West Coast of Scotland, Northern Ireland & Isle of Man
May 19, 2020 20:34:42 GMT
Post by stevespring on May 19, 2020 20:34:42 GMT
This is short account of the summer cruising I did in 2019 with my 1975 LM27 "Minerva".
June / July / August 2019
Minerva was craned back in to the water in Greenock, Scotland in mid June. I'd always questioned the sanity of sailors who try to get boat jobs done in winter and early Spring in the west of Scotland. It's generally quite wet and chilly until May. So, sporting fresh anti foul, and with her topsides polished, engine serviced, etc., off we (the royal 'we' - boat and I) set of for a short shakedown cruise just to make sure all was well before the longer adventures would begin. Just a short, weekend trip south down the Firth of Clyde, hang a right into Rothesay Sound, then up the East Kyle of Bute, through the narrows at the Burnt Isles and finally anchored in Loch Riddon. Winds were generally light, force 2 or 3 apart from the last leg between Dunoon and Greenock on the return home, where it was blowing force 6. Minerva, as always, took it in her stride. A final week of work beckoned before my 4 weeks of holiday time would begin, but I was confident that all was well for the longer trip ahead.
Sunday 7th July: 0415 start from Greenock, log 2130nm, no wind... motoring out of the dock in the last of the not quite fully dark Scottish summer night. The lights of the town are abeam to port, as I call ahead to Estuary VTS to report our departure into the final couple of miles of the marked channel of the River Clyde. Once beyond the Green Number 1 buoy, freedom awaits! At 0535 we are passing Cloch Point Lighthouse and finally there is the faintest hint of a breeze. At 0645, having motored for 7 miles, we finally have full sail set and with the breeze from the NNE, are running goose-winged in a SSW direction at the beginning of what would be a long day. The winds continued to be light; never more than F3, so progress wasn't all that fast, but the plan was to get as far as Sanda Island, just off the Kintyre Peninsula, and then anchor and wait for a fair tide to carry us round the Mull of Kintyre. As we passed Toward Point Lighthouse on the Cowal Peninsula, it was shaping up to be a lovely day, and as we began to skirt past the Isle of Bute, the sun was shining and we were on a broad reach through the Cumbrae Gap - next toward the Isle of Arran, rising majestically to starboard, it's mountains in the north clearly visible. "The Sleeping Warrior" had been how my grandfather had described it to me when I was a child; as when viewed from Ayrshire on the mainland, Arran's silhouette gave the impression of a man lying down.
By noon, we were off Holy Island, home to a Tibetan religious retreat these days, and by 1400 we were passing the turning point of Pladda, watching the seals on the rocks, and making our turn south west for Sanda. The sun block had to be exhumed from it's usual resting place for a rare outing as I could feel my skin getting hotter as the day progressed. Lunch was prepared in the galley, while the tiller pilot was in control of steering our course. From Pladda to Sanda Island was around 17 miles across a more open stretch of water around 50 metres depth. By 1700, we were off Sanda Island, and a quick calculation showed that we would still have a fair tide to get around the tidal gate of the Mull of Kintyre, so rather than anchor, we kept going... In hindsight, this was not to be the best decision, as by the time we were passing the western end of the headland, a large confused sea could be seen dead ahead, with breaking wave tops. We were right in the middle of the tidal curve, with the waters of the North Channel being funnelled through the gap between Ireland and Scotland and meeting the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This was only our 2nd trip around the Mull, and I recalled how the last trip south and east had been likened to being in a washing machine. I closed the opening middle wheelhouse window, closed the mushroom vent in the forward hatch and made sure nothing was liable to fly around the cabin. The wind was now rising to 20-25 knots, so the sails were reefed and we ploughed on. We were now close hauled as tight to the wind as it was possible to still make way with, as Minerva climbed each wave and slid down the next. We were averaging 9 knots, and I knew the confused water wouldn't last forever, so for another few miles we stuck to our course, as by now, wave after wave washed over the top of the wheelhouse, while the wiper struggled to cope. We came off the top of one of the larger waves (I estimate around 4 metres) and fell into the next trough with an almighty bang, but the boat shuddered and picked up speed again. After half an hour of this, finally the sea relented and smoothed out. Next stop, the island of Islay (pronounced Iy-la)... The remainder of the sail was uneventful and quite pleasant, and we came into Kilnaughton Bay off Port Ellen at 2145 and anchored under sail in 6 metres of water. A lovely spot just off the beach with only a few cottages on the shore, and not another boat in the bay - they were all in the marina at Port Ellen across the bay. Final log reading 2213nm - 83 miles sailed.
The following morning, after breakfast, the dinghy was inflated and I rowed ashore and pulled it up above the high tide mark and wandered along the beach. It was grey and a bit chilly, and a family were playing on the beach, the kids dressed in anoraks and wellington boots. I chuckled to myself as I recalled my own childhood with summers spent at holiday towns on the Clyde coast; invariably cold and wet! I bid them good morning as I carried on to a small grey ruin I could see ahead. By the time I was upon it, I could see it had been some form of small church building, but it was tiny and right on the edge of the beach. No roof, but the granite walls were mainly intact. I wandered up the path beside it and through a small woodland, eventually coming out on a narrow tarmac road. Walking down toward the village of Port Ellen, I had to stand aside for 2 cars. Rush hour! I passed the low bonded warehouses of the local whisky distillery and finally into the pretty village of Port Ellen. By this time, I was a bit parched from the walk, so into the local 'co-op' for a refreshing 'Irn-Bru' (Scottish soft drink - fun fact... Irn Bru is the top selling soft drink in Scotland, outselling Coca Cola). I found the harbour and the marina, which looked fairly busy, and I had a nosey at the various boats that were berthed. I considered walking out the other side of the village, but since I was wearing my sailing wellies and dragging along my foul weather gear, decided against it. I was also still fairly tired from the previous day, so decided to head back to the boat to plan for the next stop and do some reading. We bobbed around at anchor and another yacht joined us 100 metres away. The day continued grey and murky...
Tuesday 9th July: Log 2213, winds F3 from the SW.
0510 - another early start; this was becoming a habit and I was supposed to be on holiday! I unfurled the mainsail and brought the anchor in with the windlass, nice and clean from the sandy bottom, so no awful mud to clean off. As the bow blew off, the genoa was unfurled and we were quickly on our way out of the bay; our destination Craighouse on the adjacent Isle of Jura. Today's sail was a good deal shorter at only 22 miles and would see us pass the Sound of Islay, which were we to turn left would bring us toward Colonsay, but not this trip, and our previous attempt for Colonsay had to be aborted with strong winds sending us deep into Loch Tarbert on Jura's west side. A glorious sail today, with a following breeze of F3 to 4, even though the day was again a bit grey. As we neared the Sound of Islay, the Calmac ferry was passing ahead of us. Lifeline of the Isles... We approached the southern entrance into Loch na Mile, flanked by rocky outcrops. We picked up one of the visitor's mooring buoys and got sorted out. It was 1045 and now raining. This was to be our lot for the next 2 days. I began to wonder if, having postponed this trip due to poor weather, which had originally been planned for June, if July was going to be any better. I had plenty of reading material on board, which was just as well, as reception on the digital radio was non existent. We were joined later on in the day by a grey hulled, aluminium 'Ovni' yacht from France, which we were to see again a few times in other places. By the following day, cabin fever was setting in, so I rowed ashore in the dinghy to the local shop and paid for the mooring for 2 nights. I walked up to the distillery and had a look around, but the day was rather damp, and though the thought of tasting a single malt was appealing, I also knew that there were 2 nice bottles on board! So a return was made to Minerva and more of my book was read, accompanied by said single malt. The following day saw strong winds, and I could see the Ovni straining on her anchor rode, and this was within the shelter of the Loch, so no sailing today...
Thursday 11th July: Log 2235nm, wind F4 from the west.
A more pleasant start time as we slipped the mooring at 0815 and made our way out into the Sound of Jura. Our intended destination today was to be the village of Tayvallich on Loch Sween; a sea loch that stretches north eastward into the western side of the Kintyre Peninsula for around 7 miles. Good sailing today noted in the log book. The weather has finally begun to improve and the leaden, grey skies now have patches of blue and by noon, the sun has mad an appearance, and shortly we motor into the anchorage of Tayvallich. Well I say anchorage... in fact there were so many moorings that having anchored and let the scope out, I felt we were too close to the moored boats astern, so decided to go slightly outside into the more open area and anchored there instead with far more space to swing. Lunch was prepared and eaten while I mulled over whether to stay here or go elsewhere. After consulting the pilot book, I could see that there was another very sheltered anchorage at the Fairy Isles, only a couple of miles away, so made the decision to at least go and check it out. This turned out to be a great decision. We were the only boat there and having dropped anchor and tidied up, I rowed around the large rock we were anchored near and found a shallow pool, with a small motor boat beached and folk fishing from it, while kids paddled in the water. It was flat calm in here and I just sat and drifted and eventually came to the shore and climbed out. A small bit of exploring followed, down a track into the woods where the only sound was birdsong and the faint noise of the kids back there. Idyllic. Back to the dinghy and an hour spent just lying back and enjoying the peace. A very peaceful evening was had in a great, sheltered spot.
Friday 12th July: Log 2255nm, no wind.
We weighed anchor at 0800 and motored south west back down Loch Sween, passing Castle Sween to our port side, skirting the moorings in front of the castle. The sun was shining and another nice day was ahead of us. By 1000, we were again in the Sound of Jura heading north, the breeze finally filling from the north west, so we were motoring, destination the town of Oban. This passage would involve getting the tide timings right, as the stretch between the north end of Jura and the mainland has a fair current flowing, and leads to the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan and its' whirlpool. We weren't going through Corryvreckan today though, just north towards Oban. It was an uneventful passage through the fastest part and soon enough we were past the islands of Scarba and Lunga, with the island of Seil (with its' 'Bridge across the Atlantic') to starboard, as we sailed on towards the island of Kerrera, negotiating the narrows in Kerrera Sound, then keeping east of the Ferry Rocks cardinal mark, and finally into Oban Bay. Oban is the main ferry port for the west highlands, so a good lookout needs to be kept for car ferries arriving and leaving, especially since we would be cutting across their path on the way to the recently developed 'transit marina' at the North Pier. Calling ahead to the marina office, we were allocated a berth and soon enough were secured snugly at a floating pontoon. I was craving fish and chips, and knew of a good place in the town from a previous trip. I wasn't to be disappointed. Oban in July was fairly busy with tourists and it's a good place to spend a few days if there are a crowd of you, with plenty of pubs and eating places. Single handed, there's maybe less appeal on that front mind you, but nice to roam around and mingle with folk.
Saturday 13th July: Log 2295, wind F3 NW
At 0720 the lines were slipped and we motored out of the transit marina. Once out of Oban Bay, the sails were unfurled and a north easterly course was set, close hauled past the island of Lismore via the Lynn of Lorn and through the narrows at Port Appin, then skirting around the west side of Shuna island and into Loch Linnhe, a long sea loch that takes a dog leg at its' northern end into another sea loch, Loch Eil. Once again, timing was important to get through the Corran narrows, but this is just a very short stretch. We sailed onwards on Loch Linnhe until reaching the town of Fort William, where the anchor was dropped in about 10 metres of water. It was 1445 by this point and a late lunch was prepared. There didn't appear to be any particularly good place to go ashore however, so after lunch and a bit of a rest, we weighed anchor at 1700 and set sail back down the loch, finally dropping anchor between Shuna island and the mainland in a lovely, sheltered bay, with only one other boat near us. As the breeze died away during the evening it was just amazingly peaceful; a great end to what had turned out to be a cracking sail, especially reaching back down Loch Linnhe.
Sunday 14th July: Log 2341nm, wind F1 N
Weighing anchor at 1000 with very little breeze, we motored the short distance across to the island of Lismore and dropped anchor in the bay at Port Ramsay in the north of the island. I had a friend who was visiting family on the island, so eventually made contact and after rowing ashore and clambering over rocks and across a swampy field, found the track to the hamlet of Port Ramsay; basically a row of cottages, but a lovely place. We then had a tour of the island by car, visiting the ruins of a castle on the western side, where horses from a nearby croft were roaming freely along with a cockerel. The views were stunning and it was a beautiful sunny day. We all had a spot of lunch before I returned to the boat late afternoon and enjoyed the time spent at anchor. Quite a lazy day. Only 4 miles travelled!
Monday 15th July: Log 2345, no wind.
The target for today was to be Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. There was hardly any breeze, but it was a nice bright day as we motored first south west down the Lynn of Morvern, before turning WNW into the Sound of Mull, the narrow body of water separating the Morvern peninsula from Mull. It was to be a day of gentle motoringh with the tiller pilot taking care of steering as I soaked up the landscape while also keeping watch. We rounded into Tobermory Bay, with its' distinctive brightly coloured houses and attempted to anchor, but there was very little room near the village, so picked up one of the many (expensive) visitor's moorings. Once settled, I rowed ashore and tied up at the pontoons and paid the mooring fees, then walked into the village and re-stocked with some supplies from the co-op and browsed a couple of other shops. Tobermory was full of tourists and very busy, so a retreat was made back to the boat and I watched more boats arriving while moored just off some steep cliffs with a waterfall as a vista. Nice spot.
Tuesday 16th July: Log 2370nm, wind F2 S
Another day of motoring, left Tobermory at 1300 with very little breeze, back down the Sound of Mull, arriving at Craignure at 2000. Some of this time was spent attempting to sail, eventually giving up when our speed dropped away below 2 knots. We anchored off the village and dinner was made then an early night. I didn't go ashore.
Wednesday 17th July: Log 2387, wind F4 SE
A grey rainy day, and initially I was just going to stay put, but a decent breeze gave the prospect of actually sailing, so foul weather gear was donned and we weighed anchor and were finally back under sail, with our intended destination Puilladobhrain (pronounced Pull Doran), a narrow, sheltered anchorage on the north end of the island of Seil. Once we cleared out of the Sound of Mull, the wind strength increased until it was blowing F6, and suitably reefed down, we beat towards our destination. I had set up the Hebridean wind vane self steering for this trip and once I had tweaked the control lines a touch, it was holding our course to the wind well on each tack. It was a wet, windy ride, with only a couple of other yachts out and we finally reached the entrance to the anchorage around 1900, furled the sails away and started the engine. As we motored towards the entrance I could see steam coming from the exhaust, and although the Bukh engines are known for producing some steam from the exhaust, especially in the colder months, this day wasn't all that cool, so I sensed something wasn't quite right, and checking the temperature gauge, I could see that the engine was way above its' normal operating temperature, so quickly shut it down. We now had 2 options - set sail for Oban, 7 miles to the north east, or sail into the anchorage at Puilldobhrain which is pretty narrow. I decided on the latter and with full main and the genoa reefed down to working jib size to allow for easier short tacking, we slowly crept our way into the anchorage, past the already anchored yachts and finally found a space near the top in which to quickly drop anchor and douse the sails. After a sigh of relief and a small malt whisky, I was finally able to enjoy the scenery of this fine anchorage. My attention then turned to the engine issue, which was traced to a blockage at the sea water inlet down at the skin fitting, which I was able to rod through with some stiff wire via the strainer filter, and after checking the water pump impeller was ok, the engine was started and water flow checked - all good. We sat at anchor for the following day as the weather was still not great, again more rain...
Friday 19th July: Log 2414nm, wind F3 S
Of course the wind was always going to be on the nose for our trip back south, however after working out the tide times, we weighed anchor at 0500 and crept out of Puilldobhrain. We motored down the Sound of Luing and had a bumpy ride through Dorus Mor (the big door?) and over towards the boat yard at Crinan to fill up with diesel. Crinan has one of those floating jetties made from plastic cubes joined together and there's a bit of a lack of decent cleats to get a rope on to, so it took 2 attempts at mooring single handed to it and it was a bit wobbly when stepping off the boat to get springs attached, etc. Diesel was obtained from the well stocked chandlery, via a very long hose from the pump all the way down the jetty, and we were soon on our way once more, bound for the island of Gigha, where we arrived at 1540 and dropped anchor in the clean, sandy bottom of Ardminish Bay in the clearest of water. After going ashore and walking to the shop for some supplies, I settled down to enjoy the peace and quiet and views.
Saturday 20th July: Log 2461, wind F4 NW
Too good a day not to go out for a sail, sunny and with a good breeze from the NW, to we set a course north east for West Loch Tarbert, a loch I had visited as a child, but had never sailed on. I wasn't to be disappointed. Not only was a it a fantastic sail as we romped up the sheltered waters of the sea loch, but the scenery was stunning. We sailed as far as a small island near the head of the loch before dropping anchor for lunch and then returning back to Ardminish Bay once more. We were then to sit at anchor at Ardminish for3 days while a strong southerly wind blew and blew; our intended course being south naturally... With the return trip down to the Mull of Kintyre needing to be done on a south going tide, while the wind blew from the south, this wasn't a scenario that I fancied very much, so we waited for a window in the weather... Trips ashore in the dinghy were made and there is good walking to be had on Gigha which is quite a flat, pastoral island. It has a good pub / restaurant and a cafe, shop, etc. plus a ferry to the mainland.
Tuesday 23rd July: Log 2562 (something happened to the log while at anchor in Ardminish while we had an anchor alarm set on the GPS, and we seemed to have gained about 70 miles!) wind F4 S.
Well the wind was still from the south, but it had eased a bit at least, so since cabin fever was now starting to set in, I decided today would be the day. The intended destination was Glenarm in Northern Ireland. Having done the calculations, we set off at 0450(!!) with the wind on the nose and motored down the Sound of Gigha towards the Mull of Kintyre. I intended to give the Mull a decent wide berth of a couple of miles to keep out of the worst of the seas, and even doing this, it was still pretty rough, and by the time the Mull was coming into view the wind was now 25 to 30 knots apparent as we motored on. After being bounced around a good bit, I decided against Glenarm due to the sea state and instead made for the closer port of Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. This proved to be a good decision. I contacted the marina to check for berthing space, and was told no problem and that a staff member would be there to help take the lines. We arrived at 1320 and tied up in the sheltered, small marina and got booked in. The service was excellent and the facilities top notch. Ballycastle is also well placed with good public transport links along the beautiful Antrim coast. The town is set back from the coast maybe half a mile, but it's a quaint little market town with good shops and facilities. A friend who lives in the Republic decided to come and visit by car and stay on the boat, so a good few days were spent sight-seeing the Antrim coast by car, and it was nice to once again have some company. I stayed 4 days in Ballycastle marina and it's on my to-do list for a return visit sometime.
Sunday 27th July: Log 2602nm, wind F1 NW
Finally, it was time to say farewell to Ballycastle and make use of the forecast north westerly wind to take us down the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man... This was to be an overnight passage and the Hebridean wind vane self steering was once again set up to take care of the steering duties. Initially, at 1140 we motored out from Ballycastle and round to Fair Head and its' towering cliffs, and by 1350 we were finally sailing, running dead downwind, goose-winged with a preventer set on the main, and the Hebridean doing its' job on the tiller. This was to be the sail plan for the next 5 hours, until the wind shifted and we also altered course by 5 degrees and were now able to broad reach and put the whisker pole away, as the wind was now a decent force 4. The day involved keeping watch, reading, listening to the radio, cooking and eating, while the miles ticked by. By 2140, it started to rain and I headed into the LM's wheel house to shelter, while the wind vane steered. It was now beginning to get dark, so it was a case of keeping hourly checks of course and position and working out or ETA at Peel on the Isle of Man. Peel Harbour is a drying harbour, so if one arrives too early, you will need to sit on a waiting buoy outside the harbour, and having done that in a north westerly the previous year, I was keen to avoid this! The only thing of any real note on the passage during the night was a passing container ship which got a bit too close for comfort. I tried hailing them on the VHF but got no reply. By around 0500, we were getting close to Peel and it was clear we were going to arrive too early, so the main was furled away, and the genoa reduced to a scrap in order to slow our progress down to a couple of knots. Contacting Peel Harbourmaster, I was patched through to Douglas Harbour and informed of the earliest time for entrance to Peel and the first swing of the bridge at the sill that holds all the water in at the harbour these days (the outer harbour still dries). By 0710 we were secured in Peel Harbour and finally I was able to go to sleep for a few hours.
The next 5 days were spent on the Isle of Man, using Peel as a base and its' good public transport links with the rest of the island. I bought a weekly ticket which was able to be used on the buses, the steam train, and the tramway that goes from Douglas to Ramsey, and also the Snaefell Mountain Railway. Much exploring was done. The Isle of Man is well worth visiting and a week would not be too long a time to take to do it. It's a scenic island with plenty to do and if the weather is fair, as it was mostly, then It's great. Peel itself is an old town with narrow streets, but with a bit of Victorian sea front, plus the busy harbour of course. Douglas has a wide bay, with a mainly well preserved Victorian sea front with horse drawn trams.
Friday 2nd August: Log 2687, wind F2 NE - the long trip home...
It was finally time to leave as I had to be back at work on Monday. We slipped lines out of Peel Harbour at the first swing of the bridge at 1100 and set the sails once outside the outer harbour, on a north westerly course, close hauled. For the next few hours we were making between 3 and 4 knots of speed, but eventually the wind fell away very light and the engine had to be started. By 1700, there was no breeze at all, and I decided rather than pushing on, we would head in to Port Logan on the Rhinns of Galloway, in the south of Scotland. We dropped anchor in the bay at 1900 having covered only 34 miles. There was, at least no swell and after making dinner and enjoying the views it was time to go to bed and see what tomorrow would offer in terms of breeze...
Saturday 3rd August: Log 2721nm, no wind again!
Another very early start in order to catch the north going tide up the North Channel. We weighed anchor at 0125 and began motoring up the coast of Galloway. By 0240, the breeze had filled in from the north east and we were now carrying full sail, firstly heading north west on a beam reach, before having to alter course to the north and a close reach. The sailing was good though, and we had a fair tide under us, and a nice flat sea state. By 0500, the breeze was dying away and soon the engine would have to be started again, with Ailsa Craig (AKA Paddy's Milestone) now in view. A couple of hours later we were sailing once more, now close hauled, and gradually counting down the miles towards home waters. By 1100, we were having to tack our way northwards, and by 1300, were again motoring; the winds now coming from the north, on the nose and also a bit too light to make any great progress to windward. The rest of the day proved mostly windless, or again on the nose, so the journey into the Firth of Clyde was done using the Bukh iron spinnaker once more, which proved its' reliability. We finally arrived back in our home port of Greenock on Saturday 3rd August 2019 at 2200, with the final log reading being 2813nm, so less the 70nm anomaly while at anchor in Gigha, showed we had covered 619 nautical miles. The LM27 had proved to be a good vessel for the variable weather encountered and was comfortable to live on at anchor and in the marina. Now it was time for sleep!
June / July / August 2019
Minerva was craned back in to the water in Greenock, Scotland in mid June. I'd always questioned the sanity of sailors who try to get boat jobs done in winter and early Spring in the west of Scotland. It's generally quite wet and chilly until May. So, sporting fresh anti foul, and with her topsides polished, engine serviced, etc., off we (the royal 'we' - boat and I) set of for a short shakedown cruise just to make sure all was well before the longer adventures would begin. Just a short, weekend trip south down the Firth of Clyde, hang a right into Rothesay Sound, then up the East Kyle of Bute, through the narrows at the Burnt Isles and finally anchored in Loch Riddon. Winds were generally light, force 2 or 3 apart from the last leg between Dunoon and Greenock on the return home, where it was blowing force 6. Minerva, as always, took it in her stride. A final week of work beckoned before my 4 weeks of holiday time would begin, but I was confident that all was well for the longer trip ahead.
Sunday 7th July: 0415 start from Greenock, log 2130nm, no wind... motoring out of the dock in the last of the not quite fully dark Scottish summer night. The lights of the town are abeam to port, as I call ahead to Estuary VTS to report our departure into the final couple of miles of the marked channel of the River Clyde. Once beyond the Green Number 1 buoy, freedom awaits! At 0535 we are passing Cloch Point Lighthouse and finally there is the faintest hint of a breeze. At 0645, having motored for 7 miles, we finally have full sail set and with the breeze from the NNE, are running goose-winged in a SSW direction at the beginning of what would be a long day. The winds continued to be light; never more than F3, so progress wasn't all that fast, but the plan was to get as far as Sanda Island, just off the Kintyre Peninsula, and then anchor and wait for a fair tide to carry us round the Mull of Kintyre. As we passed Toward Point Lighthouse on the Cowal Peninsula, it was shaping up to be a lovely day, and as we began to skirt past the Isle of Bute, the sun was shining and we were on a broad reach through the Cumbrae Gap - next toward the Isle of Arran, rising majestically to starboard, it's mountains in the north clearly visible. "The Sleeping Warrior" had been how my grandfather had described it to me when I was a child; as when viewed from Ayrshire on the mainland, Arran's silhouette gave the impression of a man lying down.
By noon, we were off Holy Island, home to a Tibetan religious retreat these days, and by 1400 we were passing the turning point of Pladda, watching the seals on the rocks, and making our turn south west for Sanda. The sun block had to be exhumed from it's usual resting place for a rare outing as I could feel my skin getting hotter as the day progressed. Lunch was prepared in the galley, while the tiller pilot was in control of steering our course. From Pladda to Sanda Island was around 17 miles across a more open stretch of water around 50 metres depth. By 1700, we were off Sanda Island, and a quick calculation showed that we would still have a fair tide to get around the tidal gate of the Mull of Kintyre, so rather than anchor, we kept going... In hindsight, this was not to be the best decision, as by the time we were passing the western end of the headland, a large confused sea could be seen dead ahead, with breaking wave tops. We were right in the middle of the tidal curve, with the waters of the North Channel being funnelled through the gap between Ireland and Scotland and meeting the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This was only our 2nd trip around the Mull, and I recalled how the last trip south and east had been likened to being in a washing machine. I closed the opening middle wheelhouse window, closed the mushroom vent in the forward hatch and made sure nothing was liable to fly around the cabin. The wind was now rising to 20-25 knots, so the sails were reefed and we ploughed on. We were now close hauled as tight to the wind as it was possible to still make way with, as Minerva climbed each wave and slid down the next. We were averaging 9 knots, and I knew the confused water wouldn't last forever, so for another few miles we stuck to our course, as by now, wave after wave washed over the top of the wheelhouse, while the wiper struggled to cope. We came off the top of one of the larger waves (I estimate around 4 metres) and fell into the next trough with an almighty bang, but the boat shuddered and picked up speed again. After half an hour of this, finally the sea relented and smoothed out. Next stop, the island of Islay (pronounced Iy-la)... The remainder of the sail was uneventful and quite pleasant, and we came into Kilnaughton Bay off Port Ellen at 2145 and anchored under sail in 6 metres of water. A lovely spot just off the beach with only a few cottages on the shore, and not another boat in the bay - they were all in the marina at Port Ellen across the bay. Final log reading 2213nm - 83 miles sailed.
The following morning, after breakfast, the dinghy was inflated and I rowed ashore and pulled it up above the high tide mark and wandered along the beach. It was grey and a bit chilly, and a family were playing on the beach, the kids dressed in anoraks and wellington boots. I chuckled to myself as I recalled my own childhood with summers spent at holiday towns on the Clyde coast; invariably cold and wet! I bid them good morning as I carried on to a small grey ruin I could see ahead. By the time I was upon it, I could see it had been some form of small church building, but it was tiny and right on the edge of the beach. No roof, but the granite walls were mainly intact. I wandered up the path beside it and through a small woodland, eventually coming out on a narrow tarmac road. Walking down toward the village of Port Ellen, I had to stand aside for 2 cars. Rush hour! I passed the low bonded warehouses of the local whisky distillery and finally into the pretty village of Port Ellen. By this time, I was a bit parched from the walk, so into the local 'co-op' for a refreshing 'Irn-Bru' (Scottish soft drink - fun fact... Irn Bru is the top selling soft drink in Scotland, outselling Coca Cola). I found the harbour and the marina, which looked fairly busy, and I had a nosey at the various boats that were berthed. I considered walking out the other side of the village, but since I was wearing my sailing wellies and dragging along my foul weather gear, decided against it. I was also still fairly tired from the previous day, so decided to head back to the boat to plan for the next stop and do some reading. We bobbed around at anchor and another yacht joined us 100 metres away. The day continued grey and murky...
Tuesday 9th July: Log 2213, winds F3 from the SW.
0510 - another early start; this was becoming a habit and I was supposed to be on holiday! I unfurled the mainsail and brought the anchor in with the windlass, nice and clean from the sandy bottom, so no awful mud to clean off. As the bow blew off, the genoa was unfurled and we were quickly on our way out of the bay; our destination Craighouse on the adjacent Isle of Jura. Today's sail was a good deal shorter at only 22 miles and would see us pass the Sound of Islay, which were we to turn left would bring us toward Colonsay, but not this trip, and our previous attempt for Colonsay had to be aborted with strong winds sending us deep into Loch Tarbert on Jura's west side. A glorious sail today, with a following breeze of F3 to 4, even though the day was again a bit grey. As we neared the Sound of Islay, the Calmac ferry was passing ahead of us. Lifeline of the Isles... We approached the southern entrance into Loch na Mile, flanked by rocky outcrops. We picked up one of the visitor's mooring buoys and got sorted out. It was 1045 and now raining. This was to be our lot for the next 2 days. I began to wonder if, having postponed this trip due to poor weather, which had originally been planned for June, if July was going to be any better. I had plenty of reading material on board, which was just as well, as reception on the digital radio was non existent. We were joined later on in the day by a grey hulled, aluminium 'Ovni' yacht from France, which we were to see again a few times in other places. By the following day, cabin fever was setting in, so I rowed ashore in the dinghy to the local shop and paid for the mooring for 2 nights. I walked up to the distillery and had a look around, but the day was rather damp, and though the thought of tasting a single malt was appealing, I also knew that there were 2 nice bottles on board! So a return was made to Minerva and more of my book was read, accompanied by said single malt. The following day saw strong winds, and I could see the Ovni straining on her anchor rode, and this was within the shelter of the Loch, so no sailing today...
Thursday 11th July: Log 2235nm, wind F4 from the west.
A more pleasant start time as we slipped the mooring at 0815 and made our way out into the Sound of Jura. Our intended destination today was to be the village of Tayvallich on Loch Sween; a sea loch that stretches north eastward into the western side of the Kintyre Peninsula for around 7 miles. Good sailing today noted in the log book. The weather has finally begun to improve and the leaden, grey skies now have patches of blue and by noon, the sun has mad an appearance, and shortly we motor into the anchorage of Tayvallich. Well I say anchorage... in fact there were so many moorings that having anchored and let the scope out, I felt we were too close to the moored boats astern, so decided to go slightly outside into the more open area and anchored there instead with far more space to swing. Lunch was prepared and eaten while I mulled over whether to stay here or go elsewhere. After consulting the pilot book, I could see that there was another very sheltered anchorage at the Fairy Isles, only a couple of miles away, so made the decision to at least go and check it out. This turned out to be a great decision. We were the only boat there and having dropped anchor and tidied up, I rowed around the large rock we were anchored near and found a shallow pool, with a small motor boat beached and folk fishing from it, while kids paddled in the water. It was flat calm in here and I just sat and drifted and eventually came to the shore and climbed out. A small bit of exploring followed, down a track into the woods where the only sound was birdsong and the faint noise of the kids back there. Idyllic. Back to the dinghy and an hour spent just lying back and enjoying the peace. A very peaceful evening was had in a great, sheltered spot.
Friday 12th July: Log 2255nm, no wind.
We weighed anchor at 0800 and motored south west back down Loch Sween, passing Castle Sween to our port side, skirting the moorings in front of the castle. The sun was shining and another nice day was ahead of us. By 1000, we were again in the Sound of Jura heading north, the breeze finally filling from the north west, so we were motoring, destination the town of Oban. This passage would involve getting the tide timings right, as the stretch between the north end of Jura and the mainland has a fair current flowing, and leads to the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan and its' whirlpool. We weren't going through Corryvreckan today though, just north towards Oban. It was an uneventful passage through the fastest part and soon enough we were past the islands of Scarba and Lunga, with the island of Seil (with its' 'Bridge across the Atlantic') to starboard, as we sailed on towards the island of Kerrera, negotiating the narrows in Kerrera Sound, then keeping east of the Ferry Rocks cardinal mark, and finally into Oban Bay. Oban is the main ferry port for the west highlands, so a good lookout needs to be kept for car ferries arriving and leaving, especially since we would be cutting across their path on the way to the recently developed 'transit marina' at the North Pier. Calling ahead to the marina office, we were allocated a berth and soon enough were secured snugly at a floating pontoon. I was craving fish and chips, and knew of a good place in the town from a previous trip. I wasn't to be disappointed. Oban in July was fairly busy with tourists and it's a good place to spend a few days if there are a crowd of you, with plenty of pubs and eating places. Single handed, there's maybe less appeal on that front mind you, but nice to roam around and mingle with folk.
Saturday 13th July: Log 2295, wind F3 NW
At 0720 the lines were slipped and we motored out of the transit marina. Once out of Oban Bay, the sails were unfurled and a north easterly course was set, close hauled past the island of Lismore via the Lynn of Lorn and through the narrows at Port Appin, then skirting around the west side of Shuna island and into Loch Linnhe, a long sea loch that takes a dog leg at its' northern end into another sea loch, Loch Eil. Once again, timing was important to get through the Corran narrows, but this is just a very short stretch. We sailed onwards on Loch Linnhe until reaching the town of Fort William, where the anchor was dropped in about 10 metres of water. It was 1445 by this point and a late lunch was prepared. There didn't appear to be any particularly good place to go ashore however, so after lunch and a bit of a rest, we weighed anchor at 1700 and set sail back down the loch, finally dropping anchor between Shuna island and the mainland in a lovely, sheltered bay, with only one other boat near us. As the breeze died away during the evening it was just amazingly peaceful; a great end to what had turned out to be a cracking sail, especially reaching back down Loch Linnhe.
Sunday 14th July: Log 2341nm, wind F1 N
Weighing anchor at 1000 with very little breeze, we motored the short distance across to the island of Lismore and dropped anchor in the bay at Port Ramsay in the north of the island. I had a friend who was visiting family on the island, so eventually made contact and after rowing ashore and clambering over rocks and across a swampy field, found the track to the hamlet of Port Ramsay; basically a row of cottages, but a lovely place. We then had a tour of the island by car, visiting the ruins of a castle on the western side, where horses from a nearby croft were roaming freely along with a cockerel. The views were stunning and it was a beautiful sunny day. We all had a spot of lunch before I returned to the boat late afternoon and enjoyed the time spent at anchor. Quite a lazy day. Only 4 miles travelled!
Monday 15th July: Log 2345, no wind.
The target for today was to be Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. There was hardly any breeze, but it was a nice bright day as we motored first south west down the Lynn of Morvern, before turning WNW into the Sound of Mull, the narrow body of water separating the Morvern peninsula from Mull. It was to be a day of gentle motoringh with the tiller pilot taking care of steering as I soaked up the landscape while also keeping watch. We rounded into Tobermory Bay, with its' distinctive brightly coloured houses and attempted to anchor, but there was very little room near the village, so picked up one of the many (expensive) visitor's moorings. Once settled, I rowed ashore and tied up at the pontoons and paid the mooring fees, then walked into the village and re-stocked with some supplies from the co-op and browsed a couple of other shops. Tobermory was full of tourists and very busy, so a retreat was made back to the boat and I watched more boats arriving while moored just off some steep cliffs with a waterfall as a vista. Nice spot.
Tuesday 16th July: Log 2370nm, wind F2 S
Another day of motoring, left Tobermory at 1300 with very little breeze, back down the Sound of Mull, arriving at Craignure at 2000. Some of this time was spent attempting to sail, eventually giving up when our speed dropped away below 2 knots. We anchored off the village and dinner was made then an early night. I didn't go ashore.
Wednesday 17th July: Log 2387, wind F4 SE
A grey rainy day, and initially I was just going to stay put, but a decent breeze gave the prospect of actually sailing, so foul weather gear was donned and we weighed anchor and were finally back under sail, with our intended destination Puilladobhrain (pronounced Pull Doran), a narrow, sheltered anchorage on the north end of the island of Seil. Once we cleared out of the Sound of Mull, the wind strength increased until it was blowing F6, and suitably reefed down, we beat towards our destination. I had set up the Hebridean wind vane self steering for this trip and once I had tweaked the control lines a touch, it was holding our course to the wind well on each tack. It was a wet, windy ride, with only a couple of other yachts out and we finally reached the entrance to the anchorage around 1900, furled the sails away and started the engine. As we motored towards the entrance I could see steam coming from the exhaust, and although the Bukh engines are known for producing some steam from the exhaust, especially in the colder months, this day wasn't all that cool, so I sensed something wasn't quite right, and checking the temperature gauge, I could see that the engine was way above its' normal operating temperature, so quickly shut it down. We now had 2 options - set sail for Oban, 7 miles to the north east, or sail into the anchorage at Puilldobhrain which is pretty narrow. I decided on the latter and with full main and the genoa reefed down to working jib size to allow for easier short tacking, we slowly crept our way into the anchorage, past the already anchored yachts and finally found a space near the top in which to quickly drop anchor and douse the sails. After a sigh of relief and a small malt whisky, I was finally able to enjoy the scenery of this fine anchorage. My attention then turned to the engine issue, which was traced to a blockage at the sea water inlet down at the skin fitting, which I was able to rod through with some stiff wire via the strainer filter, and after checking the water pump impeller was ok, the engine was started and water flow checked - all good. We sat at anchor for the following day as the weather was still not great, again more rain...
Friday 19th July: Log 2414nm, wind F3 S
Of course the wind was always going to be on the nose for our trip back south, however after working out the tide times, we weighed anchor at 0500 and crept out of Puilldobhrain. We motored down the Sound of Luing and had a bumpy ride through Dorus Mor (the big door?) and over towards the boat yard at Crinan to fill up with diesel. Crinan has one of those floating jetties made from plastic cubes joined together and there's a bit of a lack of decent cleats to get a rope on to, so it took 2 attempts at mooring single handed to it and it was a bit wobbly when stepping off the boat to get springs attached, etc. Diesel was obtained from the well stocked chandlery, via a very long hose from the pump all the way down the jetty, and we were soon on our way once more, bound for the island of Gigha, where we arrived at 1540 and dropped anchor in the clean, sandy bottom of Ardminish Bay in the clearest of water. After going ashore and walking to the shop for some supplies, I settled down to enjoy the peace and quiet and views.
Saturday 20th July: Log 2461, wind F4 NW
Too good a day not to go out for a sail, sunny and with a good breeze from the NW, to we set a course north east for West Loch Tarbert, a loch I had visited as a child, but had never sailed on. I wasn't to be disappointed. Not only was a it a fantastic sail as we romped up the sheltered waters of the sea loch, but the scenery was stunning. We sailed as far as a small island near the head of the loch before dropping anchor for lunch and then returning back to Ardminish Bay once more. We were then to sit at anchor at Ardminish for3 days while a strong southerly wind blew and blew; our intended course being south naturally... With the return trip down to the Mull of Kintyre needing to be done on a south going tide, while the wind blew from the south, this wasn't a scenario that I fancied very much, so we waited for a window in the weather... Trips ashore in the dinghy were made and there is good walking to be had on Gigha which is quite a flat, pastoral island. It has a good pub / restaurant and a cafe, shop, etc. plus a ferry to the mainland.
Tuesday 23rd July: Log 2562 (something happened to the log while at anchor in Ardminish while we had an anchor alarm set on the GPS, and we seemed to have gained about 70 miles!) wind F4 S.
Well the wind was still from the south, but it had eased a bit at least, so since cabin fever was now starting to set in, I decided today would be the day. The intended destination was Glenarm in Northern Ireland. Having done the calculations, we set off at 0450(!!) with the wind on the nose and motored down the Sound of Gigha towards the Mull of Kintyre. I intended to give the Mull a decent wide berth of a couple of miles to keep out of the worst of the seas, and even doing this, it was still pretty rough, and by the time the Mull was coming into view the wind was now 25 to 30 knots apparent as we motored on. After being bounced around a good bit, I decided against Glenarm due to the sea state and instead made for the closer port of Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. This proved to be a good decision. I contacted the marina to check for berthing space, and was told no problem and that a staff member would be there to help take the lines. We arrived at 1320 and tied up in the sheltered, small marina and got booked in. The service was excellent and the facilities top notch. Ballycastle is also well placed with good public transport links along the beautiful Antrim coast. The town is set back from the coast maybe half a mile, but it's a quaint little market town with good shops and facilities. A friend who lives in the Republic decided to come and visit by car and stay on the boat, so a good few days were spent sight-seeing the Antrim coast by car, and it was nice to once again have some company. I stayed 4 days in Ballycastle marina and it's on my to-do list for a return visit sometime.
Sunday 27th July: Log 2602nm, wind F1 NW
Finally, it was time to say farewell to Ballycastle and make use of the forecast north westerly wind to take us down the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man... This was to be an overnight passage and the Hebridean wind vane self steering was once again set up to take care of the steering duties. Initially, at 1140 we motored out from Ballycastle and round to Fair Head and its' towering cliffs, and by 1350 we were finally sailing, running dead downwind, goose-winged with a preventer set on the main, and the Hebridean doing its' job on the tiller. This was to be the sail plan for the next 5 hours, until the wind shifted and we also altered course by 5 degrees and were now able to broad reach and put the whisker pole away, as the wind was now a decent force 4. The day involved keeping watch, reading, listening to the radio, cooking and eating, while the miles ticked by. By 2140, it started to rain and I headed into the LM's wheel house to shelter, while the wind vane steered. It was now beginning to get dark, so it was a case of keeping hourly checks of course and position and working out or ETA at Peel on the Isle of Man. Peel Harbour is a drying harbour, so if one arrives too early, you will need to sit on a waiting buoy outside the harbour, and having done that in a north westerly the previous year, I was keen to avoid this! The only thing of any real note on the passage during the night was a passing container ship which got a bit too close for comfort. I tried hailing them on the VHF but got no reply. By around 0500, we were getting close to Peel and it was clear we were going to arrive too early, so the main was furled away, and the genoa reduced to a scrap in order to slow our progress down to a couple of knots. Contacting Peel Harbourmaster, I was patched through to Douglas Harbour and informed of the earliest time for entrance to Peel and the first swing of the bridge at the sill that holds all the water in at the harbour these days (the outer harbour still dries). By 0710 we were secured in Peel Harbour and finally I was able to go to sleep for a few hours.
The next 5 days were spent on the Isle of Man, using Peel as a base and its' good public transport links with the rest of the island. I bought a weekly ticket which was able to be used on the buses, the steam train, and the tramway that goes from Douglas to Ramsey, and also the Snaefell Mountain Railway. Much exploring was done. The Isle of Man is well worth visiting and a week would not be too long a time to take to do it. It's a scenic island with plenty to do and if the weather is fair, as it was mostly, then It's great. Peel itself is an old town with narrow streets, but with a bit of Victorian sea front, plus the busy harbour of course. Douglas has a wide bay, with a mainly well preserved Victorian sea front with horse drawn trams.
Friday 2nd August: Log 2687, wind F2 NE - the long trip home...
It was finally time to leave as I had to be back at work on Monday. We slipped lines out of Peel Harbour at the first swing of the bridge at 1100 and set the sails once outside the outer harbour, on a north westerly course, close hauled. For the next few hours we were making between 3 and 4 knots of speed, but eventually the wind fell away very light and the engine had to be started. By 1700, there was no breeze at all, and I decided rather than pushing on, we would head in to Port Logan on the Rhinns of Galloway, in the south of Scotland. We dropped anchor in the bay at 1900 having covered only 34 miles. There was, at least no swell and after making dinner and enjoying the views it was time to go to bed and see what tomorrow would offer in terms of breeze...
Saturday 3rd August: Log 2721nm, no wind again!
Another very early start in order to catch the north going tide up the North Channel. We weighed anchor at 0125 and began motoring up the coast of Galloway. By 0240, the breeze had filled in from the north east and we were now carrying full sail, firstly heading north west on a beam reach, before having to alter course to the north and a close reach. The sailing was good though, and we had a fair tide under us, and a nice flat sea state. By 0500, the breeze was dying away and soon the engine would have to be started again, with Ailsa Craig (AKA Paddy's Milestone) now in view. A couple of hours later we were sailing once more, now close hauled, and gradually counting down the miles towards home waters. By 1100, we were having to tack our way northwards, and by 1300, were again motoring; the winds now coming from the north, on the nose and also a bit too light to make any great progress to windward. The rest of the day proved mostly windless, or again on the nose, so the journey into the Firth of Clyde was done using the Bukh iron spinnaker once more, which proved its' reliability. We finally arrived back in our home port of Greenock on Saturday 3rd August 2019 at 2200, with the final log reading being 2813nm, so less the 70nm anomaly while at anchor in Gigha, showed we had covered 619 nautical miles. The LM27 had proved to be a good vessel for the variable weather encountered and was comfortable to live on at anchor and in the marina. Now it was time for sleep!
