Kyle of Lochalsh pontoons

[NormanS]

You are making the mistake assuming that everyone has the same anchoring capability that you have. That is not the case. As my boat is a small trimaran weight is critical. I therefore, like all small trimarans I've ever seen, anchor on predominantly warp. That means that I need more room to anchor, & somewhere like South Rona is difficult, especially if busy. What I need is shallow, spacious & flat - exactly what I have at anchor off Little Gruinard as I write this & what I had at Loch Mharabhig 2 days ago. So it's not always lack of confidence or knowledge that some boats choose not to anchor, but sometimes because there are many different types & capabilities of boats.

As I've said before to you, there's plenty of room in Scotland for all comers, so perhaps you should roll back denigrating owners of boats that are different from yours.

Perhaps you missed the smiley?

 

[afterpegassus]

I know where North Rona is.
I know where Rona is.
Where is this South Rona that people keep mentioning?

 

[dunedin]

No, Steve, he put in a pontoon to make it easy to get ashore, that is a benefit, a small contribution to its upkeep is justified, no one is compelled to use it, or even to pay the £1-00 if they do not want to.

Precisely

 

[steve yates]

No, Steve, he put in a pontoon to make it easy to get ashore, that is a benefit, a small contribution to its upkeep is justified, no one is compelled to use it, or even to pay the £1-00 if they do not want to.

Fair enough, I didn't know he put a pontoon in at his own expense, so it's fair to ask for a donation for upkeep, or even charge, same principle as moorings. But a "landing fee" is a definite no no!

Not sure your right about sheep and bracken by the way, though you are entirely correct that our landscape is manmade. When they slaughtered all the sheep in the lakes during foot & mouth, the regrowth of small flowers and grasses on the fells was amazing. Bracken tends to colonise bare areas, so sheep, by eating everything,can actually help the bloody stuff grow.

 

[Blue Nile]

You are wrong, Boots, the character and interest of our landscape has generally benefited from human intervention. The contrast between land grazed by sheep and that totally covered with bracken is an example. Your post reads as if you want to evict the crofters but admit yachties so that they alone could enjoy this new wilder landscape, it sounds remarkably selfish and takes no account of the benefits most of the rest of us gain from being allowed to share the harbours and villages that these folk live in all year. The landscape you promote is available in places like Greenland, but if that was where everyone like you wanted to go how long would it last. You can not have it both ways, if you visit places you change them with less justification than those who take on the struggle to live there.
Interesting that when you went to Gigha you stopped at Ardminish bay, the centre of population, surely you could have selected a different anchorage? The same applies at S. Rona, there are still plenty of remoter 'unspoiled' anchorages.

I’m not sure your premise is correct.
Bracken is there because of the sheep.
When cattle were the main crop, bracken couldn’t spread as its root system was broken up by their weight.
Nevertheless, without human intervention the land would be mostly deciduous woodland to around 2000ft.
‘Benefit’ is debateable.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Without reading all the posts, I have it from first-hand-witness who sailed there a few days ago that there were/are there now :encouragement:

 

[afterpegassus]

I’m not sure your premise is correct.
Bracken is there because of the sheep.
When cattle were the main crop, bracken couldn’t spread as its root system was broken up by their weight.
Nevertheless, without human intervention the land would be mostly deciduous woodland to around 2000ft.
‘Benefit’ is debateable.

Quite right.
Cattle are a much heavier beast and suppress the spread of bracken, gorse and other such species.
The only place for wooly maggots in the Highlands is on a plate.
I'm not sure about "mostly deciduous woodland to around 2000ft" though. Some places are just too windswept to allow this.

 

[Robert Wilson]

South Rona (or Rona as it is on most charts/atlases) is a delightful place, only marginally spoilt by the horrible, black glutinous mud on the bottom in the anchorages.
I like the security of knowing that on a mooring I'm not going to be bumping into other craft because they or I have laid-out too much chain -or not enough:nightmare::nightmare:
I for one am most happy to pay the £10 for a mooring if it makes departing next morning easier and with no need to clean the filthy stuff off my decks, chain, anchor and ME!:encouragement:
I'm also happy to donate £1 for the use and upkeep of the pontoon/landing stage.:encouragement:
What disappointed me, in May this year, was the showers being no longer available.
But hey ho, a great place and made so much more interesting by that charming entrance/exit:eek-new:

 

[Robert Wilson]

Im a bit grumpy just now as we’ve just anchored in Vatersay after having to avoid two or three dozen tiny, dirty buoys in the Loch presumably, unregistered pots and the SW corner filled with more mooring detritus... These remote areas are not what they used to be. :disgust:

Will you make it up and across to Gruinard by Tuesday? :encouragement:

 

[ctva]

Will you make it up and across to Gruinard by Tuesday? :encouragement:

Depends if you are charging a landing fee?

 

[Robert Wilson]

A bottle of Gin??????????

 

[dunedin]

A bottle of Gin??????????

Are you supplying pontoons or moorings at Kyle Gruinard?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Are you supplying pontoons or moorings at Kyle Gruinard?

A couple could go in tucked behind the shingle spit, sheltered from most directions there. A free anthrax tour could be thrown in on the 2nd night .

 

[Robert Wilson]

Are you supplying pontoons or moorings at Kyle Gruinard?

Sadly neither.
But as Angus McD suggests there are good anchorages over by Gruinard Island (but his suggestion is not for very strong northerlies). Be aware of a rock shelf close-in to the spit, on the NW side.
Mill Bay, where my boat is moored, is good for all winds, again except for screaming northerlies.
A good-holding sandy bottom.
For short stays/overnight, raft against Khamsin in calm weather - with plenty of clean fenders, please!!!!
Try my mobile for further advice etc 07707 117770

 

[dunedin]

A couple could go in tucked behind the shingle spit, sheltered from most directions there. A free anthrax tour could be thrown in on the 2nd night .

Did the anthrax tour a few days ago. 6 fingers on each hand is normal, right?

 

[Robert Wilson]

Did the anthrax tour a few days ago. 6 fingers on each hand is normal, right?

I assume it was yourself who was stooging around on the NW side of The Spit around lunchtime, and then shot-off like a Volvo Clipper towards The Summer Isles and Lochinver?

I couldn't believe my eyes as to how far you sailed in such a short time!

If 'twas you, congratulations on a speedy craft, sailed well. :encouragement: