The grand voyages of Pixie

A fine 48 hours

2011-04-21T11:47:00.001+01:00

24 hours later than planned we left Howth, after a bit of shopping and an Irish fry up which left us no washing up and full stomachs for the trip ahead. At just after 10:30 we slipped our lines motored out around the headland and pointed Pixie South, there was little to no wind but lots of sunshine, it was hay with about a mile and a bit of visibility, but the AIS was working wonders, picking up ships 20 miles away and warning us if any were going to come too close. By around midday the time was setting south with a fair old lick.

By the afternoon we had over 10 knots over the ground as we passed Wick Head. We were making far better progress than we had predicted, but the excitement was short lived when we reviewed the tide tables and saw that in a few hours we might have 3 knots against us. We decided to head for Pollduff to anchor for the worst few hours of foul tide. But as we threaded our way though the sand bank a breeze came up from the north east and we were able to sail. preferring to sail than to anchor and working on the idea that even if we do one knot over the ground it's not costing us anything and it's a knot further south we kept going as the sun set.

Instead of heading south we managed to make quite a bit of easting, a little too much if I'm honest as we got within sight of Wales and passed between the Smalls and the TSS, but the forecast was for the wind to come from the east the next day so we would see if the gamble paid off.

It was a sunny, if chilly morning the next day, but as I came on watch the wind, which had sadly been lacking for Dick's watch, started to build...from the east. Happy days!

With 12-15 knots from the east we reached along at around 5-6 knots and stayed that way for a few hours until the wind faded a little, so I unpacked the cruising chute. With our good run south with the tide the day before we had some time in hand so we were able to sail at around 4 knots in the warm sunshine and gentle swell until that breeze faded as well.

So on went the engine. For a few hours it was windless, hot and sunny, not great for sailing, but great to be on the water. The breeze returned and the engine went off again as we sailed in beautiful conditions, such a contrast to our previous crossing.

I went down for a snooze in the afternoon, around an hour later Kirsty woke me up, Pixie was surrounded by dolphins! Around 50-60 of them in all different sizes played around Pixie for around 30 minutes. It was a beautiful experience watching dolphins playing a few feet from where I was sitting on the bow.

They went their way while we continued on ours, it was a great day sailing, the sort of day you dream about and happens all too infrequently. Even with the motor going it was still awesome to look out to the horizon as the sun was setting.

The engine's days are numbered!

2011-04-21T09:08:00.001+01:00

The events of Sunday were the final nail in our big red Bukh's coffin. We had a great, (read: completely non-eventful) 29 hour trip from Largs.

It was sad to be leaving Scotland, a beautiful country that had meant so much to both of us over the past year and to see the lights fade away over a watch, then get up and for her not to be there anymore was a strange feeling.

There was little or no wind for the trip, but the engine hadn't missed a beat, it ran perfectly and smoothly all the way. But when it refused to start, we had the indescribable sinking feeling we never got used to when something with the engine went wrong. I looked in the engine compartment and noticed a line of salt deposits running around the exhaust elbow from the exhaust manifold. This could have been far worse for us, as one day cleaning out the depths of Pixie's lockers I had found a spare.

This didn't however sort out why the engine wouldn't start. Rooting around the engine I noticed That below the cracked exhaust elbow was the connector for the engines electrics, and the water that had leaked from the crack in the exhaust has corroded some of the terminals. I couldn't be sure but it seemed likely. Whatever had caused it the cracked exhaust elbow had to be replaced, so I set to work removing it from the engine. It was corroded on to it's bracket, so it seemed like a good time to phone the experts. Dick got the number of an engineer from the helpful people in the marina office. Good news he could make it the next morning. It meant we would miss our tide window, but there was nothing else we could do so we headed out for a Guinness and a steak.

Around 10:30 the engineer arrived, took a look at the exhaust elbow and it's replacement and then took them both away with him, about 30 mins later he returned with the old elbow in 3 parts and the new one fitted on the bracket. About an hour later it was installed, the corroded wires connected and the engine was running smoothly again.

I spent the rest of the morning photographing Howth and attaching various bits of kit and wiring to Pixie. I've added a rely to our SmartGauge to switch off the Ultrasonic Antifouling if the batteries drop to below a certain voltage. I've wired the Simrad autopilot into Pixie's instruments to take advantage of its advanced features, and finally I've wired up the Digital Yachts WLN10 which transmits Pixie's instrument data to my iPhone wirelessly. It's not a piece of kit we need but it's for a piece I'm writing for Yachting Monthly. In the evening we took a Horton walk up the hill to a restaurant called Ella, the food was excellent and not to be missed.

We've got engine trouble...for a change

2011-04-17T20:36:00.001+01:00

After 29 hours, 27 of which were motoring, we arrived in Howth just before low water, we ran aground in the mud I'll fill in the details tomorrow, but we got Pixie's bow to the pontoon and managed to refuel, then went to start the engine and nothing. Looking at the engine I noticed a crack in the exhaust manifold.

We've got a spare manifold, and I've got a thirst for Guinness and steak. Good night

Back on watch

2011-04-17T03:51:00.001+01:00

I'm back on watch and have managed to avoid writing a blog to myself for just under an hour before giving in. It's not that being on watch at the ungodly hours of the morning is boring, it's not. It gives you a wonderfull remote feeling it's hard to find in modern day life. But motoring along in no wind with an auto pilot and Automatic Identification System (AIS) and not a lot of boats about, means that scanning the horizon for big ship trying to run us down takes a few seconds. So before all these gadgets came along there was something to watch out for, now I just look at the Garmin plotter and I know the name of the ship, what type of boat it is, it's course and speed, how close it will come etc. It stops short of telling me the skipper's name and his favourite colour, but it means the things that used to absorb my time on night watch, now don't.

This is no bad thing as it makes the yachtsmen who sail though the night, and through shipping lanes, safer. But it does mean I'm at a loss for things to do right now. Once I install the Digital Yacht iAIS, I'll be able to have this information on my iPhone, on the toilet for example. I'm not on the toilet now, just incase you were wondering! But even in the part of a boat, where the crew can call their own, they will still know the shipping around them. Which is why, dear reader, I have time on my hands to write a blog entry at 0319, oh bum, forgot to write the log, back in a sec....I'm back, one job an hour and I forget to do that because I writing to you. Nevermind the plotter has every thing under control. While I was below I plotted our position on the chart and we've done just under 4 miles in the last hour. Tide is against us, which is unavoidable if you go to sea for more than 8 hours.

Anyway back to being on watch. Years ago I used to think about my perfect boat while on watch, everyone thinks about something different when they have a few hours alone with only a boat and nature for company. I used to think about the perfect boat because the topic was endless. On one night I might think about a shallow draft boat to go exploring creek and rivers, other nights it might be a blue water cruiser to set off around the world, or just where the wind would take us. I couldn't afford any of these boats of course, but it didn't stop me thinking them through in every minute detail to whisk the night away. But now we have Pixie, and it feels unfaithful to think about another boat when we're alone together, so I had to find something else that's quiet to do, but what? When there is no wind, no sails to trim, no ships to look out for, no position to work out, what's left for the person on watch to do?

Blog of course! My two hours out here alone are almost over, and they have flown by. Please excuse me while I enjoy them on my own, good night (or morning as the case might be)

Homeward bound

2011-04-16T21:03:00.001+01:00

We're back!

Hurrah! Back for the last part of our trip. Pixie's bow is pointing south (ish) and we're heading towards Ireland.

Kirsty myself and our new crew member Dick flew up to Glasgow after work last night. We were picked up from the Airport by Muir from Flymingo Yacht Charters who is a friend of Kirsty's. It was gone 11 and drizzling when we had arrived, and once onboard the work started. In the 6 weeks since we left the boat I've had all manner of equipment delivered to Pixie, we're using this trip to do some gear reviews for Yachting Monthly. We're testing Tiller Pilots so we've gone from having one broken tiller pilots to having 4! With the extra crewmate Dick, Kirsty and I are able to spend more time doing nothing, which for us is novel.

Muir had kindly taken all the boxes of kit onto Pixie, so when we arrived, half the saloon was taken up by brown cardboard. Once unpacked we had a nightcap before turning in.

This morning I had work to do on the engine, I adjusted the valve clearances and went to replace the oil. The oil suction pump we bought had two pipes to feed into the sump, both were too big, so Dick and I headed off to the chandlery and then to the next door dive shop where they had the perfect bit of pipe. Getting something sorted this quickly is a new experience for me. It usually involves hunting around 10 different shops at different ends of town. We went back and drained the oil befor replacing it with fresh stuff.

Then it was time to settle the marina bill. We'd overstayed our winter berthing arrangement by 15 days, but again I was met by a welcome surprise. Largs give 50% discount to winter berth holders who need to stay on for a short time after their winter agreement runs out. All paid up and with another package I returned with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. This package contained two clever bits of kit from Digital Yacht also for me to test on the way down. One bit of kit is a WiFi NMEA transmitter, the other does the same but also transmits AIS information. Where does it transmit it to? I hear you ask. Well to any device that connects to WiFi like laptops and smart phones. All this means that I can take all the information from Pixie's onboard instruments and see them on my phone.

Once back onboard I set about installing the Simrad tillerpilot. Unfortunately it's not a direct swap for our old Navico pilot but 30 mins with wire cutters, crimps and a file to make the plug hole bigger and it was installed. It took a little longer than planned to tidy up and sort the boat out but we managed to slip our lines at 12:45, not quite the midday start we had hoped for.

It was grey and a bit chilly this afternoon. We had a couple of hours of good sailing, but eventually the wind died. Now and again we were able to get a bit of sailing in, but for the last few hors we've been motoring in 3 knots of true wind.

We had my 4 tin chilly for dinner, testing out the first tillerpilot while we ate.

Kirsty and Dick are off watch, it's getting darker by the minute. It's overcast and a bit cold, but the tillerpilot is doing it's stuff as lighthouses in the distance blink into the night.

Best go and write the log, good night

The wedding photos

2011-02-24T15:18:00.001Z

We must be mad

2010-12-22T20:07:00.000Z

Welcome back! Sorry it's so long between posts recently, we hoped to get more use out of Pixie since we left her in Scotland, but Kirsty has been incredibly busy with her work, we just haven't had the time, but now it's Christmas we do.

We left our lovely warm Victorian terraced house, half expecting to get stuck in a snow drift for three weeks, but in fact our trip to see friends last night in North Yorkshire went surprisingly well. From London to Richmond in Yorkshire in 3.5 hours, straight up the A1, little snow, more like a heavy frost and we arrived early enough to have a wander around Richmond, stop for a hot chocolate and a thick slab of cake, before hunting some very tasty pork pies.

This morning there was a light dusting of snow on the car, which was easily removed before we headed tenderly through the Yorkshire Dales. The roads got progressively worse until we reached Cumbria, where the nicely gritted black road of North Yorkshire came to an abrupt stop to be replaced by a solid white road disappearing into the murk over the moors. We kept going in 2nd gear at about 10 mph until a few miles later the road cleared and we were able to get onto the M6 and get some speed up again.

We arrived on a snow covered Pixie around 14:30, we stepped gingerly aboard being careful not to slip on the few inches of snow that was on deck and in the cockpit. First problem was that the shore power had tripped off, and the Ultrasonic Antifoul had run down the batteries to nothing. A problem with the Ultrasonic Antifoul which has now been sorted on new models, but not on the older version that we have.

I flicked the circuit breaker and Pixie stirred into life. Before we unloaded the car I set about brushing the snow off the deck, I did the side deck and the cockpit and then hit the sprayhood with the deck brush to shake the snow off. Unfortunately the deck brush went straight through the clear (ish) plastic windows, splitting one with ease. Great! Within 30 mins of being on Pixe she's already started costing me money! I went up to Saturn Sails and they said I could bring in the spray hood in and they would see what they could do. I took off the spray hood and took it in, they are going to replace both windows at £40 +vat each. They hope to have them finished by tomorrow afternoon. Good service.

Down below everything seemed fine, a few bottles of oil had frozen. Here's the Olive Oil

Everything else seems surprisingly unscathed, the beeb was forecasting temperatures of -12ºc in Glasgow while we were in the south, I was half expecting to see a solid block of ice on the saloon floor when I pushed back the companionway hatch.

So what's it like on a boat at this time of year? Well we have the dehumidifier which is pumping out a bit of heat, as well as the Webasto diesel heating. Even the oil lamp throws out a bit of heat, so it's really cosy in the saloon. Kirsty has just cooked a fine sausage and mash, a bottle of wine is going slowly, and the radio is keeping us company.

The other good thing about boating at this time of year, finding a space in the car park isn't a problem, as our car is the only car in the berth holders car park, and there aren't many other boats with signs of life. May be they know something we don't, but we're just enjoying being on Pixie. There is more room at home, and the cats are probably enjoying themselves without us, but we're enjoying ourself up here.

Just like the summer

2010-10-09T21:05:00.001+01:00

We left London at 0530 for the seven and abit hour drive to Largs. It was strange returning to Pixie after a break of 6 weeks, familiar yet alien at the same time. It was bright sunshine when we arrived, but the wind was blowing 30 odd knots and gusting to the mid 40s.

We decided to stay in Largs and work on the talk about our trip that we're going to do on Monday night for the White Horse Cruising club. Being back on Pixie and looking back at the photographs, it was almost like we'd never left, we soon got back into our old routine.

Kirsty's parents took us out for dinner in the evening which was the perfect end to a long day.

This morning we had a leisurely start, the wind was still whistling through the marina when we woke up, so there was no rush to get out of bed. Although I did make a quick visit to see what the maximum wind strength was overnight. 50.3 knots!

We went up for showers and afterwards I was waiting for Kirsty when my old colleague Simon Jinks appeared. He was doing some instructing and a crowd gathered to watch him extract their 41 ft Hanse out of her berth in 40 knots of wind.

After blowing at least 30 knots and gusting up to 48, by 3pm the wind had dropped to nothing until so we decided to go out and sail if we could. As we came to leave our berth the wind went up to 20 knots to keep me on my toes! We got out with no problems and, no wind at all.

We motored to the north of Great Cumbrae, and within a minute the wind was up to 28 knots! So we put 2 reefs in the main and unfurled some genoa and went sailing!

Here's the history of our Garmin true wind speed data

The wind went up to a constant 32-33 knots just forward of the beam. In no time at all the flat water was turned into a mogul field of 1 meter waves, with lots of spray flying around. The wind maxed out at 34 knots which Pixie rounded up into, can't blame her for that, it was blowing.

Top speed through the water was 9.8 knots. When we got north of Rothsay and the wind died. On went the engine and we motored up East Kyle, wind came and went all the way up.

We're now anchored north of Bute. The stars are out in their thousands. It's still gusting 20 knots occasionally. But the water's flat, although we've just had a 180° wind shift, the food is good, the beer is fine and the company is the best

Back to "Normal"

2010-08-31T13:00:00.000+01:00

The last three months became normal to us, but since coming back we've had to adjust to a different kind of normal.

We hired a car to bring all our gear home with us, stopping on the way back to look at a wedding venue. The next morning there were delays on the M25, so we ended up driving around the southern section to avoid the traffic, it seems nothing has changed. We arrived at home to see the front garden had thrived in the London weather, it was overgrown and just getting to the door, seemed like one of my short cuts on one of our many walks in the highlands.

Inside we were met by Gina, one of three cats we have, she didn't bound into our arms, in fact she didn't really give us any sort of welcome at all. Only after an hour or so did the cats seem to remember us. The shy one Roxy, seems to have lost a lot of her shyness and rather than making a dash for it as soon as we come round a corner, she'll now come to us for strokes. So shy was Roxy, that when Kirsty and I started seeing each other, there was a time when I doubted Roxy's existance. Now she's been sleeping by my side at night, when before she might only make it onto the corner furthest from my head.

The long weekend has been thoroughly relaxing for me, no weather forecast to worry about, no wondering what will break next, no having to make a headland at a certain time because of the tide. We returned the car on Saturday, did a bit of shopping and came back to clear the front garden in the afternoon. The greenery was reduced from the trees, bushes and hedges, and now sits in numerous bags waiting to go to the recycling centre. Gardening is a chore but you don't worry about what will happen if the wind picks up. While sailing is relaxing, there is always a "What if?" or two going around in my mind, being at home there has been none of that, and that's what has been relaxing for me.

There have been many other things to get used to and come to terms with. Getting up out of bed, rather than having to climb out, going to a bathroom as opposed to an area next to the fore cabin. Having a hot shower metres away from where you sleep, a shower you don't have to get dressed to use, you can just slip on your dressing gown and wonder down the hall. A dishwasher, a toaster and an oven that all work the way we've been brought up to expect. On Pixie, it seems perfectly acceptable to remove the contents of the fridge for a bottle of beer lurking in the coldest part at the bottom, back at home I can open the fridge, take out a beer and close the door. No longer to I have to spread the contents of the fridge around the boat, looking for a clear surface to put lettuce, cheese and other assorted cool items on, I can open the door and a beer is there to welcome me.

The memories of the cruise have turned rose tinted, mainly because the memories before Cape Wrath seems to have been replaced by the memories of Orkney and the relaxing pace of the Canals. There were quite a few times on the West Coast when Kirsty and I felt like we couldn't go on, asking ourselves why we were there? Neither of us were enjoying it, slogging our way to windward, and watching bits of our well maintained yacht break, bend or refuse to work. Me complaining about the weather, Kirsty longing for a bath. Not being able to go on deck that evening because it was too cold, too wet or too windy or all three. At the time we vowed we'd never do a trip like this again. We carried on, and now we are glad we did, we managed to sail up the north coast in a really bad summer, it's hard to imagine a worst summer to attempt a trip like we did. It's had to see another period when we'll go through something like that.

The other night we looked back at some of the photos I took. I'm a professional photographer, and will only take photos when I know they will come out well, therefore I rarely take photographs in the rain or while it's overcast, only when the sun shines. Therefore my photographic images always show the trip when it was sunny. While it wasn't dawn 'til dusk sunshine all the time (only around 4 days while we were cruising Scotland) the sun did make an appearance more than I seem to remember in my mind. There were of course times when the sun came out, but it was blowing 30 knots, and unless you notice a tree at a funny angle or white tipped waves there's nothing to show otherwise. I can also remember being in Tobermory, it was raining when we arrived, and gradually cleared up, the sun came out for 4 minutes while we were there, the photograph I have is of a sunny Tobermory.

Since coming back I've got rid of a load of clothes, having not missed them or worn them for the last 3 months I have no attachment to them. I have however had to think about what to wear again. On board, a T-shirt would last between showers and jeans would last a week. Now it's back to a daily shower and a fresh T-shirt everyday. I have to remember where my T-shirts and clothes are, having not used draws or wardrobes for three months. We didn't miss television at all, we watch 2 DVDs on Kirsty's laptop while we were away. I happily sat for 3 hours watching a GP, and Kirsty and I spent the same amount of time catching up on the Eastenders. It was nice to relax for those hours, and although we were never great telly addicts.

It was a trip of a life time for us. Now Kirsty is back at work and I go back tomorrow, it's given me a bit of time to reflect on the trip and what we gained out of it. Obviously I've gained a fiancée out of it, and there is no one else I'd rather spend my life with. As Kirsty said the other night to our friends " We had remarkably few rows" and it's true! We were living in close company with each other for 3 months, and we hardly ever spent any time apart, and I think we had about 3 or 4 disagreements in that time. When there were bad times one of us would be strong, we could rely on each other, trust each other, we knew what the other was thinking and any concerns they might have. Our disagreements weren't about anything personal, mostly they were more about the frustration of the weather and the situations we found ourselves in. By the end of the trip we were a great team, we knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, we enjoyed each others company, and we had both got ourselves through this great adventure together.

The sense of achievement is also something that makes me think. Sailing across the top of Britain was a great feeling, seeing the weather map of the British Isles on TV last night and thinking we've sailed that far. OK if I wanted a bigger ambition we could buy a bigger map. But I think we've done something to be proud of, but that wasn't why we did it, we did it because we wanted to sail around Scotland, not to get a warm fuzzy feeling when we see a map of Scotland. I also feel very proud that we did it, just the two of us, and in a 32 ft boat. Many of the places we went to we were the smallest visiting boat in the marina, bay or harbour. There were times when we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, physically and emotionally.

If I wasn't hit by a 12 tonne powerboat, and thought that I had died earlier this year, then I would say that this trip is the hardest thing I've done. Both physically and emotionally it has been draining. My accident has meant there were many things I couldn't do on the boat that I used to take for granted, from lifting our clothing storage bags around to be able to sit for any amount of time in one place while we were sailing. This made it harder for me on a physically level, there were days on the trip when walking was painful, let alone having to wind winches or pull up sails, and live at a 20º angle for a few hours of the day.

Emotionally there were times in Gairloch when we thought we were on our way again, gale after gale had gone through, our engine stopped, we got the fuel sorted, left again, only to find out we had blown the head gasket. Once over that, we found out the cylinder head was damaged, it seemed like an endless boxing match when we were already on the ropes, but no referee was there to stop it. One thing someone told me when I asked about long term cruising was "Everything happens for a reason" and after all the time we spent at Gairloch it's one of the places we have the fondest memories of, not because of all the problems on the boat, but all the people we met who helped us out.

This is the first time since May 22nd that Kirsty hasn't been more 30ft away from me for more than a couple of hours, and it's strange. If Kirsty wasn't around I had Pixie to consume my time, she's in Scotland, Kirsty is at work, I'm sat in the lounge with a sleeping cat for company. As nice as it is I think I'd rather be sailing with Kirsty.

The long goodbye

2010-08-25T23:36:00.000+01:00

In Portavadie we met up with Muir, from Flamingo Yacht Charter. Kirsty has known Muir for years, and I met him a few years ago when we went sailing to Gigha, via Sanda and back via Campbelltown. It was my first taste of sailing in Scotland, and although we were storm bound in Gigha for a day, it was a great week, and one that planted the seeds for this trip.

Muir was bringing Dipper, one of his yachts, from the Crinan Canal to Flamingo's base in Largs. We ate at the excellent restaurant at Portavadie with Muir and his crew, before sailing back in company the next day. Well as close as a 38 footer and a 32 footer can sail together. To start with the wind was light and behind us, not Pixie's fastest angle to sail, so Dipper and her crew soon took the lead. I tried to sail the angles off the wind, but we were still left behind. As we turned left up the West Kyle of Bute, Dipper was waiting for us, and the wind was on the nose. 13-18 knots of true wind, conditions that Pixie relishes. Soon we were cross tacking up with Dipper up West Kyle, matching her speed, and sometimes pulling away from her. In 14 knots of true breeze Pixie was romping up wind under full sail at 5.8-6 knots. Great speed for a 32 footer. At the head of West Kyle we were able to ease sheets a little, but the flukey winds (and local knowledge) let Dipper slip by on the inside. She caught a few favourable gusts while we were becalmed.

As we turned down to East Kyle Dipper was away into the distance and even though we goosewinged the genoa and the wind had increased to 20 knots there was no catching Dipper now. It didn't stop us enjoying a great sail though. With full genoa and main Pixie was sailing well at 6-7 knots, but holding her steady dead down wind to keep both sails full was taxing. So we furled away the genoa and sailed under mainsail alone. We were sailing comfortably at around 6 knots, as the wind steadily started to increase. It went up to 31 knots true and Pixie seemed to be enjoying it as much as we were, her top speed was 8.5 knots.

One of the great things about the Clyde is that the waters are so sheltered, and that unless the wind comes from the south there are few waves, and none of the swell from the Atlantic. It all makes for great sailing conditions. Even blowing at over 25 knots for a few hours there were no more than a few 1 ft heigh waves to show for it. Great for us when Pixie can get stopped by bigger waves.

Less that 5 hours after leaving Portavadie we were closing on Pixie's winter home of Largs. It's the biggest marina we've been in on this trip. The staff are friendly and helpful, the facilities are good (that includes the showers) there is a large chandlery where, after loosing the dorade cowling on our second day in Scotland, we have finally been able to find a replacement. They sell Gaz and diesel and have free WiFi. In fact Largs has everything you could want of a south coast marina and more. From leaving our berth, we can be on the Clyde in open water in less than a minute. No south coast marina has such easy acces to such a vast rich cruising ground.

Today was hot and sunny and we spent the day cleaning Pixie, she might only be 32 ft long (actually she's 31ft 6 inches) but there's a lot of her to clean. For the second night in a row we ate at Regattas restaurant in the marina. Afterwards tonight we went to the Largs Yacht Club and watched the sun set from the 180° panoramic views that the club has over the Clyde.

We returned to Pixie, and toasted her with the reminants of a bottle of Highland Park, she did well, and looked after us through so tough weather. It seems a shame to leave her behind.

Luxury at last

2010-08-23T17:49:00.000+01:00

3 months is quite a long time to be sailing around, and there is one thing we always look forward to in each new place we come to. The showers. We hop from port to port, like a bee, flower-hopping in the height of summer. We don’t go to harbours in search of showers, but we’re always hoping that the next facilities might be at least clean. More often than not we’re disappointed. We’ve seen the word “luxury” used to describe shower facilities too often, only to be let down, so when we saw Portavadie’s facilities described as luxury, we didn’t raise an eyebrow, or exchange hopeful glances. If only we knew then what we know now.

Yachtsmen, by their very nature, have a certain amount of disposable income. We do after all, decide to spend the summer throwing money in the general direction of our boats, however big or small they might be. Yachts aren’t cheap, so it’s pretty fair to say that sailors do enjoy the finer things in life, be that food, wine, whisky or all of the above. We’re not animals, although when sailing we’ll forgo certain luxuries like a good night sleep, a daily wash, and personal space for a good sail to a beautiful part of the world. However when ashore we like to resort to being human again. We’re not cavemen, although we choose to travel is something smaller and wetter, but with slightly more light, than the average cave. We do have certain standards of hygiene, but this simple fact seems to be forgotten by many places we’ve visited.

Unfortunately I can count on one hand the number of clean and tidy shower facilities on one hand. A good shower sticks out in our memory as rare events on our cruise. It shouldn’t be like this, all we ask is for somewhere clean to have a shower and somewhere cleaner to get dressed. More often than not, the changing area is wetter than the cubical where a powerless showers dribbles water at an odd angle. Getting undressed and then dressed while standing in a cold puddle of cloudy water, hair, plasters and toe nails really isn’t why I choose to come sailing. Our Crocs have saved our stomachs turning many times, small rafts of familiar cleanliness that float around while we shower. Crocs are self-righting, and will always land sole down when kicked off in the process of teetering on one leg trying to keep the legs of my jeans dry.

We try to erase the bad showers from our minds like bad dreams. Here are the places that stood out, not because one was better that the other, they all had their good point and bad. So here they are, in the order we discovered them.

The showers in Kilmore Quay, after a terrible crossing they stand out as being clean and tidy and stationary, they were new, with a beige tile thing happening and lots of room. The downside was they cost €2 for 2 minutes. So in a woke-up-late-bus-leaves-in-5-minutes style shower it’s just enough time for a hair and body wash before the time runs out. They do however give you a count down timer to watch15 seconds tick away as they warm up.

Next on our memorable list were the showers at Stomness. They were spotlessly clean on 5 days out of 7. They were roomy, especially the disabled shower compartment, and more like a modern shower room than a cubicle. They were mixed, which wasn’t a problem until you needed to insert your money into the timer. The timers were outside the cubicle. So once undress you had to pop a towel around you to start the timer, running the risk of bumping into a poor person of the opposite sex or a member of the public who had got lost from the ferry terminal waiting room.

The Duisdale hotel. There was luxury. But what else could one expect from a 4 star hotel? It had clean white towels, complimentary toiletries, your own room, a bar downstairs to wait for your partner, the bad news is that they cost £4.50 each, but we didn’t mind paying because they were clean and warm, only the power of the shower, which seemed to be wheezing at the effort of supplying all the water I demanded was the downside.

At Lossiemouth, the new shower facilities were good, free, cleaned regularly, powerful, with funky Mira showers that beeped and had a trendy blue light shining on the front. There were only two for the whole marina, and if we were berthed in the other basin it would have been a walk, but otherwise these were the sort of facilities we could get very use to.

Crinan was the last place to make it onto our list, the showers were large clean and powerful, everything was going their way until they stopped short of the 6 minutes promised. I was half way through a shave, Kirsty still had conditioner in her hair as the water ran dry. We spoke to the chandlery to let them know there might be a problem, and the refunded our money. Good service and good showers, while they lasted.

So that was our list of the 5 showers that had stayed with us in 90 odd days, not because they were particularly special, but because they weren’t as bad as all the others along the way. That was until Portavadie.

Portavadie has just raised the bar. OK they have a head start because the marine is only a couple of years old, but the first thing you notice about the gents bathroom is that they are warm and dry. No shallow end of a swimming pool was there to greet me as I opened the frosted glass door. The duckboards were quality wood, no trace of a previous occupant, it was though I was the first person to use them, and the floor was bone dry. The next thing that caught my eye was the size of the showerhead, large and round like a sunflower head sticking out of the wall, behind a glass door, there was no mouldy curtain to shrink-wrap you as the water comes on.

There was no timer to restrict the water, and a temperature control, not just an anonymous button that chooses what temperature the water will be. In the shower, with hot water cascading over me in a quantity that would dry a loch somewhere, I could still hear the music being played into the bathrooms, a shower listening to George Michael, rather than a man in the cubicle next to me. Getting out of the shower, was the first place I felt I could stand on in bare feet without a risk to my health. I got dressed normally, rather than if I was balancing over a bath of acid.

The sinks were spotless, with Arran Aromatics complimentary hand wash, not only that but there was also a hair dryer….and also a hair straightener! If I had enough hair to straighten I would have used it, not because I need it, but because it was there. I know what you’re thinking, that sort of luxury doesn’t come cheap. Actually it does, it was all included in the price of the berth. £21 odd for Pixie (at 9.6 metres) isn’t really that expensive. When you think about how much is spent on showers. One when you arrive, one the next morning, that £2/person for £4 for us. £17 a night for a stay in a marina, and usable “Luxury” Showers (note the capital L).

I feel at Portavadie, I’ve seen a glimpse of the future. And it’s LUXURY!

A fan of Arran

2010-08-22T22:33:00.000+01:00

Waking up and looking around Loch Ranza and the mountains and scenery that surround this pretty little harbour, it's a great view to start the day. The ruins of a castle looking over the harbour and pergola style roofs of the distillery poking above the trees in the distance. The purple heather coating the mountains, heavy clouds passing overhead, patches of green on the hill sides where the sun has broken through. So much to keep eyes occupied. But from a boat you can only see so much, getting up into the scenery is a whole new way to experience it.

We decided to do a nine mile round walk, first over the hills to Laggan, then a walk around the coast back to Arran Distillery for a tour.

The walk started off easy enough up a gravel track with sign posts pointing the way. Soon we'd lost the track, which seemed to go through a hedge on the other side of a field, we followed where we thought the track went. The track got fainter and fainter and soon the only footsteps through the boggy ground were those of sheep. We were heading in the right direction but on the wrong track. We persevered until we met what was clearly the right track, carved into the hill side. The going was much easier and once over the top of a pass between two rounded peaks we were treated to a stunning view over the Clyde.

An August weekend in the Solent would have hundreds of boats tacking back and forth. On the Clyde I counted 17 yachts. More boats sailing than we have seen since May, the difference was that these yachts were well spread out white dots, rather than collisions waiting to happen.

We decended the 260 metres down the path to sea level. Groups of red deer and birds of prey could be seen if we looked carefully up to the peaks.

Once back at sea level we found a sheltered place on the stoney beach for lunch, before walking around the coast to Lochranza. The coastal path was more like rock climbing for beginners at some points as we clambered up, around and down the rocks. Other parts of the path were like walking across a lawn. As we reached Fairy Dell it started to rain quite heavily and we got soaked on the last mile or so to the Arran Distillery.

Arran's only distillery is the 5th smallest and also one of the newest in Scotland. Unlike other island malts Arran don't use peat in the drying of the malted barley, so it lack the smokey flavour of many other malts. It does however make it a very smooth malt, that's really quite drinkable.

With the 1530 tour full we booked onto the 1630 tour, giving us enough time to head to their cafe. The cafe do selections of whiskys as tasting platters. We went for their Old and Rare selection and an Arran cheese platter. Because Arran are a new distillery, only now 15 years old, they experimented a lot with different finishes. So the spirit would mature normally in oak barrels, but for the last few months it would be transfered to a barrel that had been used to mature wine or cognac etc. The Old and Rare collection, as the waitress confessed afterwards were a selection of whiskys that the distillery used to produce. So rather than the whiskys having spent time getting old in a barrel, these had spent time getting old on a shelf, and weren't necessarily a selection of their best whiskys. Instead of mature like George Clooney, we got old like Dad's Army. A little dissappointed we joined up on the tour. Even after visiting numerous distilleries there is always something new that can be gained from a tour. This time we learnt that around £8 of a 40% bottle of whisky goes to the tax man.

This tour finished in the visitors' tasting room, where we were able to taste some more whiskys from their range. Our earlier dissapointment was forgotten as we tasted our 3rd whisky, we repaid their hospitality by buying a couple of bottles of this, their tasty single cask bourbon finish.

Clear of the Canal

2010-08-21T17:26:00.000+01:00

It's been an enjoyable time in the Crinan, a speed limit of 4 knots and overgrown greenery rubbing down the side of the boat, slows you down. Not to mention the unforgiving stone walls that they have for locks. Unlike a wooden pontoon there is no room for error, and Pixie has 1 small scratch to show where she's been. Luckily she didn't have topsides covered in canal slime the way some other yachts have.

We left the Crinan at around midday today to head south to Lochranza on Arran. The forecast was SW 4 or 5 occasionally 6, and it's a relief that the forecast is now bearing more of a resemblance to the weather we experience.

We had more than 30 knots over the deck at times but it was good to be sailing again. Canals are all fair and well, but Pixie was born to sail, and with a good breeze, and more importantly calm water, Pixie was positivly romping along at over 6.5 knots.

The wind was steadily increasing so I tucked in 1 reef, then as the wind built to over 22 knots I took in another, reducing the headsail at the same time. We were sailing comfortably and fast and then the wind died. We drifted for a few minutes until I shook out the reefs.

The wind then came back to 14 knots from nowhere and rapidly built to 30 knots apparent. Then eased to around 25 knots so I took in a reef and some genoa and we were on course for Lochranza. It was great sailing.

We picked up a buoy just as the heavy clouds dispersed, so now we're sat here in the sun, with a couple of swans after some bread

It's been good to have a boisterious sail today. The sheltered waters of the Clyde seem a luxury after the west coast, no waves, no swell, no scary tidal races. It's taken us ages to get here, but Pixie's new home waters look set for some excellent sailing.

Coast to coast

2010-08-20T20:20:00.000+01:00

The weather on the west coast has been appalling. Luckily on the Crinan Canal it has been beautiful. We arrived at Crinan on Wednesday morning and having seen the forecast we decided to make the most of the 7 mile passage to Loch Fyne. We spent most of the rest of the day lapping up the sunshine in the cockpit, finally managing to top up the tans and read a few books.

On Thursday we ventured through the first lock and gently motored along the narrow canal. Unlike the Caledonian, in the Crinan canal you have to operate the locks yourself. With two people this is somewhat tricky, but by no means impossible. Initially we got lucky and went through the first 5 or so with another boat. Many hands make light work and we were getting through them at a good pace. We decided to stop after number 8 and went alongside a pontoon for the night. We ate well at the Cairnbaan Hotel and had a little too much to drink. Neither of us slept that well. This could have been due to the alcohol, or it could have been the torrential rain waking us up. We thought we were in for a whole day of it but we dragged ourselves up and through a few more locks. This time we were on our own. Graham was on the boat and I was ashore operating the locks. By the end we were well practised and I was relishing the challenge. By lunchtime the sun came out and it stayed out. We arrived at Ardrishaig at about 1700 and promptly relaxed with an ice cream followed by a beer.

Tomorrow we'll head back out to sea as we begin the last few days of our 14 week trip.

Sunny Scotland?

2010-08-18T16:01:00.000+01:00

The anchorage at the top of Shuna was pleasant and peaceful. There was a light breeze from the south, and with our plan to head south it would mean that the trip down to Crinan would be under engine. We raised the anchor (without the tripping buoy today) and motored off towards Craobh Haven to refuel for our trip through the canal and on towards Largs.

We set off from Largs at 1200 motoring at 5 knots to get down to Dorus Mor, a narrow gap formed by an Island to the south of the Craignish peninsular. Tides through this gap can run at 8 knots, and with wind against tide is can get very rough, as photos in the guide books will testify. Today however it was a puppy compare to the wild dog it can be. We timed it just about spot on, when the tide turned on our favor we had a quick passage through and on to the entrance to the Crinan Canal. Compared to the Caledonian the entrance to the Crinan is narrow in comparison. The other difference is the way they handle the ropes. On the Caley, ropes are passed over the hook an back to you in a long loop, on the Crinan they prefer to have a bowline tied in one end and just have that over the hook at the side of the lock.

We had a nice surprise when we went top pay. We were able to upgrade our Caledonian transit licence to a two week licence which will give us longer to get through the Crinan and save us £20 as well. Worth considering if you are planning to do both canals in within a two week period of time.

We're now in the lock basin basking in the sunshine and taking it easy. There is very little breeze in here and looking back out towards the Sound of Jura, there's not much wind out there either.

When the sun comes out there really is no better cruising ground than Scotland. You just have to wait around for the sun, which can take a while

When paths cross

2010-08-17T18:05:00.000+01:00

When we woke up on Monday morning, there was no trace of sunshine, in fact in the drizzle we couldn't see a lot at all. Gone were the mountains in the distance, gone was the view into the distance, a grey blanket of murk behind the land was all that was left.

We haulled up the anchor. I say we, what I actually mean is that our windlass pulled up the anchor for us. When I laid the anchor I was trying to get into the habit of using a tripping line. Not because there was a danger of catching an underwater obstacle, but because I thought it was good practice. As the anchor chain came in I grabbed the buoy with the boat hook, but it had a bit of weight to it, thinking it had caught around weed on the bottom, I left it in the water. I took in the rest of the anchor and pulled in the tripping line from the anchor. It started to come on board then stopped. I tried to pull it in from the other side of the bow, and still it was jammed. This left us in a bit of a predicament as we couldn't be sure the buoy and rope hadn't got caught around the prop, and the light breeze and tide were taking us towards the rocks. We unfurled a bit of the genoa to get us clear of the anchorage. I took the line around to the starboard side again, and gave the lie a tug. Nothing. I took the line back to the port side and pulled the line as far aft as I could, and with great relief the orange buoy popped to the surface.

We motored to Oban Marina and berthed for the day. The marina has free WiFi and a free boat to take you from Kerrera Island into Oban. The marina also has showers, described as a luxury facilities block. But they wouldn't be what I would call "luxury", OK if you'd just spend 6 months sailing around north west Scotland and these were the first showers you found, then agreed they could be termed a "luxury" but we had a shower two days earlier, and they weren't "luxury". The Duisdale Hotel, with toiletries and clean white towels provided. That was a luxury shower facility. Having to leave a hot sweaty little room with a toilet, toenail clippings, shower and random pole, wearing a towel to put your pound coin into the box ain't "luxury"! But enough ranting about the showers, the marina itself was good, although some dog owner could have done the marina a favour by cleaning the turd their dog left at the base of the shore power bollard. Ok that really is the ranting over with for now...

We had showers and took the free ferry service over to Oban where we had booked in to do the Distillery Tour. The good thing we've found about the Diageo distilleries is that all of their tours are different. The small but perfectly formed Oban distillery had a good surprise up its sleave in the form of a taste of a single cask 10 year old. Not blended, married or watered down it was a good whisky, and one I'd happily buy a bottle of if I could, alas it's not possible, it was a fine whisky though.

After the tour we bought a couple of bottles and headed off to do a bit of shopping. Kirsty managed to find a butcher (wearing a tie, which is a good sign apparently) and we stocked up on vac packed meat for the next few days before heading to Tescos to buy the food we couldn't source locally. By now it was really raining so we caught the ferry back to the marina.

The afternoon was (as sad as it sounds) spent on the Internet. I was uploading our routes on the Team Surv website http://www.teamsurv.eu while Kirsty was looking up wedding dresses. It was the first time we'd really be able to use the Internet on a fast connection for almost two months. I think we got our mooring fees worth of Internet use between us over what was left of the afternoon.

We ate ashore in the bar and restaurant, which are two separate companies, the bar is a shed at one side of the undercover area. The restaurant was a kitchen and food was brought from the kitchen, into the rain and then to us in the undercover seating. If you're a fan of seafood, I'm sure you'll love the food, but for a meat eater like me, the choice was limited, especially when their fryer was on the blink. Burger with potato salad anyone? No, me neither. Kirsty and I both had tasty stew, but at £9 it was a bit overpriced, even considering it's island location with great view over the harbour. We returned to Pixie and had a whisky.

It was a leisurely start to the mooring, we topped up the water and diesel (from our jerry can) and spent the morning on the Internet again. We didn't have enough time to make it to Oban and back again before it was time to leave.

The wind had been gusting in the harbour up to 20 knots and then nothing. As we came to leave the berth Kirsty slipped the bow, I put Pixie astern and cast off the stern. Before we could go astern the wind caught the bow, blowing it down towards our neighbour. I increased the revs, but this had the unwanted effect of throwing Pixie's stern into the wind, and swinging her bow further down wind. Eventually the prop started to pull her stern out of the berth, just as the bow swung past the boat next door. We clipped her dan buoy, but luckily nothing else. We both breathed a sigh of relief, it was close, but we didn't do any damage, which was the main thing.

We hoisted our main and set off down Kerrera Sound. It was sunny, but the breeze kept coming and going, but once clear of the lee of Kerrera Island we had an enjoyable sail south. We crossed our path on the way up, so we have kind of circumnavigated the highlands of Scotland, well some of the highlands. The wind eventually died, then came back at 18 knots on the nose. Into a bit of a swell and chop. After motoring into it for about 10 mins we were able to ease sheets and head for Cuan Sound. Only a few hundred metres wide, the tide rushes through like a river, the water doesn't know where to go, and navigating at speed is fun, if slightly nerve-wracking at the time.

Once through the water flattened out, and we were left with 16 knots on the beam for our sail to the north of Shuna Island. Where we are now...With a whisky

Sailing away from Orkney - Video

2010-08-16T17:34:00.001+01:00

Here's a video from sailing off Orkney, listening to Julie Fowlis

When East Meets West

2010-08-15T22:22:00.001+01:00

It was a still morning on the canal when we woke. Ben Nevis was reflected in the calm black peat laden water. Out on Loch Linnhe the west coast the water was blue but had the same mirror like finish. The houses at the base of Ben Nevis really gave a scale to this giant that, until you're close, you rarely feel.

Originally our plan was to get to Oban. So we entered the lock at 0910 with Hexadex and motored out onto the West coast of Scotland 20 minutes later. Our plan was to motor against the north flowing tide and reach the Corran Narrows as the tide turned south, this would carry us all the way to Oban. It worked, as we approached the narrows our speed over the ground increased and we were on our way south west with the tide helping us. There was no wind, a clear blue sky from horizon to horizon. Kirsty and I struggled to remember another day on the water like this since we entered Scottish water.

It seemed a waste of a day to spend it tied up on Oban Marina. I'm sure there is nothing wrong with Oban Marina, but when it's a bright beautiful sunny day, a quiet anchorage seems to fit the mood. We found an anchorage about 5 miles north of Oban, just south of Lismore Island, in a small group of islands. We anchored off Eilean nan Gamhna at around 1430 and spent the rest of the day relaxing to Johnny Walker and Paul O Grady on Radio 2. We cooked dinner, then went on deck with a bottle of wine to watch the sun set and the mountains glow red in the distance.

It's now getting dark, and I've seen my first star since the June 21st at Inverie. One great day dulls the memory of quite a few bad ones. Good night

Staircase to heaven

2010-08-15T21:41:00.000+01:00

On Friday morning Hexadex the Southerly 42 rafted along side us and we cast off from the pontoon and she towed us alongside to the top of Neptune's Staircase where we would wait for the package, containing the replacement rocker shaft, to arrive from Gairloch

There was nothing else we could do to the engine until the part arrived. David and Judith and Hexadex did a great job of towing us down the canal and drop on and dropping us on a free pontoon. Safely tied up we went off to find the lock keepers to tell them we had arrived. When our engine failed we let British Waterways know, and got an address where we could get the part sent. Every lock keeper knew of our plight and were keen to find out how we were doing and if they could help. We also found out we were on the wrong side of the canal for shore power. Without an engine and with little wind in the canal we had no way of charging the batteries. We inflated the dinghy, strapped it alongside and put the Suzuki outboard on the dinghy and set off on the trip across the canal.

One benifits of our new location was the view of Ben Nevis (Nevis is gaelic for heaven)

Although the summit remained illusive for most of the time, when it was visible, it was special.

With nothing else to do we headed off into Fort William to do a bit of shopping. Firstly I needed to buy a set of circlip pliers. These are pliers that would help me get the circular clips off the rocker shaft. I'd tried to open the clips with allen keys and now have a pair of slightly bent allen keys to show for my efforts. So we needed the pliers to do the job. We also had to get some food for the next couple of days.

The next mooring we woke early in anticipation of the package arriving. We waited. Kirsty went for a shower and I waited. I read. I played on my iPhone. Kirsty came back from the shower. We waited some more. Around 1100 a beaming lock keeper arrived with the package. I cut the packaging open and there in the box was a complete rocker assembly sent from Ric in Gairloch. I took the rocker arms off and put our existing ones on. Bolted it all back on the engine before adjusting the valve clearances the way Willem had taught me. I re checked them and turned the engine over by hand a couple of times, everything looked fine. I fitted the rocker cover and ran the engine for a couple of cycles with the decompression lever across to stop the engine firing. Again everything seemed fine. There was nothing left to do but cross my fingers and hope for the best. I turned the key and the starter motor didn't engage properly. This happens occasionally so was nothing to worry about. Again I held my breath and turn the key. One cylinder fired, closely followed by the other and the engine was going. I'd just fixed the engine on my own.

It was too late to get out to the west coast, but we could get down Neptunes Staircase. We had lunch, then walked over to see Ray on Charisma, who we'd last seen in Gairloch. I went to see the lock keepers about getting down the staircase, they said the were waiting for another boat to arrive, so he'd open the gates and we could go in first.

Going down the staircase we were the only two yachts going through so we were suddenly the centre of attention. Kirsty had lots of people talking to her while I sunk lower into the lock, only to go into the next lock at talking level, only to drop out of talking range again. It was warming to hear a young boy say me "That's a nice boat" I'm not sure how vast his knowledge of boats was, but he obviously knows a good looking boat when he sees one!

By the time we were in the bottom lock, a coach load of Spanish OAPs had turned out to see us lock out. This was slightly delayed as a steam train has to pass before the could open the road and rail bridges. We were going to stop for the night at the last pontoon before the double lock down to the sealock. The yacht behind us was going down, after stopping for a quick pic we thought we might as well go to the basin before the sea lock as well.

A waiting game (or stranded in Gairlochy)

2010-08-12T20:05:00.001+01:00

So here is the update on the engine. Bukh did not have the part in stock and it would have taken a week to arrive. Not really a great solution given we have to be home in two weeks. But once again our friends in Gairloch have come to our rescue. Last night Graham had emailed Jackson (the Gairloch harbourmaster) to let him know what had happenned and to get a contact number for Ric in the hope that he may be able to help us source the spare part. By 9.30am Jackson had already spoken to Ric and left a voicemail for Graham. Ric will put the part in the post tomorrow (we had already missed the Gairloch collection time of 9am). If we are lucky it will arrive on Saturday, if not then we'll have to wait until Monday. In the meantime Charlie Menzies, a shipwright who lives on his junk on the next pontoon along, had a look at the engine. He felt that there was nothing more sinister wrong. That was a relief.

The lock master here has also been very helpful, but there is not much he can really do. Our plan is to head down the canal tomorrow to Banavie which is a bit closer to civilisation and to the sea lock where the part is being sent. Some more helpful people on a Southerly yacht have agreed to tow us down the 6 mile stretch of canal.

In order to try to take our minds off the whole situation we took ourselves on a walk to Spean Bridge. The walk was lovely. The destination was not. More tourist tat and over-priced, poor quality food. Even Graham rejected the cake on offer in the woollen mill/whisky shop/tea room. I know you get places like that in every tourist trap in Europe but it really is a shame when this country has so much more to offer. The Scottish government should shut them down and give local communities the chance to profit from the opprtunities on their doorstep. You only have to look at Gairloch as a shining example of what can be achieved - great food, lots of choice and at fair prices. And not a furry haggis or faux cashmere tartan rug in sight!

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Yesterday all our problems....

2010-08-11T22:41:00.000+01:00

This morning and all the way up until around 15:40 this afternoon all our problems seemed so far away. Now unfortunately it looks like they are here to stay.

We were happily motoring along at 5 knots the engine was puttering along as normal, then instead of puttering it went putter putter putter bang putter bang and stopped. We checked the engine visually and then the oil. Nothing seemed amiss. I tried to start it again and all was not well. So in no wind we put the sails up. We had 6 miles to sail to the end of the loch. The wind came and went and was flukey. One minute there was no wind, seconds later we were tearing along in 18 knots of breeze. It took us a few hours to get to the end of the loch and into a depth we could anchor.

We tried sailing up to a mooring pontoon, but the wind died and we'd have to turn a corner with the wind on the nose and a had narrow channel to tack up, then a hire boat came out of the rain. We waved them down and they were able to tow us to a pontoon.

A whisky and curry later I thought I'd take the rocker cover off and see if I could see any problems.

This is what I saw

The rocker arm shaft has sheared. We now have the task of getting a replacement, and getting on our way again.

Hopefully it has't caused or way caused by any other damage.

Just when things were going well for us at last. Boats eh?

Slowing down

2010-08-11T13:27:00.000+01:00

We have been on the canal for 3 days now. It has forced us to slow down and enjoy the ride. It's nice to have no tide or strong winds to bother about. The landscape is idyllic - mountains shrouded in cloud, overhanging trees draped in moss, deer grazing and families of ducks. At each lock we come to we are greeted by a friendly lock keeper - always happy to chat, they come from all walks of life. Although the locks are all hydraulic these days they were once manually operated. The old mechanisms still remain as do the lovely old lock keepers' cottages - reminiscent of the Bridgekeepers Cottage on the Forth & Clyde canal where I grew up.

Last night, after a very rainy trip up the flight of locks, we moored up at Fort Augustus. Being at the western end of Loch Ness it is extremely touristy and certainly not the highlight of this trip! The shops and pubs have a captive audience of people willing to pay for bad service, mediocre food and the odd tacky souvenir. Having said that we had a fantastic meal at the Lovat Arms Hotel. The place was recommended by the skipper of Blueberry of Lorne who we met in the locks the previous day.

This morning we woke to more torrential rain. After picking up some supplies we headed on up the canal. Just ahead was the Lord of the Glen, a luxury cruise ship that tours the Great Glen and the West coast. It was a pretty tight fit in the locks. When we got to the next lock the lock keeper was just finishing his breakfast. Apparently every time the Lord of the Glen passes through the chef hands him a full Scottish breakfast for his trouble! We are now waiting to get through the Cullochy lock and into Loch Oich. Unfortunately it is lunch time so nothing much is happenning!

And here we are entering Loch Oich

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Locks and lochs

2010-08-09T22:54:00.000+01:00

It was a wet and windless start to this morning in Cromarty when we left the mooring at 0700. We motored out of the entrance to Cromarty Firth against a slight tide, but once on our way to Inverness we had a good tide with us - a knot a a half most of the time, but passing Chanonry Point we had 4 knots of tide with us.

Chanonry point is one of the best places in the UK to go dolphin spotting from the land, and even at around 0830 in the morning there were a small group of people out to see them. We weren't disappointed either, with three groups of dolphins around Pixie as she passed by.

We slowed to 4 knots, but we were still making 6 knots over the ground, and we were in danger of getting to the sealock of the Caledonian canal too early, when a strong cross tide would be flowing over the entrance. We arrived at 1030 ish.

In the end we had to wait until 1045 for a 50 foot boat to arrive before we could enter the lock. We were welcomed by the Clachnaharry lock keeper who talked us through what to do and how to do it. Giving us a gentle induction into the process of rising in a lock. With the water at canal height we were all invited inside to pay for the transit permit to allow Pixie to travel on the British Waterways Canal. At £16.80 per metre for an 8 day pass, it's not cheap, but it will take us to the west coast of Scotland to the point where we were almost two months ago. So in that respect £160 odd pounds seems quite reasonable.

Before we entered the canal it had been raining, but once in the sea lock it stopped. Initally our plan was to stop at the marina and explore Inverness, but with the sun out and a couple of boats going up the Muirtown flight, it made sense to continue up with them, otherwise we would have had to wait for a boat coming down before we could climb the flight. A lock is two lock gates that enable a boat to travel up or down different levels of water, like getting into a lift. A flight is where the top lock gate is the bottom lock gate of the next lock.

We got to the top of the Muirtown flight at 1300 ish and carried on until the last lock before Loch Ness. The speed limit in the canal is 5 knots, but we slowed down to 3 knots so Kirsty could cook bacon, lettuce and tomato rolls for lunch, before we had to moor.

The canal offers a complete change of pace. No tides to worry about, no rush, just a chance to take is some great scenery, and relax.

Another day another port

2010-08-08T23:13:00.000+01:00

Our time in Lossiemouth flew by, as time seems to when the sun is shining. We did a few loads of washing, Kirsty treated herself to a hair cut, I paid the berthing fees, replaced the gas bottle and finally found a copy of Yachting Monthly. It's been quite strange not reading Yachting Monthly for so long. The last copy I bought was in Bangor, in June, and I haven't been able to find another copy until yesterday. Having been a part of every issue since I joined in 1999, and seen the issues put together, it's weird seeing a strange issue on the shelves. It's also weird having to find a copy and pay money for it.

After lunch, Kirsty and I walked around quaint Lossiemouth. The sun was out and the weather was hot, so ice creams were required.

In the afternoon Kirsty's parents joined us, and we sat chatting in the cockpit until we went for dinner. We finished up with drinks on board until Elke and Dave went back to their hotel.

This morning we had two options for a departure time. We had to leave Lossiemouth with enough water to get out of the harbour, and time our arrival in Cromarty Firth so that we had the tide with us as we enter the narrow entrance. We came up with two times 0130 in the morning or 1330 this afternoon. No prizes for guessing which time we chose!

We had a bit of a lie in before Kirsty's parents joined us to say goodbye. We topped up with fresh water and then I set about moving the fuel filter. I'd already moved it from the back of the engine to the front to make it more accessible, but this time I moved it lower down. Whether moving the filter back to a position it had been before might have caused the air leaks, or whether moving it lower would make the life of the fuel pump easier by not having to pump diesel up from the bottom of the tank when the fuel is low, I don't know. Willem the mechanic from Gairloch suggested I move it lower down at some point, so this afternoon that's what I did. As usual it took longer than expected, but we still left on time.

One of Pixie's traits is that she doesn't like going backwards, well not in a controlled way at least. The good news is that it's predictable which way she will turn when we put her in reverse, the bad news is that she will only reverse to port (left). This made coming out of the berth interesting. Luckily Lossiemouth harbour is very sheltered, unluckily we needed to reverse to starboard (right) so Pixie would be pointing the right direction to go out of the harbour forwards. As we reversed out of the berth, what I thought would happen, did. Pixie ended up between the rows of pontoons facing in the wrong direction. So I then had to turn her around so she was facing the right direction. It must have looked strange to anyone not familiar to how prop walk effects the way a boat handles. The easiest way to describe it, is to imagine reversing out of a car parking space in a car park in a car that will only reverse to the left, when the way out is also on your left. Therefore you have to do a 7 (or more) point turn in between the rows of parked cars to get you car facing forward so you can drive out normally. It all went to plan in the end, and as soon as we were out of the harbour we got the sails up. The forecast was south east and the wind was from....north east, while we were going north west, and it veered to east when we were going west. The sun was out and for a few hours to start with we were both in our shorts.

We poled out the genoa and ran dead down wind for 6 hours before arriving at Cromarty just after 1900. We had hoped to stay on the small harbour for the night, however when we arrived there was a small motor boat on the pontoon in the deepest part of the harbour and a yacht with its tender tied alongside. Where is a harbour master when you need one? There could have been enough room in the harbour for a couple more yachts if it wasn't for the actions of those skippers. Such a shame as it looked like a nice little town. I wasn't about to take Pixie in such a small harbour with no clear place to moor so we opted for one of the yacht clubs visitors' mooring instead. The view isn't bad, though it would be better if there weren't a few half built oil rigs in the Firth. Even so their size form a distance is still impressive.

Heading South

2010-08-08T08:40:00.000+01:00

The forecast for the trip down to Lossiemouth didn't look that promising. Light winds from the south or south east meant it would be a motor all the way. We topped up the diesel tank and set off just after 0930.

As predicted the wind was light to non existant, so we motored on glassy grey waters with laden clouds overhead. Apart from spotting a basking shark there was nothing much to report until the breeze increased at about 11 am and we were able to sail at 5 knots on course to miss the Beatrice Oil Field out in the middle of the Moray Firth. A bit later Kirsty could hear an engine noise coming from somewhere. We looked around, nothing on the water nearby. Still we scanned the horizon, still nothing but there was definitely an engine somewhere. Seconds later we were buzzed by an RAF Tornado at what looked, from where we were sitting, at mast height. Sneaky pilot had come up from behind our genoa on our leeward side, turning to pass our windward side. I'm sure it wasn't at mast height, but it was low and loud as it flew past.

The wind held out, and increased as we started closing on Lossiemouth. It was about 15 knots true, so on the wind we were getting around 20 knots on deck, but we were going well with full main and a few rolls in the genoa. The wind came slightly too south for us, leaving us around 1/2 a mile down wind from the harbour mouth, so for the last bit we put the engine on.

The entrance to Lossimouth Harbour looks straight forward on a chart. But what you don't get is the scale of the walls you're about to enter. Locals fishing off the pier head look down on you as they pull fish from the water. Once in the mouth the wind dies and you are left to motor what at first appears a maze of walls. It's all straight forward, however when for the last eight hours our horizon had been 20 miles away, and now it was just metres, it felt strange.

Lossiemouth used to be a busy fishing port, we're moored infront of the fish market at the moment, but most of the fishing boats have gone and the doors on the fishmarket have rusted closed. The two basined harbour is now almost full with pleasure craft like our own, and Lossiemouth has a vibrance about its clean tidy streets. There is alfresco dining on the harbour front, miles of sandy beach and a steady flow of visitors to this appealing town. The marina facilities are good, the showers are new and clean, and the harbour is looking to the future to make the most of the space they have.

Lands End to John O' Groats

2010-08-07T23:51:00.000+01:00

We woke to a beautiful sunny day in Kirk sound. This needs mentioning because we have had far too few during our time in Scotland, so it made a nice change to look up out of the forehatch and see blue, rather than white, and for the first time in ages open the hatch without fear of getting rained on. It's nice lying in bed with the hatch open, the world behind Pixie reflected in a mirror image in the Perspex hatch. This morning Pixie had gained a friend during the night. Reflected in the hatch was the silhouette of a small black gillimot sitting on the coach roof. I managed to get a few photographs from out of the hatch and some from the cockpit before it flew away.

The tide started to run south at around 1330 that day, so it left us a bit of time for one last Orkney Ice Cream, and a bit of shopping. We moved Pixie to the otherside of the bay, inflated the tender and went ashore.

Near the Italian Chapel is the Orkney Wine shop, selling Ice Cream, Orkney Fruit Wine, Celina's Jewllery, Scottish chocolate, and other local crafts. When we first met Celina, after she collected us from Stomness, she told us about the fruity wines and confessed a liking of their Strubarb. Strubarb, if you haven't guessed is a blend of strawberry and rhubarb. We bought ourselves a bottle, and left one as a surprise for Celina, along with a thank you card. We then just had enough time to eat our ice creams before heading back to Pixie.

With Sprite the tender safely stowed, we upped anchor, put up the mainsail and set off. During our time in Scotland I have been haunted by a tune sung in gaelic we've heard on the radio on folk nights quite a few times. Attempts to find out the artist and the name of the song (which, of course, is in gaelic) using the iPhone application Shazam have failed because the recordings are live and while Shazam is good, it doesn't work with live unrecorded music. So it was with some delight that I heard the tune played on Radio 2 recorded at the Cambridge Folk Festival and we were able to get the artists name. She's called Julie Fowlis and the song is called Hùg Air A Bhonald Mhòir. Thanks to the wonder of the iPhone I can increase the size of my music collection at anchor in a bay off Orkney. Many hours later when the album had finished downloading we were able to listen to her album Cuilidh. This happened to coincide with us leaving Orkney. The sun was shining, the wind was behind us and we were leaving the islands we'd spend so much time (and money) trying to reach. The sun light made the green islands glow on the way out, once clear of the sound and on course we got out the cruising chute for the first time since we reached Scotland around mid June. Gaelic music on the stereo, fond memories of beautiful, mystic and secretive Orkney, the sun glowing from above, blue sky, deeper blue water, a fair breeze, Pixie sailing effortlessly under her brighlty coloured cruising chute, and my fiancé opposite me smiling away. It has to be one of the best times of the trip for me so far. After everything that we have been through, that was one of those special times that seems to make everything worth it. I would say it's priceless, but unfortunately Kirsty and I know more or less how much that moment has cost us, and that's not including the engagement ring!

Like all good things it came to an end the wind came around slightly forward of the beam, and we had to take the cruising chute down, then once we were south of John O' Groats the wind faded, we sailed for as long as we could, it was rewarding to know we had sailed from one end of the country to the other.

Eventually the wind died, it clouded over and started to rain. Heavily.

We got to Wick around 1930 before seeing what Wick had to offer. Secretly we hoped for fish and chips, but in reality it was a very cheap curry and beers from the local Wetherspoons.

Wind magnet

2010-08-04T19:17:00.001+01:00

Last night we had a cracking burger each at Helgi's which overlooks the harbour in Kirkwall. It was a fine burger and left us full up. This morning we went and stocked up on our provisions from Tesco before setting off to catch the east going tide from Kirkwall.

The plan was to sail around to Wick, a 9-10 hour sail. The forecast was west or southwest 4 or 5, which was how it started off, we had a nic. Sail with a south west 5 as we headed north to "The String" as we were sailing along at around 6 knots through Shapinsay Sound. We were going well all the way down to Mull Head, at which point the wind backed around to the South. On the nose for the 8 hours to Wick. We sailed for around an hour until we reached our course line south. The wind was a steady 12 knots. We then had to make a choice, keep beating out east with fingers crossed the wind didn't veer to the west again. Or put the engine on and motor south into the wind. We chose the latter. There wasn't any swell or much of a sea, but what small waves there were were enough to scrub some of Pixie's speed. The going was boring, and we weren't looking forward to 7 hours of it. So we changed course to Holm Sound to anchor in Kirk Sound.

We headed west, and the wind went from South to South west, so we altered course back to go south. A few minutes later the wind came on the nose again. Enough was enough, we pointed Pixie west again, the wind followed us around 5 mins later, coming around and blowing from the west, before fading.

We're now anchored in Kirk sound, and the wind is blowing 14 knots from the west. Perfect for sailing south to Wick, but now the tide will be against us!

So now we're relaxing at anchor in the sound where a German U Boat snuck through into Scapa Flow and sunk the HMS Royal Oak. To stop this sort of thing happening again Churchill got the Italian POWs to build barriers to enclose Scapa Flow's eastern side and link the island to the east together. The barriers have created two anchorages in Holm Sound.

Very nice they are too

Sparkly things

2010-08-03T17:54:00.001+01:00

Kirsty has had to wait since June 18th for a proper ring. A ring not made of tin foil anyway. Along the trip I have tried to make something a little bit more hard wearing from twigs, electrical wire, etc but none of my attempts last.

When we arrived in Orkney our first job was to commission a real ring from local bespoke jeweller Celina Rupp. Yesterday, on the mooring off Eday, Kirsty got the call she had been waiting for. Her ring was ready!

This morning we left the mooring at around 1100 in order to catch the favourable tide down to Kirkwall. The wind was just off the starboard bow, but just fine enough to sail around 40° off the wind. True wind was about 12-15 knots when we set off so we had a great sail south. No waves, no swell, it was like being in the Solent, except it was empty and beautiful. The sun was shining and Pixie was eating up the miles with ease. The wind built slowly to around 21 knots true, so we reefed the genoa and kept going. With the tide under us our speed over the ground was 9 knots at times, it really was a good sail.

We tied up in Kirkwall and went for lunch. Celina arrived at 1500 to pick us up and take us to her house and workshop. Kirsty had been nervous about seeing the ring, and Celina admitted in the car that she was nervous too. After all if you see a ring and like it, you can buy it. But commissioning a piece of jewellery from thin air is different, we only had some rough sketches and faith in Celina. We needn't have worried though, the ring looked stunning. Sparkly and unique.

Unfortunately the camera on my iPhone really doesn't do the ring or Celina's work justice.

It is beautiful.

A day on Papay

2010-08-02T16:39:00.001+01:00

Regatta day in Westray is a big day in the island's calendar. Unfortunately with Pixie in full cruising mode she's not spritely, we carry 200 liters of water, have a 20 kg windlass and 65 kg of anchor and chain, we have an outboard, wind generator, radar pole, dinghy etc we also only had a few days on Westray, so to spend the day racing would have been a missed opportunity to look around the island. While all the boats were racing we went to the RNLI stall on the pier, bought some raffle tickets and cakes and set off on our tour of Westray. The reason I'm backtracking slightly is that I usually buy tickets for the RNLI raffle out of support for what they do rather than to win a prize. Although having said that I did once win a gallon of Famous Grouse in an RNLI raffle some years ago. The first prize (and I thought only prize in this raffle) was a hamper full of goodies from Westray and Orkney. There were however some more prizes in the raffle as we found out that evening. A gentleman came down to Pixie with a box that we'd won in the raffle! With some excitement I opened the box and found a pair of mugs.

They don't go with anything else on board Pixie, but we'll remember where we got them from.

That evening we went to the pub where we got chatting to the crew of Harmony, before leaving them and going the the Westray Regatta Dance. Kirsty was disappointed she didn't know any of the dances, I was slightly relieved. While at school, Scottish pupils are taught Scottish country dancing on the run up to their Christmas Dance. So being brought up in England I didn't have the foggiest was was going on. It was all very impressive that a full age spectrum of the community can hit the dance floor, dance in coordination with each other without crushing each others feet in the process. Everyone seemed to know the dances and it had a really good friendly atmosphere. We cycled back at gone 1am in darkness with no lights on our bikes. There was no traffic around at all. Not something I'd recommend in other parts of the country though!

The next morning came far too early, although it was 9am when we woke up. We had to catch the 11am ferry to Papa Westray. The harbour master also works on the ferry over to Westray's smaller neighbour. We took the bikes and just after we arrived it started to rain. If the next ferry wasn't until 1700, I think we'd have gone back to the boat there and then. It was a cold and miserable ride up to Holland Farm where the rain finally stopped. We took the bike down the track to see the Nap of Howar, the oldest standing homstead buildings in Northern Europe. Similar in age an appearance to Skara Brae, it didn't have a fancy visitors centre or paths that must be adhered to, instead it was in a neatly mown field and we were free to walk around and into this ancient monument, and really get a feel for the small space inside these two small stone buildings.

The we retraced our step back to Holland Farm where we had a look around the small but facinating Bothy Museum. It gave a really good insight into how life would have been on a farm on Papa Westray in the early 1900s.

From there we cycled down to the beautiful white sandy bay of South Wick, where we left the bikes and walked alongside the turquoise waters with seals keeping an eye on us.

Back on the bikes again and we went to the airport, where the shortest scheduled flight in the world lands at 2 mins from Westray it's in the Guinness book of records. Next it was off to St Boniface Kirk before heading to the RSPB reserve at the north of the island. We sat in the hut on the hill looking at all manner of birds from Skuas and Gannets to Red Shanks and Oytercatchers. All too soon it was time to catch the ferry back.

This morming we pottered about on the boat before we left Pierowall at around midday to catch the southgoing tide to Ferness Bay on Eday. Only around 12 miles away, it puts us in a nice position for getting to Kirkwall tomorrow. The wind was 6 knots at the begining, but we were in no rush so we sailed down wind reach the heady speed of 2.8 knots until the wind incresed to 8 knots then we were sailing gently along at three and a bit knots. Once clear of the skerries we went through the unsurveyed waters towards Stanger Head, home to Puffins and lots of othe sea birds. We'd been told the it's possible to sail close to the cliffs, but I still kept a few hundred yards off them, although apparently if you keep outside the creel buoys you'll be in plenty of water, but don't blame me if you crash your boat!

The breeze picked up to 10-12 knots and we had a really nice sail today, and if you've been following the blog you'll know how much that means because they have been far to few of them over the last two months. With the wind on the beam and the tide under us we could have kept going for hours, but Ferness was too few miles away and we got there in no time. We dropped the sails and were just about to anchor when I noticed a big red mooring buoy to the south east. In Orkney visitors buoys are red, and sure enough we'd found ourselves a visitors buoy that we didn't know about. We tied up to it and have spent the afternoon relaxing on board.

Head in the clouds

2010-07-31T21:00:00.000+01:00

We've had a busy time in Stromness over the past week, there really is so much to see and do, and we didn't see everything. While we could have stayed longer, we also wanted to explore the other islands that make up Orkney. Originally our plan was to leave on Thursday, but the wind was North west 5, so we took the opportunity to catch the ferry to Hoy. It's only 30 mins away but it means going through the Sound of Hoy and Burra Sound at spring tides. The seals enjoyed jumping through the standing waves that form as the tide squeezes through these narrow gaps between islands. I was thankful we weren't on poor little Pixie, she would have been overwhelmed by the waves that were forming.

Once ashore we set off on the 6.5 mile walk between the hills of Hoy to Rackwick then on to see the Old Man of Hoy. The walk through the valley was pretty, and although the track was very rocky in places, it was a good walk. Then it was a tiring walk up the cliffs to this magnificent stone stack. There was a bus we could have taken to Rackwick at the base of the cliffs, which we could still have taken back. The path to the Old Man has recently been re surfaced and winds it's way through the heather moorland at the top of the cliffs.

On our way up we walked up into the clouds, losing the spectacular views as we did, but following the red stone path took us to the cliff edge overlooking the Old Man. The wind was blowing mist and drizzle over us as we watched a couple of climbers working their way up this 280 metre pillar.

We found a spot of shelter to eat our packed lunch, before walking the 6.5 miles back to the ferry, arriving 30 mins before it left, we thought we'd stop at the Beneth-hill Cafe, which was a mistake to be honest. They have a captive audience waiting for the ferry, if they didn't, they might not survive. They had run out of fresh coffee, vanilla ice cream, banana ice cream, and their hot chocolate was instant just add water and all the were asking for a cup of Cadbury's hot chocolate was £2.50. I had a bit of tiffin to go with my £1.50 can of Irn Bru, crushed digestive biscuits, butter, and sugar mixed together to form a crumbly layer of cheese cake base covered in a 1/4 inch of white chocolate is not what I consider to be worthy of being called Tiffin.

The ferry back was more dramatic as the tide was in full ebb and in Burra Sound 1-2 metre high standing waves had formed. The Hoy ferry is substantial so took them and the 6+ knot tide in her stride.

The forecast for Friday was for east or south east becoming variable, 3 or 4. We had a force 3 from the west then northwest on the trip around to Westray. So we got up at 0600 to leave at 0640 to catch the last of the ebb to take us west out of the Sound of Hoy then catch the flood all the way up to Westray. With little or no wind we had to motor the whole way, not very exciting, but more fun than if it had been blowing like the previous day.

We arrived at 1345 and we were met by the harbour master. Like many of the north Scotland harbour masters Pierowall's can usually be found in overalls, rather than the dark blue jumpers and white shirts of their south coast counterparts. A chatty man with a soft Orcadian accent which flows like poetry. He was expecting 20 yachts in for Westray's annual regatta. Sadly only 6 yachts turned up from Kirkwall to race, but a ferry load of dinghies arrived and were craned off one by one.

We watched the start of the racing from Pixie's cockpit before heading off to pick up a couple of hire bikes. I have three bicycles at home in London, so although I wasn't expecting anything like my own bikes, I have seen better bikes at the recycling centre. It wasn't quite what I'm used to, but they got us to Noltland castle, on to Noup Head and back via the archeological site where the Westray Wifie was found.

Standing a couple of inches high the Westray Venus, to give it its official name, is the oldest portrayal of a human figure ever found. Dating back almost 5000 years it's on display in the Westray heritage centre which we visited yesterday.

An island full of surprises

2010-07-27T20:58:00.001+01:00

Graham here on Kirsty's account.

Orkney has been fantastic so far, anyone with a passing interest or more in history can't help but be in awe at all the historic sites around this beautiful island.

Some sites date back further than the Great wall of China, the Pyramids and Stonehenge, and 3000 years before the nativity. Then there are Norse inscriptions, Viking villages, iron age settlements, standing stones and archeology in action.

Skara Brae is a Neolithic village, and is in an amazing good state. Little imagination is required to put yourself in the houses, mainly because they have built a replica that you can walk around. The village was exposed in a storm in the 1800s which exposed it from the sand dunes where it lay undiscovered.

Looking around the village overlooking the sea, makes you think about the people who inhabited the village 5000 years ago, and the people who laid the stones so carefully on top of each other. Then there was Skail House, built in the 17th century where you can see a dinner service from the Resolution used by Captain Cook. Incredable to think that Captain Cook had eaten off those plates.

Then we had the first of many informative and entertaining guided tours. This one was on the Brough of Birsay a Pictish settlement that also had a number of Norse longhouse remains. Before the tour we walked around the island and got close to some puffins on the cliffs and enjoyed the views from the cliffs.

Yesterday we booked a 6pm tour around Maes Howe, an impressive burial mound, with Viking graffiti inside. But before that we spent the afternoon in Kirkwall, visiting the cathedral of St Magnus, before heading off to see Andrew Appleby the Harray Potter at Fursbreck Pottery.

This morning we headed to the Ness of Brodgar, an archeological excavation in progress. Where we had the best guided tour so far, it lasted almost 2 hours and was excellent. There was no admission fee, but donations are welcome, and it seemed rude not to leave a donation. The site has hit the headlines a number of times for finds and the size of the buildings they have discovered.

This afternoon we went for yet another guided tour, this time at the Broch of Gurness, an ironage settlement over looking Eynhallow Sound, with walls over 5 metres thick it was a substantial structure.

When we first arrived in Stromness, I recognised the name and make of one of the yachts here, having photographed her when Yachting Monthly did a test on her a few years ago. Unlike most of our new boat tests Roy, the owner was on board at the time. So on Friday last week I knocked on the hull, and Roy popped his head out of the hatch. Roy set off from Plymouth on June 16th and is half way around sailing around the UK singlehanded in just 12 weeks, having made it here in 6 going outside Ireland and up through the Outer Hebrides he's on track for doing his trip within his time limit. Unlike us.

You can follow his progress at http://www.roygoodman.com over the evenings we've been to each others yachts for drink, and tonight we're off to the pub as Roy is setting off for Westray tomorrow. So I'd best be off.

The Orcadian experience

2010-07-24T19:24:00.000+01:00

We have kept ourselves very busy since we arrived in Stromness. On Friday morning we met up with Celina Rupp, a jewellery designer who will be making my engagement ring. Celina was kind enough to collect us from the marina and take us to her house which is where she works from. It was very exciting to talk through the designs with her. Fingers crossed she'll be able to have the ring finished before we leave Orkney.

After lunch we went for a short walk along the coast line, ate ice cream and explored the sights of Stromness. We then caught up on boat chores like laundry, ate sausage and mash and went to the pub. This week is 'Stromness Shopping Week' - a week of festivities and family fun, accompanied by a large number of teenagers consuming large quantities of alcohol. We were kept entertained by a guy playing the bagpipes on the boat opposite. Somehow the evening disappeared and before we knew it it was almost 1am. After all that we thought we deserved a lie in this morning. This is supposed to be a holiday after all!

The main activity for today was a tasting tour at Highland Park - Scotland's most northerly distillery. We were able to sample 5 different whiskies, from 12 to 25 years old, ably advised by senior guide James. And the great thing was that they provided transport so no need for one of us to drive, take a taxi or negotiate public transport. After all that we were feeling a little worse for wear and had to resort to a fish supper for dinner. We'll pop out in a bit and will go and see how the festivities are going.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Orkney at last

2010-07-22T21:49:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time coming but we finally made it to Orkney this afternoon. It has given us a fantastic sense of achievement to get this far after everything we've had to endure on the way. Getting around Cape Wrath was a turning point and a relief to get past that infamous headlands. Then just two days later we have another feather in our cap. Reaching Orkney. 1221 miles, a day short of two months and we have reached our goal. There were a few times when I didn't think we would make it. Not the rough weather when we were sailing, I knew we would always get through that no matter how unpleasant it was at the time, but with the engine problems and what seemed like and endless string of low pressure systems trying to flatten us, our chances of getting here seemed slim at times.

We set off at 0430 from Loch Eriboll, motoring into the wind, but as soon as we could we hoisted the mainsail and unfurlled the genoa and pointed Pixie towards Orkney. As we cleared the Loch the sun rose above the headlands to the east. Although the sun was out, the NW breeze was still cold. We allowed ourselves 10 hours to cover the 50 miles, as we had to be at the entrance to the sound of Hoy for 1435 to catch the tide in. As it was, we had a cracking sail and arrived an hour early. A small pod of dolphins joining us as we approached the isles.

We could have sailed around waiting for the tide to turn in our favour, but we were making good speed, so went in against the tide with no ill effects.

Stromness looks and feels like St Peter Port in the channel islands, or Fowey with lots of buildings backing onto the harbour. But unlike their southern counterparts there are no fancy facades or vast selection of restaurants. Stromness seems to be shy in comparison, the long main street is laid in flagstones, and houses and shops appear similar, only by looking in the window or above the door do you find out which is which.

A turning point

2010-07-21T20:08:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was another bright, sunny day. We had planned to head for Loch Laxford, just south of Kinlochbervie, but following a short anchor stop at the Badcall Islands, we decided that conditions were right for making for Cape Wrath. Despite what people may think, the name of Britain's most northwesterly headland has nothing to do with the angry, rageful seas that are common here, but is in fact derived from the Norse word 'hvarf' meaning 'a turning point'. And it really is a turning point for us. For the last 6 weeks our sole objective has been to head north, now we have turned the corner and are heading for a completely different part of Scotland, both culturally and geographically. Once safely anchored in Loch Eriboll we heated up our pre-prepared chilli (which was much needed as a cold northerly breeze was picking up) and cracked open the bottle of champagne which our friends Sam and Mags had given to us to celebrate this milestone. This voyage has been so much more challenging than we had anticipated and there have been times when it felt like we'd never get here, but we persevered and here we are, further north than either of us have sailed before.

Today we woke to a different picture. Grey, stormy sky, rain and a force 6 from the north. We weren't going anywhere so we stayed in bed until midday! We had an extremely lazy day - reading, preparing food for tomorrow, showering (more complex than on land believe me) and reading up on the next part of our journey. We were kept entertained by Isles Radio which is broadcast from Stornoway. It's not quite like Naked Video's 'OHBC News' sketch but not far off either! We are currently listening to the Indy music programme which sounds like it is being broadcast from a teenage girl's bedroom. Actually it probably is...

We're all set for heading for Orkney tomorrow. Weather permitting we'll be off at 0400 in order to arrive at the Sound of Hoy before the 6 knot tide sets in. If conditions are poor when we get out there then we'll make for Scrabster instead.

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Two Lochs Radio Interview

2010-07-20T13:01:00.000+01:00

While we were in Gairloch we were on Two Lochs Radio. Thanks to Alex, here is the full interview

The interview with Kirsty and Graham

Beautiful Scotland

2010-07-20T10:29:00.000+01:00

The sail from Lochinver to Loch Nedd was memorable for so many reasons, good sailing, sunshine, rounding the last major headlands before Cape Wrath and nothing going wrong.

It's disheartening spending months preparing Pixie for this trip only for things to break, go over the side enroute or be storm bound through what has seemed like an endless stream of low pressure systems slamming their way into the west highlands of Scotland. So to have two days like we've just had really means a lot to us.

We woke up looking skywards out of the fore hatch, the way we do in the morning. But rather than the grey fluffy clouds we've sadly come to expect, the sky was blue! The cups on the anomometer at the top of the mast were turning slowly and the sunlight was flooding into the cabin. It was a beautiful day. Loch Nedd was green with trees, small cottages poking through the foliage. We ate breakfast on deck in the warm sunshine, before tidying up Pixie to go up Loch A' Chairn Bhain for the day. It had clouded over by the time we left, and the light breeze was on the nose so we put the engine on.

We could have made a dash for Cape Wrath, but we're not likely to sail in these parts again so we thought we'd take the time to absorb the scenery. We motored up to Loch Beag, before dropping the anchor and having lunch. Shortly after lunch the sun came out again, so we relaxed on deck for the afternoon, something we haven't been able to do enough of on this trip. So it was a great way to spend the day. Sitting in the cockpit, reading Harry Potter, surrounded by mountains valleys and waterfalls, all in bright warm sunshine.

At about 1700 we left the anchorage sailing at a very relaxing 1.7 knots. What little wind there was soon died, so we resorted to the engine to take us to the anchorage off the Kylesku Hotel where we had dinner.

While ashore the wind died, leaving Pixie floating on a mirror, with the mountains around the Loch reflected in the water. We came back, poured a whisky and watched the sunset, and took in the stunning scenery that this part of Scotland has to offer.

Two days with nothing going wrong, and the sun shining...I could get used to this sailing lark!

I don't believe it!

2010-07-18T23:01:00.000+01:00

The weather yesterday was wet, grey and horrible. Today started off grey, and the forecast was indicating it might go up to a 7 for a time, so we thought we'd go for the long walk we were going to do yesterday. No sooner we were leaving Pixie than it strted to drizzle, but we set off on the 3 mile walk to Inverkirkaig, then a 2.25 mile walk up to the Kirkaig Falls.

We left around 9:30 and got back at 14:30, in time to watch the RNLI and Coastguard helicopter display. On the way back we checked the forecast which said 4 or 5, for the rest of the afternoon. We thought about making a run for it to get around The Point of Stoer, but it was blowing a 6, which wasn't forecast. So I didn't want to chance it.

We sat below out of the wind listening to Johnny Walker's sounds of the 70s during which the strength of the wind decreased. A quick look at the tide tables told me that we were too late to get the tide all the way around The Point of Stoer, but we could catch it most of the way and with the wind backing from SW to SWS it would give us a easier angle to sail, so we went for it. After I had decided, the wind, which had been a sociable 16 knots, built to 22, gusting at 26 when the time came to get Pixie out of her berth. Once into Lochinver we were seeing 26-30 knots over the deck, but by the time we'd got the sails up it was a steady 24 knots on the beam. With two reefs in the main and a handful of genoa we set off up the coast. The wind faded to 16 knots so we shook out the reefs and had a good sail with16-18 knots on the beam and a few big waves to make things interesting.

The wind slowly increased to around 20 knots so we reefed the mainsail and kept the speed in the 6 knot range. In no time we were closing on the Point of Stoer, and we got around before the tide turned. The SW had built a fair sized swell, a few breaking waves got past Pixie's sprayhood, but one managed to hit Pixie, sending a wall of water over the whole deck and us. It was like being hit full in the face with pillow while being rugby tackled, water went everywhere, down our necks and fronts leaving 6 inches of water in the bottom of the cockpit. There was no damage, but we were both soaked.

We carried the foul tide past the old man of Stoer, a stone stack off the cliffs, and once past the head of Stoer there was no waves, and no tide. Creaming along at 6-7 knots with the wind on the beam and the sun shining. Ok it was 8pm, but it was one of the best sails of the trip. We entered Loch Ned at just gone 21:00. And for the first time since Cornwall, nothing went wrong or broke. Sunshine, a fair wind and Pixie still in the same condition as when we left? It's a miracle!

Rain rain go away

2010-07-17T16:15:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Lochinver yesterday lunchtime. We motored the whole way as the wind was pretty light. It didn't stay like that for long. Before long the wind was howling and the rain was horizontal. We had to take down the cockpit tent for fear of it blowing away!

Our main job for today was to tighten the bolts on the cylinder head and check the valve clearance. Unfortunately we didn't have the necessary tools. We managed to buy some of them from the well stocked chandlery (which interestingly also sells make up), and borrowed a torque wrench from the coxswain of the RNLI station. Graham worked on the engine while I stocked up on provisions from the butcher.

Lochinver is a funny place. In the past it would have been major hub for fishing boats, but now with the exception of a few large Atlantic going boats it seems pretty dead. The Fisherman's Mission has closed and the streets are empty. Although we're probably not seeing it at its best in this wet, windy weather. We were going to go for a long walk this afternoon but we both can't really face going outside. It feels like November!

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An emotional farewell

2010-07-15T22:45:00.001+01:00

Photo: Jackson Elder

I felt very emotional when the time came to finally leave Gairloch this morning. We'd had so much help and met so many nice people while we were there, by the end of our time I knew more people in Gairloch than I do in our street in London. I was walking to the petrol station yesterday to get some oil for our gearbox and someone stopped to offer me a lift, it's a great place

Last night we went out for a meal at Na Mara in Strath. It was everything the Smugglers in Newlyn had promised to be, but Na Mara had succeeded in using top quality local produce to make a memorable meal for all the right reasons. It was excellent, just a pity we hadn't eaten an evening meal there before, otherwise we might have become regulars!
The people who work in Flowerdale harbour, would say hello, and Jackson the harbour master was always around to help out or have a chat in the morning. Gairloch felt more like a home should be, rather than how London feels to me. Very much like Mac at the end of the film Local Hero.

We'd been on some fantastic walks, through stunning countryside, been interviewed on the local radio, seen our engine in pieces and had so much help it's impossible not to feel sad to leave. Everyone helped to get us back on our way, and in a situation where we could have been taken advantage of, no one did, in fact people went out of their way to help us. No matter how bad the weather has been or how rotten our luck, it's the people who have made this trip for me.

So thank you Jackson, Willem, Rick and Alex, along with everyone else in Gairloch we met, for all your help and support. Kirsty and I really do appreciate it.

It was with great delight that the engine started better than it had ever done before since we've owed Pixie, and although we have to take it easy for the first few hours it took us out of the harbour and past the track of our two previous aborted attempts to leave Gairloch. The wind was light from NNW when we left, rain and drizzle filled the cold air and the clouds were thick and low. It wasn't the nicest day for a sail. Once out of the shelter of Gairloch we were exposed to a tall long swell that was to be our unwanted companion for today's trip to the Summer Isles, some what misnamed given the current weather. At times the swell would reach around 4 metres with these gentle giants dwarfing Pixie as they rolled onwards. We beat out as the wind increased to around 15-18 knots of true wind, before the wind slowly backed so we tacked to clear Rubha Reidh. Once past the headland, the wind was still backing as we eased sheets on course for Tanera Beg. Because of the swell and the wind direction going from NNW-NW-WNW-W it left behind an uncomfortable and confused sea. A pot noodle for lunch didn't help the way my stomach was feeling. I wasn't sick, but then again I wasn't feeling 100% either. So it was with some relief when we dropped the sails and motored to a very sheltered anchorage in the heart of the Summer Isles.

Now where has my signal gone?

Gairloch Day 10

2010-07-12T20:48:00.003+01:00

We had a pretty busy day today. When we woke up Charisma had already left, along with all the other boats from Stornoway. After a much needed shower we headed up to the campsite to do our laundry. Lucky for us, we managed to get a lift half way there. We had our customary coffee and over-sized scone while we waited for the washing to finish, then stocked up on meat and vegetables at Morrisons the butchers. On the way back it started to rain pretty hard and we were soaked by the time we got back to the boat. We had wanted to go for a walk but it didn't seem appealing in the rain, so Graham blogged while I attempted to tidy up the boat (which is difficult when there is half an engine dismantled in the cabin). At about 3.30pm the rain started to ease so we decided to go for that walk after all.

The walk we wanted to do started in Shieldaig which is about 3 miles around the loch, so we set off and 4pm and got to the start of the walk at about 5pm. From the start the path was really very wet and boggy and I soon had soggy feet. We climbed high above the loch and then down into a little hollow with a beautiful hill loch - it looked like a mini Scotland, with islands, rivers and the sea.

But the most fascinating aspect of this walk is that these hills were the site of a terrible air crash and most of the debris remains as a memorial to the 15 people that died. It was in 1945 when a US bomber, on its way back to the USA via Iceland, lost its way and crashed in the hills with no survivors. It was very strange to see the remains of the fusilage scattered around the hillside, engines lying on rocks and the propellor blades poking out of the water. If it weren't for the small plaque marking the area as a war grave it would be quite a frightening sight for anyone coming over the hill.

After leaving the crash site we popped over another little hill and were treated to a fabulous view of the Torridon mountains - absolutely stunning. The walk back was a little easier and less wet and as we headed back along the path to Gairloch it was turning into a very nice evening. On the way back Willem the mechanic happened to pass us in his car. He stopped to give us an update on the engine situation. Finally some promising news - he managed to get the cylinder head skimmed in Inverness and plans to re-assemble it and come down to fit it tomorrow. We have everything crossed for a successful outcome.

A night with Charisma

2010-07-12T15:08:00.000+01:00

We haven't been able to go anywhere since Willem dismantled our engine, so Pixie has stayed alongside the pontoon. On Saturday, while Willem was working on our engine, Gairloch was hosting its Big Boat Day, which was a race around Gairloch. The fleet which was almost twice the size as last year enjoyed light winds and bright sunshine for the race. Many of the yachts had come across from Stornoway. In the evening the crews went to a local pub for a prize giving and ceilidh. During the day a smart Nicholson 35 moored alongside. Charisma and her crew had come from Stornoway that morning and had drifted most of the 40 miles, enjoying the weather on the way. Charisma is owned by Ray, who usually sails singlehanded, but had gained his crew, John and Mandy in Stornaway. John had recently returned from sailing his 26 foot wooden SCOD (South Coast One Design) up to Trondheim, in Norway, for a conference on renewable energy, climbing the fjordside mountains on the way. Mandy writes for a local paper in Stornoway and is also the secretary of the An Sulaire Trust who built a full size sgoth niseach (Ness Boat) with dipping lug sail, which sails out of Stornoway.

We met Charisma's crew again at the prize giving, where Mandy impressed us with her talents on the penny whistle. Others around the pub played guitars and fiddles, song sheets were handed around, and after all the songs had been sung the room when quiet, then from the back of the room a beautiful voice started to sing, powerful and soft and clear her gaelic song hushed the room while everyone stopped to listen in awe. It was a amazing sound, her first song was a love song, her second was a piping song, both were beautiful.

Eventually we left into the rain and walked back to Pixie, for a night cap, the crew of Charisma joining us until the early hours.

Rick bought down a replacement cylinder head for us on Sunday morning, Willem arrived shortly afterwards to take both cylinder heads away to clean them up and swap the valves and their mechanisms over. The spare still needs skimming in Inverness to ensure it's flat, but our head has the appearance of being skimmed already. So there is nothing we could do until it comes back from its trip to Inverness. The cylinder head seems to be seeing more of Scotland than we are at the moment.

We spent Sunday relaxing until another boat came in and asked us to move as they had transmission problems. I explained our engine was in pieces, and they asked Charisma if they could motor round and go on the outside of them. Unfortunately Charisma had had a afternoon session on their friends boat and weren't happy to move after they had been drinking. Kirsty and I joined Mandy on Charisma as she set about cooking dinner for three boats. It was a great atmosphere at dinner, the 7 of us all sitting in Charsima's saloon. After dinner the instruments came out again, before we are retired for the evening.

Blown it big time

2010-07-10T16:05:00.003+01:00

It's not good news. In fact as Willem said "This is really shit for you". The cylinder head itself is also damaged and a 1 day job has just got a lot more complicated. We have two options: take the damaged cylinder head to Inverness to be skimmed (earliest that could be done is Monday) and re-installed, or buy a second hand cylinder head from Rick who runs the glass bottom boat and happens to have a few spare engines kicking around. That will take a lot more time and will cost more, but there is no guarantee that the old one can actually be skimmed if the damage is too deep. At £1000, a new one is simply not an option and would be a waste on an old engine like ours. Rick is going to bring his spares down tomorrow and we'll go from there.

The sun has been shining all day today which has made somewhat of a difference to our morale, but we just can't forget the fact that we have now been here for over a week, and we're dying to get on our way. We have come to the conclusion that it might make sense to leave Pixie in Scotland at the end of our 3 months rather than race to get home and miss out all the places we really wanted to see.

That's blown it

2010-07-10T13:37:00.000+01:00

Rocker cover off, exhaust manifold off, injector pipes off, cylinder head off, head gasket removed.

Head gasget blown...

Down but not out

2010-07-10T10:27:00.000+01:00

This time yesterday we were getting ready to go, after being in Gairloch for 7 days it was time to move on. Hearing Alex on Two Lochs wish us bon voyage, we felt like we were leaving friends, more so when we were waved off our berth by the other yachts who we'd come to know during our stay.

It was raining with no wind when we motored out onto the loch, everything was fine. The engine had seemed a bit reluctant to start, but it hadn't been used for a few days. It also seemed a little smokier than usual, but there was no wind and the smoke just hung on the water. After about 20 mins there was still a bit too much white smoke for my liking so I increased the revs. The engine was slow and didn't seem to be reaching full revs. Thinking there was something around the prop, I put the engine in neutral and the engine cut out. My heart sunk.

It took a lot of cranking to get the engine started again, and there was more white smoke. It wasn't looking good. The engine was running, we might have been able to get to Ullapool or Lochinver, but I wasn't happy with carrying on for 25 miles with an unreliable engine. I did a few maneuveres, and it was reassuring to see a couple of boats turn around and come towards us. So with a heavy heart I turned around back to Gairloch, waving to the yachts who'd diverted towards us. I was gutted, it was one of the low points of the trip for me. Just when we were on our way again, the opportunity to go north was cruely taken away.

We got into the harbour in time to see the two other yachts we met leaving on their way. We rafted against a new yacht Zebek, skippered by David. Zebek was a happy boat, and a beam of sunlight in what had otherwise been a very grey and dark day. "A boat of angels" was how Kirsty described them. They picked us up, fed us tea and cake, and offered to tow us down to Portree to get assistance. David was chatting to one of the local boat operators about our problem, and it turns out he has all the spares for a Bukh DV20, having just re built a couple of them. That would save us shipping time. Somone else had the number of a mechanic, who could make it to us within an hour and a half. We thanked David and his happy crew for their help, before they left for Skye.

At 13:30 Wilem the mechanic arrived, a tall, broad Dutchman, he made Pixie's engine look miniature. Pixie's engine wasn't even starting now, and it wasn't firing from the rear cylinder (which I found out after speaking to Nick at Sea Start, he told me to remove the fuel pipe from each injector before replacing it and disconnecting the other one). Wilem spent a few hours bleeding the fuel system, finding out in the process that our primary fuel filter was leaking air which could have been causing the problem of the fuel in the cylinder not combusting. After thoroughly bleeding the fuel Pixie's engine started and ran, no white smoke, it started quickly, we were on our way again.

We tidied up Pixie, although it was too late to get to the Summer Isles we could at least get aroud Rubha Reidh into Loch Ewe. We started the engine, which took a little too much effort and there was a puff of white smoke, but it soon dissappeared. We cast off and motored out of the harbour. No sooner had we left then the engine didn't seem to be cruising at her normal speed, so I increased the revs, then the temp alarm went off and Kirsty stopped the engine. I checked the raw water strainer, and impeller as we drifted around. We were towed back to the harbour, and Jackson the harbourmaster saw we were safe alongside. There was nothing for it but to cook dinner, have cheese and biscuits, then pour a whisky or two. Wilem is now back on board Pixie, in the process of removing the head gasket

Famous! For just under 10 minutes

2010-07-08T23:13:00.000+01:00

It's been an interesting time here in Gairloch. What first seemed like a pier in the middle of nowhere has turned out to be a great stop over, although we would have rather been on our way we've seen a lot of the area around Gairloch, and met some interesting people along the way.

Monday we spent exploring Gairloch on foot, making it along the coast to Strath, past a small single level building with two windows and a door and a sign outside, saying Two Lochs Radio. We carried on past and went in search of laundry facilities and lunch. One of the chores of sailing for an extended period of time is having to do the laundry. Some laundrettes are good, and have large capacity washers and tumble dryers, others are small, and the smell of the clothes on exiting the appliance is a bit like Russian Roulette. We learnt the hard way and since then bought some Bounce to make our washing smell fresh at least. Now, if we can, we check out the facilities first before carting a ruck sack to the laundrette and finding grungy washing machines. We lunched at Na Mara, which looked a bit more reasonable than the Mountain Cafe for a lunch time sandwich. We wandered up the road and found a butcher, buying a couple of steaks and some veg before going to check out the laundry facilities in the campsite. However we needn't have worried about the washers and dryers at the Gairloch Caravan and Camp site, although a wee bit on the pricy side they looked just the job, their industrial size meant that washing and drying could be done in less than two hours.

The next day we set off to do the washing. While the laundry was spinning around the washing machine we headed back to the Mountain Cafe and had two of their sizable and tasty mountain scones, before transfering the washing to the dryer. Once back on Pixie we started getting bounced onto the Sadler next to us, and as the wind picked up the angle of the wind meant a swell was coming into the harbour, causing uncomfortable waves. We put the fenders out, crossed our fingers and poured a whisky. The bouncing was like being stuck on a runaway train down below and we needed the non slip place mats to stop the whisky glasses flying off the table. We couldn't move Pixie that night as we were being blown onto the boat next door with more force than we could motor off backwards. The owner of Beez Neez, the Sadler 34 we were bouncing against was happy for us to lie alongside over night, and while we were chatting we had a gust of 43 knots.

The next morning I was woken up by a squeal from Kirsty. Not usually one for squealing for no apparent reason I asked what was up? She'd just read a comment left on this blog, inviting us to come down to Two Lochs Radio and have a chat about our trip. Kirsty emailed the station accepting their invitation, but before we could head off for the day, the weather started to blow up again. Jackson the Harbour Master came around to all the boats to find out how everyone was doing. He said we could move down the pontoon, but with our lack of power astern I didn't think we could get off the berth. Jackson said not to worry he could pull our bow off, saving Beez Neez from Pixie's solid pulpit. The wind was 30 knots when we went for it, and thankfully Jackson was able to pull or bow into the wind, so I could gain control.

With Pixie on the most sheltered part of the pontoon usually reserved for the tour boats (the wind was too strong for them as well) we took the Scotbus through the mountains to Poolewe, overtaking RAF Tornados on the way, maybe not quite as fast, but when the fastest we've been for 3 weeks is 10 knots, being driven on a minibus seemed supersonic to me.

We were going to go to Inverewe gardens, but as we arrived it started raining, so we went to the shop, before deciding to do the (free) Pine Trail walk, we diverted off to Poolewe walking to a nice little cafe, and getting the bus back to Gairloch.

This morning we thought we take advantage of the laundry again and change the bedding while we can. Then Kirsty and I stocked up on meat and veg from Kenneth Morrison's the fantastic butcher for the local area. We got all our meat vacuum packed so it will last longer on Pixie, before heading back to see Alex at Two Lochs Radio (http://www.2lr.co.uk/). We had a quick chat, then recorded an interview to go out later that day. It was interesting talking to Alex and finding out how the local community works, with respect to the things we take for granted in London, things like GPs, ambulances etc. Hopefully we'll be able to put an mp3 of the interview up, Kirsty sounded quite Scottish (which she was pleased about after 14 years in England), and I sounded intelligent. It's seems it's not just photos that lie!

We came back via the Gairloch Museum, an interesting small museum, with lots of local history, and information about past lives. The £4.00 entry fee was worth it, to keep small museums like this going, as well as getting close to the giant lens of the old Rubha Reide light house, with its tardis like distortion of the lamp inside.

This evening we listened to our interview on the radio before heading off for a walk up to the Flowerdale Waterfall and back then cooking another dish out of the Camper Van Cookbook, which is turning out to be a great find. Good wholesome food cooked on two rings, great for a boat as well.

News flash

2010-07-08T15:54:00.000+01:00

We were interviewed for Two Lochs Radio today. You can listen live at www.2lr.co.uk from 5pm onwards. We're not sure exactly what time we'll be on but it will be either at about 5.20 or 6.20.

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Blowin' in the wind

2010-07-06T17:57:00.007+01:00

As Graham said, after 2 days on board unable to go ashore we hadn't killed each other - that bodes well for our marriage I think. But I was going slightly stir crazy. Those who know me will agree that I am not one for sitting still doing nothing.

On Monday morning we listened to the Coastguard broadcast of the forecast and couldn't believe our ears. Having just ridden out the Force 10 storm the Met Office was now forecasting yet another gale - the third in a week. The forecast for Monday wasn't actually looking all that bad so we were faced with some choices. We could head over to Gairloch and try again to get a space on the pontoon, or just stop temporarily to get water and provisions before attempting to get further north. When we arrived at the pontoon we managed to raft against a Sadler 34 "Beez Neez". The skipper told us that they had found out that all the ports north of Gairloch were full - Ullapool, Lochinver and Kinlochbervie. There we were, on a pontoon and able to get off the boat and stretch our legs, buy fresh food and talk to other people! So should we give all that up and head north, potentially getting stuck at anchor in another port? It was a tough decision to make, but we decided to stay put.

After securing the boat we went up to the Harbourmaster's office and paid our dues. He is a very cheery, helpful chap and is working hard to develop the pontoon facilities for visiting yachts. He even told us that they just had electricity installed last Friday. We couldn't believe our luck! Shore power means we can use the fridge as much as we want, turn on the de-humidifier and charge up our laptops. All things we take for granted at home.

Gairloch is a reasonably-sized village. I wouldn't call it a town. That afternoon we went exploring. We found a great butcher with lots of local produce and fresh fruit and veg and sussed out where we could do some much needed laundry. There are also quite a few cafes, restaurants and pubs to choose from, including the Mountain Cafe which does fantastic (and huge) homemade scones and great coffee (don't have the soup though).

So what happens next? Well we are in the hands of the weather gods, and something tells me they don't like us much. Another deep low pressure is making its way towards us and the Met Office keeps changing the time to impact. It currently looks like we'll have gale force winds for most of Wednesday and Thursday - perhaps even severe gale 9. We are resigned to being here until at least Friday. But worse than that, judging from the surface pressure charts there is more to come. This is incredibly frustrating as if this goes on for much longer then we'll have to abort our plan to get to Orkney and the Caledonian Canal. Everyone we have spoken to has said they haven't known anything like this weather pattern before. We are both feeling quite despondent. So many times on this trip we have had to sacrifice the things we want to do and places we want to see because of the weather or technical problems. We are just trying to stay positive and make the most of our time ashore, but it's hard sometimes when we are both so disappointed.

So if anyone lives in the Gairloch area and fancies lending us a car for a day please get in touch! Failing that, any suggestions of places to visit that don't require a car would be much appreciated!

Storm Bound

2010-07-06T17:43:00.001+01:00

The sunset at Poll Domhain was magnificent. The motor up to Loch Torridon on Wednesday was less so. As Kirsty rightly pointed out, the wind in Scotland is like a light bulb, it's either on or off, blowing 5-7 or not blowing at all, there seems little in between. Well it wouldn't do the power in the batteries any harm. We motored up through the BUTEC Range (British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre) where all sorts of underwater weapons are tested, before entering Loch Torridon. The wind still hadn't turned on by the time we reached Loch Shieldaig, finding a nice spot to anchor and relax in the sunshine. We knew a blow was forecast so I let out 40 metres of chain in 4 metres of water at low tide. There was a mooring for the use of patrons of the hotel, but seeing we weren't dining there, we used our own anchor. As the tide dropped, a pick up buoy became visible under the water behind Pixie, we were clear, just.

We went ashore that evening and tried the village's only pub, we had a look at the menu and the food looked good, so we stayed for dinner as well. It was only after looking at the menu that we noticed the hotel and the pub/restaurant are owned by the same people. On our way back to the boat we popped into the hotel to see if we could use their mooring. They said yes, so we went back to Pixie and moved her.

The next morning (Thursday) the forecast force 7 arrived by the time we got ashore, it was a bit of a grey day, but we thought we'd go for a walk. We went to the shop and bought a small book of walks around the coast of Wester Ross.
One of the walks was a short one up to the narrows of Upper Loch Torridon.

The variety of scenery in the short walk was surprising, from rugged cliffs, to heather covered moorland to grazing pasture to forest, all in the space of a few miles. We ate our packed lunch in the light rain looking down Loch Torridon towards The Minch. We stopped off at the pub again for a hot chocolate before heading back to Pixie for my boat made cauliflower cheese.
The forecast for the next day was looking worse. 5-7 occassionally gale force 8, so Friday found us ashore for another walk. This one was much longer as we had to walk for 3.5 miles to get to the start. Well it would have been 3.5 mikes if I hadn't led us along the wrong path for 1/2 a mile before realising my mistake and retracing our foot steps. The OS map of the area was old, and the footpaths hadn't been used for a while. It was great to be walking without seeing other boot prints and where it seems only sheep had stepped before us. The short cuts weren't as clear as we had hoped, and by the end of the tracks I was left wondering whether they had saved us any time. The views were stunning though.

We walked for most of the day, totalling around 13 miles of breathtaking scenery. All but the last mile were dry, which was in heavy rain with a force 7 to help it soak us through to the skin. We headed to the pub for a hot chocolate, and waited for the rain to stop before heading back to Pixie to get changed for dinner.

The trip to Pixie was a bit rough, the trip back was worse. It was blowing anything between 20 and 30 knots, so we picked a lull to head back. I was glad I opted to bring the bailer as the waves hit Sprite, our dinghy, the spray covered the bottom of the dinghy, by halfway Kirsty was pumping and there was a good 4 inches of water in the bottom of the boat.

We arrived wetter than we had been after the walk. We had dinner at the pub, their wood fired pizza oven in operation up stairs in the restaurant, and a Ceilidh band setting up down stairs.

After dinner we caught the last of the Ghana v Uruguay game before the band started. The band were really good (http://www.doublescotch.net/) and the astmosphere in the pub was warm and social, we had to leave before the end as it was getting dark and the wind was still building. We asked a couple of locals to keep an eye out for Pixie and if there wasn't a light on her by 0030 to try our mobile, and if they couldn't reach either of us to phone the coastguard. It's not the sort of thing I'd do after a night in the pub but the wind was still blowing 20-30 knots and no one would gave been any the wiser if anything had happened to us on the way back.

Saturday morning found us still swinging on our mooring in 30 odd knots of wind. Our plan had been to make some brown bread and while it was proving, go ashore and buy some locally smoked salmon to go with it. With the wind still blowing I thought better of going ashore, so we had a lie in and had a late breakfast.

The noon forecast showed a glimmer of hope for moving on, otherwise we would have had to remain in Shieldaig for another few days as the next gale came in. The forecast was south or south east 5-6, increasing force 7 to gale force 8 later, so we had at least 12 hours before it was due to worsen. It was going to be rough, but we were off the wind and it was only around 16 miles to Gairloch and pontoons ashore. We got into our wet weather gear, waited for the rain to stop, put two reefs in the main sail as it was still blowing in the early 20 knots, and cast off the mooring.

No sooner had we turned downwind than the wind died to 4.5 knots, the lowest we'd seen for the last 2 days. We motor sailed out on Shieldaig as the wind started to build. Soon Pixie was tearing along in 25 knots of wind, through the turquoise waters of the loch. Bright sunshine, turquoise water, wind aft of the beam, stunning scenery. If we weren't still wet from the last rain shower and in full oilskins, this could have been the BVIs in a blow.

Clearing the shelter of Loch Torridon the wind went up to 37 knots and stayed well above 30 knots for quite a time, with Kirsty on the helm Pixie was going well. When the wind went up to 38 knots I took over from Kirsty, thinking it might get worse, but it stayed in the high 30s for 5-10 mintutes before easing to around 30 knots. Pixie was surfing down waves at 8-9 knots with two reefs in the mainsail and a small headsail, but was in full control, and even in the gusts she was well behaved. She really is a great yacht to have under us for the sailing weather we've been having recently.

It was a cracking sail, but I still have a feeling of waiting for the next problem to happen. Sure enough, we dropped the mainsail outside Gairloch Harbour, and the engine temperature alarm came on. I looked at the depth and we were in 38 metres of water, too deep to anchor. The engine was in tick over at the time, so I took the engine out of gear, and gave it some revs, hoping whatever was casusing the blockage in the sea water cooling system would be sucked through. It worked, the alarm stopped and we motored into the small harbour of Gairloch. The harbour advertises 60 metres of pontoons for visiting yachtsmen. However when we arrived there were only 30 metres available for yachts, one raft of two yachts, another raft of three. We went out of the harbour and prepared to come alongside the raft of two. However as we closed on the yacht on the outside a gentleman came out and told us the harbourmaster had told him not to allow any other yachts alongside because of the storms forecast and the strength of their pontoon. So we had a choice, raft alongside a fishing boat, and incur the wrath of a fisherman or harbourmaster, or go somewhere else. We opted for the latter, Gairloch has a number of small harbours, some with moorings. So we went to Shieldaig, a different Shieldaig than we set off from, honest.

Sunday was spent onboard. A storm force 10 was forecast, so I didn't want us to go ashore, just in case we couldn't get back to Pixie. We watched the barometer rise, waiting for the wind.

I checked the sea water cooling on the engine, which was fine. The day was mostly spent reading and listening to the radio or iPod on the stereo. I baked bread and read most of the first Harry Potter, Kirsty read and tidied up Pixie. Not the greatest day of our trip, we haven't gone stir crazy and we're still talking to each other, so it can't have been that bad.

Why are we here?

2010-07-02T21:10:00.001+01:00

What with the wind, and the lack of sun, we've been asking ourselves the same question. Until we went for a walk....

Not a bad view is it?

We're currently weathering a gale in Shieldaig, we're attached to a mooring, so we should be safe.

Entering a new world

2010-07-01T19:08:00.001+01:00

After our rum drinking session with Alf we got up fairly early on Tuesday morning to catch the tide down Loch Duich. We anchored just across the loch from Eilean Donan castle. We relaxed (yes relaxed) and took in the view over a spot of lunch. We then headed north once again past Kyle of Lochalsh (again) and under the Skye bridge. As we passed underneath the huge concrete structure the sun decided to shine on us. We had left the grey clouds behind. It felt like a milestone on our trip - like we were entering a new world with new challenges and even greater remoteness.

Our destination was Poll Domhain, a small sheltered bay just south of Applecross. From the boat we could see two little cottages in which I had spent a couple of summer holidays - the first when I was just a year old. The sunset that evening was stunning and we even caught a rare glimpse of an otter cruising the bay.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A trip to the dentist

2010-07-01T18:34:00.000+01:00

The first version of this days blog went missing in the ether, so this is version two....

It's been an emotional couple of days for me. Getting the new alternator, finding out it didn't work with Pixie's wiring. Fixing the wiring only to find out the alternator belt was too long. Replacing the old pulley, then finding out the spare we carry was shorter. Seeing my Mum and dad, and then having to say goodbye again. Thinking everything was alright, then breaking a tooth. It really has been an emotional roller coaster.

Sailing, and boat ownership can be heaven and hell. On a sunny sail with the breeze on the beam there is nothing better. A force 7 on the nose in heavy rain, and even the office starts to look appealing.

One man that knows how frustrating boat can be was our neighbour in Kyle of Lochalsh, Alf. We first met the stocky Scot when he took our lines, and suggested we turn around so we could get out at low tide if we needed to, a nicer chap one could not hope for as a neighbour. However retired Alf didn't want to be in Lochalsh, not that there is any thing wrong with this town. It fact it's worth visiting it to have a look around the public toilet. When I first entered I thought I'd walked into the tourist information, until I saw the urinal. There are even poems about this public privy on its walls, not written on the walls, but typed, and printed out. Obviously when pepole were waiting 5 hours to get the ferry, before the Skye bridge was built, this place had many visitors.

No Alf had problems with his engine, serious problems. His exhaust manifold had snapped, leaving a short stump coming out of his engine. He had two options get it rewelded, or replace it. He'd phoned around on Saturday after it happened and on Sunday he was working out just how to get to Mallaig. To drive would be a 120 mile trip, the easiest way would be two buses across Skye and a ferry to Mallaig. Unless he could bag a lift with a fishing boat heading that way. Sadly he couldn't.

So he set off early on Monday to see if he could get it fixed. While he was gone my mum and dad turned up. They are on holiday in Scotland at the moment, and knew we might be in Kyle of Lochalsh on Monday. With the work on the alternator the previous day dragging on we'd decided to stay another night. Our plan for Monday was to refuel and water and then go up to Loch Duich to Eilean Donan, the Scottish castle that has appeared in films like Highlander, Entrapment and The World is Not Enough. But the wind blew up from the south so we decided to stay where we were.

With the help of their car getting 30 litres of diesel back to the boat was easy. They left in the afternoon and Kirsty and I went to the Co op to buy some lunch. We came back with some crusty sour dough bread to go with the gooey cheese we had on board. Biting into the last piece on the plate, I felt a crack in my mouth. A tooth that I had had root canal work on had cracked. I couldn't believe our luck, just when everything had been fixed and it looked like our problems were over, I now had a cracked tooth. Luckily we had mobile reception, so I googled "kyle of lochalsh dentist" and to my surprise there was one 200 yards from where Pixie was moored. I gave them a call and got an appointment to see the dentist at 16:20 that day.

While I was waiting to go up to the dentist, a very much happier Alf returned, with a bin grin across his face. Not only had his exhaust manifold been repaired, it had also been strengthend to stop the same thing happening again. The next time I saw Alf, his engine was puttering away and he invited Kirsty and I over for a beer to celebrate. I still had to visit the dentist, so we rearranged for the evening.

I wish the dentist in Kyle of Lochalsh was my dentist back in London, instead of gloss white and slightly tatty. Jan Overmeer's practice is a colourful cheery place with large Quentin Blake style cartoons everywhere. As I lay in the chair a large blue cartoon parrot with big eyes looked down on me with a smile. After a local anesthetic injection, the cracked half of the tooth was removed and filled with some fast setting cement which could be put to great effect filling the chips and gouges in Pixie's topsides. It was all sorted quickly, but it should last until I can get to my dentist in London.

That evening we took Alf on his kind offer of a beer. Conversation and beer flowed before we had to return to Pixie to cook dinner. With the fajitas finished, I popped back to see if Alf would like to join us for a whisky "never touch the stuff" he replied. Some what surprised I replied "We have rum", "I'll be right over" he smiled. We had a good night talking to Alf as the level of rum dropped, luckily Alf bought a bottle of OVD with him.

Have I upset someone?

2010-06-28T13:47:00.000+01:00

With the alternator now sorted, everything on Pixie is up and running. It's now me that needs fixing. Chewing on a bit of sour dough bread, with a bit of gooey cheese on top, I felt a crack.

I'm off to the dentist this afternoon.

Just when everything is fixed, something else goes wrong.

Ignorance isn't bliss

2010-06-27T19:52:00.002+01:00

With the alternator (and Kirsty's parents) on a 4 hour drive from just south of Stirling, Kirsty and I got up early to make the rendezvous. The tide ran north through Kyle Rhea until 0834 this morning. Kyle Rhea is a narrow stretch of water separating Skye from the mainland. This meant we had to be in Kyle Lochalsh by 0900 ish. We dropped the moorning off the Duisdale Hotel at 0615 and motored up to Kyle Rhea. There was no wind, so the tidal eddies and streams south of the narrow channel were hardly noticable, we avoided them non the less. We had over two knots of tide with us as we went up the impressive channel. The sun was breaking through the could occasionally lighting patches of green with a warm yellow glow. When the sun does come out the countryside is more beautiful and impressive than it's possible to imagine.

We arrived just before 0900, a Sadler was leaving the pontoon when we arrived, so we stood off and waited for them. They motored past before doing a U turn and coming back for a chat. They has recognised Pixie from Yachting Monthly and wanted to know how were getting on. After a brief chat they headed south.

We tied up and went off to the shops. I can't remember the last time we went in a shop much bigger than Pixie, to walk into Kyle Lochalsh's Co Op was like being a kid in a sweet shop! A full selection of vegetables, rather than a few tired green potatoes, a squidgy onion and a wrinkled pepper. We had choice again! Lord knows what I'll be like when I get back to our local Waitrose!

Kirsty's parents and the alternator arrived around 1100, so we had lunch together before I set about fitting the alternator.

It should have been an easy job, 3 wires, two bolts, job done. Sadly like any job on a boat, a 5 minute job will take around 2 hours, this was no exception. I wired it up and started the engine, and no charge was coming out of the alternator.

There was only one man to call, Kevin from Marine Electrical Services. Kevin has said I could call him any time. I'm sure he had meant it, but on a Sunday afternoon, with a grand prix and an England world cup game? It didn't matter to Kevin, he took the time to understand my babbling about different wires, tried to get to the bottom of why my "amps" light wasn't lighting, helped me test with a bulb looking for voltage that wasn't there. The previous alternator has the negative taken from the casing, the new one didn't. If I was more familiar with the workings of a 12v system, it might have been solved faster. But Kevin, on the end of a phone, managed to talk me through how to go about solving the problems. I really cannot fully express my gratitude for the time he spent on the phone today.

When we started the engine, and the volts went up and the amp needle went off the scale, Kirsty squeeled with delight, I was almost in tears of happiness. Before, we'd run the engine for an hour to get 1% of charge into them. With the engine running for an hour 10% of charge has gone into the batteries now.

If the Smart guage from Merlin wasn't so accurate, we'd probably be non the wiser. Yes the little magic black box has caused us no end of grief, and made us slaves it the battery status, but with out it we'd be blissfully unaware we had a charging problem. Ignorance is bliss, until you're up a loch with no power.

A meal to remember

2010-06-27T18:31:00.001+01:00

We were preparing to leave Doune bay in the morning, when the yacht on the mooring behind us, called across "Morning, where's your forum burgee?" Kirsty went scrabbling through our locker with the flags in, and passed it up. The sweet looking double ended, clinker style yacht was owned by Malcolm and Moyra. Malcolm uses the YBW.com forum so knew Pixie and myself from there. He invited us over, but we were on our way out, so we dropped our mooring and motored over for a chat. We exchange cards before heading into Loch Hourn for lunch. Unfortunately tide was against us so we couldn't get to the top of the Loch, but we found a stunning little anchorage, meters from the shore in 10 metres of water. Kirsty made lunch while I tidied up on deck.

Just the sound of a stream running into the sea and the wind gently moving Pixie around. When the sun came out it was really hot, sadly it wasn't out for longer periods.

Kirsty had a snooze and I caught up with blogging. When we had phone reception again Kirsty spoke to her parents and they could come and meet us a day early, so rather than meeting on Monday, I could fit the new alternator on Sunday. It would mean we'd have to get up an hour earlier to make it through the Kyle Rhea with the tide, but getting a day in hand would be great.

From Loch Hourn we motored the short distance across the Sound of Sleat, and picked up a mooring off Ornsay. The mooring was owned by Duisedale House Hotel, a 4 star hotel over looking the sound. We saw it advertised in the "Welcome Anchorages" guide. A free simple magazine with a lot of anchorages and harbours listed, and maps of each makes it a valuabe freebie. The Duisdale's advert caught our eye because the food at the restaurant looked amazing, so we booked a table and a mooring. Yet another positive from going up the inside of Skye.

We took our dinghy ashore in the evening and walked up to the hotel. When we arrived there was a beautiful collection of classic and not so classic BMW's parked infront of the graceful stone hotel.

Once inside we were met by with a friendly welcome by David, who introduced us to the hotels owners who are also sailors, the hotel has it's own yacht, and they had been sailing on her that day.

The hotel has a shower for yachtsmen, and while it was the most expensive we've found, at £4.50 each, we had clean white towels and a spotless shower room to ourself. Worth every penny.

Clean and changed into smarter clothes, we ordered in the bar, and waited for our table.

From the bar we could see Pixie on her mooring, with Knoydart and Gleshiel in the distance. The view was beautiful, the food was exceptional, the wine was perfect. Not cheap, but worth it for an engagement meal for ourselves.

The Big Easy

2010-06-26T16:35:00.000+01:00

Sorry there has been an influx of blogging, but up at Loch Harport there was no signal, and we had a lot of sorting out and organising to do.

One of the reasons we decided to go up the inside of Skye was the westerly wind that was forecast, so it was with some dismay that the wind had gone around to the south east when we left Carbost. The Old Inn's facilities were really good, primarily for walkers they are also happy for visiting yachtsmen to use them, so if you find yourself in that part of the world the showers are hot, clean and powerful, and aren't limited by coins or tokens, just pay at the bar and enjoy.

Our time in Carbost was good, and it taught us that we should be taking things easy, rather than rushing around Scotland. With the light wind on the nose we motored south east, and the wind died completely. That day the plan was to visit Loch Scavaig, billed as the best anchorage in Europe by one of the pilot books we had high hopes. We weren't dissapointed. Reading the guide books it sounds like a fearsome place, and I'm sure in bad weather it is. But with no wind it was breath taking. Surrounded by the Cuillins (900 metre high mountains that fall into the sea) on the South west of Skye, it's like being anchored in the caldera of an ancient volcano.

Pixie looked like a piece of white lint on a long black dress against it's vast sides. When we arrived a couple of tour boats were dropping passengers off, so we threaded our way past the rocks and anchored in 4.5 metres of water. No down drafts to swing Pixie's anchor out, like the pilot books warn of, no breeze at all. There were a group of Dutch Drascombe owners in the anchorage. They had spent 5 weeks sailing around every nook and cranny that Skye had to offer. We went ashore and walked up to Loch Coruisk, a fresh water loch that runs into the sea and surrounded by the Cuillins on all sides, it's amazing.
We'd missed the Outer Hebrides, but found another world.

There was still no wind when we left a few hours later. The initial plan was to take it easy and just find and anchorage a few miles to the east, but the weather was so flat, and the sun was breaking out that we decided to head 20 miles around to Doune Bay or Dun Ban Bay depending on where you look.

The going was easy under power, Kirsty cooked a boiled and roasted ham on the way. We were the only yacht on the Sound of Sleat, although the engine was on it was still peaceful. We got there at about 20:30, picked up a free mooring and poured a whisky as the sun was setting beyond Skye.

We didn't make it to the Hebrides, but we have more time to explore other parts of this magical country.

Cheers

A day off

2010-06-24T23:09:00.000+01:00

With the alternator being sent today, and the pressure, we'd put ourselves under, now released it was a day off sailing. My mum and dad were due to arrive at around 12, so we had the morning to sort out Pixie. We went ashore to get water and diesel, this took two trips in the dinghy.

While we were sorting out the second trip I saw my parents walking along the rocky beach at Carbost.

Pixie still needed some cleaning and we still had to do a couple of loads of washing, so we arranged to meet up with my partents around 3, and head off to Talisker for a distillery visit.

Afterwards there was just enough time for a quick drink in the Old Inn, before showers and back to the boat to get changed for dinner.

The dinner at The Old Inn was excellent pub food, good food, good quantities, good beer. Good night.

After the rain

2010-06-23T23:23:00.000+01:00

Rhum is a beautiful island, the anchorage was quiet and tranquil, a light breeze from the east had all the yachts pointing out to sea. In the distance lights were heading into the harbour. When they arrived they were of a fishing boat, who anchored ahead of us. The gentle breeze flowing into our cabin now carried diesel fumes and the smell of fish! When some things go wrong it can turn out for the best, this wasn't on of those times though. We closed the hatch and went to sleep.

The next morning the fishing boat had gone and the wind was buzzing Wendy (the wind charger) and we were getting gusts of over 20 knots in the harbour. The plan was to leave at 8 ish, but we thought we'd give the wind a bit of time to settle, so by around 9 we were ready to go. I tucked in one reef, in anticipation for the wind to increase. Like most days the sail started off well, a nice breeze on the beam, with the reef we were slighly underpowered, but going nicely. Over the next few hours the wind increased and decreased so we reduced or increased the headsail accordingly. It was overcast and a bit chilly, hard to believe I'd been sailing in shorts and T-shirt the day before. Pixie was making light work, happily sailing along at around 6 knots. I left Kirsty on the helm to get a bit of rest. When I came back on deck things were more or less as I left them. Kirsty and Pixie sailing along nicely together, 18 knots on the beam, the sea had built up a bit, and we'd made good progress. Two minutes later, the wind started to increase, we put a couple of roll in the genoa as Pixie galloped on. Then it started to rain and the wind kept increasing up to 27 knots. We rolled away more sail as Pixie surfed down the front of the waves, her speed was 7-8 knots most of the time. Approaching the entrance to Loch Harport we got rid of the genoa altogether. Luckily we did as we got hit by a 33 knot gust which took Pixie to almost 9 knots. Visibility was reduced to around 500 metres, just the shadows of the cliffs were black beneath the mist and rain.

We entered Loch Harport with the wind on the nose and heavy rain. But we got to a buoy off the Talisker Distillery at Carbost in one piece, so things weren't too bad. Although after we'd dried off we realise that after a week without shore power our battery levels were down to 61%. it might not sound too bad, but it meant that although we'd been living on bread and water in terms of electricity we were still using more than we were generating. Which was strange because we had been running the engine, but it hadn't been charging the batteries as it should. At first I suspected that I had wired up the VSR wrongly. It's instructions weren't very good or clear and some parts were open to interpretation. I phoned Merlin, and they confirmed I'd wired things correctly. The batteries were replaced in Falmouth, so prime suspect number one became the alternator. We went ashore to get some diesel. In spite of the opening times being 9-5:45, we got there at 5 and they were closed, we'd get some in the morning.

While we were ashore Kirsty picked up an answerphone message from my parents, they were due to be in Skye on Wednesday, where would we be? On the way back to the boat I met a bearded gentleman who asked which mooring we were on? It turns out one of the Talisker moorings was surveyed and found that the links in the chain had worn over half way through, this was the one we'd picked up. The only place this information could be found out was on the noticeboard in town, once you'd left your pride and joy on a mooring that "should not be used". Not ideal Talisker, either remove the mooring or put a notice on it. When I checked the notice board another notice had fallen in front of it, being a rural community the notice board was open.

We returned to the boat moved it to another mooring and I phoned Kevin from Marine Electrical Services in Falmouth to see what he could recommend. He talked me through a few tests and it seems our alternator isn't performing. We've ordered another one, but this left us with a delima. How to get it to us.

Our next stop was going to be the Outer Hebrides, but with out being able to charge the batteries from the engine and no shore power for the foreseeable future, we started to look at alternatives.

Get the alternator delivered to the Outer Hebrides, but where? Likewise we could get it delivered to Skye, but we'd have to hang around for it to be delivered, which might set us back. The problem with remote places is that they are erm...remote! So remote that TNT can't do a next day delivery so we wouldn't get anything until Monday. The forecast finally made our minds up Westerly 4 or 5 making a trip to the Hebrides uncomfortable, so we decided to miss out the Hebridies and go up the inside of Skye instead. This way we could get the alternator delivered to Kirsty's parents, meet up with my parents, visit Talisker Distillery, and give us more time to explore mainland Scotland north of Skye. It would mean doubling back on ourselves, but we could visit some of the places we'd missed. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but it would give us more time to relax and enjoy Scotland, something we hadn't felt we'd done enough of.

360° Views

2010-06-22T21:17:00.001+01:00

It's been strange not being able to text, tweet or blog for 2 days while we were up at Loch Nevis and Inverie. After the night around the camp fire we headed off on the short motor to Inverie on the Knoydart peninsula. Home of the Old Forge, Britain's remotest pub. I dropped Kirsty's parents off so they could walk around to the camp site to pitch their tent before we set off on a walk. There are 3 Munros around the peninsula, the tops of which were shrouded in cloud, but the height of the mountains behind Inverie was something I still can't get used to. It's quite overwhelming to see these vast lumps of rock in all directions, and the scale is something you can't appreciate through video or photographs. Being a photographer I try to capture the scale, but nothing I can do can really give the impression they give me.

We ate a substantial meal at the Old Forge before returning to Pixie on mirrored waters. It was the longest day, and even at 11 there was plenty of light to take photographs.

On a night like that with awesome scenery around you, there really is nowhere better to be sitting in your cockpit drinking a dram or two.

We were up at 8:30 to wave off Kirsty's parents as they caught the ferry back to Mallaig. We set off for Rhum shortly afterwards. There was little wind when we set off, but then it filled in from the south and we had a beautiful sail. The Isle of Skye took up the horizon to the north, Eigg and Ardnamurchan to the south, to the west and ahead of us was the silhillouette that had dominated the horizon, the vast mountains of Rhum. While astern was the Highlands of Scotland in all her beauty. The sun was out and we had 16 knots slightly forward of the beam. Simply magic.

As we approached the harbour the wind increased to 22 knots, probably caused by Rhum's high mountains, we reefed and kept going. We put the engine on and dropped the sails, found a nice spot to anchor and the the engine died! I re-started it, only for it to die again seconds later. We tried again, but no sooner had the engine turned over than it died. Trying once more, to no avail we dropped the anchor, where we were. The Spade anchor held first time, phew!
Kirsty thought it was that we'd run out of fuel, but the full inspection bowl discounted that theory. I thought it could be muck in the tank, as the engine draws it's fuel from the side of the tank that would have been lowest when we were sailing.

I phoned Nick at Sea Start to get his thoughts. Nick asked about the fuel level, I said we had loads and said the bowl was full, and went on to explain my theory, which Nick agreed sounded possible. He explained how to sort it out. Get to the bottom of the fuel tank, take the pipe off, open the fuel shut off, and see if any fuel comes out, then blow back through the fuel hose to make sure that isn't blocked. So we got everything out of the cockpit locker, I disconnected the engine battery I'd installed so I could get better access.

In the process I looked at the sight gauge on the fuel tank. The pipe is cloudy, but even so I couldn't see a level, so I took the top off and blew through it....No sound of bubbles, no sign of fuel. I put 20 litres in the tank and could see the level on the sight tube. Kirsty was right. We'd run out of fuel!

We only have a sight gauge, so we have to keep a note of the engine hours in the log, and guess. I guessed wrongly and we hadn't been adding the engine hours we'd been using to charge the batteries. All my fault, I am a wally!

In the middle of nowhere

2010-06-20T23:50:00.000+01:00

With the forecast predicting fives and sixes we took some time out from sailing to spend it with Kirsty's parents and explore some of the immense scenery around Arisaig. A few miles up the road is Loch Morar, a fresh water loch that runs into a picturesque river, the loch has 500 metre peaks surrounding it. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing, but the scenery is breathtaking. We walked along the northern shore for almost 3 miles before finding a sheltered pebble beach to stop for lunch of roast chicken and carrot cake.

The walk back was just as scenic, and having learnt our lesson from the previous day we stayed ashore and showered before going out that the evening.

Today we left Arisaig to pick up Kisty's parents in Mallaig before heding up Loch Nevis. We'd had strong wind in Arisaig, so I'd let 45 metres of chain out. It was a good idea at the time but later when the windlass has to pull up all the chain which, 40 metres of which is now covered in a thick foul smelling tar like mud, the idea had lost its sparkle. Bucket after bucket of water was washed over the chain, the deck, the chain and the deck, but still black water, or patches of mud would appear on deck and spread. The Scottish mud is like Essex mud, but black. It doesn't just stick to the chain, it coats it, so you can't see the chain links, just a line of thick black ooze coming over the bow roller, coating everything in and around its path. Eventually the anchor appeared and we were able to get on our way. We got to Mallaig about 12:30 and picked up Kirsty's parents who were on the quay waiting for us. Once on board we headed out past Inverie and up through the narrows to inner Loch Nevis. I was going to phone my dad to wish him happy fathers day, but when I picked up my phone I had no service. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the post in Arisaig left at 15:30 on Friday, so the card I posted at 16:30 won't have left until 12:00 on Saturday. It should arrive on Monday. I'm sure my dad will understand.

Kirsty's parents like camping so they brought their tent to stay in tonight. They often walk into the wilderness for days at a time, and the idea of taking Pixie somewhere they haven't walked to was too good an opportunity to miss. We motored the length of the inner loch looking for a good campsite and anchorage, and found somewhere shallow enough to anchor near a secluded beach. One of the problems with the loch is that it has steep sides, so finding a spot of between 5 and 10 metres deep that doesn't drop away to 20 or 30 within 5 metres from that spot was an interesting task. Add to that the need to pitch a tent nearby and the choices limited themselves to one place. And what a great spot it was. We're the only yacht in the inner loch. In the end we laid a kedge anchor from the stern to stop Pixie swinging into rocks or the shore.

The evening was spent around a fire, food was cooked on disposable barbarcues, just the crackle of burning seaweed echoing off the hills broke the silence. Seals played in the water by Sprite our tender, and midges flew around us. Liberal application of Expedition 50 seemed to stop them biting. It was only after the breeze died that they became a problem. By 11pm it was still light, but we had all had enough to drink, so Kirsty and I came back to Pixie, and left the midges and Kirsty's parents alone together.

The midges don't seem to have followed us out to Pixie, although she is quite close to the shore. We'll see what the bites are like tomorrow.

A day out to remember

2010-06-19T23:50:00.001+01:00

Well it's been a couple of days to remember, yesterday I was on a mission. When I first met Kirsty I remember her saying that her favourite film was Local Hero. A film based in Scotland, in which I remember seeing the beautiful beach that an American oil company wanted to buy and turn into a big refinery. The only problem was Ben. He owned the beach, and it wasn't for sale. It was a beautiful beach, white sands, clear sea, stunning views of Rhum, Eigg, Skye. Magic.

In planning this trip, we made sure we would visit Arisaig, 7 miles from Ben's beach. So where better to propose?

Only problem was how to get there. 7 mile walk anyone?

Being remote Scotland, it has the same regular bus service as rural Cornwall, two buses a day, if you happen to be there on the right day.

In spite of Kirsty graduating with a masters from Oxford, the time table perplexed us both. Taxi? From where? OK, lets take the train. Arisaig has the most westerly station in Britain and Ben's beach is only one stop and a walk away.

We got to the station to at 13:58 only to find the train left at 13:54. Or should have left, there was another woman waiting for a train so we stood around, not knowing whether we were 2 hours early for the next train, or the 13:54 was late. It was 14:03, when the train rolled into view. So far so good.

The return train was at 16:15. This gave us two hours to get there and back, I looked at the map and it looked possible. We walked along a hot road though rugged scenery for 50 minutes, and got to the beach just in time to leave to get the train back. The view was stunning. Bright yellow broom flowers against a deep blue cloudless sky, walking on soft white sand towards a beach that I'd only ever seen on a film. I didn't know what to expect, would it be busy, cheesy or full of sunburnt England fans? Thankfully not.

The effort to get there was worth it. The most beautiful view from a beach that I can remember. I've been to the Seychelles but the view from "Ben's Beach" was stunning, it might not have palm trees and Coco de mer on it's shores but Ben's beach is one of the most stunning beaches I've been to.

We weren't going to make the train, but we'd find another way of getting back. Kirsty's parents were coming to visit, maybe they could pick us up.

We sat on rocks on the corner of the beach looking out over the Sound of Sleat. We ate our sandwiches, and I was trying to think of an excuse to take a piece of foil out of my wallet to make into a ring. Let me explain...I was using a foil ring because Kirsty had said "A ring isn't important, it can be made out of foil, if you mean it" So when Kirsty offered me a Kit Kat, I had the foil I needed, I swiftly scoffed the Kit Kat and played with the foil, hoping Kirsty wouldn't see or guess what I was up to. With the ring shaped foil ready for the moment Kirsty started packing up the stuff. It was then I asked her. She said "Are you being serious?" a chance I took with a foil ring I suppose. I reassured her I was, and she said "yes".

The plan is to get to Orkney and buy Kirsty a Orcadian ring. Lucky Duck is looking after the foil ring for the moment.

We walked along to the next few beaches, until returning to Ben's beach to meet up with Kirsty's parents and tell them the good news. All four of us went back to Arisaig and had a drink to celebrate. Kirsty and I headed back to Pixie to get changed for dinner, but the forecast of 4 or 5 occasionally force 6 was actually a force 7 with gusts up to 38 knots. Kirsty grabbed a lift with a kind man with a RIB to get a load of supplies back to Pixie, I took Sprite our tender back. It was very rough in the harbour for a little tender, and too rough to go back into the wind for dinner, so that was postponed until tonight.

A day full of surprises

2010-06-19T18:39:00.001+01:00

It has been an eventful couple of days. We did the right thing heading for Arisaig when we did. From zero wind on Thursday we went to a good force 5 or 6 on Friday. We had to anchor a long way from the jetty so got just a little wet on the dinghy ride ashore. We were both keen to visit the beach at Camusdarach. This beach featured in the famous Scottish film Local Hero and I also spent a memorable family holiday there 19 years ago. Local Hero is my favourite film and I have subjected Graham to it a number of times since we met! It wasn't that easy to get there. The 7 mile walk was a little too long than we were willing to attempt and the bus timetable was pretty confusing but we did ascertain that there would be no buses for the rest of the day.

So we opted for the train. We had just missed a scheduled train but it was 10 minutes late so we were in luck. After arriving in Morar it was about a 50 minute walk to the beach. When we got there it was just as I remembered if not a little windier. We were both starving so we sat on the rocks and ate our sandwiches. I had one Twix and one Kit Kat so I gave Graham the choice. He opted for the Kit Kat. As we got up to leave Graham stopped me. He had something sparkly in hand which he held out as he said "Kirsty, will you marry me?" I tried out the ring for size first (if you've not guessed already it was made out of the Kit Kat wrapper) and then gave my answer. Naturally it was yes. The setting was perfect and Graham had thought it all through perfectly. That's just why I love him.
About 30 minutes later my parents arrived at the beach so we told them our news. They were delighted. The plan was to go for dinner in Arisaig but the wind was not playing ball. We headed back to the boat to drop a few things off (more whisky etc) but the waves were bordering on dangerous for our little tender. We had 38 knots at one point. Occasional force 6 it was not. Dinner was off and we opted to stay on Pixie. So our celebratory dinner was leftover curry, cheese and biscuits and trifle. It was lovely. The posh meal has been postponed until tonight. Watch this space for a review.

PS I love you Graham and can't wait to be your wife

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The wild west

2010-06-17T21:05:00.000+01:00

Today we woke to grey skies and more fog. We had a dilemma. Our plan had been to spend the night in Tobermory then head to Loch Moidart tomorrow. But the forecast for Friday was looking rather more windy than we wanted so we decided to seize the moment of calm and head for Ardnamurchan Point - the most westerly point on mainland Britain. After a brief stop in Tobermory to pick up supplies off we went. Despite a forecast of 4-5 there was no wind at all, just oily flat sea. A perfect day for spotting whales I told Graham. Ten seconds later we spotted two basking sharks each about 6 or 7 metres in length. The biggest fish you'll find in our waters.

We took the engine out of gear and bobbed around with them for a while until they gracefully moved on. A short while later Graham saw some bottlenose dolphins in the bow wave of another boat. They came over to check us out. There were four in total but sadly they didn't stick around. Later we saw a whale, probably a minke, but it was in the distance. Hopefully we'll see more wildlife like that in the next few weeks.

We are now anchored in Arisaig where we plan to spend a couple of days. My parents are heading up to meet us tomorrow and we'll spend a few days exploring together. Graham is cooking up a curry which smells delicious and I'm going to sign off and open a bottle of red. Salut!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Time to go north?

2010-06-17T11:26:00.001+01:00

This morning for a change we had a bit of fog.

The good news is that the Garmin wind sensor seems to have been playing a joke on us. It worked faultlessly this morning on the way from Loch Drambuie to Tobermory. It's not far but we're going to wait here for a favorable tide, and or favorable wind.

On the way into Tobermory we saw a couple leaving who we met on the refueling berth in Falmouth marina.

Now we're in Tobermory it looks like the weather is brightening up.

Under a cloud

2010-06-16T22:25:00.000+01:00

We had a lazy start today (16th) and by the time we got out of bed around 9ish most of the other boats in the anchorage had left. The were probably heading off to the West coast of Mull. The forecast didn't look great for them, and there are north or north westerlies forecast for the next few days, we decided to head off to Loch Sunart when the tide went north at around 3 this afternoon. So we had the morning to waste. I actually managed to sit down, relax and read Yachting Monthly for a while, I read about a couple's trip across the Pacific, which put our 28 hour trip from Newlyn into perspective.

We then went ashore to see the "Bridge across the Atlantic" an impressivly solid stone bridge that links the island of Seil to mainland Scotland.

It is possible to get a boat under there, not one like Pixie, but something with a shallow draft and a mast that can be lowered...or a motor boat.

The weather was a bit drizzly and foggy in the distance, but we thought we'd walk the 2km along the road to the shop. First mistake was thinking the road was quiet, second mistake was thinking it was only 2 km. The road was quite busy for a single lane road, with cars coming and going quickly in both directions. We gave up on the shop after walking over two miles down the road, and eventually ran out of time, so we headed back to Pixie as the weather began to warm up.

We retrieved the anchor, (the Lewmar electric windlass is working wonders, and saving my back!) and headed off out into the Firth or Lorn, to our left a big fog bank was rolling in, but it looked to be dispersing. Looks can be deceptive. It wasn't. About a mile from the anchorage the fog surrounded us. On with the Sea~me, on with the radar and nav lights. Initally there was enough wind to sail, and as we were sailing we noticed our usually well behaved Garmin wind sensor started acting up. It stops sending the wind data briefly every couple of minutes or less. I had a look at all the wiring, but couldn't see anything wrong. It seems that as soon as one problem is sorted, another one is waiting to take its place. There is no reason for the wind sensor to act up, it's worked faultlessly since I installed it last year. It chooses now, just when we've finally fixed our engine trouble to act up? Its timing is unbelievable. It's not essential, but it's handy to have.

Anyway the fog lifted as we approached the coast of Mull, and the tide took us nicely up the Sound of Mull, well the tide and the engine as the wind had died, and what wind there was, was funneling down the sound on the nose. Looking behind us I could see the fog had cleared and had been replaced by bright sunshine, the hills and moutains were glowing. Unfortunately that was behind us. Where we were, it was grey, cold and cloudy. And it stayed that way most of the way up the Sound of Mull. Only as we approached Ardnamurchan and Loch Sunart did the sun break through from the west, as we turned east.

We've found a beautifully quiet spot in Loch Drumbuie for the night, let's hope the sun shines on us tomorrow.

Peace and quiet

2010-06-16T15:25:00.001+01:00

One of the advantages of Scotland is its remoteness. This is a double edged sword. It's great when you want peace and quiet, but not so good when you want to let your family and friends know your safe.

Take this afternoon, we had a relaxing sail from the pretty Ardfern Marina (which is a wonderful place to have engine trouble, as the staff at the Ardfern Yacht Centre are great) past the notorious Corryvreckan and up the Sound of Luing to the anchorage we're in tonight, Puilladobhrain. Don't try to say it, I tried, but it didn't work. As quiet an anchorage you could wish for, but could I text? Could I ever! As Pixie gentle swung on her anchor she would swing though an area where I could get signal. Unfortunately that area was about 1 metre wide, and Pixie would swing though that metre quicker than I could unlock my phone and send a text to Twitter. I could get signal, unlock my phone, then nothing. I could start sending a text, only for the signal to drop out half way through. Standing in the cockpit didn't work, neither did standing on the coachroof, on tiptoes, with my arm in the air. I contemplated hoisting my phone to the top of the mast, until I realised I would have to go with it to press the buttons, and Kirsty was reading and relaxing at the time. A couple of hours after we arrived I was able to send a text.

The sail round was great, coming out of the Sound of Luing and seeing the height of Mull across the Firth of Lorn was incredible, nothing prepared me for the height and topography of the landscape ahead. I wanted to tell the world, well you, how great it was. The only person I could tell was Kirsty and she was sitting smiling beside me, seeing it for herself. I want to share this anchorage, but you'll have to wait because I can't send this blog.

This anchorage is only a few miles from Oban, but we might as well be on the moon with the amount of telephone reception we both have on two different networks. The anchorage is quiet noise wise, with the exception of some excitable Oyster Catchers, and an RAF Tornado which was flying so low I could see the pilot who looked close enough to remove the masthead gear of one of the larger boats in the here. But by Scottish standards with 12 yachts here it's one of the busiest anchorages on the west coast, but it's calm and beautiful, which is why it's so "popular".

A quick pic

2010-06-15T11:58:00.001+01:00

Motoring out of Loch Craignish

What a difference a day makes - Part deux

2010-06-14T23:40:00.001+01:00

Where do I start? Today the forecast was saying variable 3-4 mainly northery. So with that in mind, and our luck so far, I made the decision that it would translate as, at least a 4 on the nose, wind against tide going up the Sound of Luing. Not today thank you, we'll wait a day for the Azores High to arrive on Tuesday. So we did the washing up, had coffee, filled the water tanks of Pixie and topped up our spare fuel cans. There was still no sign of any wind, in fact the loch was like a mirror. There were also another couple of 30 odd footers going, so we made the decision to go for it as well. The sun was shining, there was no wind, the forecast was for variable after all. So we got Pixie ready, Kirsty reversed her out of the berth. Increased speed astern to get steerage from the berth, put her in neutral before putting her ahead to spin her around, then the engine cut out. We were now going backwards towards a line of boats with no way of stopping. I went below and re started the engine with just enough time to avoid a crunch.

Thinking it was a one off we motored out into the loch, only for the engine to start labouring again. My heart sank. I increased the revs, but there was no change in the engine note, then it slowed and stopped. Again we re started it, but the engine was not happy, so we returned back to Ardfern Marina.

Kirsty went to seek help from the yard and spoke to the manager, Bob. Although they were very busy Bob said he would send someone down when he could. In the mean time I replaced the drinking water filter and also cleaned the sea water strainer for the engine. It was while I was doing this I noticed our one of the tubes for our stern gland oil reservoir was weeping oil. The reservoir holds the oil that it used in the seal where the propeller shaft goes from the inside of the boat to the outside. The oil seal stop the sea water coming into the boat. The seal has always had a thirst for oil, but I could never work out why, until today when I could see the inspection pipe was cracked and was leaking oil. I replaced the pipe, so hopefully it will use less oil now.

Around 4 ish Steven came down and had a look at the engine, he re-bled it, and in the process noticed our fuel filter assembly wasn't fitting together exactly as it should, so he replaced the fitting, applied some gunk to all the screw threads, and so far it seems to have worked, we took Pixie out for a quick spin around the end of the Loch and everything seems (fingers crossed) to be working as it should.

Tonight Kirsty cooked some very tasty lamb sausages that we bought in Tayvallich. One of the downsides of cruising, is you never find out how good food is until you cook it, usually a day or two later when it's too late to buy some more. Luck was on our side as it seems the great local store here in Ardfern, seem to have the same supplier of meat. We'll be going there for som sausages, tomorrow before we set off.

Engine failure

2010-06-14T12:58:00.001+01:00

Despite the weather being perfect today we ain't going anywhere. As we set off this morning the engine cut out. Not what you want in a busy marina. We thought at first that it might just be a fluke so restarted it and motored out of the marina. But it happened again and we headed back in. We can't work out what the problem is, maybe a blockage in the fuel system or even a dodgy fuel pump. It's time to consult the experts. We spoke to Bob the yard manager and despite being incredibly busy he is going to get someone to have a look at it for us. So for now it's a waiting game.
It is frustrating for both of us but we're trying to stay positive. At least the sun is shining and the view is good.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What a difference a day makes

2010-06-13T18:02:00.001+01:00

We woke today at 0530 to check the weather forecast. It wasn't ideal for heading north to Mull so we went back to sleep. After a relaxed breakfast we set off for Ardfern. It's only a 20 mile trip and puts us in a better position for getting out of one of the tidal gates and then north. For once the wind goddess was smiling on us and we had a lovely sail up here, even managing to avoid the rain showers. It's really nice not to have to race to get somewhere. Even when the wind dropped we could afford to glide along at 4 knots rather than having to put the engine on. That is just as well really as once again we seem to have a blocked primary fuel filter. Graham is replacing it as I type.
We arrived at Ardfern at about 1500 and paid a visit to the chandlery to replace the winch handle (success) and vent (no success) that were lost to Neptune. We then visited the local shop which was incredibly well stocked with things you might actually want to buy rather than have to buy out of necessity. They even had my favourite biscuits called Flips which I very rarely find anywhere. I am now sitting in the sun writing this while waiting for the washing machine to become free. Alas our work is never done...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

And relax

2010-06-12T18:30:00.001+01:00

Ok my Orange phone has no service, so I've borrowed Kirsty's phone. Orange has been good until now, but we're up Loch Sween and radio reception is poor, and Orange is non existant. But here I am.

Kirsty and I have been talking and there have been days when it hasn't felt like a holiday. Nothing to do with us or our relationship, that's stronger than ever, no it's more to do with the trip. It will be no good beating our way around Scotland and not enjoying it, yesterday we decided that if the wind is strong, like the mention of a force 6, it usually turns out to be worse, then we'll probably stay where we are. If it's on the nose, it's not fun, and while we and Pixie can take those conditions, we don't have to do anything. It's our three months and we've made it this far. Every time it blows up, things get wet and something goes over the side, I don't want it to be either of us, it could just be the little plastic spinny things that protect the sail, but yesterday I couldn't unscrew the foredeck vent which is well protected by the baby stay. Not wanting to force it and break the fitting, I left it, and during a tack yesterday, in 26 knots of wind, a genoa sheet must have caught it because it's no longer there.

The other day on the way across from Rathlin I lost a winch handle over the side, it floats, but there was no way we were going back for it, so if anyone in America finds a blue floating winch handle, please send it back for my attention to Yachting Monthly!

All these things are small but they still cost money and aren't easy to replace. Banging our way to windward might achieve our goal of sailing around Scotland, but if Pixie falls apart in the process and we're not enjoying ourselves then what is the point? We want this to be a good experience.

So rather than saying we have to be at certain aces on certain days, we're going to see how we get on. Hopefully we'll still achieve our goal of getting to Orkney, but if we don't we won't see it as a failiure.

At the moment we can't get to Mull because the wind is coming from the North, and because of the big tides that we need with us the seas would be rough, and in some parts dangerous to attempt the passage, and even though we want to go, it makes no sense to try.

All this came about after our trip yesterday from Gigha up here to Loch Sween and the stunning Fairy Isles. The wind was from the north west and we wanted to go north. The forecast in the morning said north west backing west 4 to 5 occasionally 6. Unfortunately we went out in the morning to walk around the Achamore Gardens, though damp with rain and drizzle, the were still very colourful and enchanting. The next forecast we heard was on the way up to Loch Sween, North west 5 to 6. Yes it was a 6 most of the time for us. But it would blow to a 5, go down to 10 knots, and 5 mins later it would be blowing a constant 28 knots, then go down to 26 and stay there. A 20 mile trip turns out to be 30 with wind against tide. No fun, and not why we wanted to come here.

Once anchored in the Fairy Isles though we realised why were here, it was for the scenery, not to say we've sailed here there and everywhere.

So this morning we woke up late, got up, looked out of the saloon as a seal bobbed by in the morning sunshine. We listened to Johnathan Ross before getting into Sprite, our little red tender, and heading off into the Fairy Isles to explore where Pixie can't. It was a magical little place. This afternoon was spent subathing before the short motor to Tayvallich. A pretty little town 15 mins motor away, and it took all of those 15 mins to wash the tar like mud off the anchor and foredeck. The stuff was black and gooey, and only rivals sixaflex for it's ability to get everywhere! Horrid, horrid stuff!

We're attached to a buoy in Tayvallich, and very nice it is too.

- Posted by Graham using Kirsty's iPhone

There be fairies here

2010-06-12T10:45:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we once again fell foul of the Scottish weather. The forecast said occasionally 6 from the north west or west. So off we went. And again it was on the nose and wad giving rise to much larger waves than we anticipated. A 4 hour sail turned into a 6 hour sail so we didn't arrive at our destination until 2100. We are in a little anchorage in a place called the Fairy Isles in Loch Sween. It is a beautiful spot surrounded by forest. The forecast for tomorrow is not looking good so we plan to explore this area for a couple of days before moving on. More updates to follow when mobile signal allows.

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An Islay convert

2010-06-10T18:34:00.001+01:00

When Graham and I first met we quickly established that we had a joint love of sailing and whisky. But there was one important point of difference - I like Islay whisky and Graham does not. So it was much to my surprise that he managed to consume not one but six of Laguvulin's finest during today's tour.

It was an excellent tour. Everyone who showed us around was local to Islay and had whisky in their blood for generations. It is a huge industry here, contributing £800 million in taxes to the UK government. Not bad for one island. We were made extremely welcome, even using the free mooring in the bay. In the afternoon we took the warehouse tour where Ian, who has worked for the distillery for 40 years, gave us the guided tour of the whisky from the raw spirit straight from the still to a 44 year old that was put in the barrel in 1966 - the year that England robbed the world cup (Ian's words not mine). I asked Ian what the best dram he had ever tasted was. He replied "I usually find that the best dram is the free one". A man after my own heart. We had a great time. The tour was excellent value for money and really worthwhile.
At lunch time we took a walk to the nearby Laphroig distillery. On the way we saw a golden eagle. She was sitting in the top of a tree then swooped down on some prey - probably a ground nesting bird - but was promptly chased away some some rather brave parent birds.
It was a fantastic day and after some very tough sails it really felt like a holiday. I hadn't been to Islay before but I'll definitely come back.
It is now a beautiful evening and we're on our way to the island of Gigha, ETA 1930.

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The things we do for whisky

2010-06-09T15:35:00.000+01:00

That was a truely awful trip, the forecast was NE 4 or 5 occassionally 6. What it should have said was NE 6, occassionally 5. Needless to say if it had said that we would have happily stayed and explored Rathlin. In the forecast for the Mull of Kintyre it just said 4 or 5, which I very much doubt is correct as it's only 15 miles away. So two sea area forecasts both of them wrong. Luckily for us Pixie is a solid old boat that could take anything the weather threw at her today, but there are many boats out there that couldn't.

Lulled into a false sense of security of the weather forecast we got up for a shower, only to find the harbour had a power cut. I thought it was just the pontoon that had been left powerless, but when the electronic lock on the showers showed no sign of life, we went back to Pixie and got ready to go. We left Rathlin at 8:30 to catch the last of the flood to clear Rathlin and the overfalls. once we cleared the south of the island we headed north into the wind which was a good force 5, but we were slowed down by the flood, this meant by the time we got to the overfalls the wind had increased and the tide was ebbing north over them. Wind against tide and overfalls are not the place for faint hearted, or us, but we were there and no one was going get us out of the situation we found ourselves in. The MacDonnell Race was as uncomfortable and confused. Walls of water the size of minibuses would march relentlessly towards us, waves were breaking around us, it wasn't a nice place to be. We were motorsailing into the wind, but the waves were too much to motor directly into them, so we had to tack out and back to make headway. This in turn took us longer than we had planned, so when we came to cross the traffic separation scheme (which we have to cross at right angles) the tide was running faster, and this took us much further west than we were hoping. All this mounted up to leave us almost directly down wind, and down tide from Islay in a force 6. It was a long rough slog up wind and our eta kept getting later and later. We were motor sailing in a steady 27 knots of true wind, making our apparent wind over 30 knots. The engine kept Pixie pointing closer to the wind and reduced the speed she lost as her bow pointed skywards, before parting the sea as she came down. Some of the waves were over 3 metres, the sort of wave that you get to the top of, not knowing what is on the other side of them. Most of the time there is just a hole that Pixie would fall into, pulling the helm would reduce the impact, but not reduce their size.

Our eta at Islay was 13:30 we finally got here at 15:30, two hours later than planned.

The entrance to Lagavulin bay is tight, in fact on our chartplotter the bay is made of red hatched lines, lines that are reserved for dangerous rocks. The entrance is less than 40ft wide and has rocks on either side. But once in it's perfectly sheltered.

We're currently on a mooring buoy less than 100 metres from Lagavulin Distillery. We went ashore and booked in for a tour and a warehouse tasting tomorrow. Then we walked around to the ruins of Dunyveg Castle which guards the entrance and was used by the Lords of the Isles around the 12th Century.

The wind has dropped right off and it's turning into a very plesant evening. We might even eat on deck tonight, if all the detritus surrounding me dries off in time.

We've arrived in Scotland at last. 18 days after leaving the Solent. Now we can begin to relax, and after a sail like today it hasn't come a minute too soon.

The day we went to Bangor

2010-06-08T16:58:00.001+01:00

With the problems of the previous day, neither Kirsty or myself could face leaving Adrglass very early the next morning, so early that after replacing the fuel filter and getting the rope off the prop I wouldn’t have actually been ashore in Northern Island! So we stayed in Ardglass for the day and took the opportunity to do some washing and drying, the first load went well, the second load was less successful, it didn’t seem to have spun properly, and no amount of time in the tumble dryer would sort things out.

One of our luxuries on board is a dehumidifier, we bought it along because there is nothing worse than a damp wet boat, and when we are in a marina we have the power to use it. The dehumidifier also has a laundry setting. I wasn’t too optimistic that it would dry all of our washing hung on lines running back and forth across the saloon like a commercial laundry, but when we got up at 4 the next morning all of it was dry!

Because of the tides up to Bangor and through the Copeland Islands we had to leave at 4:30am. The sun was just rising as we untied Pixie, started the engine and motored off. Quietly leaving I felt we were in the middle of some criminal act, but I don’t like to desturb other boat owners who are soundly sleeping, just because we have to catch the tide.

The trip from Ardglass to Bangor was a motor all the way, there was no wind, it was like a mill pond. well a millpond with mountains in the distance and seabirds all around us. It was beautiful being on the water with no one else around, just the sun lighting the hills around Strangford Lough

On the way up the coast I thought I could see land in the distance. I could! Could it be Scotland? It seemed where Scotland should have been from my memory of the charts, Scotland! Just last week we were in Cornwall, Now I’m looking at Scotland. It wasn’t until I looked at the chartplotter I realised it was the Isle of Man, and little deflated I went back to helming.

A few hours later we did actually see the Mull of Galloway, 16 days from Gosport and we’d seen where we would spending the next few months.

We got to Bangor just before midday and refuelled, before collecting the package Crusader had sent with the bits from our mainsail. They even kindly sent an new mast gate (which we didn’t really need but heads of the screws in our mast gate, had worn so it was a nice surprise) and they also sent some slides, which was just as well because the slide we have don’t fit the new Bainbridge batten screws. Every thing was going well until I thought one of the screws could do and extra ½ a turn. I took out the pin, tightened it, and in the process of putting it back together the spring of the batten caught me out and half of the bracket that hold the pin to the slide made a break for it, and jumped over the side, into Bangor Marina.

The guys at Bangor Marina were very helpful, and we used one of the advantages of being members of The Cruising Association, their HLRs. HLRs are Honorary Local Representatives, who are members of the Cruising Association and live locally in many ports, they act as local contact to help visiting cruising yachtmen sort out any problems. Our first problem was to try to find a replacement autopilot, and then after dropping the bits over the side to get a sail maker, Peter Lyons is the contact in Bangor, and he happened to be working on his boat in Bangor Marina when we called, so we popped around to see him. Peter was in the middle of removing rotten wood from his yacht, but took time out to speak to us and give us advice from where to buy things to contacts to the best time to leave to get to Rathlin Island. He was a great help.

Luckily I found a shackle that will do the job until I can get another replacement.

We then had a walk up to Bangor Auto Supplies and got a couple of extra fuel filters, these cost us a grand total of £2.40 each, so we bought a couple.

We stopped off and did some shopping on the way back and bought a couple of big steaks. The butcher cut them for us and I might have gone a bit over the top on the thickness, but they were very tasty

All the fun of the fair

2010-06-06T11:10:00.001+01:00

What a day yesterday turned out to be. It started off nicely when we motored out of Howth, put the sails up and headed north. We even managed about an hour or so under the cruising chute, but then the wind died. It wasn't too bad, the sun was shining, and it was hot in the cockpit with no wind.

Then came the fog, with it the temperature dropped. Visibility came and went, but the wind never returned. The highlight of the day was a visit by a pigeon who came out of nowhere and tried to land on Pixie.

Unfortunately landing on Pixie proved a bit of a struggle, first it slipped off one of the spreaders, then went up to the mast head but had to share space with our mast head instruments which didn't go down well and in the end managed to land on the genoa sheet, before leaving, circling Pixie a few times before managing to land on a spreader. Clearly its perch of choice.

It stayed up there for four hours before leaving us to it.

Since we crossed to Ireland the engine hasn't quite been itself. Occasionally the engine would labour, before returning to normal revs. This was only happening every now and again, but over today it was happening several times a minute, and threatening to stop.

Not great when there was no wind, and fog. Because of the risk of fog I didn't want want to change the filter, so I contacted Nick Eales at Sea Start to see what he'd advise. He said reduce the revs, slow down so the engine wasn't needing so much fuel. If it did stop I might have to replace the filter, but the engine was still going.

While we were motoring slowly, it sounded like we caught something around the prop, but I couldn't see anything over the side so I put the engine in forwards, then reverse, then forwards again, and things seemed to improve.

Then the fog really came down, visibility was down to less than 1/2 a mile, we carried on towards Ardglass.

The engine kept going, but every time it laboured, I was expecting it to stop. And so when we got to within 0.4 miles from Adrglass we still couldn't see land, it wasn't until we were 1/4 of a mile from the harbour that we could make out the church spire shrouded in fog, and the dark shadow of rocks. Pixie is tooled up when it comes to electronics. It might seem like like overkill, but having the chartplotter, AIS, radar and active radar reflector, all of them earnt their place on board today. We reduced speed as we approached the harbour. As we enetered the short channel to the marina I put the engine in tickover, it carried on for a second or two before stopping. Kirsty re started the engine and if I took the engine out of gear I had to keep the revs up, before putting it in gear. It made maneouvering interesting, to say the least. Once in the berth I put the engine in neutral, and it promptly died. Once tied up I replaced the primary fuel filter, it took about 45 mins to replace and bleed the fuel system. With that finished I looked at the prop and could see some rope around it. Ten minutes with a boat hook over the side and I got it all off.

We were going to go to Bangor in Northern Ireland (not Wales) today, but after the trials of yesterday, we were too tired to get up at 5:30 to catch the tide, so we're having the day off in Ardglass.

Back in UK waters

2010-06-05T16:31:00.001+01:00

This is what sailing is all about. Forget that saying about standing in the rain ripping up £20 notes. We are currently motoring along the Irish East coast in fog. And the engine is not happy either. We suspect that in the crossing to Ireland some gunge in the fuel tank was stirred up and it has now clogged the fuel filter. The result is that every few minutes the engine revs decrease as it is starved of fuel, then it seems to recover again. We are about 15 miles from our destination of Ardglass in Northern Ireland. Fingers crossed the engine holds out until then, otherwise we'll have to try and repair it in the open sea. Luckily, apart from the fog, the conditions are good.

Last night we had a very nice meal at Findlater in Howth, just North of Dublin. This time the steak was up to scratch and the service was good. Not pretentious at all. The marina was more like you'd expect in the Solent and lacked the charm of the last few places we have stayed. But it was good to get a nice shower and do some laundry. This morning we awoke to a blue sky. We left the marina just after 0730 BST and quickly got under way with the cruising chute up. After a couple of hours the wind dropped and our progress was slow so we stuck the engine on. We did have a good couple of sun bathing hours before the fog patches set in. And following the flight of the bumblebees we now have a new hitchhiker. A racing pigeon has been sitting on the mast spreaders for the last few hours. I think he is hoping the fog will clear and we'll sight land soon. I am not sure he has found his sea legs yet. He's probably wishing he'd picked a different boat!

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A little bit more like it

2010-06-04T22:55:00.000+01:00

Today's sail was the sort of sail we had been waiting for, almost every day so far we've had to do at leat an hour or so motoring, some times more. Today however we managed to sail from one port to another, and at a good speed too.

We left Arklow at 10:00 and had the sails working by 10:10. We had breakfast while doing around 4 knots. Then we got out the cruising chute, and our speed went up to 6 knots, and stayed there until we had to change course and the wind went behind us. So for the first time we were able to get the spinnaker out, in all its aging rainbow glory. This big rainbow coloured sail helps us go down wind, and to day it worked perfectly. We were able to keep it flying for 3 hours up Irelands beautiful east coast. It made light going of the southerly wind. Eventually the wind increased and we had to get it down. One of the advantages of our Garmin instruments is that it’s possible to set alarms for different things, today I was using one for a high windspeed. When sailing down wind it’s easy to not realise the wind speed is increasing because it feels less than it is because we were gong down wind. I’d set the alarm to 18 knots, which isn’t that high, but it gives us warning that the wind is increasing and we should think about getting it down.

This was the first time we’d had the spinnaker up on Pixie, and so it was also the first time we had to get it down. It’s different when you’re racing and you have many hands to help you, on Pixie there is just Kirsty and myself, we have a tiller pilot, but after that took a tumble it’s just the two of us now.

I explained what should happen, Kirsty let the guy off, the idea was that it would run free out of the pole. I pulled in on the sheet. I started pulling in on the sheet and Kirsty went to release the halyard, which holds the sail up. At some point the guy managed to snag itself and stop going out. I was pulling in on the sheet when the spinnaker filled. All that was holding the weight of a full spinnaker was the halyard, the snagged guy and my hand, I felt the tension and let go. Unfortunately I didn’t let go quick enough and got a rope burn across my hand, not a bad one, but it hurt none the less.

With the guy snagged and the sheet blowing away downwind, I went to the bow and grabbed the guy and pulled it in by the armful. Kirsty let off the halyard and the sail was bundled below. Not the way it should have gone, but we got in down in one piece, and kept it out of the water.

My next silly move came when I wanted to cool my hand down. Having replaced the spinnaker with the genoa and poled it out we were doing a deceptively fast 6 knots.

I say deceptively fast, because I didn’t realise we were travelling that fast when I threw the bucket over the side. I did however realise a before the bucket hit the water, probably a fraction of a second before it hit the water. Before I could pull the bucket back it filled with water and pulled me back the length of the cockpit, only my reluctance to throw away money stopped me letting go of it. I was struggling not to either be pulled over the side or let go. In the end Kirsty turned Pixie off course and I was able to pull the bucket back on.

The water was refreshing and it cooled my hand down nicely

The rest of the sail to Howth was lovely, and sailing up through Dublin bay with the sun shining, making good progress, was memorable.

Howth marina is run by the sailing club, and the facilities were good.

Howth harbour

Turning the corner

2010-06-03T23:41:00.000+01:00

First off, apologies for the lack of blogs, although I can text twitter I haven't set up our blog to text updates. Now we're in a foreign country it costs us for overseas roaming on our iPhones, so to avoid any unpleasant surprises we can only blog when we get to a WiFi zone.

We could get WiFi reception in the harbour masters office in Kilmore Quay, but we couldn't find any in Arklow.

We left Kilmore at 7:45 and had to motor sail into the wind toward Carnsore Point at the South East corner of this beautiful country. Once around the corner we were able to sail.

We had a visit from a Naval Patrol Boat, who radioed us up and asked us lots of details, from our names and addresses to Pixie's vital statistics. Luckily our infromation was understood, and my memory of phonetic alphabet didn't let me down. The fun started as the Naval Patrol Vessel then contact a boat sailing astern of us. Being nosey, we thought we'd listen in. It turns out they were Norweign. Picture the scene of a Norweign trying to phoneticly spell his name and his address with ø's gallore. I felt for both the operator who was having to take down this information, as well as the poor Norweign, for having to understand a strong Irish accent, and spell his and his crews names and their addresses. You could almost hear the form being torn up as the Naval Patrol Radio Operator was loosing the will to live.

The rest of the trip to Arklow started off well, the wind went round and we were able to get out the cruising chute...until the wind died and we were left no option but to motor the rest of the way.

Arklow was a prettly little place to stay the night, but a walk into the town reminded us about something we hadn't been missing. The motor car.

The bridge over the Avoca River is to us now a very busy road, not having been in contact with cars for a while, we were left a little overwhelmed by them all. Just enough time to go back to Pixie for a whisky and some chocolate.

A day of rest

2010-06-02T18:39:00.001+01:00

After fixing Wendy's pole, it was time to relax, we went for walk along the beach, it stretches for miles, but we walked as far as we wanted to and then walked back, via the shop for an ice cream.

Kirsty with a small ice cream.

Location:Kilmore Quay

Little things mount up

2010-06-02T16:24:00.001+01:00

After the not-so-much fun and games of yesterday, it was time to look at the problems, and ways of solving them. First off I emailed Crusader and within minutes of sending it Paul was on the phone. It turns out the battens should have been held in place by the batten car, but due to a change in the order of the mainsail, we didn't get the batten cars. Initally we were going to swap the battens and cars from our old mainsail to the new one, but Crusader just gave us new fittings, but on the order it still said we were using our existing cars, so there was no need to supply new ones. It was a simple mistake on both of our parts. Paul is going to courier the bits to us, I offered to pay, but Paul wouldn't have it. He's given us a quick fix in the mean time, so I've jut sorted that out.

Next came the problem with Wendy the wind chargers pole. In the swell yesterday it came loose and 1 of the 4 bolts holding the top half of the pole to the bottom one came loose and fell over the side. On closer inspection I discovered what had caused this. We bought the pushpit mounting poles from Marlec after we bought Wendy from them. We weren't able to spread the poles as wide as they advised, so I made up another pole using th same fittings, as well as having a stainless steel bracket made to hold the pole upright. For some reason (probably ease of distribution) Marlec use a two part pole, and while the bottom of our pole is rock solid the top has a little movement where the joint is. Although there is a stout aluminium joining piece the bolts into it are on the same axis so it will wobble.

It's this wobble that I believed caused the problem, as it moved slighly one way and then he other, the astic bush holdinthe clamps crept slightly, and over the course of the crossing the supports crept along the pushpit, this in turn caused the top to wobble more, and the brackets crept more and the cycle continued. Until the plastic bush either came out out the pole moved. Not only were the brackets moving, the non lockable bolts were also working loose. Not the best thing to happen at sea!

My solution isn't elegant, I'll be ther first to admit that, but it solid. First off to stop the bols at the joint coming loose I've done away with 4 bolts going in from the outside and use two long bolts going all the way through, secured with a lock nut, secondly there is a stainless steel hose clip around the joint so it's secured from the outside and the inside. Next inthe pole mounts I've tightened them up and covered them with tape, not pretty but the bolts won't come loose. The finally to stop the clamps creeping and moving I've put a hose clip each side. We'll see how long this lot lasts

While we had some of the items to do the repairs, we needed more bits, and a new bottle of Gaz which we were unable to find in Newlyn or Penzance. We headed off to the chandler and hardwear store, to be fair I wasn't expecting to find much, how wrong I was. Kilmore quay has a pub, and RNLI station, a chippy, a shop, a restaurant, a community centre and a scattering of houses. It aslo has one of the best stocked chandleries I ever been to. Thanks to the local fishing industry and the passing yachies on route to Irelands sceanic west, Kilmore's chandlery would put many Solent chandleries to shame. It seem to have everything. The only thing it didn't have, that we wanted was a tiller pilot.

We also bought a spare jerry can for diesel. It's, always good to carry a bit extra in reserve. Or as the harbour master succinctly put it "Better to be looking at something, than looking for it"

Anyway it's a burning hot day here, so we've just been for a walk along this beach

Ireland ahoy!

2010-06-02T08:34:00.001+01:00

What a crossing that was! I wish I could be writing that in a good way, however we had one hell of a trip, and one that we're glad is over. Everything started off well, we had a good motor sail away from Newlyn along past Lamorna and the Minack theatre. Even past Lands End, where things can get rough, was placid for us, and things were going really well. After leaving at 12:45 by 20:00 we were well up on our track. We had a light breeze from astern, full main and a preventer to stop the boom swinging around. There was still warm sunshine about and we picked up a couple of bumble bees who stopped with us on their way from the Scillies. I nicknamed them Bill and Ben and their pre sleep washing and preening was amusing to watch.

At 20:00 we had about 12 knots of true wind so it was all pretty relaxed. The forecast looked good, south veering southwest 4 or 5 occasionally 6. I wasn't too concerned about the 6, we've been out in worse. It looked as if it was going to track through well ahead of us. So as the sun's light started to go, I went down below for a few hours sleep. During Kirsty's she saw dolphins, and when I came up for my watch she had a magical smile on her face as she told me about them. On her watch the wind had gradually increased until it was blowing around 20 knots from astern, we still has full main, and had the engine running to charge the batteries. By now it was dark and had started to rain quite heavily.

As my two hour watch went on I saw the wind starting to increase until it was gusting 26 knots, it was all getting a bit rocky so when Kirsty came back on deck after having little to no sleep I suggested that we should put a reef in. The wind was now blowing a steady 27-30 knots from behind us, the rain was heavy, and the seas were fairly big as we kept surfing down them. I thought of a line from Robin Knox Johnston's book, "It's no good lying in your bunk praying to god. God won't put a reef in for you, you have to do it yourself" so in a near gale, lashing rain, and on Pixie who was having the sleighride of her life, I went up to the mast to put two reefs in. I was more aphrehensive than scared, but I was well aware that if I lost my footing or grip in that weather, Kirsty would have a hell of a job getting me back on board, even with a safety harness. Every thing went as planned the only difficult bit for me was trying to get part of the sail over a hook, that needed both hands, and all the time, Pixie was galloping along.

Even with two reefs in the mainsail Pixies was keeping up a minimum of 6 knots and surfing along down the swell at well over 8 knots, all in control, just. Because Kirsty hadn't managed to get any sleep I did her watch, but when she came back to take over up she found the sea very disorientating, so after a while in the cockpit I sent her down again. From the cockpit I could just see waves, hear them breaking, I couldn't see a horizon, just the White foam around us. Eventually it started to clam down, back to 20 knots.

I went off watch around 4:30 when it started to get light and Kirsty could see our surroundings (and the horizon), about an hour later I got a call from Kirsty. There was now thick fog and a number of fishing boats around us. We had been using our sea~me radar enhancer since dusk, and now it was foggy I was glad we had it. Kirsty had managed to thread us though the boats we had seen on our AIS (Automatic Identification System) which is displayed on our chart plotter. The AIS we got from Digital Yacht and shows shipping details, boat names and direction is a great safety addition to the boat, it takes the guesswork out of collision avoidance. So at a quick glance I could see Kirsty was taking the correct action with each of the three vessels. Unfortunately while taking avoid action Kirsty had taken the tiller pilot off the tiller and laid it in the cockpit, an errant wave caught Pixie and it rolled off the seat and stopped working. This was around 06:30 so we'd have to steer by hand for the rest of the day. The fog stayed with us for a couple of hours and eventually cleared. The day started to get brighter and things started looking up.

Anyway with the fog gone the sun came out and the wind came around onto the nose. We started off motor sailing into the confused swell whiched worked at first but as the breeze increased Pixie was getting stopped by the waves.

Then I noticed that the wind charger (Wendy) wobbling around a bit too much. All her supporting brackets were working loose in the swell of the previous night. I got the tools out and fixed it the best I could. We'd been motor sailing as high as we could and the mainsail has been slatting every now and again. I looked up at the mainsail and noticed two battens had come loose, we dropped the main and I took the battens out so they wouldn't damage themselves or more importantly the sail. With the sail back up I got back to the cockpit and sat down. Bill and Ben the bumble bees could see what was happening around them and took the opportunity to jump ship, both flying off within minutes of each other. I'd rescued a very soggy Ben from under the genoa track at first light, poor little thing was soaked, so I sat him under the spray hood to dry out. It obviously worked because as soon as he could go, he was off.

There was still a swell running and during the night we'd been running the engine to provide the power we needed to run the auto pilot, and radar. But there is something not right about the system as the highest the voltage will get is 13.2 volts but most of the time the charge is about 13.05 volts.

We continued motor sailing, then we heard something metallic fall onto the deck, I looked up and the top battern was poking out. We thought that something had fallen from the sail, but on looking around the boat I noticed 1 of 4 bolts joining the two parts of Wendy's main pole has worked its way loose and jumped off the back of the boat. Out came the tool box again but we didn't have any replacement bolts big enough. Out came the bodge tape (duct tape to give it's trade name) and I tightened the remaining bolts before a liberal application of sticky strong black tape to stop a repeat performance from the deserter's remaining 3 friends.

Wondering what else could go wrong as Pixie seemed to fall apart around us I thought we make the most of the sunshine and instead of fight against the wind, sail as high as we could north, before tacking west. All was going well until the wind died, and what little there was when it came back had backed to the west. We kept motorsailing for the next few hours, thought the sail was more for stability than propulsion. On reaching the Saltee Islands off Kilmore Quay there was bright sunshine but little wind, so we dropped the main and motored the rest of the way.

We were directed to our berth by the harbour master, who took our lines when we arrived, he gave us a very quick run through of what's around before rushing off for his dinner. He was in danger of getting in trouble because he waited to see us in.

We set about tidying up Pixie, which didn't take long, then headed off for showers. 1 euro coin gets you a 2 min shower, we had 3 euros, so I enjoyed every second of the 1:41 shower, as it took 19 seconds to heat up! There is a timer on the wall, I wasn't sitting wait with a stop watch.

On the way back to the boat we saw a chippy, and decided that fish and chips would go down a treat.

We had two portions of beer battered haddock and chips, but to be honest we could have shared one portion and still walked away happy. They were delicious. We walked off our food by taking a stroll up the hill to the pub, had a well earned pint of Guinness, before the desire for bed took over.

Location:Kilmore Quay

Getting ready

2010-05-31T11:31:00.001+01:00

After being in Newlyn for the past three nights the weather looks like it's doing as was forecast, although we have sunshine which is a nice surprise.

We've moved Pixie from her snug berth between two local fishing boats, just so when we leave about an hour and a half before low water we won't get stuck on the way out. This would, as well as being embarrasing, mean we'd loose our window for the west and north going tide, and would also mean we'd be approaching the Irish coast in the dark. Not much fun.

We've topped up the water, Kirsty is making sandwiches. I cooked tonights dinner last night, so it's one less thing to do underway. Kirsty is now onto her cheesy pita breads which are simply pita bread stuffed with cheese and put in a hot oven for 15 mins. Not only are they tasty, they are also edible hand warmers!

We've enjoyed our time in Newlyn, Dave the harbour master is a constant highlight of our day as he comes around to collect our dues accompanied by his latest humerous escapade. From a mobility scooter with a puncture and a driver a little worse for wear, to his cunning plan to stop drunk Russian fishermen trashing the shower, to what to say if ther owner of the boat next door comes back! All of which have had us in fits of laughter.

We went to a pub overlooking the harbour last night and had a really good night out, as the Twitter feed will testify. When we arrived we were the only people in the bar, by the end of it we were on first name terms with the barmaid and three others.

Best get on with the preperations

Don't mess with Kirsty - a review of dinner last night

2010-05-30T20:07:00.001+01:00

On paper The Smugglers sounded great. Harbour views, nice menu, local produce. But we were to be disappointed. Uninspired by the starters we went straight for the main course. The cod was nicely presented but didn't seem that fresh considering the proximity to the fish Market. The steak was very disappointing. Ordered rare we were presented with a grey piece of meat smothered in peppercorn sauce. It was sent back. After listening to the chef's protestations from the kitchen the waitress returned to ask if we wanted the same steak cooked more or a new one! We reminded her that we had asked for rare at which point she returned to the kitchen to another tirade of abuse. It was downright embarassing. After I had finished my fish the replacement steak finally arrived. It was better but definitely not a £16 steak. Then the dessert. The creme brulee was ok but I suspect the cheese board was supermarket bought and came with digestives, cheddars and water biscuits. Not what I would expect from a restaurant which claims to serve local produce. All in all a disappointing experience and a chef that is most certainly out of his depth.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Power struggle

2010-05-29T16:10:00.000+01:00

We are still obsessed with the battery capacity. I can't work out if a) there is an issue with our battery system b) the fact we have a battery monitor that is so easy to read is making us paranoid (whereas before ignorance was bliss), or c) we are a little but bored and therefore need something to worry about. To top off our power issues one of our gas bottles ran out last night and we spent 2 hours today trying to find a replacement. Penzance is out of stock.
Newlyn is a working fishing port and therefore not tailored to the needs of the yachtsman (and defintely not the yachtswoman). We are yet to locate the showers that Uncle Tom Cunliffe says there should be. Maybe we should have bought the new edition of his book. So we might have to resort to our first showers on board. We are off out for a nice meal tonight so we should probably spruce up a bit.

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Funny Forecast

2010-05-28T21:22:00.001+01:00

The forecast today looked horrid force 5,6 or 7 coming from the south or west with showers. As it turned out, when we were going south the wind was from the south west, and when we were going west, the wind did the decent thing of coming around to the south for a nice beam reach across Mounts Bay.

Here's Kirsty tucking into a hot melted cheese pita bread this afternoon

The forecast for tonight looks typical of a bank holiday. Gale force 8 from the south, which means we'll be in Newlyn tomorrow night as well. Not a bad place to be with a Harbour Master as cheerful and helpful as Dave was today, when we arrive.

Then the plan at the moment is to head to Ireland, and catch the Scillies on the way back. But this plan, like all sailing plans, depends on the weather.

Hopefully when everyone heads back to work the weather will do what it normally does after a miserable bank holiday, and turn great again! If it does we'll be able to take advantage of it for the 30 hour trip to Kilmore Quay.

This will be our longest nonstop trip together, sailing through the night. It's a trip I've done a few times before, but never as skipper, or with just two of us on board. It's a big crossing for all of us really, but one I'm looking forward to, a little apprehensive yes, but still looking forward to it.

We'll be able to tweet for the first bit, but then we'll be out of range for at least 24 hours, so if nothing happens on this blog you know why.

But tomorrow there will be an update about what Newlyn has to offer, and what we get up to here. Until then.....

Location:Newlyn

Fraggles and Lizards

2010-05-28T16:57:00.001+01:00

We are on our way again. We left Falmouth at 0830 and after a rather long wait at the re-fuelling pontoon we finally left the harbour at about 0945. On the way out we passed St Anthony's Head lighthouse which those of you who grew up in the 80s might recognise as Fraggle Rock. Here is a photo (sorry it's a bit far off).

The plan for today is to sail to Newlyn where we'll probably be stuck for a couple of days as a westerly gale blows through. On this passage we will pass the most Southerly point on mainland Britain - The Lizard. Pixie is sailing along beautifully at at the moment and with the tide underneath us we're making good progress.

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Super man to the rescue

2010-05-27T17:37:00.000+01:00

Ok, confession time. It wasn't a problem with the alternator, it was a problem with the batteries, well more specifically the type of batteries.

I take to electrics the way a elephant takes to ballet, so when we needed to replace our batteries and add a second one I went for the "best", gel, thinking they would last the longest and be the best for Pixie. Unfortunately gel batteries are new technology, our engine and more importantly our alternator are old technology. The two don't mix. The new batteries want to be charged in a way the old alterator can't. Well it could but it will cost time and money to get it sorted

Of course I didn't know this at the time, I only know this now thanks to Kevin Green of Marine Electrical Services. We arrived yesterday and a few hours later Kevin was on the boat diagnosing the problem. He soon taught me the error of my ways and explained where I had gone wrong. The system was working as it should, but the batteries weren't absorbing the little charge the alternator was throwing out. By 3 o'clock today Kevin had bought down the new (old technology lead acid) batteries were installed and tested them. Not only that, but out reliable big red Bukh engine (that can be relied to spit oil everywhere) might not be leaking oil any more.

I spoke to Bukh Uk this morning and explained where the oil was coming from, they said "the copper washer should stop that"..."er what copper washer?" I replied. So our oil leak could be solved by a washer costing pennies. I spoke Kevin to see what time he was coming down and explained we were off to hunt for a copper washer. We'd tried a couple of places but had no luck. "I'll see what I can pick up on the way" was his reply.

What might seem like two very small jobs to Kevin have just transformed our trip. We no longer have to worry about battery charging, or oil consumption. Now all we have to worry about is the weather!!!

Thank you Kevin, you're a legend

Location:Falmouth

Peeping Tom?

2010-05-26T19:37:00.001+01:00

On leaving the shower block after my second shower in two days I became aware of two eyes watching me. Don't be alarmed. With a snort of sea water and a flick of his tail he dived down under a boat and was off. It was the first seal of our trip - and a big one at that. Judging from the seagulls' reaction to his presence I think he is competition when it comes to fish suppers!

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Lucky Duck indeed

2010-05-26T17:36:00.000+01:00

No you're not seeing things, Lucky Duck has two Easter eggs! Not bad seeing it's the end of May.

Because Kirsty an I haven't seen my parents since Easter my mum has been saving them. Now we've made it to Falmouth we can relax for a few days.

Fowey was as beautiful as ever and after having showers at the Fowey Gallant Sailing Club we went off to The Galleon and had two pints for £4.40...coming from London to Cornwall is worth it to save money on the beer alone, let alone the beautiful Fowey River. The sun was still out when we got back to Pixie, so we ate dinner in the cockpit.

This morning we took Pixie alongside the pontoons at Albert Quay and went ashore insearch of Pork Pies and Tiffin from Kittow Bros Butchers come deli, come heaven for anyone with an unhealthy appetite. I had to be dragged out of there for my own good, so Kirsty could get caffine from Brown Sugar, my shake was nice, though a little sweet, and Kirsty enjoyed her coffee.

Just before we set off I checked the engine oil and found it was a little low, so we got out of the harbour at 11, and enjoyed a very quick sail round here, there were a few big bits of water, but with the wind just aft of the beam Pixie was loving it. Although below it was rolling like a drunk after closing time Kirsty still managed to rustle up a couple of bacon sandwiches. How she does it I'll never know. We made it round in 3 and a half hours, quite a quick one for a heavy 32 footer.

Anyway we're now safely tucked up here in Falmouth, just waiting for Kevin from Marine Electrical Services to come down and look at out alternator, it doesn't seem to be charging the batteries as well as it should do. It was in Portsmouth, it isn't now. Boats eh?

Day 2 - Sun, Sea and Radio 4

2010-05-26T14:36:00.001+01:00

We awoke this morning at 0700 BST to a perfect blue sky and after 15 minutes of contemplation we got up and weighed anchor.

The first part of our passage was a short, hour long motor to Anvil Point and it's picturesque lighthouse, then we turned and pointed to Dartmouth. We made very good progress for the next 6 hours, passing Portland Bill at about lunchtime. At this point the water races and swirls around the headlands and the depth plummets to more than 80 metres, causing turbulance at the surface. Even 2 miles off shore and in smooth water the over falls were apparent.
At around 1400 the tide started to turn on us and it has been slow progress since then. We're making just 4.4 knots over the ground. We have seen a few other boats but it is incredibly quiet in comparison to The Solent. Just a couple of yachts, two fishing boats and some distant tankers. Oh and we heard some rather large explosions in the vicinity of Warship HMS Manchester. I'm glad we weren't any closer! We have also noticed some different bird life - gannets and guillemots as well as the usual herring gulls.
We're currently about 17 miles from Dartmouth. ETA is 2130.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. Posted late due to lack of 3G signal!

Oh come with me to the rolling sea

2010-05-24T10:58:00.001+01:00

First blog of the day, it would have been earlier but there wasn't much to report and we didn't have any signal. We were motoring in very little wind, not enough to sail, we had the radio on and the sun was out.

Now the sun is still out, the radio is still on, but the breeze has increased to a heady 10 knots (where's a sarc mark when you want one?). Not a great breeze, but enough to sail along at almost 5 knots. There are two other yachts heading toward Portland they are motoring, but we're not. We have spent money on new sails and we're going to use them at any opportunity.

The guys at Crusader have done a great job on them. Our old sails looked alright, but these are so much better, the old ones really were very tired in comparison. Having never bought new sails before, they have changed the way Pixie can sail. With the old sails we'd probably still be motoring.

Anyway, must go, there is some relaxing that needs doing!

Location:Off Portland

We are sailing...

2010-05-23T15:04:00.001+01:00

It's been a long time in the coming, but we're away and sailing.

We have 11 knots apparent and Pixie is making around 5.5 knots through the water. We have a foul tide, meaning it's going against us, like walking up an escalator going down slowly. But the sun is shining, our new Crusader sails are working a treat, and now there is some wind from the right direction this really is turning into the perfect day to set off.

Yesterday we came down by train, went shopping and fitted the last bit of electrics. This was a data logger made developed by Tim Thornton. It logs our position and depth and is like a black box flight recorder, except the data logged could find it's way into charts of the future

It does feel a bit like big brother is watching us, but it's a fun idea.

Once that was fitted we went off to the shops to buy food and beer for the small pontoon party.

At 7 o'clock we dressed Pixie over all as the crews and friends arrived, we've gained a new crew member... Meet Lucky Duck!

She was a present from Jelly and James, and she'll be keeping us company on the trip.

After a beer or two we headed to The Royal Spice in Gosport for a very tasy curry.

This morning we left at 9 and motored to Yarmouth. The plan was to stop there for the night, but it was such a good day we refueled and set off
carrying on towards Swanage. On the way down here we re packed the flags...it took a fair while to untangle the flags, fold them up and stow them away again. I now know why they are saved for special occasions!

We got to Swanage just after 6 this evening and anchored, Kirsty set about cooking a chilli, we've now sitting in the cockpit watching an Ovni anchor next to us. I'm still in shorts and there is still a lot of warmth in the sun,

Location:At anchor off Swanage

And we're off

2010-05-23T09:38:00.001+01:00

We are finally on our way. At 0910 BST we slipped our lines and motored out of Portsmouth Harbour. It is a beautiful day with very little wind. This time feels different from all those other times we have left - like the start of something amazing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bye bye work

2010-05-21T17:56:00.000+01:00

Well that's it! I've finished work for the last time for three months. I finished everything I needed to do. Handed in my company car. Edited a couple of videos for work that will come out when the magazines do. We have a new Suzuki outboard to test. I'm also up to date on my expenses, and I even had time to sort out my desk before heading to the pub. It's a strange feeling, not being in the pub, knowing I won't be in the office for over three months.

It's a lovey warm evening out there, the only thing that could improve my beer is having Kirsty next to me, but she's still at work.

Location:The pub

Only three more commutes to go

2010-05-18T07:59:00.001+01:00

I am sitting on the train into Liverpool Street station. It is quite surreal to think about what I might be doing this time next week. If all goes to plan then we'll be in Dartmouth. I wonder what it will be like to not have to think about work for 3 months.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A long day loading

2010-05-16T00:21:00.001+01:00

The last Saturday before we set off was a very busy one. At 8:30 this morning the car was loaded up and we left just after 9 to go down to Pixie

Once on the boat, we fitted the replacement depth and log transducer from Garmin. The otherone was an early model, and the depth would freeze occasionally.

We also fitted our new Ocean Air blinds. I saw these blinds used on Jeremy Rogers' Contessa 32 Gigi. They are not cheap, but they open fully to reveal the whole window letting more light in, rather than the old curtains which never really opened completely or closed properly, they were a lot cheaper though.

Next came the installation of an extra support strut for the wind charger. Because Pixie's transom is so narrow, we weren't able to get the 120 degree spread on the struts. So we had a bracket made up by Fluid Fabrication, who did a great job btw, to support the bottom of the pe holding up the wind charger. Unfortunately the top of the pole started to wobble, so we had to add another brace today.

After that I sewed on the mainsail to the sail slides and attached a sail slide to the headboard of our new mainsail.

With all the jobs on board done we set off to Waitrose to get the non perishable items for the trip, sadly Waitrose was closed so we headed to Morrisons. While Kirsty stowed the food, I had one last job, to cut down a bit of plastic pipe to cover the flag of our danbuoy to stop the sun bleaching it, or the wind disintegrating it.

Only two wires left to replace on the alternator next Saturday, and then we're off.

We got home about 20 mins ago, just before midnight. We're knackered. Good night!

The packing has started!

2010-05-13T08:23:00.001+01:00

Last night we started packing, I say "we" but Kirsty has started packing and I was helping, or actually packing whatever Kirsty handed me. We decided to pack 14 days worth of clothes, again when I say "we" this time I mean I as Kirsty seems to have three tops for every day "Some are short sleeved tops, others have longer sleeves, and I don't know what the weather will be like" was the reply to my enquiry into the quantity of clothes being handed my way, but they have fitted into the alocated space, so it's not a problem.

On shorter trips, I never seem to wear all the clothes I pack, this time I'm hoping I will, once I've packed them of course!

We also sorted out all the charts into areas. No mean feat when we have paper charts to cover our entire journey up to Scotland. Piles of charts lead from the dining room, into the lounge and back again. While the cats were in their element, with more paper than a Christmas day to play with, we had to made sure they didn't take their claws to our pathfinding paper. We've borrowed a thick stack of charts from Sam and Mags who keep their yacht Ituna opposite from Pixie. Sam wrote a great book about circumnavigating the UK and Ireland, which has helped in the planning process greatly and their kind loan has saved us loads.

We had already spent a small fortune on charts, and as well as the paper charts we also have the latest electronic charts covering the UK and Ireland from Garmin to go with our chart plotter. I must say the electronic charts are a lot easier to sort out and store. Rather than spreading them over two rooms of the house, all the chart for the UK and Ireland fit on one micro SD card, the size of my little finger nail.

Thank you Paolo

2010-05-03T09:49:00.000+01:00

We're back in Portsmouth after a great, if cold, sail back from Chichester.

The plan was to get up at 5:15 to be away by 5:30, but yours truly didn't finish setting the alarm on his phone before going to sleep. And one of the problems with our new mattress is that it's so damn comfy that I slept so well. It wasn't until I was woken by Kirsty that I knew the alarm hadn't gone off. A quick calculation of water over the sand bar at Chichester Harbour entrance meant we could still get out of the harbour with enough water.

Once past the bar we were able to get out the sails and enjoy the sail. With around 20 knots Pixie was making short work of the journey. It was a bitterly cold northery wind, but when it's cold we break out Paolo Nutini and move around to warm up. Kirsty dances, my moves can't really be described as dancing and are best left off the camera!

YouTube Video

We were in our berth by 9, and have just had breakfast.

- Posted from our berth in Portsmouth

Wet and windy

2010-05-02T15:47:00.001+01:00

Well, while it was good to be on the water today, we could have done without the rain. Infact it started as a good fun sail, see below

YouTube Video

We were having a good time, then it started to rain. And rain, then the wind started to drop, and I let out a bit more sail while Kirsty was down below making the tea. Just as she was pouring the milk, we were hit by a gust, and the wind started to build again when we had our hands full with mugs of tea and some dutch stroopwafel which I bought back from Holland last week.

After drinking the tea as fast as we could, we went to reduce the headsail and the rope jumped off the pulley and jammed. So my new cunning way of furling the genoa had failed in it's second outing.

In too much wind and pouring rain I had great fun furling the genoa. But it hasn't all been doom and gloom. The wind charger has been earning its keep, the Lewmar windlass we fitted was used for the first time properly, and it's Sounds of the 70's on Radio 2. So we're anchored somewhere in Chichester harbour, relaxing as the wind howls by outside.

Kirsty is reading, I'm doing this before I go out to unjam that rope. Barton blocks, you'll be getting this one back!

- Posted at anchor

Location:West Itchenor,United Kingdom

It might not be Scotland

2010-05-01T21:04:00.000+01:00

As Kirsty has already said, we're finally away from our berth. And while Cowes might not be the most scenic place, but with a northerly force 7 forecast it made a lot of sense to be tied to a sheltered pontoon, rather than lying at anchor with little room if thing go wrong, both Beaulieu and Newtown creek will turn into lee shores later, so if we were to drag we'd have little time to sort our selves out. The moorings in those two places were probably taken before mid day.

The tide was going the wrong way for Chichester, so Cowes it was.

- Posted while on the move