The three Daves

Whilst at home 'between sails' Diane and I attended a BBQ party hosted by Sue and Dave Hatton who follow Blue Star's progress regularly. It was Dave's 60th birthday party. I met Dave many years ago when we were both just starting our degree studies at North Staffordshire Polytechnic - now Staffordshire University. Also attending the 'do' were Dave Wilcox and Dave House, two other friends from student days. There was a little bit of reminiscing. Where did all the time go?!

Joke:
“Poor Old fool,” thought the well-dressed gentleman as he watched an old man fish in a puddle outside a pub. So he invited the old man inside for a drink. As they sipped their whiskeys, the gentleman thought he’d humor the old man and asked, “So how many have you caught today?”
The old man replied, “You’re the eighth.”

Sue and Dave Hatton

L-R Dave Wilcox, Dave House, Dave Hatton and me

By the way......

....did I say how brilliant Graeme Galbraith at James Watt Marina (http://www.jameswattdockmarina.co.uk/) in Greenock has been with regard to looking after Blue Star for us over the winter, and helping us to get her ready for this year's sailing? JWM also waived the fees for several weeks berthing to show support for our cause! Thank you Graeme and JWM! We really appreciate your support and help, you have been fantastic!

A snowy day at JWM when boats were being re-launched

Blue Star is craned back into the water

Joke:

Knock Knock! Who's There? Snow! Snow who? Snow laughing matter.

Going home

We spent a day cleaning the boat and doing various other tasks before returning home. On a visit to the Spar shop we met Barry Pearson who runs The Container Gallery (www.thecontainergallery.co.uk) selling pictures and other works of art. We had stopped to admire Barry's Stag yacht that he is refurbishing next to his art gallery, and he invited us in to see his workshop, pointing out also a Collard dove nesting in the roof! We spoke to a number of local people at Kinlochbervie who seemed very friendly and welcoming; it is clearly a small community where most people know each other, and most people seemed interested in our sailing project. The harbour master, Davie, was also very helpful. Davie identified a spot, rafted up alongside Aeron Lass, where he wanted us to leave our boat so we duly moved her there and re attached mooring lines etc. No sooner had we done so than the owner of Aeron Lass drove up, a lady who explained that she needed to be able to go to sea easily should she wish to, and also she may want to paint her decks and we woudn't want any paint on our boat would we? She went off to speak to the harbour master. We later spoke to the harbour master again and in due course moved Blue Star back to her original place on the visitor's pontoon! It is interesting to note the difference in practice here compared with the Solent where boats are expected to raft up regularly and crews just have to manage boats slipping out of a raft, or back in. I think people take care when painting their boats too!
We had a meal out at the nearby restaurant and then packed for our return home. I hope our boat is still there when we return, undamaged and without extra paint applied!

Joke:
'I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime sailing holiday. I'll tell you what, never again!''

Barry Pearson with his yacht

The dove nesting at Barry's Container Gallery

Kinlochbervie

Normal service has been resumed. The wind is blowing from where we want to go (the north), and it is very cold!

After filling up with water we went to the Sports Centre in Lochinver, which was all but deserted, to use their wifi and to use their showers. The shower was great (£1.50 for OAPs like me!) but their wifi was difficult to connect to, even with the help of the staff. Anyway, we managed to arrange transport home from Kinlochbervie where a taxi will collect us at 0900 on Sunday and take us to Inverness from where we will all make our way home.

The journey to Kinlochbervie brought its own challenges. The first 20mins sailing out of Lochinver was great, then at the headland we hit the strong winds and waves. We took in the headsail and motor-sailed with double reefed mainsail. There were lots of big waves around the headlands especially (we discussed how big they were, my vote was  about 2 to 3 metres) that caused the boat to slam down badly, making a terrible noise, when the boat went over a crest. We did our best to avoid this happening by approaching the wave crests at an angle, but occasionally we failed, and the whole boat trembled as she slammed down into the sea beyond the waves. I always worry about the mast coming down, but I guess these conditions must have been allowed for in the design of the boat (mustn’t they?). Anyway, slowly we clawed our way north and eventually made it into Kinlochbervie. It would have been good to get further, but we are all very pleased that we have reached this point, and that we remain on schedule. The view from our berth in the marina (one pontoon – is that a marina?) is stunning! The boat will stay here for several weeks now until we resume our challenge.

Battling our way north

Cape Wrath in the background as we head for Kinlochbervie

The view from our berth in Kinlochbervie

Joke:
Q. What vegetable is forbidden on boats?
A. Leeks!

Gairloch to Lochinver

The sun still shone, but the sea was more steep with waves up to 2m. With the wind from the north we decided to motor and it became a somewhat uncomfortable motion. Richard tried fishing and sadly caught a seagull. Another yacht close inshore was sailing and we had to give way to avoid a collision. We tried sailing with genoa sail only (which was easy to deploy). The other boat under full sail caught up with us as we entered Lochinver. We had noted the endless barren mountain ranges inland, and the especially strange shape on Mount Suilven as we approached Lochinver.

A 4hr sail to Kinlochbervie beckons tomorrow. The weather appears to be on the turn so we have abandonned plans for a possible push on around the Cape for now.

Joke:

A nervous skipper enquires 'Do yachts sink very often?'. 'No' says another sailor, 'Usually it is only once'. :-)

The mountainous coast, Mt Suilven standing out

Preparing to enter Lochinver marina

Kyle of Lochalsh to Gairloch

We left Kyle of Lochalsh this morning after Hughie had driven me to the garage to collect some diesel in jerry cans we got from a workshop behind the garage. We replenished the gas too. We said good-bye to Hughie and to Wolfie, and after a quick coffee at the hotel we were on our way. As we approached the bridge to Sky it looked bl**dy close as to whether our mast would fit under. Roger had done the calculations but even he slowed us right down just in case! We needn’t have worried – there was plenty of room, as calculated. We passed Applecross where Monty (whose surname we can’t remember) made a TV series about living as a crofter. (Yesterday we had passed the spot where Gavin Maxwell had written about in Ring Of Bright Water). The weather has been like the scenery, just brilliant(!) – sunshine all the way! The sea was mostly flat but picked up a bit as we cleared Sky and we could see out to the Outer Hebrides. We carried on under double-reefed mainsail alone and Blue Star stayed almost upright and plodded on steadily at 5 knots in the 23 knot wind! David prepared a Spanish omelette for everyone for lunch, which was delicious. As we approached our destination we wondered whether there was any other way of getting to Gairloch – it seemed so isolated with moon-scape mountains behind it!

The weather forecast for the rest of the week looks good, and a plan is being hatched – to carry on after Kinlochbervie and go around the Cape pressing on to Scrabster! But we shall see.

Richard’s Joke:

A sailor was at work when they had the opportunity to leave early. ‘Why are you leaving early?’ their colleague asked. ‘Well’, they said, ‘my spouse has laryngitis’ they said!

David keeping watch

Richard keeping watch

Approaching Gairloch (Is there any other way of reaching it?)

The crew in Gairloch (Kim, Richard, David and Roger)

Blue Star in Gairloch

An eventful day at Kyle of Lochalsh

The main preoccupation this morning was ……….. toilets! And showers! The marina at Mallaig has brilliant ones, BUT, the facility is closed between 5.00pm and 9.00am! So, as long as you don’t need a pee, or something else, outside those hours you are fine! We managed with a pub and the on-board heads. Oh well! The good thing about Mallaig was that the marina manager was very supportive of our cause and only charged us for the electricity we used (£3.60) which was great! Thank you Mr Marina Manager! Today we sailed to Kyle of Lochalsh. There is a pontoon here with an honesty box! Public facilities open 8.00am to 8.00pm. There is also a hotel right next to the pontoon – presumably with facilities! It was a lovely journey to get here, part under sail part motoring in brilliant sunshine with wonderful scenery!

Joke:

I bet you thought there would be another joke here didn’t you? Ah-ha! Well I gave you one this morning and I don’t have another right now so you’ll just have to check tomorrow’s blog! J

P.S.

We got to talk to the skipper of the boat (Blue Migrant) behind us who offered to loan us some jerry cans in which to transport diesel from the garage to fill up the boat tomorrow (you see, as we are getting further north ALL facilities are becoming a bit more ‘difficult’). Hughie was so kind and helpful that we invited him aboard Blue Star to help us to eat the Thai green curry that Kim had prepared. Hughie used to be a helicopter pilot working in Antarctica for Greenpeace but now runs his own business ‘Seadogs’ (www.seadogs.scot) in which he takes clients out in his boat to wreck sites where they can ‘drive’ a remote operated under-water vehicle (ROV) with a camera and take their own video of the wreck! Hughie lives on his boat with his dog Wolfie.

We also went to visit The Lochalsh Hotel and spoke to two beautiful, kind and helpful young ladies on reception (Ella Meekham and Caitlin Cummings) about the possibility of using a room just for its shower and toilet! Having had our cause explained to them they put in a good word with the manager, Murdo Macrae, who agreed we should have the use of a room for free! Thank you ever so much Ella, Caitlin and Mr Macrae! To celebrate we ordered five coffees and five puddings! Yum yum yum!

Entering the Kyle (the narrow section of water)

Approaching Lochalsh with the Sky bridge also in the background

Hughie tastes Kims' curry

Hughie's boat, MV Blue Migrant

Wolfie on board Blue Migrant

The Lochalsh Hotel next to our pontoon mooring where we met Ella and Caitlin

Blue Star and Blue Migrant on the far side of the pontoon, as seen from the hotel

Pudding at The Lochalsh Hotel (Yum yum!!!)

From Tobermory to Mallaig

This post is a bit late - the wifi on the pontoon is rubbish so here I am in the marina office now it is open. Anyway, yesterday's post is:

We left Tobermory at 1010 this morning in the sun and a little wind. As we rounded Ardnamurchan Point the wind strengthened and we batted along at 7 knots in the sun with a warm wind. The first warm wind since we started from Hythe! We hardened up around the point to sail east of Muck, Eigg and Rum heading for Mallaig (pronounced ‘ma-leg’ I am told). Absolutely brilliant! It wasn’t to last though. The wind died soon and we finished off motoring into Mallaig (again!).

It was also ‘crew change day’. Dave’s wife and Graham’s wife came aboard before they all departed with Ingemar. We had really enjoyed the company of Dave, Graham and Ingemar and we were sorry to see them go. The new crew are Richard and Kim Pavey and David Shepherd, and we look forward to getting to know them.

Graham’s parting joke that I like is as follows:

Eight sailors are stranded on a desert island – two Welshmen, two Irish men, two Scotsmen, and two English men. After several years they were rescued and an investigation of how they had faired revealed that – the two Welshmen had started a choir; the two Scotsmen had started a bank; the two Irishmen had started a fight, and ………….the two Englishmen were waiting to be introduced to each other!

Dave keeping watch

Graham and Ingemar watch Dave keeping watch (:-))

L to R the islands of Muck, Rum and Eigg

Tobermory

We waited at Lochaline for the general store to open at 11.30; we didn't need to depart until shortly after anyway. We visited Lochaline Hotel for a coffee and scone whilst we waited for 1130 to come round. Finally it did. Although we got most items we needed there was no salmon (I had promised the crew a salmon dinner!). It was planned as a good sail along the Sound of Mull to Tobermory, but the wind wasn't right and we ended up motoring most of the way. Tobermory has a bit more to offer than Lochaline; most shops are open, despite it being Sunday, and there are a number of tourists about. There is also a Cooperative supermarket that sells salmon!
The weather looks OK tomorrow for a passage to Mallaig, although we may need to motor as the wind has some north in it! Drat!

Graham's joke:
A bear walks into a pub. The barman asks what he wants.
'I'll have a gin.....................................and a tonic please' says the bear.
'OK' says the barman, 'but why the big pause?'
'Because I'm a bear of course!' says the bear.
(pause...paws).

(P.S. Thank you to Cyril and Sheila for your donation. We don't know who you are but we really appreciate your support. Many thanks indeed!)

Crinan to Lochaline

After having the bridge swung for us we were on our way at 0830 and were soon in Crinan. The tides weren't right for immediate departure so we visited the coffee shop and tested the scones (yum yum!). As we departed another boat, Hesper, joined us in the sea lock and the skipper, Gerry (?), gave us a £20 donation for the CF Trust! (Thank you Gerry! The world should be run by people like you!) Departing around 1100 we found the sea fairly flat with little wind initially, but this soon changed and we found ourselves dealing with very confused seas off the Sound of Mull. After battling our way through the sea was suddenly flat again once we were in the Sound and we opted to sail the last 40 mins or so to Lochaline. (Once again we had spent most of the day motoring against strong winds! Do the weather gods have it in for us?!)

Roger had phoned ahead to book us a berth and Fiona was waiting for us! A discount again for our charity cause was applied. Thank you Fiona! Thank you Lochaline Marina!

After a very nice shower we have opted for dinner out tonight. We plan a gentle sail to Tobermory tomorrow.

Hesper in the sealock with us

The marina at Lochaline, Blue Star in the background

Looking out of Lochaline towards the Sound of Mull (Mull in the background)

Todays joke (especially for Gordon, John and Ian):
A golfer was playing a round with the vicar. He went for an easy put but missed.' Oh Bu**er!' he said. 'I've missed!' The vicar advised him that he really shoudn't use such language. At the next green the golfer should have made another easy put, but missed again! 'Oh S**t! I've missed!' he said. The vicar reprimanded him again and said he should not use such language. At the next hole, where the golfer missed yet another easy put he exclaimed once again 'Oh Bl***y H***! I've missed!' At that moment a bolt of lightening shot from the sky and struck the vicar! A loud voice came as well and said 'Oh Dam*! I've missed!'

Yesterday's Post

OK, I didn't manage to post a blog entry yesterday because there was no internet connection. We have now moved a little further down the canal to Crinan where we await our exit from the canal and I have a connection here. Here is a post for yesterday:

----------------

We left Portavadie at 0810 this morning, once Roger had negotiated a zero fee marina charge on account of our fund raising efforts – thank you Portavadie Marina, all good things for you!

We motored against the wind which again came form the usual direction (the one we were going in) and entered Crinan Canal as the sun came to life. The first (sea)lock was manned and we paid a reduced fee again which was really appreciated – thank you Crinan Canal. Unlike our previous passage through the canal the other locks were not manned and so the crew were put to work (they said they enjoyed it!). Half way along the canal we decided that we should try to fix our headsail furler problem and so we needed someone to go up the mast. It was decided, by lack of volunteers and by lack of protest, that the someone should be Roger. Up he was winched by the rest of us, with his WD40 in hand! A good squirt later and our furler was working again. Great! I was beginning to think we may not be able to sail until a rigger has looked at the problem. Fortunately we fixed it ourselves.

Just as we were approaching Crinan the canal staff informed us that we could go no further as they were knocking off and so the bridges that separated us from Crinan could not be swung until tomorrow. Drat! Never mind, we are tied up in a pretty place, have eaten Dave’s sausage and mash dinner, and have a 30 min walk to the pub at Crinan (if we wanted to visit it; I’m not saying we are going to).

Joke:

 A newcomer to Scotland arrives on a rainy day. She gets up the next day and it's raining. It also rains the day after that, and the day after that. She goes out to lunch and sees a young kid and out of despair asks, "Hey, kid, does it ever stop raining around here?" The kid says, "How should I know?
I'm only 6." 

No canal staff, so yacht crew had to work the locks!

The swing bridge staff had finished work, so we could get no further until morning!

A dodgy character at the bar where we were thinking of having a drink.

On our way again ......!

It was finally time to resume our voyage around the UK. Our first crew are Dave, Graham and Ingemar (from Sweden!). The weather yesterday had been a bit 'iffy' (strong winds, rain) so were a bit apprehensive about what today might bring. Fortunately the weather was much better although the wind was still from the usual direction (the one we want to go in) for most of the day. It was a reasonable 20 mins sailing initially but we soon had to motor sail, keeping towards the coast of the Clyde to stay in slightly calmer water. We had a nice sail down the East Kyle of Bute, but had to resort to engine again on the West Kyle. On the final leg towards our destination, Portavadie, we wanted to sail again but had problems unfurling the headsail; we think there may be a problem with the furling gear at the top of the mast. Hhhmmm!.

We had a short visit to sample the delights of Portavadie restaurant for a drink before Ingemar prepared us a nice pasta with mince dinner.

Portavadie still seems incredible. Such a brilliant, almost brand new, marina with restaurant, holiday appartments, fashion shop, etc ! I can't help but feel that it somehow belongs in the Mediterranean, not in Scotland.

Tomorrow we have to be away early to get into the Crinan canal and through it before the staff knock off for the day.

Graham, Dave and Roger at Portavadie

Joke:
Q. When does it rain money?
A. When there is change in the weather :-)