Back to Greenock (in good company)

We discovered that the hammerhead in Port Bannatyne is not a good place with a blustery NE wind. The waves curl around the breakwater and kind of slap against the aft portion of the hull. A little Peche Promenade lightweight French thing nearby was rolling around quite violently at times. We just heard the slap of the waves on the hull and moved a little.

We had ordered two new inverters to replace our pesky ones - getting them repaired would take a lot longer and as they are "getting on" like us, there is no guarantee that Victron would have the required circuit board available any longer. So, the thinking is to replace them both, take advantage of the 5 year warranty then during the winter get the old ones checked / repaired as possible then stick them on eBay as there seems to be quite a demand. We needed to be nearer to civilisation to get them and if required, to get some help in fitting them (might need battery cable changes and we certainly don't have the kit to crimp those huge cables!

Getting out of Port Bannatyne, when pinned on by the waves and wind and being restricted in manoeuvring space by the breakwater and shallows astern of us meant we had to use the thrusters for a change. Luckily, they still performed.

Heading back up towards Greenock, we were visited by an official RIB who came to have a look at the Nordhavn and waved happily. They broke off from escorting this submarine out to sea:

The good news is that nothing happened to the sub whilst the RIB guys were having a gawp.

Back in the same berth in James Watt Dock, it started to feel like home. This time there were no superyachts in residence, just way more interesting craft. The first was Chico, a Dunkirk little ship that runs holiday charters around the coast here:

See Chico's website for more info. She is very beautiful but once you get closer to the hull, you can see that some of the planking starts to look a bit "queer" - trouble with the frames perhaps? We fear that she will need some expensive intervention in the near future and hope that she generates enough income for the owners to afford her repairs. Would be sad to see the elegant lady broken up. When she left, trying to turn against the wind was hard for her - two engines but very close together don't help. She did sound wonderful though, thanks to the Gardner lumps inside her.

The second "classic" was Drum: 

For Duran Duran fans, you might recall how she nearly killed off Simon le Bon when she capsized in a Fastnet race and Simon was inside her, trapped. She lost her keel. This picture gives you an idea of what the rescue services found, some crew clinging to the hull (minus keel) and some trapped inside:

Following repairs, she competed in a round the world race so no lasting ill effects! She has been owned by the Arnold Clark group (huge Scottish motor group) for a while now and used for hospitality trips and to raise charity money. She does seem accident prone as she and a submarine had a coming together somewhere off the Mull of Kintyre later in her life. The Arnold Clark website says that her sailing days are over now and they hope to find a museum spot for her. If anyone wants a restoration challenge, this could be quite a good / expensive one.