Visiting Gigha

Wight Dawn said:
As Aja said, marina/pontoon hopping is not really an option when cruising in Scotland. There are often great lengths of sea between walk-ashore facilities but lots of anchorages. Without a dinghy you are up the creek with no way of getting ashore.
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You can do the whole west coast on pontoons in day hops if you want - assuming space is available...

Kircudbright-Stranraer-Port Ellen-Ardfern-Kerrera-Lochaline-Tobermorey-Mallaig-Kyle of Lochalsh-Gairloch-Lochinver-Kinlochbervie. It's the Orkneys after that though.
 
garvellachs said:
Thanks for the local input Captain. Gigha is a beautiful and friendly gateway to stops further N and W and often seems to have better weather than nearby. We stopped for a while earlier in the year and weren't impressed by the speed of work on the new jetty - is the job being done on a fixed price? Is there a deadline with penalties at all?

Also, the showers leave a bit to be desired - standards have risen elsewhere - is an upgrade planned at all? I think boaters will happily pay a bit more for better?

Finally, do you imply that yachts will be able to moor on the pontoons? It's a bit shallow that far in I would have thought? An improvement in the jetty with a floating pontoon for dinghies is surely all that is needed.
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Poor Colin, the poor much maligned contractor, is doing his very best and losing quite a bit on the job whilst delivering quite more than he promised.
The speed of the work may look a tad relaxed but once the jetty is completed most of the work was underwater and outwith the understanding of us mere mortals, and as I said in an earlier post the ironwork seriously delayed progress and the contractor had no control over this.

No-one on the island is overly bothered about the delay, Colin is doing such a great job we all know it will be worth it in the end. He is introducing features that were not on the initial job tender and certainly will not be paid for, his pride in the job is truly humbling. For example, the old jetty was to be replaced by a concrete base that leads to floating pontoons, but Colin has spent his own time and money to make the jetty a more attractive stone faced pyramid affair.

I hope I speak for most people and am not speaking out of turn, anyone on the island will know who I am despite my clever pseudonym. If I am , please feel free to kindly correct me.

Yachts will be able to berth against the pontoons. What you are seeing is simply a jetty , which is longer than the original jetty, the pontoons will be tagged onto this jetty and dog-legged to the left , looking from the land, and stretching a fair way into the sound of Gigha.

The showers you speak of are faulty , the mens, and a new one is on order. Unless people tell us this stuff we really do not know this.
 
It sounds as though Gigha will soon have facilities rivalling, if not bettering, the fabled Isles of Scilly. I've stopped at both a few times and, if this report is anything to go by, I'll be looking to stop by again.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
You can do the whole west coast on pontoons in day hops if you want - assuming space is available...
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That assumption is the killer. Anyway, what's the point of pontoon hopping up here? You might as well sail on the Solent.

Admission: I am currently tied to a pontoon at Ardfern, listening to the wind scream in the rigging. Ram packed with refugees, this place.
 
The destinations are good at always cramming more in. If you think marina hopping in Scotland is the same as sailing on the Solent, you can't have sailed on the Solent much. The scenery is still there even if you don't anchor and go ashore by flubber.

Not everyone one is the same as you. Some people might have a reason why they need a pontoon berth that we don't know. Live and let live a bit.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
The destinations are good at always cramming more in. If you think marina hopping in Scotland is the same as sailing on the Solent, you can't have sailed on the Solent much. The scenery is still there even if you don't anchor and go ashore by flubber.
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Well, some of the scenery is. Plenty of places the marina bound shouldn't try.

Not everyone one is the same as you. Some people might have a reason why they need a pontoon berth that we don't know. Live and let live a bit.
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Sure, no problem with that. I just think it's a bit sad, and a bit unwise, to come up here if you are dependent on marinas. A bit like travelling the world and eating only at MacDonalds.

It's a nice, sunny day in Oban.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Sure, no problem with that. I just think it's a bit sad, and a bit unwise, to come up here if you are dependent on marinas. A bit like travelling the world and eating only at MacDonalds.
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I'll give you an example then. My old Dad is 87. He likes sailing on pleasant days in a mostly non-participatory way - to sit and look at the scenery. But his days of clambering in and out of a dinghy from a boat are over. So sailing between, or doing day trips from, places with pontoons means he can still take part. It's not sad. It's not unwise. It's not like eating only at McDonalds. It means someone who is different from you can enjoy his life within his capabilities. I still get the impression from your dismissive attitude you think that because it would not suit you it therefore would not suit anyone.

Remember, sooner than you'd like, your days of getting in and out of a dinghy will be over too. Maybe your attitude to the way others want to go sailing will mellow a bit by then and you will be able to see life from other people's point of view, because that's something you seem to be incapable of now.
 
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Captain Daz said:
Poor Colin, the poor much maligned contractor, is doing his very best and losing quite a bit on the job whilst delivering quite more than he promised.
The speed of the work may look a tad relaxed but once the jetty is completed most of the work was underwater and outwith the understanding of us mere mortals, and as I said in an earlier post the ironwork seriously delayed progress and the contractor had no control over this.

No-one on the island is overly bothered about the delay, Colin is doing such a great job we all know it will be worth it in the end. He is introducing features that were not on the initial job tender and certainly will not be paid for, his pride in the job is truly humbling. For example, the old jetty was to be replaced by a concrete base that leads to floating pontoons, but Colin has spent his own time and money to make the jetty a more attractive stone faced pyramid affair.

I hope I speak for most people and am not speaking out of turn, anyone on the island will know who I am despite my clever pseudonym. If I am , please feel free to kindly correct me.

Yachts will be able to berth against the pontoons. What you are seeing is simply a jetty , which is longer than the original jetty, the pontoons will be tagged onto this jetty and dog-legged to the left , looking from the land, and stretching a fair way into the sound of Gigha.

The showers you speak of are faulty , the mens, and a new one is on order. Unless people tell us this stuff we really do not know this.
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Thanks again for the info - we'll certainly be back soon and look forwards to seeing Colin's completed project.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
I'll give you an example then. My old Dad is 87.

Remember, sooner than you'd like, your days of getting in and out of a dinghy will be over too. Maybe your attitude to the way others want to go sailing will mellow a bit by then and you will be able to see life from other people's point of view, because that's something you seem to be incapable of now.
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You do seem to have got a rather peculiar impression of my position. Perhaps that's my fault.

For people like your old Dad, pontoons are great. For anyone who is not physically dependent to rely on them around here is a bad idea, I think, because

(a) They are in short supply, which may mean not getting in or may mean problems for your old Dad. How good is he at crossing rafted boats?

(b) It rules out a lot of interesting places, which seems a shame. Not bad, not contemptible, just a shame. As yopu'll see from the other posts, I am not alone in this view.

(c) Pontoons here can be rather far apart. The weather may turn unexpectedly nasty between Port Ellen and Ardfern (say) and if - big if - the dependence on pontoons reflects a nervousness about anchoring, problems could result.

(d) I cannot imagine choosing to have no means of getting ashore at times when it's important to do so, but not quite launch-the-liferaft territory. That, of course, may simply be a failure of my imagination.

Still on the pontoon, having a whale of a time. Pizza for dinner. Regards to your father.
 
JumbleDuck said:
How good is he at crossing rafted boats?
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They are a real hazard for him, especially for a big raft of many boats. The reason is because he looks, with his big white Captain Birdseye beard, older than time himself he gets invited for a quick dram in every boat he crosses. By the time he's crossed 7 or 8 in a big raft he's singing loudly, annoying the neighbours, embarrassing his offspring, tripping over guardrails and getting his beard snagged in jib sheets. He's not growing ancient gracefully. Not at all.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
They are a real hazard for him, especially for a big raft of many boats. The reason is because he looks, with his big white Captain Birdseye beard, older than time himself he gets invited for a quick dram in every boat he crosses. By the time he's crossed 7 or 8 in a big raft he's singing loudly, annoying the neighbours, embarrassing his offspring, tripping over guardrails and getting his beard snagged in jib sheets. He's not growing ancient gracefully. Not at all.
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bloody magic, now that's my idea of growing old disgracefully :-)
 
Each to their own, but I wouldn't enjoy sailing on the West Coast, if the only way that I could get ashore was at an available pontoon. I am lucky, in that I have (just) enough space to carry my rubber dinghy, aboard, fully inflated, and ready to throw over the side. It lets me get ashore in all sorts of out-of-the-way places. It lets me explore, and sound some of these places. It is invaluable if I want to lay out a second anchor, or run a line ashore. It has helped, or rescued (as the RNLI would say) several people.

I quite accept that there are people whose physical abilities prevent them from using a dinghy, and whose sailing would otherwise be curtailed. As my boat is moored on a swinging mooring out in a loch, when the time comes that I can no longer use a dinghy, I will just have accept that my sailing days are over. Hopefully a wee while yet.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
They are a real hazard for him, especially for a big raft of many boats. The reason is because he looks, with his big white Captain Birdseye beard, older than time himself he gets invited for a quick dram in every boat he crosses. By the time he's crossed 7 or 8 in a big raft he's singing loudly, annoying the neighbours, embarrassing his offspring, tripping over guardrails and getting his beard snagged in jib sheets. He's not growing ancient gracefully. Not at all.
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<clicks "like">
 
Suiting action to words, I am now visiting Gigha. To my surprise, there were plenty of visitor moorings free at 8pm, so a swift change of plan was needed on approach. Work proceeds on the new pontoon as I type.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
The outlook is not very summery, especially later tomorrow. Maybe people have scuttled off to Port Ellen or Ardfern. The moorings will be sheltered from the wind, but getting ashore could be a damp affair.
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The whole area seems quiet. We had a lovely sail down from Crinan and only saw a handful of other boats. Plan is to hang on here and head round the Mull in a couple of days when the impending unpleasantness blows over. Luckily I'm on the buoy nearest the beach.
 
I was out for a couple of weeks. In between the rain and totally rotten weather, sailing was actually pretty good, and usually well reefed when I was solo. But, jeeze, it wisnae hauf bluidy cauld.
 
Sgeir said:
I was out for a couple of weeks. In between the rain and totally rotten weather, sailing was actually pretty good, and usually well reefed when I was solo. But, jeeze, it wisnae hauf bluidy cauld.
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I have finally started using the charcoal heater I installed two years ago. Works a treat - but needed in July?
 
If it's any consolation, down here in your neck of the woods I have the heating on full belt! Home that is, not the boat.
 
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