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Tue 29 April 2008
Crossing the Minch
Now there's a good name for a tune! We crossed from Canna to Barra in fine weather, losing sunshine only for a spell, which reminded us how chilly it can be on the water in a northerly breeze so early in the season. Incidents during the trip - being buzzed by three jet fighters engaged in dogfighting practice, and sighting a couple of dolphins. Landfall was made at Muldoanich, and the channel markers followed in to Castlebay (photo) with its handy visitors' moorings. Today we took the bus west-about up to the airfield and watched the arrival and departure of the Glasgow/Barra/Benbecula flight, which lands on the beach at low tide, before walking to Eoligarry and along Traigh Scurrival, a mile and a half long beach of white sand with wonderful views out to offlying islands, Eriskay and South Uist. We completed the round-island trip by bussing east-about back to Castlebay.
Posted by skipper at 06:17 PM | Comments (0)
Sun 27 April 2008
Arisaig and Canna
We had good sailing from Mull round Ardnamurchan Point to Arisaig, arriving shortly before the wind really got up. The holding is good and we spent a comfortable at anchor night despite the strong wind and heavy rain. A phone next morning call to a yacht rigger on the Clyde provided directions for stripping down the Furlex gear, so while the mate took the train into Fort William for provisions, the skipper successfully repaired the headsail furling system. Later in the day we were joined for the week by Jim and Linda, who brought good weather with them - the evening turned out very fine. With good weather continuing we sailed out past Rum and round to Canna, enjoying views of the mainland hills. As the afternoon warmed up, the cloud level gradually rose, revealing the peaks of the Skye and Rum Cuillins. We walked across the new bridge to Sanday to visit the renovated church, but found it still a building site after five years of (very intermittent?) work.
Posted by skipper at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
Thu 24 April 2008
Up Aloft
We have been having trouble with the headsail furling gear on Arctica - it has been excessively stiff to operate. No obvious problem at deck level could be found, so suspicion turned on the masthead. We have had to recognise that our days of climbing the mast are over, except when emergency dictates. News of our difficulties spread and the Harbourmaster suggested we have a word with the contractor building the new shoreside facilities following the installation of extended pontoon berthing. The upshot was a trip aloft in the basket of his extending crane, as the photo shows. Sadly, no problem was found there either but a couple of screws were tightened and WD40 applied liberally to the moving parts before descending to terra firma. Tomorrow will tell whether or not the problem has been fixed. Tonight we sleep with fingers crossed!
Posted by skipper at 09:20 PM | Comments (1)
Wed 23 April 2008
Otters
Last night was spent in the lovely anchorage at Puilladobhrain (Otters' Pool) but no otters were seen. However tonight at Tobermory we watched from the gangway to the mooring pontoon an otter, not twenty feet away, diving in repeatedly, bringing its catch to the rocks and crunching it down noisily. It being dusk, there was not light enough for a photo so today's photo is of Duart Castle, which stands imposingly on a headland at the southeast end of the Sound of Mull. It has been the ancestral home of the MacLeans since about 1250 although it was lost for 200 years to the Duke of Argyll, who overran it in 1691. It is open to the public, and an important tourist attraction on Mull, as is Tobermory itself, with its brightly painted seafront buildings and boats in the bay.
Posted by skipper at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
Tue 22 April 2008
WHISKY TRAIL
It could be said that Arctica is on the whisky trail. After the first night of the season at Tighnabruaich, the next port of call was Campbeltown, home to two distilleries - Glen Scotia and Springbank. It was once the whisky capital of Scotland with 21 producing distilleries in 1886! A rare and favourable ENE wind took us round the Mull of Kintyre and nicely up to Islay, where there are 7 working distilleries. We are moored for the night in the small anchorage at Lagavulin, sheltered by islets outside and guarded over by the ruins of a castle on the point. With the UK Coastguard taking industrial action there are no usual weather forecasts for the next few days, but we can get alternatives by VHF from Ireland, on Navtex and on the Met Office website. The easterly airflow is set to continue, which is ideal for us as we sail north.
Posted by skipper at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
Mon 14 April 2008
Afloat Again
The sailing season is underway and Arctica will be launched this week, after a flurry of cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, fixing, antifouling, loading and rigging. It will be nice to feel movement in her again after six months propped up ashore in the boatyard at Dumbarton. At last some warmth is creeping in to the lengthening days and we hope for a good summer ahead - Force 4 winds and sunshine! We will set off after receiving the few items on order and due for delivery in the next few days, and will be reporting our progress as usual. All friends are welcome to post comments on the blog.
Posted by skipper at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)