Fairwinds 2005

Summer Cruise Day 3

Day 3 – Armadale – Badachro 58 miles

We slipped Armadale at 03.30 – or rather, I did – off watch crew remained tucked up in her pit in the forepeak. Grey and drizzly and very little wind, with a tide to catch at Kylerhea which turned Southwards at 08.00 – so it was motorsailing – 3.5 knots from the donk and a half to one on top from the rags, with one anxious eye on the time and the other on the temperature gauge. Woke Kathy just before Kylerhea, and we passed the ferry slip at 07.00. Once out into Loch Alsh the wind picked up, but bang on the nose for Kyle. Tacked down until we were opposite the pontoon, then went in and tied up. WE pulled Fairwinds back to the Eastern end of the pontoon to leave plenty of room for others – couldn’t get on the short side of the L because a friendly couple in a big motor cruiser from Bangor were there.

Five minutes after our arrival a charter boat arrived and took a high speed right angled run at the pontoon, swerving away at the last minute and missing it by miles. On the second attempt the skipper succeeded in ramming the pontoon at two knots with the bow at an angle of about 30 degrees. A hapless crew member scrambled ashore with difficulty from the bow, which the skipper was holding in position at the same angle of to the pontoon with copious amounts of throttle, rendering normal disembarkation difficult if not impossible. I offered to take a stern line, but none was prepared and I was told my help was not required – he informed me that he had to ‘lick this crew into shape’. Who on earth hires yachts to these people?

I went ashore to try to remedy a gap we had discovered in our chartage – the right hand panel of our Imray C66 turned out to be missing, so no coastline from just North of Applecross to Gairloch. The ‘Marine Store’ in Kyle told me I could get charts in Inverness,so I decided we could manage without. I have an electronic charting package on the laptop, so decided just to scan the gap for obstacles and put in waypoint.

Arrived back at the boat with fresh softies to be served fried new tatties, bacon and egg plus toast and marmalade. Scoffed the lot and retired for a couple of hours kip. Some hope – the place is like Picadilly Circus. First I was disturbed by a big Nelson 44 motor yacht roaring into the gap between us and the now parked charter yacht – very professionally handled, but lots of noise and diesel exhaust. Dozed off again only to hear someone calling ‘Fairwinds’ (Kathy was away shopping at this point). It was the glass bottomed wildlife boat asking us if we could move before they came back in as we were in their spot. I assured them we would be long gone – by now I had given up any thoughts of sleep and just wanted to leave. Kyle pontoon is a great place to drop in for a quick spot of shopping, to fill up with water or even to have a shower – but not a good spot for a quiet kip – better picking up one of the visitor moorings over at Kyleakin if you need a couple of hours in your scratcher.

By 11.00 we had left the pontoon and by 11.30 the sails were up and we were tacking over towards the Crowlin Islands. The wind looked good for a close reach all the way to Gairloich once we cleared the Crowlins, but the wind turned out to be blowing pretty much straight down the Inner Sound. Big tacks made slow progress in what was just not quite enough wind, and once we left known space chart-wise we put in one last tack out towards Rona then put in a waypoint and motor-sailed the last fifteen miles or so, taking over four hours to do so. Another great day for Volvo – now the alternator wasn’t charging the batteries. Dropped anchor at 10.35 and had the dinghy blown up, engine on, into clean underwear and in the bar within 30 minutes. Great beer. Both agreed a new engine is a necessity not a luxury, and began hatching schemes to pay for it. (You may hear more of this later, dear reader).

Good stuff...

8:28 PM, Jul. 12, 2005 .. Posted by MagnaCarter

Its a great blog your building here Nick........

Very enjoyable reading... keep it up....

Sounds like a lovely crusing area...

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8:01 PM, Jul. 13, 2005 .. Posted by aquarius

Yes indeed, nice style of writing you've got here.

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8:12 PM, Apr. 3, 2012 .. Posted by Gsiva

Hey great blog and thanks for the tips about the vutlnoeer sailing. I am considering doing it for some of the legs on my own trip around the world. I am curious from the title of your blog if you two were ever in the U.S. Coast Guard. I recently left that organization to travel and pursue other dreams but am proud to have served. Take care and safe sailing!

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