By Carradale we found
we could sail - so we had a cracking close reach all the way down to Davaar Island at the
entrance to Campbeltown Loch - one of the best so far on this holiday - 6.5 and even 7.5
knots in the squalls.More work on the covers etc in the morning - and pattern-taking for a cockpit tent, then we left at 11:20 for Campbeltown. The forecast was awful - WSW 6-8 with rain - and as we left they added a SW Gale warning issued at 10:10am - meant we could expect it with 5-11 hours.
Psyched ourselves up, but with time slipping away, we needed to get to Campbeltown at the foot of the Mull of Kintyre, to get the next weather window (if any ever happen again), to cross the North Channel back to Bangor. Well at least we could rely on Tidewinder's inside steering position - and perhaps try out our new flood flaps!
We motored over to the top of Arran - and found winds of only 8 -12 knots - a bit more at the top of the island where it was funnelling round by Lochranza - then a turn down the Kilbrannan Sound to aim for Carradale then Campbeltown.
By Carradale we found
we could sail - so we had a cracking close reach all the way down to Davaar Island at the
entrance to Campbeltown Loch - one of the best so far on this holiday - 6.5 and even 7.5
knots in the squalls.
The sky was blue, it was warm and sunny - what is happening to the weather? - this is normal summer weather for once!
Campbeltown Loch forms a perfect harbour - with total shelter. A
small local enterprise maintains a popular pontoon - where boats arriving and departing
Scotland - from all over the world - can be found. There was a French boat in front of us,
another across the pontoon - a Dutch one arrived just afterwards followed by a German boat
- and there was even one from Namibia - now that must be
unusual! Then who should arrive, but our old friend Andrew Thompson - with the 'new'
Westward Quest boat, a Moody 41 called 'Weaver'. They had just come around the Mull of
Kintyre - and reported very light winds too - Forecasts, eh?
Shortly after
we arrived, the 'Claymore' of the Argyll & Antrim Steam Packet (ex Caledonian
MacBrayne) arrived from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland - with 6 cars and 16 passengers.
The shipping company is part of Sea Containers group- who also operate the Isle of Man Steam Packet. Claymore was in Douglas, on charter to Honda, when we arrived back on Tidewinder's delivery trip.
The forecast for tomorrow is still iffy.....
The forecast was SW - F5 - ie a stiffish headwind - but F2-3 in the evening. The tides were not particularly well-timed either - with either a very early start - or a very late one. With F5 & 6 in the outlook, we decided to leave after lunch, and push a bit of tide to get to Bangor in sensible time. In the event we left at about 12:00 as 'Barnacle' inside us on the pontoon wanted to leave for Largs.
Motored slowly over lunch - then turned due south outside Davaar Island - Orlock Point at the start of Belfast Lough is actually further east than the pontoon in Campbeltown! This gave us almost enough free wind to sail - and once we'd cleared the bottom of the Kintyre peninsula with its squalls of up to 23 knots, the wind settled 14-17 knots steady. There was still a bit of SW Swell , but Tidewinder rode this easily - as we motor-sailed southwards - losing about 1-2 knots to the tide.
A quite uneventful
passage, really - and certainly not the moderate-to-rough seas from the forecast. Arrived
at old favourite Bangor marina, about 7:30, refuelled, and tied up by 8pm - then off for a
super curry at the Bokhara.
Called in the friendly Yanmar engineer to check the engine over - as the oil-pressure warning had come on as we motored round from the Fuel Berth. He was confident it would only be the switch - so changed it. The delay meant we had missed the tide at the Copelands - so we forced ourselves to take a late breakfast/early lunch at Connors! Found out, to great sadness, that the store is indeed closing - in about a month - so this was our last Ulster Fry there.
With tides now setting North - we had three or four hours before they turned south again - so took a walk along the coast to Groomsport and back, before leaving at 4pm. Although forecast very light there was a good F4 blowing as we turned south at the Copelands - so got a good close-fetch at 6+ knots - with up to 2 knots of tide too, we made fast progress towards Skullmartin.
Just beyond this is
Ballyhalbert Bay - the south of which is Burr Point, the easternmost tip of Ireland. We'd
decided to anchor here - in fact our first night on anchor since bringing the boat home -
and chance to try out the Cayman windlass.
Ballyhalbert harbour dries - but on investigation, we could easily take the clean sandy bottom there. We even worked out some transits to avoid the stony patches if we wanted to pull Tidewinder onto the beach.
We'd decided to anchor, though , so stuck to plan. Ballyhalbert itself is an attractive village - and the village general store even sold electrical white goods like freezers!
The forecast was set fair today - so should get us home. We started off with quite a good wind - 14 knots close-hauled, and Tidewinder settled into a nice 6 knots - which rode the southerly swell in an easy rhythm.
The day was totally monochrome - dozens of shades of grey - grey sea, grey sky,
grey behind and grey before. We were approached from behind by a Norse Irish Ferries ship,
'Mersey Viking' on the freight run from Belfast to Liverpool - which brought a bit of
colour into view for 20 minutes or so as she passed close-too.
Shortly after Mersey Viking passed, the wind dropped light, and we started to wallow. Sailors are never happy - there is either too much wind or too little. There is nothing worse than sitting in a seaway which has a swell running - like the Irish Sea has most of the time - with no wind. The sails slat about, and the boat rolls around. Iron Spinnaker to the rescue yet again, to push us towards Calf Sound in time for the tide to turn south around 4pm. Bradda Head, off Port Erin appeared from the murk when we were about 5 miles off - and the Calf of Man and sound were soon in view.
As we approached the sound we saw 'De Fi', a Port St Mary yacht
approaching from Ardglass - we'd met in Bangor before he left earlier than us on Friday.
We must have made the same tidal calculation! The tide was still setting North about 2
knots as we motored through - followed by 'De Fi'. There are actually three channels
through Calf Sound - but the main one is well marked by Thousla Rock tower to the West and
the small Island of Kitterland to the East.
There were lots of seals on Kitterland - including a very large
one with discarded fishing net caught all around its neck :-(
Why do people dump plastics into the sea?
Once through the
sound, Spanish Head rises to the north - it is a huge cliff, with deep water close by - a
most impressive sentinel to the channel.
De Fi made for Port St Mary whilst we headed SEE for
Langness Point , and a battle with the tide up to Douglas - it was still running at 2-3
knots against us for an hour and a half - not going slack till we approached Douglas Head.
Never mind, there was plenty of hot water created by the engine so all the crew could have
a shower prior to arrival!
We arrived off Douglas Head at 18:00 - and were tied up alongside 'Moonstream' of Maryport by 18:30 - it being more or less low water, our moorings were dried out. A visit to 'Mr Cod' on the North Quay was called for. Work on the new Water retention scheme for Douglas Inner Harbour has progressed well since we left - hopefully we'll have something approximating to a Marina on the Island before too long. We returned from the chippy to find a 50 footer 'Dasher' tied outside us - with large numbers of crew heading off to the pub. Deciding that a night on our own moorings would be somewhat quieter than a massed return from the pubs at some early hour of the morning, we pulled out and picked up our own lines at 21:30pm.
Home again - we've put over 600 miles on the log + lots of tidal ones too. It was far from the best summer weather we've sailed in - but the canals at least made some of the holiday into a cruise rather than an ordeal.