A night with Charisma

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.