Gigha to Bangor before it got nasty (the weather, not Bangor of course)

The forecast was not nice but our little weather window was still there. As always, the "ideal time" to leave for tidal help would mean that we would arrive in the pitch dark (not a huge problem in Bangor) but after the wind picked up making it a bit bumpy. Compromise is important in life, so we were taught. So, we compromised by leaving earlier than ideal to get into Bangor before the wind came. No stupid o'clock alarm call though.

We left around 11am for the trip south. This meant pushing the tide until well past the Mull and then getting a little rocket assistance (spring tides) for the final run into Bangor. The nice new Rocna anchor was recovered. As it appeared, it was hard to tell what type of anchor it was. We've never had so much weed wrapped around our anchor before. The crew cleared most of it using the boathook before pulling the anchor up into the roller:

Then Andrew decided (lifejacketless!!! Bad man) to lean over to shift the rest of it:

Kids - don't do this at home as the adverts say...... Mind you, perhaps we could initiate a new Olympic sport "The Rocnakelp gymnastic lean". Marks would be available for leg angle, artistic impression, speed of weed removal and not falling in

The trip down the side of the Mull of Kintyre was very very calm (offshore wind, little fetch). A bit misty though. The lighthouse at the Mull peeped out at us:

Get the heather colours too. For those who like to be spatially aware / orientate themselves, here is the plotter image:

and here is the whole route:

Although we had an adverse tide at the Mull, we tucked inshore to take advantage of the eddy currents around there and got some assistance. Our 5.3 knots shot up to 7.5 but then we had to plug against the cross tide until well south of the land. This picture of the tip of the mainland shows the confused tidal flows and hence surface conditions a little:

Despite the slow progress, it was very calm so the crew cooked a proper dinner whilst underway. That always helps! There were some nice "sun through the clouds" moments to enjoy too:

We then added a huge 100 rpm (up to a 1650 rpm cruise) to make sure that we got into Bangor before the weather went a bit sick. Amazingly, it worked perfectly. With some rocket assistance as the tide turned and no badly timed ferries around the Larne area forcing a course change, we got in before it was totally dark (good for pot spotting), just as the gusts started to hit 30 knots and just before the rain started too. Sometimes, a plan comes together. This, was sometimes.

Maintenance and statistics:

Sorry, no maintenance to report. The big Lugger was very happy. The little Lugger wing engine had some exercise and seemed happy too. We are trying to burn off most of the fuel in the wing engine supply tank as it is getting old now (from last year's fill up!!) Then we will replenish it from our main tanks. However, the Stanadyne fuel conditioning stuff really helps preserve it. We cannot imagine what state untreated marine gasoil of that age would be in after 18 months in storage, getting heated up regularly too (each time we have a trip the engine room gets warmer of course).

We have just over half a tank of fuel left in our port storage tank and just under 2/3 in our starboard one from our fill up in Guernsey. Not bad all things considered. For the numeric amongst you, we will work out number of hours, miles and fuel burn when we get to our winter home. Cannot be bothered to do so yet. Suffice to say, for any prospective Nordhavn owners out there, fuel costs are not significant in the overall operating costs even if you cruise "seriously". This is no fast planing powerboat where you think twice about the fuel burn and cost for passages.

On this trip, we travelled 63 nautical miles over the ground in just over 11 hours. That was about 71 miles through the water though because we choose to fight the tides a little to get in before the weather turned. The extra 12 litres of diesel that we consumed were well worth the £4 or so they cost for a more comfortable trip.