Troon to Gigha

Tuesday was spent ferrying stuff from Morrisons supermarket to the boat using the little folding bikes. See, who needs a shopping trolley that you have to drag not pedal around! The thinking was that this might be the last large(ish) supermarket we can raid for a while. Preserved for ever here:

Funny how the thoughts of little local stores can make Morrisons look appealing (OK, maybe to us and not you....)

As is often the way with passage planning, the optimum timing to leave for one spot isn't too good for arrival in or passing another. Leaving Troon (great place by the way, lots of golfing of course and a beach full of happy sun drenched pale white people) to round the Mull of Kintyre at the best time for tides / no overfalls meant a low water departure. As we only had 0.3 metres spare at low water on Tuesday, we figured that would be a bit sporty….. So, shock horror, we set the alarm for 6am. Yes, the alarm. So much for being retired.  This allowed us to escape an hour or so before dead low water and head out very alone into Irvine Bay and then across to the Mull. A few fishing boats about, the fast ferry from Northern Ireland and that was all we saw en route.

Pretty empty eh?


 Actually, that isn't quite correct. En route we spotted a couple of sharks who cruised alongside us (sadly, for the captain he missed them because he was resting / trying to sleep whilst the crew was on watch.  He didn't seem to appreciate loud squarks from the crew to wake him up to see the sharks though!) and of course one lonely looking puffin. Compared to the hordes we saw at Skomer he looked a little lost.

Patrick was busy checking the course and generally sitting on top of things, so we felt safe and secure:




Sadly, it was also a bit misty with some proper fog patches too that spoiled the photography even with the new posher camera. When you need the radar on, there is little chance for pictures.

Sanda island just before the Mull in the mist:

The Mull of Kintyre has a fearsome reputation for rough passages and short steep seas caused when the tidal flows meet each other head on, whipped up by a little wind from time to time.  As the wind was variable force 2/3 that wasn’t an issue. As we had timed the trip to work the tides properly, that wasn’t an issue either. In fact it was dead flat around there – most unusual and pleasant for our first “rounding”. Spot the big wave in the mist:

OK, there were none.

The trip up the west side of the Mull was fast (for us) averaging over 8 knots with some heavy tidal assistance. The sun had finally burnt the fog off too and we just had atmospheric misty conditions for the rest of the trip up to Gigha. The anchorage there was busy – as always, a couple of small yachts had got in first and filled up the best spot for bigger boats. So, we sat outside the mooring buoys, towards the ferry slipway and anchored in only 2.5 metres of water. Felt strange! The good news was that the water would be getting deeper, not much shallower as time progressed.

Gigha looked well worth a visit on the way back – we didn’t plan to go ashore as the weather was set to deteriorate from Saturday and so we planned to head a little further north and cuddle up in a nice sheltered loch for a couple of days until it “blows through”. Very gentle trip though – no salt spray on the hull to speak of and the head for the electric toothbrush stood upright, unaided, for the entire run. Even Patrick didn’t move (perhaps that is due to the millet ballast that he carries though).

Enjoyed dinner in the pilothouse watching some yachts arrive and struggle to find a spot to anchor, the wildlife, the island and contemplating how good life in general can be.

Maintenance : sorry tekkies, nothing to report. OK, maybe you’d like to know that the engine room temperature was about 8 degrees C hotter than normal thanks to the lovely outside temperatures. One of the promised winter jobs (well, a job for a winter before we go south) is to improve the ventilation in there. The factory fit blowers are at best marginal in hotter climates and many owners have fitted 2 extra units to help suck in cool air from the vents in the aft cockpit area. The Lugger technical guru Bob always quotes “every dollar spent reducing your engine room temperatures saves $100 in maintenance costs over time”. Belts and hoses don’t like running hot. Hope the same maths applies in pounds.