All is well; Arc Angel and new crew are in Orkney.
Leg 6 Oban to Kyle of Lochalsh. Saturday 11 to Saturday 18 June.
On Saturday Oban was en fete and a pipe band heralded the arrival of Bob House and Richard Terry .
The Sunday departure from Dunstaffnage Marina to Tobermory was delayed by the few hours it took for big Jim the mechanic to remove the lovely shiny, but dead, Lewmar electric windlass and replace it with an old manual windlass found in the back of the workshop with a bit of steel tube for a handle. Meanwhile the keen, rooky crew was fully briefed in the throwing, coiling and knotting of lines, and tying of fenders.
A lovely sail up the Sound of Mull was a gentle intro to the sailing and an evening on a mooring in Tobermory with a visit to the Mish Nish hotel bar finished an eventual good start to the week.
The following morning, Monday, a tour of the distillery sealed a new allegiance to Tobermorey and Ledaig (pronounced Letchik) single malt whisky with their distinctive notes of creosote. Setting off in a bit of a blow provided a quick lesson in how to put a couple of reefs in the main, but it resulted in a fast sail down past Ardnamurchan Point, the most westerly in mainland Britain, to the beautiful anchorage at Aranagour, Coll, where the new crew and windlass were tested. They all passed and the crew went for a quick swim. Quick being the word. After dinner, the dinghy was out again for a trip ashore to the Coll Hotel and a friendly bar, made raucous by the arrival of a german crew on their way to Barra, and celebration of Andy Murray's success at Queens. Less celebrated was our ignominious paddle to knee height at midnight to get the dinghy afloat - the tide had gone out, skipper.
Tuesday took us on a lovely sail from Coll, past Muck, to Eigg, where we picked up a buoy in the harbour of this proudly self sufficient island and went ashore for tea.
Then an evening motorsail in slight winds past the sunny and dramatic west side of Rhum, with the Outer Hebrides in sight, brought us to a suddenly rainy and gusty Canna harbour. It is notoriously hard to anchor there because of the kelp, and so it proved to be for us, causing, after two attempts, an anxious night in gusty weather. In the event we were secure, but our neighbours' anchor did drag and they were up resetting their anchor in the rainy small hours to avoid being blown ashore.
Wednesday started with gloomy wet mist, but it soon cleared and a fresh southerly breeze gave us a joyous sail up to Skye. Our joy was shared by a big crowd of exuberant dolphins. 20-30 of them hurled themselves around, in front and under us for a good 10 to 15 minutes. Using the boat's new 'Whale and Dolphin guide' we identified these as Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Beating round Castle island, just for the hell of it, we came into Loch Harport for a lovely sunny run up to the anchorage outside the Talisker distillery at Carbost. It was a heavenly place, the anchorage set against a backdrop of evening sun light on the Cullin hills, enjoyed from the lochside pub garden.
Thursday was again a great sailing day, along the coast of Skye, taking a detour through Soay Sound to get closer to the drama of the hillsides.
Fine views of the steep sided Rhum and all the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides visible. Around the peninsular of Sleat and into its Sound, to pick up a mooring in Armadale Bay, Skye, in preference to Mallaig Harbour who have failed to deliver their promised marina on time. A fiery red sunset.
Friday was gloomy weather, but we felt we had to check out The Old Forge Inn, in Loch Nevis, which is proclaimed to be the most remote pub in mainland Britain - it seemed a pretty average pub and a self congratulatory, spurious claim to us. But we pressed on in the afternoon and ran with the wind up the Sound of Sleat to the Kyle Rhea narrows. Here the tide picked us up and took us at 11 knots through a gorge teeming with seals and seabirds (we suspect it brings the fish through here too) and out into Loch Alsh. Looking at the dull town and moorings we decided to head on to the famously pretty Plockton, and sailed under Skye bridge, a disappointingly banal structure that could have celebrated this gateway to the north, at 6:15 pm.
Plockton is a pretty harbour
and village set along a palm tree lined strand, and has a friendly Inn with great seafood. Thus we enjoyed on our last night as a crew together.
In one final act of daring on Saturday morning the crew took another, even quicker, swim around the boat,
before we took Arc Angel back to Kyle of Lochalsh for provisioning, crew change and the start of Leg 7.
News of Leg 7 Kyle of Lochalsh to Kirkwall, Orkney will come soon.
