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.