Leg 4 Part 1 Troon to Oban

Thursday 20th June 2013. Once again the trains served us very well and despite a faulty pantograph only delivering 50% power on the train from New Street to Glasgow, we made our final connection and arrived in Troon at 16.38 as planned.  A short taxi ride - David's back is not too good and the walk with a heavy bag would not have benefited him - and we are aboard. We had dinner at Scott's of Troon - the eatery at the marina, lots of sea food and local produce, very well presented and very tasty!

Day 1- 3 : 21st - 23rd  June 2013 - We spent Friday morning shopping for fresh supplies and a water carrier as we are not always going to be able to run a hose aboard in future locations.  We are not in a rush, as heavy rain is forecast for Saturday and more gales for Sunday and  we would rather be here than at anchor in those conditions, especially given David's tender back.  We agreed to stay here till Monday.
There are always lots of jobs to keep us occupied. Chris repaired the sail cover stitching that had split, our sailing boots have had a long overdue clean and reproof, we re-roped some of the fenders.
We have been chatting to the crew of a Swiss Hallberg Rassy 39, called Swiss Sailing III.  The boat is signed up for the Malts Cruise but they are not the crew who will be aboard by  then. Like the Swiss boat we met in Falmouth, the boat is owned by a club and members come and sail on her. This crew are flying home on Saturday and another group will be arriving. They will deliver the boat to Oban so that the crew we will get to know, as fellow "maltsters" can join her there.
Sunday saw strong winds as forecast and even in the very sheltered marina we were regularly seeing gusts of 25 knots.  Irvine bay, to the north of Troon was covered in white horses and the conditions were being enjoyed by 3 or 4 wind surfers and 10 or more kite surfers.
The wind is expected to drop from about 17.00 and we have prepared passage plans for tomorrow.

Millport, Ise of Great Cumbrae

Day 4 : 24th June -  We refuelled before leaving Troon at 10.30 and had a brisk 5 hour sail with full main and genoa in a force 4 to Millport on the south side of Great Cumbrae, where we picked up one of the black visitors buoys, between the drying rocks in this very sheltered bay.

Noisette at Millport

A trip ashore revealed a pleasant small  town with interesting  beaches, good facilities and superb views.  Great Cumbrae is very accesible from Glasgow and is developing itself as a cycling centre. There is a route all the way around the island and several cycle hire shops - not for us this time, perhaps another day.

Looking between Little Cumbrae (left) and Great Cumbrae (right) to the mountains of Arran

 Trip statistics:  Time - 5 hours  , Log - 20.9 nautical miles

Day 5 : 25th June - We were watched by seals basking on the rocks as we slipped the mooring at 08.25 to leave Millport.  With very little wind we motor sailed along the east of the island, before heading north west to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.  We had to stand off the harbour to allow the ferry to leave before mooring in the inner harbour at 11.10. 

Approaching Rothesay

Rothesay is a pleasant town much developed by the Victorians and boasting award winning restored Victorian conveniences on the harbour. 

The town provides a real gateway to the Ise of Bute where the scenary lives up to the name.  This island is on the growing list for a further visit.
In Rothesay we met another boat, signed on for the Malts cruise, Sirius an RAF sailing association boat,  but again with a delivery crew - are we the only ones doing all the work and reaping the benefits?

Trip statistics:  Time - 2 hours 40 mins  , Log - 10.5 nautical miles

 

Looking back through the 'narrows' and along the East Kyle

 Day 6 : 26th June - There was much more wind today and we left Rothesay harbour at 11.05 to sail the Kyles of Bute.  With the wind blowing from the north west we had a brisk beat up the East Kyle before sailing through the narrow channel between the Burnt Islands and the island of Eilean Dubh.  We must have got our tidal calculations right, as we had barely a knot with us as we picked our way through the narrows.

East Loch Tarbet

 The wind often channels through narrow passages and we did not find the broad reach we had hoped for as we turned south west down the West Kyle.  The wind direction was very fickle until we passed the village of Tighnabruaich but it did eventually settle on a direction and gave us a very stiff sail back down the west side of the Isle of Bute. 

Loch Fyne opened to the West and we turned north west once again to beat  as far as East Loch Tarbet, where we tied up in the marina at 17.30.

Trip statistics:  Time -  6 hours 25  mins  , Log - 29.7 nautical miles

Marina at East Loch Tarbet

 Day 7 : 27th June - The forecast for today was not good and coupled with sore tired muscles from short tacking yesterday, we decided to have a restful day and explore the area.  We took a steady walk to West Loch Tarbet.

 Day 8 : 28th June - We left East Loch Tarbet at 11.30 in poor visibility and with a gusty wind which persuaded us to put one reef in the main sail.  Although this was perfect for the gusts it left us underpowered in the lulls and by 12.00 we had taken the reef out and were sailing with full main and genoa. We have spent enough time sailing dinghies overpowered to know how to cope with these conditions and really enjoyed the sail.  We were somewhat surprised that others were motoring with no sails up but more understanding than we would have been a few months ago.  We now appreciate the demands of making a passage!
At 13.30 we tied up with 4 other boats on the holding pontoon at Ardrishaig waiting to lock into the renowned Crinan Canal.

Fenders everywhere! In the sea lock at Ardrishaig

The Crinan canal - an oasis of calm - between the locks at least!

The Crinan canal provides a short cut from the Clyde via Loch Fyne through to the northern part of the Sound of Jura (not to be confused with the group Sound of Jura - free down load available here). The canal saves some 80 miles and a passage around the Kintyre Peninsula.   There are 15 locks in total and, apart from the sea locks, boat crews are expected to operate them.  The need to control the rise (or fall) of the bow and stern  would make operating the locks difficult with only 2 people on board and we were very happy to accept the offer from the staff of an assisted passage.  This meant that canal staff would work the locks, we could stay on board and control the warps.  Because of the intensity of work that this could create for canal staff we were happy to travel in convoy with another couple, Chris and John on Raggamuffin.   

We reached  Cairnbann by 18.00 and with the locks now closed enjoyed sharing storiesd over a gin or two with Chris and John, and made time to visit the local bar. 

The Cairnbann Hotel

Trip statistics:  Time - 6  hours 30 mins, Log - 12.3 nautical miles 

Canal travel is not fast!!






Day 9 & 10 : 29th & 30th June - The canal staff were ready to resume our assisted passage at 09.30 and we passed the watershed and descended to Crinan Basin arriving at 15.00, after a leisurely stop for lunch.  

The foreacast for Sunday included a force 7 and we decided we would rather stay in the canal basin than venture out to sea.  We explored Crinan and Crinan Harbour, which didn't take long, and ate in the sea food bar of the hotel on Sunday evening.  A very relaxing and enjoyable experience.  

Whilst we were there we met many interesting people including a Swedish couple in a Najad who were on their way back to Sweden after a 6 year cruise which had included 2 circumnavigations.  They were returning from South Africa via the Azores and had many a tale to tell.  In complete contrast, but still very entertaining, were 3 chaps from Millport who had a week's leave and had made it along the canal but because of the forecast had decided not to go out into the Sound of Jura fearful the bad weather would prevent them getting back.  They turned around and went back down the canal.  In no way a failure - they were enjoying every minute.

Day 11: 1st July - Today brought a fair weather opportunity to progress but the weather is forecast to close in again on Tuesday and Wednesday so we decided to head straight for Oban and to wait for the optimal tide to carry us north.  This means locking out of the sea lock as late as we can but before 17.00 when the staff go home! 
 

Looking across to Dorus More from Crinan

We left with the Swedes and with a steady 12 knots of wind, hoisted full main and genoa to sail through Dorus Mor.   The video in the link shows what it can be like if you get the tides wrong.  We made sure we got the timing right and Dorus was a pussy cat!

Just after we left Crinan we had our first encounter with Skyelark of London, the lead boat for the Malts Cruise.  They passed just ahead of us into Dorus Mor, later confessing that they were motor sailing, and we followed them (and the Swedes) all the way up to Oban. 

It was a lovely sail along the island of Luing and into the Sound of Kerrera.  The wind began to drop and we used the engine to assist the sails and keep speed up and at 20.45 we had picked  up what we thought was a visitors buoy in Oban Marina on the island of Kerrera, with four days in hand until the Malts Cruise office opens for registrationon Friday.

 Trip statistics:  Time - 5 hours 20 mins, Log - 22.9 nautical miles 

Highland cattle on Kerrera. Oban marina in the background

Looking towards Mull and Loch Linnhe