Loch Etive clearance

[cpedw]

Help please. Can anyone say what clearance is available under the cable crossing Lch Etive at Bonawe? It's charted as 12m but the pilot says that's the lowest point, and there is a lot more near the north shore, where the water is also deeper.
The boat in question is a Westerly Falcon, which needs 14.5m so only just gets into Loch Etive under Connel Bridge at high tide. I think I'll choose neaps.
Many thanks,
Derek

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[Melody]

Hi Derek

We used to keep our boat at Connel but we're now in Greece and I can't help you. Suggest you maybe try contacting someone in the are - Oban Sailing Club, or Oban Coastguard (if they still exist) or Loch Etive Mussels, or maybe Bill Sturrock of the Firth of Lorne Sailng School, or Dunstaffnage marina.

You should be able to find phone numbers for some of these people, and ona of them ought to be able to give you the information you need.

Cheers
Melody

<hr width=100% size=1>Melody McKay Burton
Yacht Valentine, Greece

 

[Spacewaist]

Why not LW Springs?

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[Aja]

There's a bloddy great ledge......

Donald

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[Spacewaist]

I only asked!

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[Aja]

Found this - hope it helps....

2.25 Loch Etive (56°27'N., 5°25'W.) is entered 2.5 miles NE of
Kerrera Sound. The loch entrance is constricted and shallow,
limiting transit to small vessels. Rubha Garbh (56°27'N.,
5°26'W.), the S entrance point, is a low, wooded promontory on
which stands the ruins of a castle. Ledaig Point (56°27'N.,
5°24'W.), on the opposite shore, is low and grassy. An airfield
is situated close N of the point. Two islets in the loch entrance
divide the channel. The larger islet fronts Dunstaffnage Bay
(56°27'N., 5°26'W.), which affords good shelter, but anchorage
within the 10m curve is constricted by numerous small craft
moorings. Temporary anchorage is also available in a depth of
11.9m, in the bay adjacent to Rubha Ard nan Leum (56°27'N.,
5°25'W.). The main entrance to the bay, which is from the NW,
has a least depth of 11.6m in the fairway.
2.25 A bridge, with a vertical clearance of l5m, spans Connel
Sound, the narrows within Ledaig Point. Conspicuous, white
inns stand near each end of the bridge. A sewer outfall, marked
at its end by a beacon, lies 100m W of the S end of the bridge.

From an American Pilot which was posted here recently.

Regards

Donald

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[Richard_Weller]

Derek,
I'd be interested in your findings on the clearance over Loch Etive. Like you I have read the pilot and am not altogether clear as to what the clearance might be at Bonawe away from the low point of the wires. My mast top is (I calculate) 15m and I'd like to get up to Etive Slabs at the head of the loch for some climbing. If you take a chance on seeing what 20,000 volts would do to your masthead, and get through, I'd be very interested to hear!

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[robp]

Don't think I'd want my masthead within 3 metres of 20 kV!

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[cpedw]

Richard,
I've been asking around. Consensus (2 different people) is that clearance at the north side of Bonawe is more than under Connel Bridge (charted 15m). So in 2 weeks, I plan to give it a go. Our height is 14.5m so it should almost guarantee you a clear passage if we get back unscorched.
You'll have to wait for the result though, I'll be away for 3 weeks after that.
Good luck,
Derek

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[Richard_Weller]

Derek,
Thanks. If the conditions/height are right I might head up Loch Etive in a fortnight. I keep my boat between Dunstaffnage and Connell, and peer straight up Loch Etive from the mooring and am tempted by it every time. I'll try and get an accurate height with the sextant and slide rule from the north end before getting too close though!
Richard

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