rum, only 14nm away, was indistinct and covered in cloud. I could see sunshine to the north of the Sound of Sleat, and when I mentioned it to Julian he just grumbled that it would be gone by the time we got there. It was time for a rethink.

We tacked round, and headed for Loch Nevis on a very broad reach. With the waves on the stern quarter not the bow Robinetta’s motion became a lot easier. There was sun on the mountain we were heading towards, and the views were much closer.

The wind was very gusty, and as we approached the entrance to Loch Nevis we were going from 3-5 knots with the gusts. It was fun at first, much more enjoyable than heading to Rum, but I was beginning to get tired. Julian took the helm, and when the strongest gust yet hit us and it was time to gybe away towards Inverie I could not bring the main sail in. We held our course for a little, then tacked round instead.

We were getting close to the Bogha Don beacon, and the wind had gone lighter, so we rolled the jib away, ready to gybe. The another gust hit us, and we had to put the engine on to get Robinetta head to wind to put a bigger reef in.

Bogha Don must be an 18th century mis-hearing. Bogha is a bow. Bodha is a submerged rock that water breaks over. Don could either be dona, or donn. Julian's money is on Bodha Dona, "badly breaking rock".

Sailing away from Inverie to get sea room we though about heading towards Inner Loch Nevis instead. There was a strange shape in the distance, so I headed below to have a look at the pilot book. I should have known better. The strange shape was Eda Fransen, heading towards us with her main sail up and no foresails set. Once she was past us Julian checked on the anchorages available and decided they were too far up the loch.

 The sun came out, and Inverie was calling us. There are moorings there, and we saw a large pod of dolphins leaping out of the water. We turned our engine off as they came towards us, but they were not interested in playing, just fishing. We sailed for 15 minutes before putting the engine back on to get the main sail down and pick up a mooring. We hoped to do this under stay sail, but the gusty wind made it difficult. Even after getting the stay sail down it took 3 goes to pick up the mooring. We had been out less than 3 hours, but it was definitely time to stop.

Inverie is not well sheltered with wind from the south west, and we are bobbing about on the mooring with no desire to get into Worm for a bouncy trip ashore. The sun was soon lost behind the clouds, and it began to rain. Hopefully the weather will be better in the morning!

Returning aboard

When we got back to Mallaig this afternoon the first task was to rescue Worm from the dinghy park at the end of the pontoon. The rubber dinghies surrounding her had not prevented her from being pushed against or under the pontoon, and the top of the gunwhales were scuffed. The rope fender had done its job on her sides though, and although the fender looked squashed the wood was fine. The duck board was afloat, but the rain water had not reached the level of the thwarts. There was not really room to haul her up and tip the water out, but Julian managed to get some out by tipping her where she floated, and the rest got bailed out with the milk carton bailer we keep tied to her. Once she was empty enough for us not to get our feet wet we put the luggage in, and I rowed us out to Robinetta.

We knew that the stay sail cover had been blown off during the storm, but luckily it was still in the foredeck. Unfortunately the stay sail had been damaged while free to blow about, and the leech of the sail was ripped for over half its length. We will need a new stay sail this winter.

Julian had tied the boom crutches securely in place, and although they were not exactly where we had left them they were still doing their job of keeping the boom from moving. There was no damage to the main sail, and both jibs had been stowed below before we left so were in no danger.

All in all Robinetta had come through the storm well.

I rowed us ashore again after a cup of tea, and we had takeaway fish and chips for dinner.

Aproaching Storm

We spent a day in Mallaig, doing laundry and boat maintenance, intending to head off to Rum or Canna the next day. The weather put us off, as it was damp and sunless, and when we looked ahead we saw the weather was about to get really bad, with strong winds. We could get to Castlebay, on Barra, before the storm hit, or Lochboisdale where we had sheltered in 2015, but instead we decided to head home. Julian had not been home for over 3 months, and I had only paid a couple of flying visits.

The rules at Mallaig marina are that boats on pontoons have to have someone in attendance, but they could be left on the moorings. There are only 7 moorings, and three already had boats on them, so we moved Robinetta onto a buoy before having lunch. By 3 pm all the buoys were taken. I rowed us ashore in Worm, and we left her tied up in the dingy mooring area, and caught the afternoon train home. 

We will not be back on board until Storm Floris has passed over. 

Mallaig

Alison picked me up from the rocks again and we got aboard and raised anchor. I slipped on the way to Worm and cut my toe. The was quite a bit of blood.

There was virtually no wind all afternoon and George steered us to Mallaig. On the way, a family of common dolphins joined us and played around. Young dolphins jumped right out of the water and the adults spent some time bow-riding.