Round the Fearsome Mull to Gigha

-

At 04:50 we set off from Campbeltown and hoisted a single reefed main and rolled out some genoa.  We had also hanked our small, flat No. 2 jib onto the inner forestay in case we needed this later to sail to windward in high winds.

Early light - leaving Campbeltown

The forecast was for NW F4-6 later moderating to W F3-5.  The tide dictated that we leave early even though the wind would be fairly strong for a while.

At times, we had to motor-sail along the coast towards Sanda Island at the SE end of the Mull of Kintyre as the mountains took away our wind.

Gloomy dawn - Sanda Island

As we approached Sanda Island, we stowed the genoa and hoisted the No. 2 jib as the wind rose to WSW F6/7.  From then onwards as we rounded the Mull, we were hard on the wind and were a little over-pressed in the gusts but making fast progress at 7-8 knots in the relatively flat seas.  We were relieved to be able to bear away and ease the sheets to turn northwards as the wind veered to W and started to moderate.  It was an exciting but certainly cautionary sail around the Mull of Kintyre and this is certainly a place to be well prepared.  No wonder many yachts choose to pass through the Crinan Canal rather than face the Mull!

At midday, we arrived at Gigha and picked up a visitors' buoy in Ardminish Bay.  We were very glad to be in harbour and able to relax after a tough sail.


Ardminish Bay - landing pontoon

We felt that we had earned a meal ashore and booked-in to the lovely Boathouse Restaurant, close to the landing pontoon.

Doug's crab - before

And - after...

And we could not visit Gigha without returning to the lovely Achamore Gardens.

Achamore Gardens - huge and a bit rampant but still great!

View across to Islay from the view-point at Achamore 

Doug examining a large and spikey plant

We had some good weather at Gigha and it was a good place to re-charge our batteries ready for the next leg of our journey.

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