Summer Sailing on the West Coast

Our experience so far is that the West Coast is busy but not overly. On the trip out we have stopped at at Campbeltown, Ardminish, Ardfern, Puilladobhrain and Tobermory and found space to anchor, moorings or pontoon space at all. The only place we couldn't get into was Croabh. Not much wind though, and what there is has been on the nose! Now in Vatersay Bay with half a dozen other boats.

20210720_083702.jpg
 
adwuk said:
Our experience so far is that the West Coast is busy but not overly. On the trip out we have stopped at at Campbeltown, Ardminish, Ardfern, Puilladobhrain and Tobermory and found space to anchor, moorings or pontoon space at all. The only place we couldn't get into was Croabh. Not much wind though, and what there is has been on the nose! Now in Vatersay Bay with half a dozen other boats.

View attachment 119174
Click to expand...
So it now appears normal busy with both English and Scottish school holidays. Glad to see you got to Vatersay, that was on our list at the start but we didn't fancy 40nm of NW4-5 on the nose so just went north. Are you going to the southern islands from there or north?

PS, the view out my window just now is no where near as nice...
 
Saw no other yacht in the North Channel, and none around the MoK, nor any in the sound of Sleat - but then again last Tuesday we couldn't see the MoK nor the following day the Skye shore either! Not too crowded at Plockton and only issue was the lack of pontoons at Kyle (oh, and the steering jamming while under spinnaker approaching Kyle Rhea - some emergency disassembly of panels in the lazarette to disconnect the auto helm actuator enlivened an otherwise uneventful afternoon).
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Just off Kirkcudbright. Or is it Kilmarnock? I always konfuse those two.
Click to expand...
Don't include a reference to "Kilmarnock Water" off the coast of Bute, as Paddy Ashdown did in a book about Op Frankton. I jarred him about it, politely, by e-mail and was astonished to receive a swift & prompt reply!
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Just off Kirkcudbright. Or is it Kilmarnock? I always konfuse those two.
Click to expand...
It won't be Kilmarnock; that's a good few miles inland; Kilmarnock Water is part of the headwaters of the River Irvine; not to be confused with Inchmarnock which is an island off the coast of Bute.
 
SaltIre said:
Don't include a reference to "Kilmarnock Water" off the coast of Bute, as Paddy Ashdown did in a book about Op Frankton. I jarred him about it, politely, by e-mail and was astonished to receive a swift & prompt reply!
Click to expand...
JNKScot said:
It won't be Kilmarnock; that's a good few miles inland; Kilmarnock Water is part of the headwaters of the River Irvine; not to be confused with Inchmarnock which is an island off the coast of Bute.
Click to expand...
Well if Lord Ashdown, or to be more precise his researcher(s), can refer to Kilmarnock Water instead of Inchmarnock Water nobody is safe! Blondie Hasler and his marines did some practice launches from HMSM TUNA, landings in Scalpsie Bay then recoveries immediately prior to departure from the Clyde.
 
Well, that's us back in dear old Port Bannatyne. Marina for the night, out to the mooring tomorrow and back to real life. In case anyone's interested, we adopted two principles this year - just for fun and not because we think they represent superiority. First principle: never two nights in the same place. Second principle: anchor.

So we did Port Bannatyne - Ardrishaig (pontoon) - Crinan (basin) - En Gabhar, Loch Craignish - Oronsay Loch Sunart - Salen Loch Sunart (pontoon) - Arinagour, Coll - Gometra Acarseid Mor - Treshnish Isles (day visit) - Gometra Harbour - Ulva Ferry (pontoon) - Inchkenneth - Oronsay by Colonsay - middle bit, Loch Tarbert Jura - different place in the middle bit, Loch Tarbert - Craighouse - Sound of Gigalum - Ardminish (day at pontoon, night at anchor) - Lochranza - Puerto Banatino. All at anchor unless otherwise stated. The chain is very shiny!

Quite a few of these were new to me. Of those, my recommendation goes to Inchkenneth. It's an odd place, with practically no shelter from wind except from the south but reefs which protect from waves in all directions. Used to be the Scottish seat of the Mitford clan, and Jessica's son tunes our piano!

Heavy time constraints, so not as far as we'd have liked to go or as long as we would have liked to go for, but a pleasant wee tour nonetheless. Very little sailing - in fact we only had the main up once.
 
Right now, no wind and sea fogs are the problem. When the sun breaks through it is hot but we spend 2 hours motoring through fog after leaving Gigha this morning then abandoned the attempt to continue up the Sound of Luing when we ran into another fog belt near Scabra. By the time we berthed in Craobh, the sun was blazing down.
 
I took this photo at 1113 this morning - maybe you were over there in the mist at the time. It was clear and hot all day over here on the east side of the Sound of Jura.
Gordon
GDXT6537-edited.jpg
 
The fog has been really localised. We went through a patch at the Sound of Luing, and another leaving Tobermory. In both cases, not more than a mile wide and then back into clear sunshine. Our son found a youtube video of an airhorn which we played through some bluetooth speakers on full volume. Got a great response from the CalMac ferry! Today we made it all the way from Vatersay Bay to Castlebay via the fisherman's passage. We found the gin distillery, so all is right with the world!
 
adwuk said:
The fog has been really localised. We went through a patch at the Sound of Luing, and another leaving Tobermory. In both cases, not more than a mile wide and then back into clear sunshine.
Click to expand...
We had very heavy fog twice, in Loch Tarbert (Jura) and Craighouse. Both times in the evening, so I think it was a radiation fog falling down the hills as the evening cooled down.
 
Ah, yes, fog. One of the hazards that should have been added to the list. Left Oban last Friday morn, couldn't see Kerrera, found Seil, never saw Insh, found the beacon on Eilean Dubh but not the lighthouse on Fladda and it suddenly cleared at Coirebreachan. Was followed a lot of the way by 2 other boats which according to AIS had been motoring faster but which fell in behind. If they had only known my navigation was only a couple of steps up from a rook and a stone on a string. On Saturday when I left Jura the sun shone overhead but I never saw Gigha, the Finlaggan was sounding all the way from Islay and then, again, it cleared just north of the MoK lighthouse. Drum an Dunan was fair hoaching with 4 other boats, and Lowlandman's Bay had quite a few. Was entertained by VHF reports of kids adrift (all safe); a boat on fire; someone who couldn't work his DSC red button, or did but didn't mean to; and a boat aground. I didn't see the boat ashore at Machrihanish.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Well, that's us back in dear old Port Bannatyne. Marina for the night, out to the mooring tomorrow and back to real life. In case anyone's interested, we adopted two principles this year - just for fun and not because we think they represent superiority. First principle: never two nights in the same place. Second principle: anchor.
...
Click to expand...
I like those and we do something similar. We try to go to at least 50% new places and anchor in preference. Other than that we totaled 17 at anchor, of which 3 were sitting out some breezy weather in Dunvegan, 3 on pontoons, one at Tarbert on Harris and two nights in Stornoway. Other than that only one night on a hotel mooring for a meal.

As to the fog, the only one I can remember was the pea soup from Stornoway to Loch Torridon. That's when you realise how valuable the auto pilot is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top