No more yacht charter on the Cally?

Quandary

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Coming through the Crinan today with us were two very scuffed Moody 28s with red hoods and Uv strips, It is only now I recognized where I had seen them before, the last two yachts that were for hire at Laggan. Seems a shame that there are no more, seemed a less intimidating place for novices to try a bit of sailing, though Lough Ness is often far from benign.
 

dunedin

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That would be a huge shame if they are not replaced.

But these Moody 28’s must be decades past their prime now. We chartered one, for our first family sailing holiday, nearly a quarter of a century ago. And they were far from pristine new even then (unlike the brand new Moody 336 We charted from Crinan the following year).
There can’t be many bare boat GRP charter yachts that are still in service after 30 hard seasons of use (a handful of Broads yachts excepted). I wonder if they will be replaced, or whether the economics just don’t work due to short season.
 

Biggles Wader

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Son did a charter there last year and West Highland Sailing told him they were packing up then. They must have tried to carry on another season but I suspect covid put paid to that.
 

Sniper

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We chartered a centaur up there back in the ‘80s. Even then it was in dreadful condition. The low light of the whole trip was finding that the water tank had been filled with diesel, the yard had been aware of it and neglected to mention it, leaving us to find out for ourselves.
 

LittleSister

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That reminds me that my then girlfriend and I rented a Leisure 23 from, IIRC, Caley Marine at Dochgarroch, about thirty years ago.

We had booked two weeks at the very start of the season, because it was cheapest. We sat on the quay in the sunshine the first evening, along with the other renters, to receive our briefing from the manager (owner?). He said that sadly the weather forecast wasn't good for the others, who had booked only a week, but we would have the good weather to follow in our second week.

The next day wasn't too bad, and we headed out into Loch Ness, lost our reefing handle over the side, and there was some other minor problem with the boat, so after spending a pleasant (apart from the bagpiper 'serenading' the coaches arriving - OK first time around, but gets very wearing with repetition) night at Urquart Castle, the following morning we made our way back to near the base. Then the gales and rain set in with a vengeance, and we were stuck there for days.

Fortunately, we were only a few hundred yards from our car, so we spent several days driving hundreds of miles around the far north of Scotland in the rain, each day doing a few miles walk somewhere that would have been scenic had the rain let up to let us see it, which it didn't.

Eventually the wind eased enough to let us venture out, and we gradually made our way along the canal towards Fort William. Boy was it cold. We had snow as well as rain. The inside of the boat was dripping with condensation, including onto our heads when we in bed. Our only source of heat was the gas cooker, which we knew was only adding to the condensation problem. I think we slept in balaclavas. Many places we might have visited were untenable in the wind, and in any case we spent every night with the boat bouncing around, grinding against the pontoons and with the ropes creaking and snatching.

We eventually reached Banavie, where we again got stuck for a few days. I recall several visits to a rather unappealing pub in what I guess from the map was Caol. Ben Nevis looked good in the snow, though. By this stage all our clothes and bedding were sodden. We wrapped them up and lugged it all along in the rain to Fort William to dry them at a launderette. Only to find it was closed.

Amazingly, despite the privations we remained in surprisingly good spirits. It was so grim it was almost cathartic.

For a change of scene, and to be somewhere warm and out of the rain, we took the train from Fort William to Mallaig. The train's heating was out of order and there was a window jammed open in our carriage.

Time to head back. As Quandary noted above, Loch Ness could be far from benign, and so it was. It was all getting a bit much for my girlfriend (not to mention me), so we picked up a mooring somewhere on the northern side (Urquart again?) that was at least slightly sheltered from the wind that was whistling up the Loch from the South-West. It was rather uncomfortable. As the afternoon wore on the wind and white horses seemed to abate somewhat. I thought that we would be much more comfortable for the night if we could get back to the canal near Dochgarroch, so siezed the moment and off we set.

This turned out to be a mistake. It seemed the wind had only been pausing to draw breath. The waves got bigger and bigger. We put on harnesses and clipped on in the cockpit. I was not that experienced at the time, least of all as a skipper, and had never been in such conditions before. I had just a small scrap of foresail out and the motor on at low revs for steerage, but we were moving fast enough. I wanted to turn back, but was scared the boat would be rolled if it got broadside to the waves as we turned, so onward we went. I was looking behind as much as forward, to make sure that we took each wave from straight behind.

Ahead, we were running out of Loch rather quickly. I could see the red and green buoys that marked the narrow channel at the end of the Loch, significantly offset to one side of our current course perpendicular to the waves. Would we end up aground on a lee shoal at the end of the Loch? Too scared to make a diagonal course direct to the buoys, I crabbed across a few feet as we came down the back of each wave, before straightening up again to take the next one squarely under the stern. Painfully slowly we gradually came more in line with the buoys, and eventually successfully passed between them and into Loch Dochfour, where the waves were much more manageable.

As we came into the canal we looked out for a spare mooring space. We were going rather too fast, so got in the last of the sail and put the motor in neutral. But we were still going too fast with just the boat's windage. We couldn't see any vacant mooring spaces at all (obvious in hindsight - nobody in their right mind would be out by choice in those conditions!), and suddenly there were the closed clock gates ahead. I didn't believe we could turn in the width of the canal in those conditions (I don't know whether I didn't think to just reverse, or didn't believe we could against the wind.). Just before the lock was a steamer berth, with big signs saying "Bugger off. Don't even think of stopping here." (I paraphrase), but with the lock gates just in front of us there was nothing to do but to go for it. We lassoed a bollard with a stern line as we swept past, and jolted to a very abrupt and ungainly halt.

We were shaking. We got a bow line on, went below out of the wind, and poured ourselves a large scotch each (and we'd never really been spirit drinkers!). I had intended that we would warp the boat around, and then scout on foot for somewhere else to tie up before anyone came to berate us for stopping there, but we just collapsed into bed and slept.

Amazingly, the next morning, our last full day, was fairly calm. We seized this, our first opportunity of the holiday, to use one of the more exposed moorings, and ventured back out into a very different looking Loch Ness. We rowed ashore to a pleasant pub (The Dores Inn?) in the evening, and had our first calm night aboard.

We had to be up very early in the morning to deliver the boat back to Dochgarroch. We emerged to find a clear, sunny sky for the first time since our arrival, and the Loch absolutely flat calm. We motored slowly back, and we could see the ripple of our wake spreading for at least a quarter of a mile behind us in the stillness. Hell, you could even see the wake left long behind the ducks paddling past.

At Dochgarroch the manager met us, apologising profusely for the weather, and saying in all his years there he had never known it to be so solidly bad for a whole two weeks. (Poetic licence, perhaps - it was Scotland.) He said our boat was booked out to some other people later that day, but offered us free another of his boats for a few days as recompense. Unfortunately, we had already made arrangements to visit friends near Glasgow that evening, so we had to decline.

The next morning we sat in our friends' garden in the warm sunshine for breakfast. (In Glasgow! In the first days of May!). We then drove south, with the shades down because of the bright sunshine, and the car windows steaming up from our sodden gear in the back. The sky was entirely blue.

We turned off to Pooley Bridge in the Lake District for lunch. The place was thronged with people sailing, rowing, paddling, walking and sitting around in the warm, bright sunshine in summer clothes. We did see one cloud as we continued past the Lake District. but otherwise it was a completely cloudless sky all the way back to Bristol.
 

Quandary

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Great story, pad it out with a bit more detail and submit it for publication somewhere.

I had a similar experience with my new wife as part of a party of 7 in West Cork in a Nicholson 38 in 1970; we found out why the charter rate was half price at the end of September, she still goes on about her first wedding anniversary though I am surprised she can remember, she was sea sick most of the time.
 

Hoist

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Thats actually my boat you are referring to that was heading through the Crinan canal

She may not be pretty, but she is certainly solid and I had no problem bringing her all the way from Laggan to Largs

These two boats were retired from charter duties in 2018 and were moved on to private hands however they did not stray from the Caledonian Canal

I would love somebody to show me any other production boat after 31 years of charter use and the Moody build quality really lives up to its name.

They are both going to very good homes and will be reconditioned this winter
 

Mark-1

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As a teenage inland dinghy sailor I hired a Mirage 270 (Is that a Leisure 27?) and a Sigma 33 on the Canal. Terrific holidays both times. Seemed as good as sea sailing to me. Very happy memories.

Also remember the Moody 28's from the time. Glad to hear they kept going so long. Literally decades.

Shame that opportunity is gone now. :(
 

Bru

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Shame they've gone cos as far as i know it was about the only available bare boat charter that doesn't / didn't require RYA qualifications and / or previous experience

My return to sailing after 30 years and Jane's introduction to it was a week aboard West Highland's Moody 28 "Arrow" a decade or so ago

Old and tired she may have been but she was serviceable, the week's charter was affordable and the "try before we buy" experience extremely useful
 

Mark-1

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Shame they've gone cos as far as i know it was about the only available bare boat charter that doesn't / didn't require RYA qualifications and / or previous experience

My return to sailing after 30 years and Jane's introduction to it was a week aboard West Highland's Moody 28 "Arrow" a decade or so ago

Old and tired she may have been but she was serviceable, the week's charter was affordable and the "try before we buy" experience extremely useful

....and when I wanted to charter on the F of Clyde I told the firm I was a dinghy sailor but had sailed bigger boats on the Caley and he said "If you can do the Caley you can do the Clyde" - and he was right.

So quite a good way for Dinghy sailors to build up a sailing track record for Charter firms.
 
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arto

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Fond memories of chartering (seems to grand a word) Westerly Centaurs at Dochgarroch twice in the 1980s.

My first experience of being in charge of anything bigger than a GP14 and a great adventure at the time.

I remember very mixed weather, a bad stomach upset (dodgy water?), whisky tasting, and a fabulous hot bath in peat-stained water at a friendly hotel in Fort Augustus.

I've only sailed once in Scotland since but I'm hoping to do some serious exploration of the Hebrides next summer, if the pandemic subsides and nothing else gets in the way.
 

Hoist

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An update on Arrow and Aztec formerly of West Highland Sailing

A friend and myself own the pair and took them on as a joint project

It's been a real labour of love and its been good hearing of how many people learned to sail on them and they are well remembered!

We brought the boat's all the way from Laggan to Fairlie last September and upon arrival we took them out the water and had them surveyed

Despite their appearance the 25+ years in fresh water has been extremely kind to them and the only issues were cosmetic.

Arrow has been painstakingly sanded, filled, faired, sanded, filled and faired again over the past 6 months and we've probably put around 600 to 700 hours into both of the boats.

Aztec is next to get painted but I'm sure you will agree that Arrow is looking 30 years younger!

arrow 2.jpgarrow 3.jpgArrow.jpgIMG_20210513_182506_866.jpg

These boat's are a testament to Moody's build quality and we are extremely happy we took them on as a project
 

Bru

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Wow! Looks like a brand new boat

Absolutely over the moon that Arrow has found the right people to give her a new lease of life

Keep us posted on progress
 
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