Early Start to Scotland

-

There must be a law somewhere that seems you always end up with an early start when you need to catch a fair tide!

And we needed the tide with us when we set off to cross the North Channel between Scotland and Northern Ireland on our passage from Bangor to Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula.  The tides in this narrow piece of sea are strong and it doesn't pay to disregard them.

Sailing as dawn breaks in the North Channel

So we duly set our alarm for 03:30 and set sail at 04:00 into a peaceful sea and a helpful WNW F4 wind.

The tides did their duty and we made really fast progress until the impressive coastline of the Kintyre Peninsula came into sight.  By then the wind had headed us a bit and the tide was no longer there to help us along, so we gradually crept along the final bit of coast towards Devaar Island that guards the entry channel to Campbeltown.

Approaching Devaar Island

The wind strength had gradually risen during the morning and was now gusting to F6, so we shortened sail by winding in some genoa and putting a reef in the main.

It was very nice to reach Campbeltown and tie alongside their marina at midday in the bright sunshine.


It had been a relatively short sail but with an early start, we were quite tired and happy to spend the afternoon watching Wimbledon on the iPad in our saloon :)

We took a walk and found some nice paths with lovely views.  Like many towns, Campbeltown is suffering from several shop closures but it still draws tourists and has a cheerful appearance.

The coastal path at Campbeltown with Devaar Island in the background

The following day, the forecast stronger winds (gusting to F7) and frequent heavy rain showers encouraged us to spend a day in harbour.

Doug looked into our next sail - around the notorious Mull of Kintyre - and worked out when the favourable tides would run.  Guess what - our start was to be at 05:00!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Highland Beauty

-
Image
Tuesday 16th August and a big event in Sandaig Bay; the sun came out!  We went out into the cockpit and had a warming whisky to celebrate.  It's so lovely to have clear weather after all the fog further north, where the (reportedly) glorious views were lost in the murk. Has Summer Arrived in the Highlands? Loch Nevis astern was bold and beautiful but the cool temperature in the strong breeze soon sent us back down below. Loch Nevis from Sandaig Bay Next morning the anchor came up cleanly yet again (I am not keen to swim for it around here.  Although the water is lovely and clear it is only about 13 degrees and shaving off my beard for the mask is not easy).  We then had a lovely sail up the coast, although the wind sometimes faded, so Yanni the Yanmar was used for short periods. Sunrise Over the Mountains The Small Isles showed to Starboard as we cleared the end of Skye. The Isle of Rum Beyond Skye Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Rosie predicted that a perfect shift of wind ...
Read more

Conclusions - Rosie

-
Image
 A few conclusions about this year's sailing odyssey 😀 The Scottish coastline is huge and mountainous - I never got used to just how big it is! Island people are welcoming to us travellers and it's great to talk to them and find out about their lives. We met some interesting and wonderful people on other yachts, especially where there were fewer boats around and this brought us closer together. The Orkneys are great and we especially loved meeting the ever-so-friendly people of Long Hope. The new Scapa Flow museum is magnificent and it was lovely to see that such important history is now safely gathered into this wonderful building. Stromness was as lovely as we had previously found it to be. Travelling through Scottish waters later in the year than when we were here in 2018 meant that we saw more seabirds on the water than before (when they had mostly been at their nesting sites). We were mesmerised by the way they flew seamlessly between the water and the air. Taking the Cal...
Read more

From West to East!

-
Image
On Saturday 23rd July, we were joined by our son, Dan and our daughter-in-law, Andrea who will be our crew for the passage through the Caledonian Canal over the next week. They stepped off the train at Oban into the dark and shockingly wet weather as we walked them round the harbour to meet the last ferry across to Kerrera Island. Next day, it was still raining and we set off under a lowering sky at 08:45 to sail the 40 miles up Loch Linnhe to the west sea lock at Corpach, near Fort William. Passing though the Corran Narrows Just before the Corran Narrows, we hastily put 2 reefs in the main and wound in lots of genoa as the wind had increased.  We also had to tack quickly as the Corran ferry had no plans to avoid the only yacht passing through this morning!  Dan and Andrea were having a rapid introduction to life at sea. Approaching Fort William along Loch Linnhe Later, the wind moderated and the rain showers became less frequent as at 15:00 we reached the sea lock into the ca...
Read more