Three Day Sails - Part I - 10:01 PM, Oct. 4, 2005

Another four day weekend. Didn't bother rushing up on Friday evening since Saturday clearly wasn't going to be a sailing day. Sure enough there was a whole gale of wind and I've never seen the Firth of Lorne look so nasty. Even the Isle of Mull ferry was heeling noticeably.

Sunday 2nd October

I'd arranged to meet Nick (webmaster of this parish) and his wife Kathy to give them the opportunity to experience the delights of a sail on Silkie, weather permitting, and they duly appeared at 1030ish. It's always interesting when old salts come aboard for the first time and especially so if they are honest with their first impressions.

The first comment, immediately on putting a foot on the sidedeck, was on how tippy she is. Silkie and Fairwinds (Albin Vega) are both built narrow and deep but Silkie has a real "wine glass" hull with the consequent lack of form stability. I casually mentioned the three quarters of a tonne of ballast carried a metre below the waterline but I could see this wasn't completely successful as a reassurance. It had started to rain so we went below for a cuppa and discussed Silkie's compact and bijou interior. Making a cup of tea involved everyone aboard in musical chairs while kettle and mugs were retrieved from their lockers.

The rain stopped and it looked as if there might be a bit of a breeze so we made ready for sea and set off at low water springs precisely. I had been warned that it might happen on a very low tide but was still somewhat surprised when we gently ground to a halt off the SE corner of the pontoons. My first accidental grounding! It was only for the want of a centimetre or two and a little gentle manipulation of C of G allowed us to proceed.

Once out into the Firth I went forward to raise the main. I hauled it to the top but there was a fresh breeze blowing and we were going to be tacking. I can't remember who mentioned it first but we were all thinking about a reef and it was tucked in before the main was allowed to draw. I unrolled the genny and it was Nick who said "I think that might be about enough" with four or five rolls left to go. Looking back I suspect that my crew were slightly nervous about how this apparently tippy wee boat was going to behave in the fresh conditions. Fair enough! Nick took the helm first and although we were probably slightly under-canvassed in the foresail department and could have pointed a shade higher perhaps, we were making 4.5 knots on the wind in reasonable comfort and not excessively heeled.

We decided to take a mooring in Oban Bay for lunch and Nick showed us how he got his yachtmaster ticket by picking up the buoy under sail, at the fourth pass! (Correction: third pass- Ed.) After lunch, we sailed off the mooring and almost immediately the VHF spoke and we heard the inevitable "All vessels navigating in and around Oban Bay, this is the car ferry Isle of Mull. We will shortly be entering Oban Bay via the North Channel." The Isle of Mull was no problem but her buddy (was it Isle of Arran?) following behind was not so straightforward.

We were hugging the right side of the channel on port tack and needed to tack across to clear Maiden Island. This is a Narrow Channel and so "small vessels must not impede.." etc. but even if it hadn't been so, tacking under the bows of a ro-ro ferry is not my idea of a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Nick was on the helm and his suggestion that we pinch up to slow down and let the ferry pass was eminently sensible until she inexplicably slowed right down to walking pace. Did they think they were being considerate or did they perhaps have a problem? We were left luffing closer and closer to Maiden Island and should probably have started the engine at this point. Right at the last moment we decided we could tack without causing consternation on the ferry bridge even although we were not yet level with her bow. We'd left it too late though and were caught in a windless hole under the steep windward side of the island. The genoa hung up on the baby stay and she wouldn't come round. A quick application of iron tops'l saved the day and we filled away on starboard tack. Had the boathook been to hand we could probably have achieved the same result by pushing off!

Back out in the Firth of Lorne we headed north again on a glorious broad reach in F4/5 and some fine surfing was enjoyed. I was tempted to suggest shaking out the reef but we were certainly not under-canvassed and the speed was frequently in the high sixes. We rounded up to drop the main before turning to scud downwind into Dunstaffnage Bay. Nick sailed her through the moorings until the very last moment when I fired up the engine and took the helm to bring her back alongside.

A fine mixture of conditions for Nick and Kathy for their first sail in Silkie and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. Nick made a couple of comments which were pleasing to an owner's ear. The first was during lunch, I think, when he remarked that Silkie seemed much bigger to him than she had when he first stepped aboard. The second, during the afternoon surfing session (and repeated during the post-cruise drinking session) was that he thought she could handle pretty much any conditions with the appropriate canvas. What a nice man! Maybe I'll follow Nick and Kathy on their "milk run" next year!