Leg 6 Inverkip to Largs

Day 1: Thursday 29th August 2013  - We left home in bright, warm sunshine and caught the 10.43 from Wylde Green.  Memories of standing on this platform every weekday morning in all weathers briefly came to David's mind.  Once again we celebrated our good fortune.

The train from New Street arrived early, and we were stationary outside Glasgow Central for long enough to notice it was drizzling. Once again we had returned from the glorious summer in the south to more unsettled weather in the north.   We decided not to ring the Marina for a lift from the station at Inverkip, it had stopped raining and the walk is (very) downhill.

As we arrived at Kip Marina we could see a fret coming across from the other side of the Firth of Clyde, and by the time we got aboard the drizzle had reached us.  We thought you might like to see what gives us joy every time we get aboard Noisette...

Saloon

Galley

 A quick trip to the Sainsbury’s Local gave us enough victuals to keep us going for a few days, and we settled down to a review of forecasts and options of places to visit.

Nav station

Day 2:  Friday 30th August 2013 - we had arranged for an engine service to be done by the local Volvo agent while we were away.  Despite several emails and phone calls to them, the last of which assured us it would be done first thing on Thursday morning – the engineer definitely had not been on board.  David went to speak to them for an explanation but had no joy, only a conversation with  a rather frustrated member of staff who said the boss was in Aberdeen until Monday and he had been trying to locate Martin the engineer but he was not answering his phone. We emailed the boss to tell him we considered the order cancelled. 
 

Master cabin

Today was wet, not particularly heavy rain but sheets of mizzle – that cross between mist and drizzle that soaks you immediately – and we decided that we did not need to sail in that, our time is our own, we can be fine weather sailors if it suits!  We managed to get on deck when it was not mizzling to reattach jackstays and jib sheets etc. so that the boat was ready to go.

Heads

Chris found a 6.5 mile walk along the now disused aqueduct and past the reservoirs in the hills behind Inverkip which promised some excellent views of the Firth of Clyde.  But not today! David was adamant that if it was too wet to sail it was too wet to walk.

Forepeak

However, it did give us chance to take these photos of the inside of Noisette as we promised, and tighten up the anchor windlass mounting bolts, which would hopefully solve the problem of waves over the foredeck getting in to the forepeak locker.  Chris did get her walk (woof woof C!!) - It brightened up in the evening and we enjoyed a short walk along the beach path before it got dark.

 

Day 3: Saturday 31st August 2013 – dawned bright and sunny.  We left the berth at 12.10 and immediately saw "fellow Maltsters" Lyn and Rod just leaving Duet.  A quick conversation across the fairway revealed that they were on their way home and were overwintering Duet in Kip – maybe we will see them again.

We sailed north up the Firth of Cylde with one reef in the main and full jib, past Dunoon and the entrance to Holy Loch and into Loch Long.  The wind was W or NW and was gusting strongly down the valleys and around the headlands making for a varied and interesting sail.  Loch Long is a Dockland Port and contains  Naval service areas where the nuclear submarines are refueled and rearmed.  Consequently there are areas which are restricted and others which are prohibited.  They are guarded by very fast naval range boats.  Despite the gusts we managed to keep to the designated channels and got a cheery wave from the range boats and their out riders in their fast RIBs.

 Carrick Castle

Loch Long and Loch Goil are majestic fjord type Lochs with steep sides, penetrating deep into the Argyle Mountains.  We turned along Loch Goil, past Carrick Castle and picked up a visitor's mooring in Lochgoilhead for the evening.

Trip statistics 18nm 4 hrs.

Lochgoilhead

We reinflated and launched the tender and went ashore to explore the very attractive village and enjoy a pint in the local which was also serving some very appetising food at very reasonable prices - noted for future reference.  We had supplies on board and with the mizzle coming over the mountains to join us, we returned to the boat for dinner. 

As we boarded  the tender we were asked to undertake a mission of mercy – a chap had been fishing and had cast across the anchor line of a nearby boat, leaving 5 hooks in the line.  He was worried that the owner might return to pull up his anchor and hook his hands.  We agreed to remove it for him and as he did not want it back – gained a fine piece of  fishing gear to add to our (so far unused) collection.

Back on board we felt cold – probably as we had wet bottoms from the rain on the tender and we put the heating on!  Come back summer!

Day 4: Sunday 1st September 2013 - at 08.10 we had the forecast from Belfast Coast Guard: Westerly gale F8 continuing in Hebrides, and SW gale 8 expected Rockall soon, and Malin later, but at least the Navy's still on holiday - no submarine of live fire action!

As technically we were in Malin we knew that the gale was not expected before 18.00 but were unsure how much shelter we would be afforded by being in the Clyde rather than 'open sea'.  We stayed with plan A - to go  Millport on Great Cumbrae, but with an eye to flexibility as strong southerlies or south westerlies would not make this a comfortable anchorage.

We watched a group of scouts in Laser Picos learning how to deal with gusty conditions in Lochgoilhead before slipping the mooring at 12.10 and retracing our route around the experimental underwater weapons research gubbins down Loch Goil and Loch Long, past Holy Loch and Dunoon with 1 reef in the main and full jib.  As we left Loch Long we lost the alternating shelter and gusts provided by the mountains and were having an interesting sail in a fairly steady force 6 to 7 wind.  We saw 8.2 knots boat speed.   Unfortunately the block on the jib furling gear could not take the strain and sheered.  This is the second time this has failed - the first time the bolts pulled out of their tapped holes and we replaced them with machine screws and lock nuts. This time the plastic compoiste side peices have sheared off.  We will have to make the line off on the aft mooring cleat until we can replace it.  The wind had more south in it than forecast, and so conditions did not improve when we were in the shelter of Great Cumbrae as we had expected.  After a very short discussion, we decided to head for shelter of Largs Marina rather than the moorings in Millport.  We wanted to see whether we felt it would be a good option for over wintering anyway, and the chandlery may have a suitable replacement for the jib furling block.
  
Trip statistics 26nm 5 hrs.


Day 5: Monday 2nd September 2013 - unusually there were no gale warnings today but it was still windy and we could see lots of white horses running past the entrance to the marina.  We visited the chandlery - thought we had found a replacement pulley - but when we tried to fit it found it was too small - so after cionversations between thenice lad=y in the chandlers and Barton, who make the blocks, we ordered a custom one.  We decided to spend the day exploring Largs and walked along the very pleasant coastal path to the village where we found some interesting shops and eateries as well as a large Morrisons.  Although the station was much further from the marina than at Kip, when we overwinter we are likely to be using the car rather than the train.  The marina has a much large range of services than Kip, and we liked the feel of the place.  Looks like this will be Noisette's winter home.

Entrance to Loch Riddon from Wreck Bay

 Day 6: Tuesday 3rd September 2013 - we slipped the mooring at 11.05 and refuelled with diesel before heading across the top of Great Cumbrae and NE towards the Eastern Kyle of Bute. 

With full main and jib and helped by a steady force 3 and a favourable tide we made good time and sailed through the narrows at the Burnt Isles.  What a contrast with our first nervous motor sail through these notoriouis narrows back in June before we learned to go with the flow and not get too anxious reading the dire warnings in the Clyde Cruising Club Sailing Directions.

At Anchor out of the tide in Wreck Bay

We explored Loch Riddon, which dries a fair distance from its head, and finding no suitable anchorage or mooring, anchored in Wreck Bay on the northern tip of the island of Bute. 

Here we were only a few boat lengths out of the fierce flood and ebb tides that flow up and down the East and West Kyles and between the Burnt Islands

We enjoyed a walk ashore and found a couple of rusty lumps of ship that had clearly been wrecked there, until forced to retreat by the midges, on this quiet, sunny afternoon and enjoyed a very calm evening at anchor.

The Narrows, Burnt Isles - at low tide there is no question
about where the buoys should be

 
Trip statistics 17.1nm 4 hrs.
  
Day 7: Wednesday 4th September 2013 - We weighed anchor at 10.25 and beat past the villages of Tighnabruaich and Kames with full main and genoa  before the wind freed allowing us to reach down the Western Kyle.  The wind backed again and we beat through Inchmarnoch Sound, between the Isles of Bute and Inchmarnoch and down the eastern side of Arran towards Brodick, where the wind rose and the tide turned to produce a steep little sea.  One of the jib sheets caught around the main halyard jammer on the mast, mid-tack, and displaced the coiled topping lift from its cleat.  Somehow the topping lift managed to tie itself around both flailing jib sheets in a perfect constrictor knot.  David hooked on and went forward to solve the problem, getting very wet in the process.  Noticing that we had lost a second patch of UV strip on the jib, we furled it up and motored into the calm of Brodick Bay.  Where we picked up a free visitors mooring for the night, courtesy of N. Ayreshire Council.  We rewarded the local Council Tax payers by going ashore and victualling, returning with a very heavily laden tender.


Trip statistics 36.5 nm 8 hrs 20 mins.

Day 8: Thursday 5th September 2013  -
After the energetic sail from Wreck Bay the plan was not to do much today.  

Nearly at the top - Noisette moored in the bay, middle distance

We went ashore in the tender, walked along Cladach Beach, and had a leisurely lunch and pint of tasty Arran Ale in the pub near the castle.  One of the delights of this cruise has been the astonishing range of beers brewed in the islands, most of which are rather good.  Cider drinkers are not so well catered for, which is unfortunate as Chris hasn't yet converted from apple to hop.

It must have been a very good lunch, because we then decided to walk up the path to Goat Fell, the highest peak on Arran at 874m, or 2,866ft in old money.  We didn't really have any intention of reaching the top, but were nearly there when we realised the sun was going behind the ridge and we would be in cold shade if we did not turn back.

Goat Fell beyond the now-busy moorings

Apparently it hasn't always been called Goat Fell - you can take your pick between the Gaelic "Goath" which means "Windy, or the Norse "Geit fjall" which means "Goat Mountain".

Having completed our 8.5 mile walk we got a few more supplies in Brodick before tendering back to Noisette for a rest - after our quiet day.  




Day 9: Friday 6th September 2013 - We slipped the mooring at 10.25 and had a fine relaxed sail - nothing too extreme, and the opportunity to quietly trim the sails and steer a course to get the last fraction of a knot out of the gentle breeze.  We picked up a visitors mooring in Millport at 15.15.  These are also free, but we understand only becvause the boatyard with the contract to collect the dues doesn't bother to do so.  Very strange!  We were later rewarded by the sun setting over Arran and the mountain we had climbed the day before.  Venison was on the menu this evening, complemented by a bottle of Villa Maria that Kathryn and Gaz had brought on board in Oban.  Leaving it in the engine room for a while made it the perfect temperature for drinking.

Trip statistics 19.5  nm 4 hrs 50 mins.
 
When we were last in Millport in June we had not noticed the colourful lights all along the promenade, but then it had still been light when we turned in.  This evening, despite a windy forecast, the sea turned glassy at dusk just before the rain started, and we battened down the hatches to enjoy Ricky Ross's "Another Country" - BBC Radio Scotland's answer to Bob Harris.


Day 10: Saturday 7th September 2013 - During a surprisingly smooth night we were woken several times by torrential rain.  It is prudent to take the forecast seriously and wait patiently for the wind to rise to expectations.  It did, and we decided that we didn't need to get cold and wet, so went ashore in the tender for a walk, and got back aboard cold and wet!  The wind veered (nautical term for the wind moving clockwise around the compass, ie. from NE to SE) and our tranquillity was disturbed by the swell that comes into Millport Bay when the wind is coming from anywhere between SE and SW.  The rocking and rolling found the limits of adhesion of our wine glasses and coasters at dinner, and by 0300hrs the mainsheet had worked loose, allowing the boom to swing.  This prevents sleep, and necessitated a damp trip on deck to tighten the sheet and restore relative peace and calm.

Loch Ranza Castle

Day 11: Sunday 8th September 2013 - a beautifully sunny morning in Millport with a fresh F4 from the SE.  As the forecast was for cyclonic 4 or 5, perhaps 6 at first, becoming mainly NWly, we set sail with one reef in the main and full jib and headed out of Cumbrae Sound towards Arran.  We made rapid progress across the tide, and thought we were going to get wet again as Arran dissappeared in cloud from time to time - but we stayed dry!  We were even surfing as we approached the Cock of Arran (the northern-most bit).  Once round the corner, the wind died and we motored gently into Loch Ranza and picked up one of the community company moorings. 

 Trip statistics 14.1  nm 3 hrs.

On the road to the distillery

When we were last here, all the moorings were taken and we had to anchor in a strong SWly which sent strong gusts down the mountainside across the anchorage.  This time was more pleasant, and we landed the tender at the pontoon, put our donation for the upkeep of the moorings in the honesty box, and walked inland.

The only stag in the village

With perfect timing, we reached the Arran Distillery just in time for the last tour of the day.  Most of the others on the tour seemed to be Russian, and had paid a lot more for the priviledge of a more extensive nosing than we would find pleasurable.  The Arran Malts are distinctively un-peaty, but their delicate aromatics are very attractive. We purchased a bottte to add to our on-board nosing collection - 7 different Malts is not too much for one boat (but we are running out of space).  On the way back to the boat we popped into the campsite for a shower, and afterwards attracted midges that seemed to have ignored us when we had been less clean!

The herd

We spotted the stag lazing by the campsite, and as we walked back past the castle we met a herd of female red deer grazing quite happily in the middle of the village - easy pickings...


A big steel ketch came into the Loch and eventually anchored where we had dropped the hook on our previous visit.  We didn't recognise the ensign on this ship that looked like it had crossed many oceans, but we eventually worked out that it was the Namibian ensign.

 Day 12: Monday 9th September 2013 - waking at 0800hrs for the Maritime Safety Information Broadcast from Belfast CG, Loch Ranza was glassy, and there was a very gentle breeze blowing out of the Loch.  We hoisted the main sail on the mooring, and ghosted out of the Loch into Inchmarnock Water that was the smoothest we had yet seen.

Inchmarmock Water can be smooth

Rounding the Cock of Arran

With nothing in the fridge for tonight's supper, we got the mackerel lines out, but one got away, and then inevitably the wind filled in.  Our principal is that anything that can take our lures at 5kts we probably won't want on board, so we reeled in the lines.  We then had a decent downwind sail that enabled us to practice our gybes.  The crew controls the jib easily enough from forward of the wheel, but with the mainsheet and track directly behind the helm, gybing is quite tricky.  With such a big main sail and umteen-to-one purchase on the mainsheet, there are miles of mainsheet for the helm to take in as the boom approaches the centre line, and then pay out again smoothly while centering the rudder to stop the boat rounding up.  This is not a problem with an additional pair of hands aboard, but something we have to perfect when we are just sailing with the two of us.


The Clyde Cruising Club Sailing Directions warn that anchoring in Lamlash Bay can be tricky as the bottom shelves steeply, so we picked up one of the moorings laid by the Holy Island Ferry company.   A very pretty anchorage sheltered by Holy Island - a spiritual retreat now owned by Buddhist Monks.

 Trip statistics 16.6  nm 3 hrs 55 mins
 

Lamlash moorings from the Drift Inn.
Holy Island in the background

We had the mackerel lines out again moored in about 15m of water, but still had no luck so went ashore to pay for the mooring, have an ice cream, and a walk.  We enjoyed a pint at the Drift Inn while watching a 49er launch from Lamlash Sailing Club - we wondered if they knew Tobi Watson (son of Sailing Manager at Midland Sailing Club, who now lives in Scotland and until recently sailed a 49er).  We watched the 49er cope with increasingly strong gusts and shifts, and with perfect timing we made it back on board and had the dinghy stowed just as a front went through bringing squally rain.  With no fresh fish aboard, we enjoyed a delicious, traditional Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie for dinner - our first meal out of a tin this cruise! We still had fresh veg though.

Day 13: Tuesday 10th September 2013 - with stronger winds forecast for Wednesday and later in the week, we decided it was time to head for Noisette's winter home - Largs Yacht Haven.  As we weighed anchor we exchanged our prognoses of the conditions we were likely to encounter out of the Bay with the crew of Tebah, a 37ft Etap, the Belgian-built allegedly unsinkable yacht.  We expected one reef in the main and full jib to give us a fast close reach to the Hunterston Channel and up to Largs, but they were less confident and talking about two reefs in the main.  The forecast of W or NW backing SW 4 or 5, occasionally 6 didn't quite materialise, and we were close hauled most of the way and made good speed in quite a steep sea.  As we settled down to enjoy Noisette at her best, we saw two sails that had followed us our of Lamlash return to the shelter of the Bay.

In the lee of Bute and the Cumbraes, the sea became a lot smoother, and we called up Largs Marina on Ch80 to find out what berth they'd allocated us.

 Trip statistics 17.4  nm 2 hrs 50 mins

Day 14: Wednesday 11th September 2013 we have booked train tickets home for tomorrow morning. Today was spent tidying and cleaning Noisette inside and out so that we find her as we want her when we next return.  We also took the jib to the sailmaker for the UV strip to be replace, and arranged for the engine to be serviced.  We then had our final cruise dinner in Scotts at the Marina - and very good it was too.

This point marks the end of our first summer cruise - from now on we will be in winter mode, and visits to Noisette north of the boarder will be shorter and our time at home correspondingly longer.  We hope that, now that we are not tied to only weekends, we will still have the opportunity for some good sailing through the winter - but that depends on the weather - and there is always a list of maintenance jobs to be done.

Summer cruise summary:

Days on board: 105 days

Stopovers (includes repeat visits): 52

Logged distance: 1790.1 nautical miles

Passage time: 311 hours 25 minutes (5.75 knots - faster than we'd thought!)

Engine Hours: 213 (68% - not bad considering we had to motor all the way from Gosport to Brixham, from Falmouth to Milford Haven, and through the Crinan Canal)

There is no doubt that Noisette and retirement both live up to our dreams.  We are making plans for next summers sailing and already have some thoughts about destinations for the years after.