Linda and I arrived up to Misha on Thursday evening and worked from the boat throughout Friday. Marie-Ann and Richard from Gabriella asked us to join them for drinks on Friday evening following which they joined us for dinner in Lord of the Isles. James and Denise made good time coming up the road and joined us in time to order before last orders for food.

I had previously installed a ‘black box boat monitor’ into Gabriella for Richard meaning he can monitor the boat’s health when he is away from her.

Dinner was great fun and the lady who had spent the day looking for her missing cat popped in to let everyone know the cat was back safe. The whole thing was just very relaxed and pleasant. The food was good, the company was great and we really enjoyed our evening. We adjourned to Misha and enjoyed one more night-cap before we all retired for the evening.

While James has been on Misha before, Denise has not and she was initially quite nervous of the boat and sailing in general. The forecast was for ultra light winds to it was the ideal weekend for her to pop her sailing cherry!

We had a breakfast of muesli and yoghurt, toast and jam before we prepped Misha and headed out. The weather wasn’t as bright as forecast but there was a slight westerly breeze which allowed us to sail (slowly) from Craobh Haven to Ardlussa Bay past the Corryvreckan.

We anchored for snacks in Port an Talbart on the NE corner of Jura north of Banhill and watched a family of seals. We were intent on them when Linda and I spotted a minke whale just about 20m away from us however she only breached once and we didn’t see her again.

We sailed from Port an Talbart down the coast of Jura to Ardlussa but needed the motor more than once. Pulling into the Bay there were more seals and we sat there at anchor and enjoyed a late lunch

After lunch we decided we should head for our planned overnight anchorage so started north again for Airds Bay. When we arrived there was already a yacht in our usual anchor spot but given how calm it was and was forecast to be, we anchored on the inside of Black Rocks.

The plan was for BBQ but with the overcast sk it wasn’t as warm as we had hoped so ate inside, enjoying hot dogs, corn on the cob, along with salads followed by Gin & Tonic Ice Creme and berries. After dinner we socialised and even played poker for a while enjoying music and a wee drinkie.

The night was calm and we all slept exceptionally well.

The morning had a breakfast of grilled bacon and boiled egg with bread and butter. We were able to sit out on deck enjoying the morning light.

My plan had been to wake up at 7am and head north but I was wide awake at 05:00 and having breakfast on deck by 05:30 watching the sunrise. It was a colourful sunrise with shimmering shades of red, orange, yellow progressing to blue.

The Bay was still flat water and you could see the odd bird and occasional seal breaking the morning surface. The sky was alive though. The stars disappeared the colours churned and the lightest of breezes started from the north west.

I passed wide of Minke and the other boat that had come in later in the day and motored out turning round the Dun at the entrance to the Bay. I raised full sail and headed north initially motor sailing and then quenching the engine. I did get a sail but the wind was up and down all morning and swinging by 180 degrees at times. 

When the wind was there, I sailed, when it wasn’t I motored. Probably 50/50 all the way up to the Corry where it does completely and the motor went into its own with the sails stowed, boat cleaned and the preparation for berthing completed way too early as usual.

I parked her perfectly and Richard came to grab lines. Richard and Marie-Ann are planning on leaving soon and were stripping Gabriella for the winter. I missed Peter and Marian who were out winning the Round Shuna Race and headed home after a successful weekend.

Link to Sailloger Log.

The morning in Lagavulin was stunning. There was the gentle mechanical noises from the distillery but otherwise peace and tranquility. I had breakfast on deck of boiled egg on toast with coffee and grape juice. It set me up for the day.

I was nervous about leaving the Bay in the absence of the Green Perch. So I had Antares on the binnacle and was taking it very slowly rock dodging my way out under the castle. I captured a few photos on the way out. It was a ‘Kodak morning’!

There was a very light breeze from the west caressing the water as I motored out towards Iomallach, so I raised the sails and quenched the engine, letting the breeze drive me and the peace return to a post diesel contrast. Iomallach was her classic self, dressed in cormorants. 

Sailing northbound along the Ardmore Islands was simply bliss. It wasn’t fast, I never topped over 4 knots until I got to the Sound of Islay. But once I was passing the lighthouse I saw the first of two minke of the day. She was heading south-east and appeared to have come down the Sound of Islay. The second one, about an hour later and at the top of the mouth of the Sound was heading south and appeared to have come down the Sound of Jura. The second one I managed to get a (bad) photo from a distance and out of focus but at least I can ‘prove’ the sighting.

All the way across  the Sound of Islay there was a good breeze and, with full sail up, I was getting in excess of 6 knots. It started to die back as I approached Craighouse but the sun came out cleanly there from the speckled sky of the early morning. A small yacht cut across my bows heading for Craighouse and about halfway up the Bay of the Small ISles, the breeze died away to nothing at all and the diesel had to return. 

Stowing the sails I noticed the staypack’s loops which connect to the lazy jacks were very badly worn and about to go. A small running repair kept it going for this weekend but I will need to do a more permanent repair real soon.

Turning into Lowlandman’s Bay I noticed the lighthouse keeper’s house was gone and replaced by a big green shed. The plant machinery was still there along with a substantial heap of debris from the demolition. The Bay itself was as lovely as ever and the clouds had cleared from the Paps giving crystal views of the island.

After a couple of hours Andrew Prince arrived in Minke and we sat in Misha’s cockpit with a drink, chatting and enjoying the afternoon. I cooked frankfurters with pasta and pesto and a garlic bread. We ate on deck and it was a great afternoon. It threatened to drizzle at one point but came to nothing and I was able to sit on deck till mid evening when it was time for bed. 

Link to Saillogger Log.

It was a lovely peaceful night in Ardlussa Bay. I awoke twice during the night and each time was gently rocked back to sleep by the tiny swell leaking into he bay.

The morning was heavily overcast and very damp. After a breakfast of coffee and muesli with yoghurt I kitted up in the storm suit and went on deck. The rain was easing but it was very humid and damp. The swans that had been there the previous evening had scarpered and there wasn’t any movement at all.

The anchor lifted easy with only the smallest bit of weed and Misha naturally set herself pointing eastward out the Bay. I raised the sails although there wasn’t a whole lot f breeze and set southbound. Having not used the fridge of the heater, the battery was full in less than 30 minutes and I quenched the engine. It wasn’t a fast sail initially; I was making 4.5 knots at a 45-60 to apparent close hauled.

The breeze increased once I passed Tarbert Bay and I reefed early sticking one, then two reefs in the main and the foresail balanced slightly over the second reefing mark. I was still making 6.5 kn southbound but I was into 20-25 mph wind 30-45 degrees off it. The tide was with me; so wind over tide, but thankfully there wasn’t a lot of tide. It was a sporty sail all the way south.

I passed slightly east of Na Cuiltean rock and lighthouse and got good views but no seals.

Turning by Iomallach and westward towards the Bay was a lot calmer and I stowed the sails easily under power. I was aware in advance that the starboard perch (or pinnacle) had been lost in the winter storms but it was a lot more complicated than I expected. Even with the Antares Charts on board, not having that big green post to navigate by was hellish. I got through but then I drifted off the leading line and was damn close to touching the bottom on the 1.7m reef on the inside of the narrows. The depth alarm was squealing and showing 1.8m when I hauled her left hard and back towards the safe path.

The south mooring was taken by a little motor-sailor (I didn’t see anyone on it the whole time I was there). so I took the north mooring closest to the Pier. I was able to grab is painter which had been lying in the water and use it to hold while I tailed my mooring strop through. The excitement of getting into the Bay had me seating and I took a moment and a glass of Diet Coke to calm down.

I spoke to the Distillery but they had no tours available. There was a tour group on the Pier to whom I waved and I got some good photos of the Distillery.

Dinner was the second helping of Sausage Roll and Mac & Cheese and I was able to sit outside as it had dried up.

Link to Saillogger Log.

Because of a ‘Covid Cancellation’ (a company cancelled their workshops last minute due to Covid) I have a Thu-Sun weekend all by myself to go sailing.

I arrived at the marina early Thursday afternoon and did a bit of maintenance plus topping up the water. I wanted to do a couple of things to make single-handing smoother so got them finished and headed out about 14:30.

The breeze was from the SW and was generally light as I sailed close hauled down the east of Shuna and towards Jura. My plan had been to go through the Corryvreckan and out to Oronsay. However, as I approached the Corry a significant squeal came in on the front of a CB. Unsure of how long it would last and how hard it would blow (it had got up to 20mph on the nose, I took two reefs on the foresail and one on the main and headed South along the east coast of Jura.

I realised I was hungry and tired, the tide would shortly be against me, and although it was only 16:30 I was looking forward to a rest. Making a positive decision to just take it easy, I sailed into Ardlussa Bay and anchored there in 3.5m with 20m chain to the waterline. It was lovely and calm in the Bay and there were a few seals checking me out as I dropped the hook and settled Misha for the night.

The weather improved, the gusts dropped, and I was able to sit out on deck watching the critters, getting a visit from the local swans and generally spacing out reading a novel.

Dinner was Mac&Cheese with Greggs sausage roll followed by berries. I was more tired than I thought and was tucked up by 21:30. It was a very comfortable night with just the gentle rocking motion bar a couple of big craft passing and I slept well.

Link to Saillogger Log.

After staying in Loch na Droma Buidhe on Wednesday night we awoke very cold and damp (and without a heater) on Thursday morning. Our initial plan was to head into Salen Jetty, get dried out, top up water and restock supplies there. When I phoned in to confirm it was achievable the owners informed me of a Force 7 forecast from the SW which would result in them closing the pontoons. We had a rethink. The options were to anchor up in Loch Sunart somewhere and sit out the forecast blow of head into Tobermory.

Long story, short! We spent a happy, warm, dry two nights on Tobermory pontoons sitting out the storm and restocking. We actually had a good time and it was, as ever, really comfortable in Tobermory with lots to keep us entertained.

Saturday morning after breakfast and showers we headed off with full water tanks into the Sound of Mull. The weather was 15mph SW gusting up to 25mph. We rigged half the forsail and still spent most of the way down to the Sound of Lorne doing 8 knots.

It was amazing how busy the water is with leisure boats and commercials too. We basically never had a minute without something imminently heading in our direction.

We had great views of the relatively newly uncloaked Duart Castle as we whooshed by then it was furling the foresail, prepping the anchor and getting the iPad ready for the entrance into Loch Don.

There is no way I would have attempted it without Antares Charts. The level of detail makes it so much more achievable and even then I was curling my toes as we went in over the sill.

The zig-zag in past the outer pool into the first pool is very tight and a couple of times we were in 1.5m LAT (with 1m tide) in actuality and according to Antares but on the ground according to Navionics.

The good bit about the entranceway is that it is heavily populated by seals waiting for you to make a mess of the entrance so it is very pretty and very photogenic.

Into the middle pool we anchored on the 3.6m depth marker (with a potential 3.7m tide) so put out 35m of chain. The anchor bit right away and was well dug in before we were finished dropping chain.

There are geese, seals and loads of wildlife around.

We had a great night in the anchorage at Camas Tuath. Dinner was roast chicken with Mac and Cheese and helped to send me to sleep! An early night after a long day saying was well deserved and we went to bed before the kids playing at the Salmon Fishery buildings on their holiday camp had even stopped swimming. I was in bed and asleep before 10pm. I slept through to 06:30 with only a couple of transient loo visits watching the plankton glow.

There was one heavy rain storm during the night but it was mostly dry. The forecast for the day was 12-17 knots of wind, showers and heavily overcast so we dressed in storm suits and battened the hatches before we set off. The other boat which has shared the anchorage with us headed off shortly after 07:30 when I was just getting Linda her tea!

I put the heater on early to warm the place through for Linda getting up and I noticed that it was pulling between 10 and 16 Amps rather than its usual 2-6 Amps. It ran fine and switched off fine. (However when I tried to switch it on at the end of the day it was errored out with Error 3 – Glow Plug Short or Burned Out. No diesel heater of the remainder of the trip. Thank God its summer, and in future I bring the hot-spare with me!

The anchor lifted kindly with no mud, and little weed. Linda took her out of the anchorage under power as I set the foresail for a downwind foresail only run.  We headed initially to Staffa and had a great view into Fingal’s Cave, then lots of little puffins all around us. Following this we stayed on a tingle tack all the way up, round the headland and into the Sound of Mull. 

We crossed the Sound with boats everywhere! Into Loch Sunart there was a dive-boat at the entrance to Loch Na Drma Buidhe but he said we were good to head in. We kept an eye out and spotted the divers bubbles so avoided going directly over him.

In the Loch there were six boats anchored in the first two bays on the South-West. We headed towards the South East where we anchored in March. There was one boat anchored in the North East, it looked like the Van Der Statt that we met in Karrera on Saturday, but they were lifting their anchor as we entered the Loch.

We dropped in 8m (with a 4m rise expected) in the SE corner.

As mentioned above, the heater didn’t fancy working any more this holiday. But we did PTFE the rudder stock and check the wiring before we had showers and then I cooked a Chicken Casserole with apricots and boiled potatoes. It was very tasty, and the red wine, after the day in the cockpit went right to my head.

One other boat came in and anchored to the SW of us, far enough away Im not worried. The rain is coming down outside, we are wumfied up in 20C (warm enough) and I don’t see it being long before bed!

39 miles in 6.5 hours.

After a great night’s sleep I awoke feeling refresh and alert after not at all feeling like myself yesterday. I was up at 7am and watched some of the yachts slip their moorings and depart with the tide. I popped the outboard onto the rack, then loaded, deflated and packed the dinghy. After that I made Sherpa Tea and awoke Linda.

By 08:30 we were motoring out of the bay south towards Cara. We split the channel between Cara and Gigha and headed for the Sound of Islay. We had a solid breeze of between 10 and 15 kn and made great time all the way to the base of the Sound. There were a few other yachts around and all the ay through the Sound we were making more than eight knots.

At the north end we headed out towards the north of Colonsay with a plan that we could anchor in the north of the island if needs be or head on towards Iona. The crossing was excellent and we only started to lose speed and drop below 6 knots when we were north of Scalasaig. Blue Clipper was moored at the village and we had a good view of her as we sailed past.

At Balnahard Bay we could have anchored there nicely and have been well protected overnight but we had already decided to push on. As we went round the top of island we caught the Atlantic swell; all 4 metres of it! The wind picked up to a close hauled true 15 knots, We were doing 8 knots and flying over pretty high swell but making good progress north-west towards the Sound of Iona.

I plotted a course that would bring us into the path between the skerries on the SE of the Sound of Iona and we had checked we would have tide with us through the Sound all the way to 7pm. We pushed hard and kept sailing tight for an hour before we were able to lesson off, turn more northerly opening the angles and getting a lot more comfortable sailing across and with the swell. We passed a yacht going the other way in the high swell but they didn’t even return our greeting.

We hit the south of the Sound of Iona and still had 2m swell with us but it reduced as we went north through the Sound. By the time we turned right and headed across towards Camus Tuath it was less than a metre and our sails were stowed as we motored into the anchorage charging up the batteries.

There was a yacht already in Camus Tuath so we anchored tight in the top in 4m LAT (8m actual) and laid out 35m chain to the waterline. It bit perfectly first time and we settles ourselves to a delicious dinner of roast chicken breast, Mac & Cheese, and sweetcorn followed by jelly and fruit.

The boat router wasn’t picking up any signal on Vodafone to I fired up EE and was able to get us some internet. I guess an early night is coming up now.

66 miles in 9.5 hours

All the great ideas of odysseys went out the window!

We had a good night’s sleep after chicken pie and potatoes for dinner. I slept like a log from 10:30 to 07:30 although I did wake at 04:30 to the red light of dawn for ten minutes.

When we did get up we had tea and coffee and decided Gigha was as far as we were going today. The wind was from the West (mostly) and was up and down but circa 15kn.

The anchor came up easily enough but it had a huge kelp forest on it! Roots and all! We motored out of the bay and left the engine charging the battery, raised sail and cutting into the wind went for Gigha.

It was a good sail but I wasn’t feeling 100%. Every time I did something, even just cleaning the kelp off the anchor, I was left exhausted and wanting to sit for a while. I also couldn’t motivate myself to do anything. On top of that, while sailing along happily as she has been for months, the wheel pilot blew its gearbox and was left useless.

As we entered Ardminish Bay a couple of boats had recently departed and I was hopeful that there might be room on the pontoon but there wasn’t. We debated anchoring but in the end took a mooring and went ashore.

The Post Office were able to supply fresh milk and bread, gin and (mostly importantly) Ice Crème. Linda had G&T ice crème and I had Mango. It was very yummy. With the Boathouse closed on Mondays and Tuesdays we headed back to Misha with our supplies and the plan for Lasagne and fresh baked bread tonight.

22 miles in 4.5 hours.

We left Kerrera Marina after a heavy brunch and a quick catch up with Peter. Coming off the pontoon we went north and enjoyed a close pass by Blue Clipper before skirting the north of the island and heading out into the Lynn of Lorne.

As we passed the entrance marker we hoisted the main with a double reef in it and then the foresail with a balanced double reef. We were approaching close hauled across to the Lady’s Rock lighthouse and into the Sound of Mull. As we entered the Sound the wind finally read the weather forecast and veered west close on to the nose. We tightened everything and were ultra close-hauled; 30 degrees off the apparent.

The other boats coming across with us were giving up and going onto motor. We kept going a while then we called it and decided to shoot south and go for the Sound of Jura instead.

As soon as we tacked, it was a lot more comfortable and we passed out past Castle Duart and back into the Sound of Lorne. It was so easy going I was able to grab the GoPros and start trying locations for mounts. The footage I captured wasn’t awesome but it is a start. I can practice more for the rest of the trip.

We sailed past Thelassa and passed west of Insch Island then down the Sound of Luing. There we met the Waverley and slid through easy, the swell reduced and we passed Scarba and the Corry then down the Sound of Jura. Once we were past Barnhill the tide and the wind were setting up a ‘wind over tide’ lumpyness so we headed into Ardlussa Bay and anchored up there for the night . We anchored in the centre of the Bay in 5m (1m swing) and put out 20m chain. As ever here, good holding.

Dinner was chicken pie, potatoes, and asparagus with a little Gavi to help it over. All very pleasant.

39 miles, 5.6 hours.