jillbeckett.co.uk

A phrase we have often used on this trip – “Every Day Is A School Day” today this as true as any!  I shall explain some of the lessons shortly!

We had an early start, up before light with the kettle on at 4.30 in readiness to set sail northwards.  We knew at this stage of the leg that we have 2 options, we either –

1. Head towards Mallaig and aim the remainder of this leg sailing along the mainland.  Or
2. Just before we reach the Sound of Sleat, head North West and visit the West coast of Skye (Loch Harport), then head off towards the Outer Hebrides towards Uist.

As we approached the southern tip of Skye, we had reached a consensus and decided to stick to the mainland.  The rationale for this was to avoid long passages where we could be more vulnerable to the elements and gain by spending more time visiting a larger number of places, practicing anchoring and mooring, having shorter days with chance to explore the area more.

It was beautiful sailing so early in the day, watching the light increase and the landscape come into view.  A cloudy day with rain forecast, everything looked grey and ethereal with the sea, land and sky merging as one.  The Cullins on Skye could just be viewed and looked fabulous.

Ardnamurchan Point

The Cullins on Sky in the early light of day

Heading around Mallaig  we were greeted by a wonderful sight that is Loch Nevin, as the clouds lifted and the wonderful landscape came into view

I feel that we are now starting to feel more instinctive with our sailing and starting to work out what needs to be done whilst sailing rather than waiting for instructions be given by the instructor – it is a transition which feels good.  The learning curve is still a steep one with a long way to go – but we are making our way along it at least.

Our previous skipper – FFFFFred advised we visited Loch Nevin, and become acquainted with the Old Forge Pub, as we approached Inverie Bay, using the binoculars, all we could see was a few houses and a post office and wondered if we had been given a duff lead by Fred.  We anchored off, pumped the tender and John, Mike and I made our way to the shore.

We visited the village shop/post office, a very small place with a smattering of supplies and found ourselves buying goods we didnt particularly need in order to support such a remote little shop – the out of date shortbread biscuits will be lovely with a cuppa later! We were served by an English guy who looked a little like Billy Connelly – he wasnt actually in the shop when we arrived, but saw us coming and rushed to open up.

We then found the Old Forge Inn and enjoyed a lovely coffee there.  The menu looked fabulous, but we are so well organized, and have our menu planned for the week, so we decided we would just have coffee and plan to eat on the boat this evening

Having returned to the boat, we ate lunch then set to our passage planning for tomorrow.   We are aiming for a place called Plockton, visiting Ornsay on Skye along the way.  Mike and I set to lookin at the optimal time to travel, knowing there is a tidal gate at Kyle Rhea, which produced 6-8 knots, so timing is vitally important unless we like running whilst standing still or being pushed backwards.  We found the nearest tidal diamond and learnt a very important lesson today!  I shall explain.

We calculated our passage to be optimal if we had travelled through Kyle Rhea before 13.30, using a tidal diamond nearest to us at Kyle Akin – it made complete sense to us and we sat there very smug!  John was doing a cross check by using the tidal stream atlas using tides at Dover (I’ve mentioned this in a previous log – Dover you may ask – in N Scotland – just accept it!)  ANyway, he said from his calculations that we can’t approach Kyle Rhea before 4pm – this didnt make sense.  It was only upon further research that we realised the tide was completely different at Kyle Akin, abeit really close to Kyle Rhea.  The lesson for today ladies and gentlemen is to use as many sources of information you can and cross reference as this will make an enormous difference.  Mike and I could have made us travel backwards……

As it turned out, this wasnt the only lesson to learn today…….

We were all a little tired after our very early start and felt it was now time for snooze so we all went to bed for a well earned rest.  After half an hour, we heard the VHF crackle into action, and Rick, thinking he heard the word “Experience” emerged from his cabin to take a look – our dinghy was missing!  There was a strong wind and tide pushing everything towards the shore, so total common sense should tell us that the dinghy must be on the shore, we couldn’t see it at all, even with the binoculars.  We found ourselves looking in disbelief – it can’t just go missing, we were so perplexed that we even found ourselves looking into the wind and tide for it – as if a tender would start up its own outboard and head away from us!

Shortly, as saw a gentleman rowing towards us, bumping along the waves as he did so.  I use the word “gentleman” as this is a true title for him.  He reached RBE and informed us that our dinghy was safe at his house on his private slipway.  His name was Terry and he informed us that a woman had seen our dinghy, she had taken her clothes off down to her underwear and waded into the water to bring it up safely, he then took it to his house for safekeeping.  They then realised ours was the only moored boat without a tender attached and tried to radio us.

We haven’t been happy with the painter on the dinghy, it just wasnt long enough to be secured sufficiently to the cleat, and this was another lesson for the day – if you are not happy with something, do something about it (you will be glad to hear we have now!)

Terry rowed Rick to the shore

Bye bye skipper!

and led him to our tender.  He lived in the local church which he was renovating and looked fabulous.

It turned out that the semi naked rescuer was in fact the land lady of the Old Forge pub so we immediately felt indebted to her, and to Ian of course, and felt we really should give our custom to the pub this evening.

So, we continue to contribute to the local economy and spent the evening in the Old Forge Pub.  A great tip off thanks so much Fred – what a fabulous place!

We were a little disappointed by Tobermory, particularly with the attitude of the local trades people.  The landlord of the local pub in Tobermory stood over me and told me off as if I were a little school for plugging my laptop charger into his socket, asking if I had stood on the seat to reach the socket.  I, thinking he was joking applied my usual sarcastic humour and said “well, I didnt levitate and as I’ve only got little Welsh legs…..” my words tailed off as I realised he was serious and had indeed come over to give me a piece of his mind!  I informed him I had asked for permission to plug this in and hadnt just helped myself, and I was terribly sorry for standing on his chair in my clean shoes!

I feel so much better for typing that now and getting it all off my chest!

The Old Forge Pub at Inverie was a complete contrast.  We arrived there, laptop in hand as usual in order to blog.  I quickly placed a very quick brief blog as the Wifi is turned off at 6pm. It really is how pubs used to be years ago – no mobile phones (as there is no mobile network in this area), no computers, definitely no TV allowed – its just the local characters coming together to talk, to share tales and make music together!

Unbeknown to us we sat next to the landlord of the pub and the husband of the woman who rescued our dinghy – he was called Ian.  We were joined by Kenny – a local character who was born in Harris (where apparently 50% of the navy captains originate!) Gaelic is his 1^st language he has seen many changes in Scotland in his time.

We told Ian about our experience in Tobermory, he immediately knew who we were talking about and informed us he is known as “Grumpy McCloud” he is the son of a famous boxer, but he was not as good as his father.  I have very little idea about boxing and asked the boys if they knew a boxer called McCloud.  They laughed as it turns out he was a box player – someone who plays the accordion.

I popped outside as I could spy a lovely sunset!

The Round Britain Experience in Inverie Bay

We all enjoyed a lovely meal, chatting to the local characters, other “yachtees” like us and then watching a group of locals gradually come together to share their music.

Rick has a chat to a local sailor

What a difference!  I would advise anyone traveling in this area to spend more time in little places like this rather than aiming for touristy areas like Tobermory.  We really enjoyed ourselves here – fabulous food, great beer and tremendous company!

We made an overpayment to the local economy this evening as the beer was so good, hic, hic.  John however, being far more sensible, only drank lemon and lime after his first pint of shandy so we nominated him to be in charge of our passage back to the boat.  We set upon returning to our newly rescued and much appreciated dinghy.   As we left the pub, John and Rick headed off whilst I took my time to say goodnight to Kenny who asked me with interest if I was married…..

The lovely Kenny!

When we reached the dinghy Mike and I found we had missed a lovely moment, as when John, the only sober member of our team stepped from the slipway onto the boat, misjudging the drop into the boat (it was dark) and landed in the dinghy on his back.  I was less startled by this story when I realised Rick had been keeping an eye on the dinghy all night, bringing it up the beach as the tide came in, so it wasn’t actually on the water when John performed his gymnastics!

We giggled all the way back to RBE, thanked one another for another good evening.  To think we planned a quiet night, but ended up with a brilliant evening only made possible by losing our dinghy – sometimes things are meant to happen for a reason don’t you think!  Goodnight!

A well earned rest today in a beautiful little spot.  A very peaceful mooring in the bay across from Tobermory where we can see the pretty little streets with the coloured houses, just like it is on the TV!

(got loads of lovely photos – but very little internet connection – please re-visit here later…..)

Took stock this morning of the goodies we have onboard, and, planning a long passage with anchorages for several days, we went ashore to buy some fresh produce to see us through.

Yet another CoOp which gets the thumbs up from us all, and a little trip around Tobermory.  I managed to avoid the temptation of joining the tour of the distillery, but I might yet add to my tastings of whiskeys before I leave this place.

Interesting to see how the Day Skippers on board secure the tender on the quayside – it was only hawkeyed Rick who noticed we may not have a boat when we got back from our shopping!

Back to the boat with the shopping – Rick took just me and the shopping, then returned to the quay to collect the boys.  I unpacked the shopping, put it all away, prepared lunch, made tea, then sat and waited, and waited…..and waited…..then sent a text to Rick which said “If you boys have gone to the pub without me, there will be trouble” .  I’m still not sure what they were up to, some excuse about needing to get fuel for the outboard motor or something.  Me, on a boat with 3 men – they really need keeping in check…….

Lunch (eventually) consumed, straight into some more training.  Whilst John perfected his skills on a winch, and Mike practiced his bowline, I did a bit of online shopping – I’m wearing my camera battery out and have ordered a new one to be sent for our next skipper to bring out to us in Scrabster.

Lovely to see the wildlife in the water – so far we have seen porpoise, dolphin, basking shark, no end of birdlife – today we have seen Portuguese Man of War – so glad its too cold to bathe in the water right now!

Passage planned for tomorrow – we have decided to get up really early and head north towards the West Coast of Skye, with a get out route towards Mallaig if conditions prove too difficult.

You may find this blog becomes a little more irregular as we progress further north with very little onshore power.  My camera and laptop need regular feeding, (as well as internet) and without a generator or inverter inboard – I will have to update once we reach civilization again.

Mooring on a buoy is lovely, it is very peaceful, no squeaky fenders or interruptions from others walking  by, and the views are improved as you sit a little away from the land, as well as the pootle on the tender to the shore – the only down side is the lack of facilities – water and power, but it is worth the sacrifice!

We received our first ship to ship VHF broadcast – a beautiful boat wanting to raft on to us later.  It was just the boat Rick had spotted earlier as one he aspired to.  I think it is a Cutter Rigg Ketch. We were invited on board for a quick beer by the poshest sounding Yorkshire man I have ever heard, but had to decline as we were just about to sit down to eat the meal put together by Mike.

Mike is already getting a little tetchy in the galley as he shouts “keep out of my kitchen, you are crowding me……  I think he has nearly reached his competency as an onboard chef, he certainly sounds like one and his food aint arf bad!

Its being pointed out to me that I point out everyones mistakes apart from my own.  I will make a real effort at making sure my mistakes get published too, in the unlikely event that they may occur!

We are making an effort at contributing to the local economy of Tobermory – but are a little put off by the terse attitude of the local trades people.  You can tell this is a very touristy place, and they are obviously weary of tourists who are their very life blood!  We are sitting in the local pub, and, having asked if I can use the sockets for my laptop and my camera charger – the landlord has just come up to me and given me a piece of his mind……..not like the Irish at all!  Oh, forgot, we are in Scotland!

This is the start of week 7 and we are now officially half way through what is a wonderful “Experience” of sailing around the coastline of Britain!

Today is the day to say goodbye to Pete and Chris, and with their bags packed and well stuffed full, they caught the 10am ferry to the mainland into Oban where they have a bed and breakfast booked for tonight before they make their way home to Bath.

Now our crew is down 40% which will make a significant difference to us in many ways!  We immediately set about planning our next adventure – we had already decided last night that we wanted to visit Mull, and worked out the most favorable times to set sail allowing for tide.

Mike, John and I planned the passage from Oban to the Sound Of Mull and across to Tobermory!

Here is John well at work with his charts and navigation tools…….

John helmed off the pontoon , we put up the sails with one reef in readiness for the wind we expected as we headed to the Sound of Mull.  We hit a strong tide as we already predicted as we set out before the optimal time in order to get to our destination at a reasonable hour.

As everyone expects when visiting Scotland, the torrential rain fell – but we were a little spooked by having to wear sunglasses for the strong sun at the same time!

We are learning to sail, we are not a racing yacht, I repeat, we are not a racing yacht, so why, we ask did a wry smile appear across Ricks face as we managed to out run the two boats heading in the same direction, fabulous tacking and my skilled helm (with just a little bit of advise from Rick!)

We had a most beautiful sail across with good winds, albeit a little flukey with surround sound fantastic scenery, everywhere we looked it was so beautiful.

As we approached Tobermory we saw a beautiful cruise liner in the sound with a regular tender bringing its passengers to and fro.  We sailed into Tobermory, with the sound of bagpipes in the distance.  We secured ourselves to a buoy, as soon as we did, I asked for another turn at maneuvering the boat, so we released the buoy and round I went again, then the 2 boys took their turn.  This confused the harbor master who came out to us to see if everything was alright, whilst she was there she took the £20 fee for us securing ourselves in the middle of the water!

Now we have a downsized crew, Mike and I set about tidying the galley and giving it a good clean then prepared a tasty meal of gammon steaks, boiled new potatoes, steamed carrots and green beans served with a leek and cheese sauce – yum!

Tobermorary looks beautiful in the evening sunset and we couldn’t resist pumping up the tender and motoring to the shore to take a look at the metropolis of Mull!

A quaint place well worthy of its “Balamory” status.  We will explore further tomorrow as we are planning a day of rest.

Just time before we head back to the boat to sample a pint of “Isle of Mull” beer, yet again contributing to the local economy!

Lots of fresh air and beautiful sailing equals sleepy sailors, time to get our heads down – goodnight!

Now we really feel we are in Scotland!  Everywhere we look there is stunning scenery!  My camera has been well used today, everytime I look around I see a photo – I will try to pop some of them in here if the internet allows me, but will add from time to time when I can, so keep watching!

This is the last day with Pete and Chris, and they have ended on a real high – we all had a lovely day and a fabulous Saturday evening on the town.

We had a nice beat out of Craobh marina and enjoyed a lovely sail down the Sound of Luing. The journey was only 26 miles, but it involved alot of tacking and gybing and my muscles are nicely building as I’m winching away.

Clearly understood the need for sketching a passage plan using a trajectory with lighthouses to navigate through a dangerous area

Another lovely moment today when Rick corrected Chris as she was steering off course and the quote of the day “I’m going wrong cos Petes head is in the way”!  Come on Pete, you don’t make a good window!

Currently there is no marina in Oban itself, but there is a lovely one opposite it with a free ferry.  Apparently there are plans to build a marina right in the heart of Oban on the quayside – it will be interesting sailing into there and dodging the huge ferries which regularly enter and leave!

We decided to have an evening on the town and give Pete and Chris a good send off.  We were all hungry and popped into a lively looking place on the front.  It was obviously a very busy place and we were pleased to find the 45 minute wait reduced to 5 when they had a cancellation.  Everyone enjoyed the food, then we discovered there was live music about to start in the bar at the back.

(More photos to be uploaded soon)

Absolutely fabulous music – not your usual pub band but a group of very talented young people – aged 16/17/18 who had just completed their tour.  They were called Cuan Mor” And consisted of 2 vocalists, a harpist, violinist, bagpipe player, accordion player, and keyboards.

Late evening back on the boat via the ferry and a lovely chat with a young lass who entertained us as we waited with tales of “daddy” and his big yacht……..

Goodnight!

Beautiful departure from Port Ellen at 9am this morning, and I do feel impelled to quote from Rick this morning as he said “that looked very professional, you left the marina and got the sails up with strong winds in a confined space, well done” I felt it was worth mentioning this as we now feel we are getting somewhere with our sailing skills!  Thanks Rick, a good way to start the day and it is compensation for the fact the day looked very murky and we can’t really see the beautiful Scottish Isles that we are sailing through.

Before I continue, I would just like to add to the detail from yesterdays blog.  Having berthed in Port Ellen it was shortly before high water, Rick became concerned about the lack of depth under our keel – and this was at high water, so at low water, which would be around midnight we may have considerable problems. We looked at other boats in the marina and wondered why they didnt feel the same concern.  Checked that our depth gauge was accurate by using a lead line to measure for ourselves – yes, it was correct!   We knew that the tidal flows between islay and Kintyre are very strong as the flood feeds into the Irish sea and the Sound of Jura, and it was only upon further reading and discussions with the locals that we discovered a local peculiarity with a feature called an “Amphidrome” which means there is very little rise and fall of the tide.  A local fisherman told us “the tide jus nae come in”!  I think we need to do further research about Amphidromes!

Anyway! We usually know we are heading in the right direction as the wind is generally right on our nose – as we have “Head Wind Rick” on board.  We are also finding another factor which makes things a bit more interesting, and that is the “Varty Effect” (yes, the “V” is correct and shouldn’t be replaced with a “F”!)

As occurred yesterday, during my watch the wind increased and increased, and we had to reef the sail, and Mike and I always knew our watch was coming to an end as the wind eased and we had to shake out the reefs…..John Varty was about to come on duty.  Come on John, have a word with your best friend up above!

Speaking of watches, remember I mentioned Mike’s little hiccup yesterday…….well, I’m pleased to report today he is taking it very seriously and in fact nearly threw me off the helm when my hour was up!

In fact, the “Watches” system worked pretty well today as it happened.  Each time Mike and I took over the watch, the rain ceased and the wind increased, and with the wind and tide in our favour we made a very comfortable 8 to 9 knots which felt really beautiful to sail.   However, as soon as John and Chris emerged to take over the watch – the rain started and continued until their watch ended.  Some of us found it funnier than others funnily enough!

So, you may be asking, it there were 2 watches with Jill&Mike/John&Chris – where was Pete.  Well, Pete is trying to gain his coastal skipper qualification before he leaves the boat this weekend and we have been working as crew whilst he and Rick work on skippering and navigation.  So Pete was meticulously working on navigation whilst we worked our way up the Sound of Jura.

Another lovely moment emerged when Pete pointed across our starboard and said, “thats where you want to get your whiskey from – Jura” he was, in fact, pointing to the mainland and Jura was in view across our port side (we were traveling north).  We giggled and said that he was 180 degrees out but he continued to insist and said he had seen it on his map!  He even brought the “map” to us in the cockpit to prove he was right whilst we contained ourselves.  We gently pointed out that the “chart” he was using was called “Sound of Jura”  and the title of the chart was printed on the right hand side, which just happened to be the mainland.  Anyway, it made us smile!

As we made our way up the Sound of Jura, in the right direction I hasten to add, we came upon an interesting formation in the water – small whirlpools, eddies and confusion in the sea – this was a result of us traveling between the Gulf of Corryvreckan and Dorus Mor.  It gave us just a small glimpse of how it might be in the Great race at Corryvreckan when there can be overfalls of 8 meters!

Our 10 hour planned passage was reduced to 8 hours as conditions were totally in our favor and we sailed from Port Ellen to Craobh in record time.

Craobh is an interesting place.

It was formed over 20 years ago by linking 3 islands ion with breakwaters to created a beautiful safe haven which can accommodate 250 boats. As we approached the marina, we did wonder how you pronounced the word Craobh, the almanac did help a little by telling us it was pronounced Creuve (does that help you?) it is pronounced like “Groove” but with a C in a Scottish accent, we just about get it right. Chris tried this when she used the VHF to book a berth and it seemed to work anyway!

There isnt really a village as such – there are several prettily painted houses, but the local shop has closed down, and the pub, Lord of the Isles is attached to the marina.

Of course we had to visit the Lord of the Isles as we make every effort to contribute to the local economy at any opportunity as you will know if you are following this blog!

This pub felt very out of place on the West Coast of Scotland, and felt more like a club at Haven or Butlins – full of people on holiday (and yachtees like us!) with a smattering of locals.

I have increased my sampling of local whiskeys – tried  Caol lIa, made of course on Islay, and Jura (bet you can’t work out where that one comes from!) My favorite so far is the Bunnahabhain 18 – very nice!

Just as we thought about leaving, around 10pm, the quiz started and we found ourselves pulled into it.  I can’t brag here about how well our team (“Round Britain in 84 Days”) did, and we finished with a paltry 29 out of 60, funnily enough identical to our neighboring team! I will however, in mitigation let you know that it was difficult to hear and understand the quiz master with the noise of “Butlins” around us combined with his heavy Scottish droll and the fact he slurred his words more and more as he took little nips of whiskey between questions!  Not to mention the fact the questions had a very heavy bias towards all things Scottish – but the crew of RBE are not poor losers……. We didnt stay to receive the wooden spoon however!

A swift run back to the boat through the torrential rain – it was the wet rain!  Snuggled down in my bunk once again blogging……Goodnight!

Well here we are, finally in Scotland!  Secured the lines at Port Ellen at 5pm having set off at 8 this morning from Glenarm.

We were all up early hoping the weather forecast would give us what we want – they predicted winds, variable, becoming 3 to 4 south easterly, smooth sea and and and…. RAIN – just what we needed – apart from the rain.  However, I’m growing a little skeptical about the weather forecasts and think there is alot of artistic licence used (just like me in my blog I hear you say!)

We made really good use of the wet weather gear today as we all got a good soaking

the weather forecast may be a tad unreliable at times, but it certainly predicted the rain well.

Rick decided it would be best if we don’t all spend time up on deck and pair up and take watches so we could take shelter and rest out of the rain.  As Mike was already on the helm, having taken RBE out of Glenarm Marina, I was asked to partner him, one on the helm whilst the other keeps watch – acting as a team!  Is that clear to you? If it is, then you can you imagine my astonishment that when I took over the helm Mike went down below for what I thought was a quick toilet break, but he, in fact, took to his bed for a little morning snooze for an hour!

Fabulous – he has given me something to blog about and you can continue to imagine the ribbing I am now giving him!  We are learning lots of nautical terms, and now Mike has increased his vocabulary and now knows the word – “team” Well done Mike!  I’m just teasing Mike!

He then made me a lovely cuppa, but I’m not really sure if that massage he promised me in recompense really will materialise – will let you know later!

We had various passage plans in place today, with Plan A, Plan B, and probably Plan C in place – and it seemed anyones guess where we might end up as we were in the hands of the variable wind the met office had promised!  However, we finally arrived in Port Ellen which is very pretty indeed.

Whilst everyone was calculating the depth of our mooring at low water, and wondering if we might get stuck in mud at midnight, I was much more interested in the CoOp I had spotted and went out to hunt out some bargains!

Lovely dinner, yet again – Chicken Kiev, pasta with tomato and mascarpone sauce with carrots and broccoli.

We all poured over a road map of Scotland (yes – a road map!) and realizing just how far we have to travel to get to our destination at the end of this leg. All the little places we fancy visiting are well out of our reach on a trip like this,we can’t visit everywhere! However, it is giving us all a thirst for coming back up here once we are yacht masters!

Had a lovely evening walk after dinner, and strode out around the coastline, it really is a beautiful place.  All the wind we have been experiencing, and the rain have all now ceased and the early evening light is perfect

On the way back, 2 local woman walked past, they looked to be in their late 60’s, 70’s and one said, as she staggered round to speak to us “I’m going to start a riot!  I’m going to stock the shelves of the CoOp with some decent stuff and not charge the extra 20% they do cos they call themselves a convenience store!” We had quite a chat about it, I personally feel this is a very good CoOp shop compared to many I have visited whilst traveling around the coast of Britain, but they were not to be convinced.  Its lovely to have a lovely discussion about politics and economics isn’t it!

Back to the boat, and found “Toby”, the Seal who appears every evening, as regular as clockwork to be fed from the local fisherman.  He appears in early spring, really skinny, gets fed each day and leaves late autumn really fattened up.  Unfortunately, I have been giving my camera a bit of a hammering and wasn’t able to capture this moment for you!

As usual, we had to continue our contribution to the local economy so we retreated to the local pub.  It felt rude not to try some of the local whiskies.

I tried Bunnahabhain 18 which was gorgeous, and followed this with Lagavulin 16, which, although being very different and far more peaty, was gorgeous!

Now in my cabin, with surround sound snoring completing this blog – whiskey still warming me, I’m snuggling down to sleep – Goodnight!

Its now 8pm and here we are …. still in Glenarm!

We made the decision this morning not to move forward as there was a strong wind warning this morning which was supposedly easing later (it didnt!)- and again, this would mean if we set off when the wind dropped, having to beat as we went, that we would miss our “window” and strong tide would be against us!

This place we had discounted as a lunch stop on our car journey on Saturday has turned out to be our home for 2 nights!  However, it is a lovely spot with a great marina (Rick has given the showers an 8 out of 10) and we are all very impressed!  It really should be a regular stop for the RBE trips in future!

Just another mention about the harbour master whom I mentioned yesterday – his name is Billy and he is ace!

Billy the harbour master!

Why is he ace?  Well, he took Chris and John shopping yesterday, everytime he sees a boat approaching, he is there to take a line, he chased after me when he saw me emerging with wet hair from the showers to let me know there was a hair dryer, but his sense of humour, well Billy, you told me you don’t write your own jokes……

We are getting a little confused on this trip since Rick arrived some everyone seems to have a bit of trouble remembering everyones names, Rick is either Rick, Nick or Rich, I’ve become Sue, Chris is Kath, Mike is Bill and John is Rev!

Glenarm Marina is lovely, made all the more special by Billy and his wonderful zest for life and people!  Please stop by here if you are travelling nearby!

We didnt waste the day waiting for fairer weather, we continued our studies,

Students at work!

and Rick, once exhausted by the endless questions from his students, commenced installing the autohelm.

Rick installing the auto helm

Tired of studying, John and I went to catch up on some shopping, then found a nice little coffee shop for a tea and scones (the first time I have had afternoon tea with a vicar!), told Chris about the place, she headed there, got caught a rainstorm on the way to find it had closed early on a Wednesday!

In fact, Chris and Pete seemed to have a real skill for catching the rainstorms today.  Each time they headed out, as the sun seemed to be keen to peek through, they got soaked.  At one point, they went out for a stroll, and as we only have one key fob between 6 of us – we told them to shout to us from the quayside to be let in.

They headed out for their stroll as I was busy in the engine room with three men…… Rick talked Mike, John and I through engine checks!  We were busy with the engine hatch open and our heads well immersed among impellers, alternators, belts and water filters, and didnt hear the shouts from our missing pair from the quayside.  It was only 3 hours later that I listened to the voicemail “Jill, can you please let us in, we are standing outside in the pouring rain…..”  Oh dear! Sorry!

I knew exactly how they felt.  Last night we were in the pub (as I have mentioned….time and time again…) and I stayed there once the others left to finish off posting yesterdays blog.  The others went straight back to the boat, but promised to latch the gate as they had the only key fob.  There I was at 11.15, in the pouring rain, dark and alone and was locked out.

I walked along the quayside, stood opposite RBE and tried to work out how loud to shout for someone to let me in.  Being Welsh, and spending many years in choirs, I know how to project my voice.  However, I didn’t want to wake everyone up, but neither did I want to spend any more time than I needed in the dark and the rain.  So, I stood there working out how to shout for help.  I let out one shout of “Rick” (as I knew John would never wake!) and discovered that my gentle shout projected far too well and resonated right across the marina.  Expecting numerous heads to pop out of the cockpits, I was mightily relieved that Rick’s did, and he was the only one – thanks Rick! (or is it Nick?!)

John cooked a fabulous Chicken hot pot which kept everyone quiet for a while – a double accomplishment!  He is another chef in the making.  Two men on board who stated that it would be a big challenge to cook for four people are turning into budding Egon Ronay’s!

Chef extrodinarire!

Loving your pinny John!

Here we are after dinner listening to the weather forecast on the VHF – there is an area of low pressure with rain and high winds right across the UK…..oh fantastic, so glad everyone is suffering too!  As we sit here we can hear it whistling through the mast and blowing a hoolie!  Not sure I like the sound of the word “cyclonic”!!  However, the wind will be behind us so it might be possible!  We hope to go to Port Ellen on Islay tomorrow – wish us luck!.

We got the pub at 9pm, got absolutely soaked on the way, it really knows how to rain in Ireland.  We were greeted by a most peculiar sight outside the pub of a couple who are getting married in 2 weeks time.

Tradition in this area, as this particular couple are experiencing tonight, is to be placed on the back of a trailer, secured to a bench with cable ties, painted with sheep marking, covered in rotting manure, bad eggs, flour, 2 week old cut hay whilst holding a lamb which was stillborn in April whilst the rain beats heavily down on them – looks great fun! This is the groom AND the bride!  Why didnt I have my camera with me! Im sure I couldn’t have captured the true essence of their fun tonight though!

Yet again we are supporting the local economy.  We are in a pub owned by Stevie – I met his brother yesterday, he is a local diver who does his work under the hulls of boats in the marina, he has a long beard which he wears in two plaits…….anyway, he recommended we came into his brothers pub, and, true to his word, it serves good beer, free wifi and has an open fire in the grate which is reputed to be welcomed by the visiting “yachtees” (sic) I never thought of myself as a yachtee!

Guinness consumed, local economy bolstered once more by the crew and skipper of the RBE, we tried (unsuccessfully), to dodge the rain storms, and make haste to the boat.  On the way back, I saw Richard.  Billy had told me about him – he is the local lobster farmer.  Typical – I’ve come out without my camera, and I see lots of interesting things!

I hurried to RBE to grab it and photograph Richard and his catch!

Richard sorts his catch!

This one is a biggie!

and learnt something about catching lobster, thanks Richard!  Did you know that the females are called “hens” and you can tell the difference between them and their male counterparts as their tails are wider, and you can also see eggs on their underside!  Richard keeps the hens apart from the…the….the…(I assume the males are called cocks but I never asked), and they get sent to another guy whose job it is to cut a V Notch into the tail – from this he gets a fee from the government, and Richard gets to put her back into the water to ensure the future catch!  Every day is a school day!

I walk back to the boat and Chris and Pete are heading out to the toilet facilities….just in time for another downpour!

Its amazing, even on the days we don’t travel anywhere on the boat, there is still loads to talk about on this Round Britain Experience – I’ve managed to write 1400 words about today!

Now back on the boat, its 11.45 and I’m ready to stop blogging and go to sleep to face the elements once more tomorrow!  Goodnight!

Decided to leave the hide hole that is the RNLI buoy at Larne, very relieved that the lifeboat didnt ask for it back overnight.  We were in the middle of the Lough and the boat rocked us all (well, not quite all as our skipper Rick was a disturbed bye the rattles and rolls of the boat apparently!) to sleep.

A free mooring nonetheless – a donation to the RNLI coming up!  Lovely hearing the roll on roll off ferries with the lorries clanging their way on and off!

Anyway, today, we wanted to see how we go -our destination is Raithlin Island, but we will have to see what nature has in store for us!

Its now 10pm, here we are in Glenarm Marina – not very far from Larne.  We poked our nose out and headed north, trying to make it to Rathlin Island, and found a lovely wind – but it was a north westerly which meant we had to tack to make any distance.  The wind again blew strong

which meant we had to reef in again, and although we are having a lovely time, our progress was very slow.  We knew we had to make it to the top of Ireland by midday or else we would have 6 knots of tide against us and we would struggle!

So – we went for “Plan B” and headed for shelter in a lovely little place called Glenarm.

When we hired a car the other day and drove the Causeway Coastal we passed through Glenarm and discounted it as a place to stop for lunch and stopped at nearby Carnlough instead, so it is a bit ironic that we are now spending the night here.

We had another lovely Irish welcome as the harbour master took our line for us – he was busy nearby repairing the electric box at the end of a pontoon which a boat had recently knocked over, this gave me some reassurance that Im not the only one who is scared of bringing boats in!

What a lovely little marina, it only costs £22 a night, and the shower block is brand new, and – the washing mating and dryer are free!  Wow – my bedding is currently in the washer having a nice free spring clean.

The harbour master not only offers free laundry facilities, but he also took Chris and John to Carnlough in his car to shop, and on the way back he decided to take a detour to show them the view from the hill – except John didn’t hear him say he was doing that and he wondered why he was bypassing the turn to the marina and continued up the hill – a vicar napping in the offing!

Safely back in time for John to cook, with a little help from Chris – risotto!  It was scrummy – thanks John (and Chris!)

Once more we find ourselves supporting the local economy – another pint of Guinness!

An early night as we are going to try once more to reach the top of Ireland  Goodnight!

A tad breezy today – so we are popping our noses out to see how things are……might be back in Bangor very soon – watch this space!

Its now 4.30 and it has been an interesting day indeed!  Our first day with a new skipper Rick.  This is, in itself, a big change for us and I’m sure a bit of a challenge for Rick as he discovers the level of skill and knowledge of his crew.  The forecast was for force 5/6 north westerly, and we were aiming north.

We enjoyed the sail, and thought it was great with a 17knot wind, but this steadily built until we were in a constant 20-25knots.  The sail reefed in we were heeled over and powering along.

"The Hooligan" takes the helm again!

Rick keeps a close eye on John's Hooligan behaviour!

After his exertions, John took his normal afternoon siesta and really appreciated each time we changed tack – but he can normally sleep through anything!

John well heeled!

I popped down to the galley to prepare “Welsh Rarebit” for everyone each time we were on a starboard tack which helped me drop less food on the floor (sorry, the sole!) The wind increased in intensity and Chris whispered to me “when you are on a flight which feels a bit scary, you look at the air flight attendants face to see if they are still smiling, so look at Rick.” I looked over to Rick, he wasn’t smiling……the wind was now gusting to 40 knots so I could see why not! The aromas from the Welsh Rarebit wafted up from the galley, but we were in no position to eat just yet!

We proceeded with our escape plan and headed towards Larne to seek shelter, radioing to port control to ask for access.  We could feel the wind ease as we made our way down the lough and we searched for somewhere to moor.  I telephoned the local boat club and asked if they could kindly let us use one of their moorings, to which they answered they had seen us and were sending someone out on their rescue boat to show us where to moor.  A typical Irish welcome!

The rescue boat arrived

Larne Boating Club's rescue boat - do you think they will pick us up later to put a bit of money across the bar?

A very nice young man!

And he indicated to the RNLI lifeboat buoy………Pete and John caught the mooring line

What will we do when the lifeboat want it back?

and we secured ourselves.  I guess its easier for the RNLI to let us moor rather than have to rescue us later!

Just in time to eat the Welsh Rarebit before it became ruined in the oven whilst we hide in Larne!

Thinking about further passage planning, we now listen out for further weather forecasts, we wonder which bit of today’s Force 5 to 6 were the 40 knot gusts!

Time to have a nap after the exertions of todays sailing and look forward to John’s debut tonight as chef!   Its his Cottage Pie tonight!