Awoke
to sun, Wow! - and Ben Nevis only carried a collar of cloud - a few minutes later and the
top peeped through for half an hour (see arrow in picture). Awoke
to sun, Wow! - and Ben Nevis only carried a collar of cloud - a few minutes later and the
top peeped through for half an hour (see arrow in picture).
Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Britain at over 4000 feet - made more spectacular as it rises from Sea Level at Fort William.
Applied liberal quantities of sun-block to protect our
ill-adjusted metabolism from this great fire in the sky!
Locking down
began at 8:05 - there are eight chambers. a road and rail swing bridge, then three more
before reaching the sea. We left the canal at 10:15. The sun still shining and Loch Linnhe
looking glorious before us as we ambled along to meet the change of Tide at Corran
Narrows.
The sun stayed all
day - we motored in light wind down Loch Linnhe - and eventually Ben Nevis and all the
other high-peaks cleared the cloud layer. We passed Appin into the Lynn of Lorn and even
managed an hour's sail as the wind picked up nearer to Oban.
Oban was bustling - the
tourists realised that this day was 'Summer' for 1998! We picked up one of the
free-of-charge visitor's moorings off the Oban Sailing Club at the west side of the bay
(note to S Coast readers - lots of Scottish moorings are free - they welcome yachtsmen!).
'Lord Nelson', a three-master designed to be crewed half by disabled and half by able-bodied crew, was along the South Pier.
Only 29nm on the log - but also 11 canal locks and two swing bridges! A glorious sunset over Kerrera an Mull - but a lousy forecast for tomorrow!
Dropped the buoy at 10am to get to the Sound of Luing for the tide changing around 1pm. Weather forecast was for strong S winds later - and rain - and for good measure a Southerly Gale warning was added as we motored on. Today the Tennent's West Highland Week is racing from Crinan to Oban - the reciprocal of our course, so we expected to meet them about Fladda - and did!
Since we
were motoring against the weakening tide, we were, of course the give-way vessel when we
met the 200 or so yachts in the narrows! Fairground dodgems will always seem tame after
this!
West Highland week attracts not only tuned-up race
boats - from as far afield as Ireland and Wales, but also family crews sailing normal
cruisers - and even, as you can see, this grand old Gaffer in full splendour - bringing up
the rear.
We entered the canal around
2pm - the wind was already rising, making the passage through the Dorus Mor a bit sloppy,
due to the strengthening tide against the wind. Making good time in the canal, the crew
getting a bit of exercise after the ease of the Caledonian, we got into the Summit Reach
by the 5pm closing time - so we spend tonight 68 feet above sea level.
It's raining again - hard!
For the last three years, the Crinan Canal has suffered severe droughts - restricting operations, reducing the draught of boats which could use the canal and even requiring sea-water to be pumped into the Crinan reach to keep operations going. After last night, all these problems must be solved - my, did it rain! We awoke to find the boat surrounded by froth from the water-inlet across the reach from us which was now a raging torrent.
We worked the locks down from 9:00am - abandoning full waterproofs for wellies,
a jacket and shorts to save wet clothing. As we arrived in Ardrishaig basin at 12:15, the
rain was easing a bit - and we found the yacht 'Margaret' in the basin - her owner lives
in Ramsey, but the boat is based in Peel - she is the small gaffer in the background of
the photo - both proudly flying the Manx flag.
Locked out at 13:45 with 'Arran Comrade' - and the wind had gone from the southerly gale to a NW squally wind. Hoisted the main with 2 reefs, and ambled along nicely. Arran Comrade hoisted full main & Genoa and overtook us. It wasn't long before we shook out to Reef 1 - then we overtook him as Tidewinder raced along at up to 8 knots. The wind rose as we travelled down Loch Fyne, and when we turned at Skate Island, the wind was more or less behind us - so we furled the jib, and tramped on at 5-6.5 knots under reefed main alone - anything for an easy life. The showers stopped - and we even got some sunny spells. Arran Comrade kept all standing - and gradually caught us up - but running wing-a-wing in 24-28 knots of wind is too much like hard work - and the danger of broaching too great for our liking. We arrived at Garroch Head within 5 minutes of one another.
The wind through the Cumbrae Pass was touching 38 knots (it
funnels badly in a NW wind), so we were glad to tuck in behind Great Cumbrae and drop the
main. A call to Largs Yacht Haven offered us berth G36 - entering with the wind behind -
ugh! Anyway, gave it a go, only to find G36 occupied - so went in G39 instead - you don't
mess around with 30 knots of wind up your tail! Using the powerful thrust of Tidewinder's
motor against the large rudder, and exploiting the strong prop-walk to port, we were able
to get her lined up nicely, and alongside without incident :-)
We'd left an order with Saturn Sails for various accessories - and
today was our planned stop-over whilst they were fitted. Tidewinder now sports a stylish
Outboard motor cover (the old one was falling apart), a Windlass cover - to protect our
'Mr Muscle' of the anchor, a Binnacle Cover - to keep the wheel and control station shiny
and new, and a cover for the Liferaft (for harbour protection only!).
We also had a couple of 'inventions' run up - a 'Fulton' flap - named after Carol Fulton who has sailed with us for the last 10 days or so, and who ran up the prototype for our previous boat. Basically, it consists of an easily fitted flap, to cover the companionway entrance, especially when running down wind in the rain - when the rain tends to blow into the cabin from behind. A set of two 'Tidewinder Patent' flood flaps were made of chrome leather, backed with vinyl, and serve to close off most of the channel under the pramhood which is left for halyards and other lines. Our experiences off Start Point on the delivery trip showed that these channels could dump large quantities of water into the cockpit in some conditions!.
The weather was awful - a dark broody sky, and a strong WNW wind - which was piling up even in the sheltered Largs channel. When the work was a bit delayed, we didn't need much persuading to stop over another night at Largs.