Silkie's First Sail of the Season - 12:05 PM, May. 17, 2005

Went up to the boat last Tuesday to complete the few remaining (pre-sailing) jobs. This was very satisfying since they were already about 95% done and as a result a great deal appeared to be completed in only a few hours. Finished wiring up the Christmas tree, as the mast will henceforth be known. Regular readers of this nonsense will remember that I have installed (thanks Kenny) a new VHF aerial, windex, tricolour, steaming and deck lights - some tinsel and a few coloured baubles are all that's required to complete the effect.

Went out for a few hours shakedown on Thursday which went well and although a couple of items disintegrated there were no serious problems. The big news is that I did this single-handed. Although this is the start of my third season and I'm quite happy to sail with only a total novice for crew, I have a bit of a mental block about single-handing. This was actually starting to blight the rest of my sailing during the course of last season and my feelings of inadequacy seemed to be self-stoking. The more I prevaricated the more insurmountable the problem seemed to become.

Bumped into a friendly diver I'd met at the end of last season, who'd helped me un-step Silkie's mast (the joys of a small boat) and had also retrieved one of my bronze fairleads which had ended up at the bottom of Dunstaffnage Bay (a bit of weather had ripped it out of the rubbing strake - honest). By way of a thank you I'd said "If ever you fancy a sail..." and it appeared that he did, so we went out for a couple of hours on the Friday morning. Conditions were very gentle and I'm sure he would have appreciated a bit more adrenalin since he also owns a 30+ knot rib but overall he seemed pleased with this new experience.

Having dropped him back at the marina and since the forecast remained benign, I decided to strike again while the iron was still hot and attempt my first single-handed overnight. I toyed with the idea of anchoring at Easdale, the new micro-brewery at Ellenbeich being the main attraction there but settled instead for Puilladobhrain for several reasons. Firstly, I know it well and it's very sheltered. Secondly, it's not too far should the weather take a turn for the worse and thirdly I was banking on it not being busy on a non-bank-holiday Friday night. One possible scenario which concerned me was how I'd keep things under control in the event of the anchor failing to set at the first attempt should there also be a couple of dozen other boats already anchored.

We set off in the early afternoon in light winds and although we managed five knots for a while, most of the time we struggled to maintain three. Persevered under sail however and reached the anchorage at about 1700. Deep Joy! There were only three other boats there before us. As we motored in under tillerpilot I went forward, prepared the anchor and flaked out about 20m of chain on deck. Decided there was no need for any of that circling-while-peering-at-the-echo-sounder business, knocked the tillerpilot off, engine in neutral, coasted round in a big curve to end up parallel to a Sigma 41, stuck the tillerpilot back on (on standby) to lock the rudder, put the engine into reverse at tickover, went forward and heaved the hook over just as Silkie started to move astern. Returned to the cockpit and peered around, we were holding. Left the engine at tickover for a while and then increased revs, still no movement. Killed the engine, opened a beer and inhaled it in sixty seconds flat while basking in the glow of self-satisfaction at having achieved something new and worthwhile with no great difficulty.

Sorry to have rambled on with the minutiae of something which is probably an everyday event for most of you but this really was a Big Moment for me. Made dinner and went over the hill to the T'n'T (again! - I'm starting to become a weel-kent face in there) where I fell in with the crew of Koala, the big Sigma. Must give them a plug (why not visit their website Koala Sailing for all your sail-training needs?) since they were generous with the whisky on our return to their boat later in the evening. They were also kind enough to compliment my anchoring technique when I confessed that it was my first time single-handed.

After a leisurely start to Saturday, I weighed anchor in the late morning and started to motor out under tillerpilot. I was standing on the foredeck washing the mud off the anchor and chain when two of my neighbours at Dunstaffnage came in line astern and I gave them a casual all-in-a-day's-work kind of a wave. Conditions were almost windless and though I was tempted to carry on and complete a solo circumnavigation, supplies were running low and so I motored back towards Dunstaffnage. The wind picked up a bit as we passed the entrance to Oban Bay and I finished my first solo mini-cruise on a dead run with the genoa poled out goose-winged (another first - thanks Donald & Dave) and the tillerpilot on whilst lying back sunbathing in the cockpit. Bliss!

An Atlantic Circuit next, I think!

Miles this trip 42

Miles this season 144 (s/h 33)