Cycling Great Cumbrae then off to Tarbert

Following our relaunch, we had a full day in Largs planned, so the rented ladder could be collected. Luckily they came very early on so we had time to go on a little bike excursion. That involved heading up to Largs, then taking the elderly ferry over to Great Cumbrae island. We say elderly because, like much of the Calmac fleet, they are being kept up well beyond their normal bed time. The trip over was on a nearly 40 year old offering, the return on a sprightly youngster, ony late 30s. 

Great Cumbrae has one road that circles the island which is relatively flat and runs around the coast with good views, a trip of just over 10 miles:

It was a grey day but our view wasn't great going over to the island, just well used metal and lots of paint:

There are no pictures of the views across to the other islands / the mainland from our ride around. Why? Well it was a bit grey so nothing would have looked that exciting. After we stopped in  Millport for a soup lunch (yes, it was that kind of weather) it started raining and made the trip from Millport back to the ferry terminal a nice soggy one. No matter, the trip around the island was a good one with very little traffic indeed bar other cyclists. Returning to Largs we went up to Morrisons for more provisions (likely to be the last supermarket for a while) then headed back to the Yacht Haven. On the way, the crew recognised a lady that we'd met many many years ago in Salen on her then boat. A chat and cuddles for her lovely hound ensued.

We prepared for our departure, admiring this little boat moored near to us. We wondered if Anne (Izzy's owner) had bought and named it after her husband:

Saying our farewells to the marina team (and paying them for the visitor berthing) we saw a slightly smaller craft in the hoist being washed off - quite a capable one though:

 

No sign of a Facebook post about that lift on the Largs Yacht Haven feed - we feel honoured and almost important to have been included.

Naturally the wind started gusting as we departed and slowly crept out of the marina (just after low water, 0.9m under the keel at times) and into deeper water. We had planned Tarbet as a destination, with the added attraction of seeing Sheila and Niall whilst there and sheltering from the forecast strong winds later on. The route is lovely, weaving around the islands in the area:

Things were nice and quiet until a couple of fishing boats forced us to alter course a bit. So unusual for this area:

Things were nice and calm and we happily entered Tarbert harbour just after another Penarth marina resident - Challenge Wales. Here is a picture of her from the internet:

one of the round the world race yachts that has been repurposed as a sail training and adventure vessel.

We settled in, raided the Coop for critical things (Niall likes red wine and we were nearly out of it) and then happily welcomed them on board. Dinner was courtesy of a recommendation from Robert and Deborah - the Anchorage bistro. Limited menu but good food. In case you are interested or tempted here is the Anchorage website  link. 

As you can see, Penny the dog settled in well on board:

happily holding a sock for reasons that would be clear to any doggy behaviourist readers:

It was great to catch up with them all and kind of them to find some time in what was a manic week in their diaries. Our dilemma was where and when to move from here. The forecast had some seriously unpleasant weather coming in:

and that was allied to some rain which ended up coming pretty much horizontally across the harbour:

So, we hunkered down on board, read, baked bread, watched mindless TV, drank tea and chilled for a day until it went through. Most unseasonal stuff. When it all calmed down again we went for a good walk and spotted that the local yacht club members have a sense of humour too:

Maintenance News:

After our first proper run to get the main engine up to temperature following the lift out and coolant change, we topped up the system with around another litre of the magical blue stuff. All seemed well with the big Lugger.

For some odd reason, the stern gland was dripping more than before the lift out so that was tightened up a little. We will keep an eye (actually a temperature gun) on it during the next trip to make sure that wasn't overdone.

Annoyingly, the speed log impeller thingy which we had diligently checked before relaunch to be free and spinning nicely, decided not to until we gave the main engine a wide open throttle burst coming into Tarbert. After that, it was fine. It seems to love playing games with us.

One of the most annoying little (or it should have been little) jobs was a light above the forecabin bed. After our guests left we spotted that the switch was only working intermittently, and the "glass" in it was broken too. Sorry Sheila and Niall. So, removing it was simple enough but the spare little pieces of "glass" (actually perspex type stuff) that we had from the replaced ceiling lights were a tiny bit too big. Out with the Dremel, job done. The switch had two "on" positions so the feed wire to the bulb was soldered onto the other pole that had not been in use. It worked fine, no evidence of burning or failing contacts. All in all it took way too long and involved digging out way too many tools just to sort out a small light that we never use ourselves:

We do spoil our guests you know. They just don't appreciate how much effort we go to.

Does my bum look big in this?

It has to happen. Yes, the annual lift out to spoil our fun, backs, shoulders and bank balance. We were so lucky, a dry calm day for the lift. The office folks told us to take the boat to the fuel pontoon, but port side to as the yard crew wanted to pull us into the adjacent hoist bay backwards. Unusual but so be it.

We duly delivered the boat to find that we were being stalked by folks using the very good marina webcams. Here is a screenshot of the webcam from Alex, the owner of that HUGE Nordhavn 55 which, coincidentally, used to live here:

We did the hanging around thing, waiting for the hoist to return to the dock which looked very small somehow - not the widest one we've ever seen:

The very friendly yard crew then manhandled the rather heavy Nordhavn around the corner and into the dock. So glad it was a calm day:

The guys were really good at making sure the strops were in the right positions and being careful with the lift. Here is a little video of the boat appearing:

To use an old phrase "does my bum look big in this?"

We raided the cafe on site, waiting for the boat to be chocked up and ready for us to work on:

At least it was dry, sunny and warm enough so we got going with all the usual clean up jobs.The coolers (one for the main engine and one for the hydraulics) were pretty clean really, much to the delight of the crew who was fettling them. The props were attacked with the new rechargeable angle grinder (the cabled older version was a real pain as the on/off switch was stuck "on"), the rope cutter removed and given an acid bath, anodes renewed etc. This time we are trying something new - a coating for the props. We've never bothered to paint them before, having heard lots of conflicting stories about how effective some of the expensive miracles in a tin were. Finally we gave in and are trying Crystalprop which comes in a little kit like this::

The props needed sanding with quite a coarse wet and dry paper then careful cleaning before applying one coat of this stuff. It sets to an almost clear film:

and we are suitably dubious about how well it will deter barnacles etc. We will know at the lift out next year if the extra effort and cost was worthwhile. The main engine was due a coolant change and so that was drained out from the keel cooler and around 24 litres of nice fresh Fleetguard coolant very slowly poured back in. Trying to lug around the 20l drums of the stuff is no fun and pouring it in ever so slowly to help avoid airlocks and bubbles in the system is a slow tedious job. Simple enough though so you can think of other nicer things whist doing this (like finishing it!) 

We had one day of rain which slowed progress a bit but most of the important work had already been done by then. Completing things was a bit slower than planned when we discovered that the new hub anode for the folding prop on the wing engine was too big. You can see it in the picture above, looking very shiny and smug in the middle of the prop. Yes, it was too big, the blades fouled it when they tried to fold or reverse. Most annoying. In the past we've popped into the importer for Gori stuff in Poole and collected some anodes. This time we got them via the Nordhavn Europe folks for simplicity and to save a drive to sunny Poole. Well, they supplied pattern parts, not the originals. the collar anodes were fine but the hub anode needed surgery (grinding down) quite a lot before it fitted properly. The most annoying part is that the pattern parts were as expensive as the already wildly priced original stuff!

With the work completed we bumped into Neil again (the electric meter and N40 owning man) as we were taking the resulting rubbish to the bins. We offered him a coffee in the outside seating at Scotts then realised we had no money with us. Neat scam! We did feel a tad guilty, but only a tad. For our German speaking readers, the translation into "ein bisschen" is really not descriptive enough. Maybe "nicht besonders" works better! You so need some more subtle descriptive words in your language.

To add to the annoyance levels, you might recall the fun with the flybridge follow up lever. Well, guess what, when we fired up the autopilot to take the boat for the lift out, it would not boot at all. Same issue again. So, we disconnected that ******* lever and all was well once more. At least it worked OK, but we will make a few proper sea trips before saying that with certainly and trying to figure out just what is going on up there.

We had the luxury of one work free day before our lift back into the water. How to enjoy it? Well, we "launched" the bikes using the crane:

and cycled into town for provisions to avoid scurvy. We had to share this picture from a local bathroom showroom. Sorry about the reflections that we could not avoid but we loved the inspired display:

Largs hosts a Viking festival every year by the way, hence the outfit.

The morning of the relaunch was an early start for us as the yard team begin work at 8am and we fancied breakfast before getting the boat ready to splash. However, we needn't have got up quite so early as the hoist team were doing some maintenance on the nice new machine (welding of all things, not structural though!) When we get invoiced for a lift it helps to remember that this hoist cost around £360K. Then you add in regular maintenance, replacing the strops, safety inspections, training for the team etc and it doesn't seem too bad really.

Once lifted there was a further delay as we waited for a truck to get out of the way:

until the final run up to the hoist dock and that "boat meets the water again" moment:

The Largs team were busy taking videos of the launch from their office and the pontoon which they then shared on their Facebook page. Have a look at their rather good video through this link Largs Facebook page

For anyone struggling to get that working, here is a still image from their facebook post:

The observant folks will notice that we have grown into a 55. Nope, that didn't happen by magic in the yard, she is still a 47. We think the office got a bit confused as Alex and Gisele's HUGE Nordhavn 55 used to berth here with her previous owner. However, we will check the length on the invoice carefully!

It felt good to be afloat again, we popped the boat into a nearby hammerhead that was to be our home for a couple of nights and relaxed. The main engine had a coolant top up after the change performed whilst out of the water and the humans topped up with tea. Wild party time indeed.We know how to celebrate.

Trooning then up to Largs

Being in Troon at the same time as Robert and Deborah was a treat. Especially as Deborah gave the crew a lift back from the local Morrisons supermarket with our provisions. That saved so much arm ache. We happily joined them for dinner on their yacht, then wandered around Troon the following day in what can only be described as "chilly" conditions. Still, it was a good wander around the seafront and promenade and that was an excuse for coffee and soup (yes, soup in mid-June) on the way back. We fed and watered Robert and Deborah, then prepared the boat for a little run up to Largs ready for our lift out. 

Leaving the berth was fun, we were stern on to quite a strong breeze and we had to spin the boat round by 180 degrees to depart, in a fairway not much wider than the boat is long. The captain decided that on this occasion, the thrusters would be called upon for help. At least it was lovely and sunny, so you get a little lifeboat image as it is traditional, if a little out of focus this time for some reason:

The gentle aroma of timber had grown over the weekend, several more truckloads had arrived: 

We headed up to Largs, with a pretty strong breeze on the nose so initially we reduced speed a bit to avoid throwing up spray in the short steep little waves. The further we got, the better the shelter and so we could go back to our usual manically fast 6.4 knots or so. We passed our first little castle:

and on approach to Largs were told that the berth we had been allocated was still occupied (it should not have been) and we were given an alternative. We think the owner of a little Bavaria yacht was blind or just unobservant - as we were approaching he just headed out, turning into the middle of the channel. Alex caught this on the marina webcam:

Things were a lot closer than they look in that webcam image! We hit reverse, the yacht suddenly saw us and cleared out of the way:

The trip took nearly three hours, normally it would be less but we were running a bit slower for the first little bit and  pushing into the wind and tide for the whole time which of course drops our speed a bit too:

It was lovely to see the islands, a Calmac ferry and very little traffic. Welcome back to Scotland indeed.

The afternoon involved digging out the little bikes which had been unused in Norn Iron thanks to the weather and the crew's trip back to England. There is a lovely cycle / walking path to Largs which we took advantage of. Then we were proper tourists - sitting on the seafront with a coffee and doughnut, although the crew seemed reluctant to admit to this, wanting the captain to take pictures of the view across to Great Cumbrae island instead.:

This is why the captain didn't want to take the picture. In reality it was lovely, but flattened by a phone camera and taken into the sun, very very boring and ordinary:

The following day we had another bike trip - initially into Largs town then back to the marina and south to Fairlie. We won't bother to go there again. The pencil is a strange monument: 

and here is why:

The day looked up when we had a visit from Neil, the man who developed and produced the new electrical meters in our distribution panel that we fitted and reported on last year. His Nordhavn 40, Iolair was visible from our berth:

and it was great to be able to meet in person, instead of just by phone or video call. The rest of the day was spent doing a little bit of prep work for the impending lift out and hard labour. Enough said. We did enjoy the lovely sunset too though:

Bangor to Troon

When we heard a forecast that had "variable force 4 to 5" in it we thought it must be in a radio play, not a live weather forecast. But this was for real. There was no rain either. Sounded like time for us to leave our third home and head for the lift out we had arranged in Largs. The plan was to go to Troon first, have a couple of nights there and say hi to Robert and Deborah, the owners of the very posh Malo yacht who are bertholders there. 

Naturally the tides meant an early morning departure but as it was pretty still, sunny and just lovely that was no hardship. The route is simpler than a simple thing:

and as you can see, the sea looked most benign and welcoming after days of near gale force winds:

The crew could put the fenders and lines away in relative warmth:

Sure enough, the wind speed was scary. A whole 5.3 knots:

although it did manage a not so huge 16 at times. As for traffic, there were the usual smattering of ferries plying between Ireland and Loch Ryan and only one little yacht who was plodding along on his engine thanks to the lack of wind and the direction of it:

It felt rather nice that it was our turn for good weather compared to the south of England. As we were pottering along in nice calm seas, the Round the Island race was setting off from Cowes, to go around the Isle of Wight. Things looked way busier in the Solent than up in our neck of the woods:

It looked a bit manic but the AIS picture doesn't show just how windy it was - force 7 gusts were forecast and the smaller yacht classes in the race had been cancelled the day before. From this picture you can guess how rough it got when the contestants approached the Needles:

Yes, lots of the arrows are going back towards Cowes. Sensible folks. There is plenty of video online showing yachts fighting around the Needles and St Catherine's point, on the south of the island. If any non boating readers want to get permanently dissuaded from buying a boat, just go and watch some footage.  Here is an example You Tube video  - worth a look.

Our much quieter trip continued. Once past the ferry area we had one yacht in view. After a while we only had two AIS targets shown. Splendid isolation and all that. The route passes reasonably close to the Ailsa Craig:

A proper local landmark. For the sporty folks, this is where top quality granite to make curling stones can be quarried. For everyone else, yes it is a most unusual shape.

Approaching Troon we had to make our first little course alteration of the trip. There was a cargo ship anchored right in our path waiting to go into port and to add insult to injury, it was a Chinese one too:

From the look of the wind turbine blades on board, it seems that to make "green electricity" you need to ship stuff halfway around the world in a freighter burning dirty heavy oil in copious quantities. Strange world.

Approaching Troon the crew prepared the lines and fenders then chilled on the foredeck:

Passing the tiny uninhabited Lady Isle we felt obliged to offer you another picture of a little lighthouse:

which looked in way better condition than many of the houses in Troon. Approaching the harbour entrance, the smell of freshly cut timber was strong and inviting:

We happily dropped onto the allocated hammerhead berth after a rather lovely 62 nautical mile run in lovely conditions. Worth waiting for.

Maintenance News:

Nothing to report, happy Lugger main engine and wing engine, happy electronics, happy captain and crew.