Easterly winds.

Back home from a lively old sail around Bute this weekend.  Some of my more observant readers noted that I wasn't going to be heading off in an Easterly wind again, due to the horror story that we had the other weekend, unfortunately with our recent weather I would have been tied up in Largs for the last two weeks.   So we blasted off, helped along by a stiff NE'ly, and made a handsome 7 knots up the west side of the island sheltered from the seas but not the winds with only a wee scrap of genoa unrolled.  We thought about taking up a mooring off the Kames Hotel but the winds were whipping up quite a bit of a sea over there by the time they had blown across the width of the Kyle, so we anchored off Bute in the wee bay opposite.  Despite there being a big lump of rock in the way the winds weren't prevented from squalling across from the shore and we had a bumpy old night with 40m of chain out.  At about 1:30 in the morning I had to make a few adjustments but we held and in the morning it was clear why when the anchor came up with a large lump of Argyll and Bute clay attached.  Today provided a fantastic sail back down the East Kyle and across to Largs, might need air conditioning if this keeps up though.
Yes, I might go out in an Easterly but can't say it makes for an easy sailing life.

Costa del Millport

Here at a mooring off Cumbrae basking in the sun after a lively sail from Largs. Also entertainment from a RYA instructor teaching his crew to pick up a mooring under sail.

Amazing technology

If you look closely at the photo you will see a little box marked
Verbatim plugged into the side of my laptop. It is actually a USB
flash drive with 8Gb of capacity, which roughly can store 2,000 music
tracks, 1,000 high resolution photos or a million standard Word
documents. With its small size it can remain plugged in and backup
the laptop as you go along. And the cost of this whizz of technology,
£1.50 from Amazon, amazing.

My tuppence worth.

It is an unfortunate truth that here in Europe we have all been living beyond our means for the last couple of decades.  Our Governments have been elected on  the promise of continued enrichment and we have happily accepted this as being without any kind of pay back in due course.  We now need to pay back the money and reduce the debts and the deficits but the reality of cutbacks is not proving popular with the voter.  Now all over the continent the people are voting in anti-austerity governments as they can't countenance living less well.  Today there are more demonstrations in Spain and the Greeks still cannot form a Government from the disparate members of parliament that have won seats.

I believe that most people are realistic to the need to cut back but are less enthusiastic about it affecting their own circumstances.   The Bankers should be taxed more heavily or Civil Servants need to work longer before getting their pension but when it is suggested that we might have to take a cut in pay, work longer hours or pay more tax that pain should be suffered by others not us.

As the old saying goes turkeys won't vote for Christmas so who is going to vote in a Government that will cause us to live less well?  I do however think that we are approaching the endgame that things are going to have to get a lot worse before they can begin to get better, we have a lot of bills to pay and it is going to be painful.  How do we do it, I'm afraid I don't have any solution, but I do think that the Islanders of the West Coast of Scotland must continue to have their vital lifeline ferry service.

Hi tech solution

Windy old day yesterday coming in from the NW. The wind whistles down
the Sound of Mull and when it meets the incoming tide at Lismore, near
the lighthouse, there is generally quite a choppy sea built up.
For our passenger comfort and safety we stick the stabiliser fins out
and this damps down all the rolling of the ship and keeps their coffee
and tea in the cup. In operation the fins stick out the side of the
ship about 3 metres and are vulnerable to damage if we went alongside
the pier and they were still out, so it is very important that they
are retracted and stowed before berthing. Our solution to ensuring
this happens is to place a lump of wood, which can't be missed, on the
engine controls when the fins are deployed. The engines will always
be in use as we approach the berth and the wood is in the way. Not
very elegant but it works.

Diver lost

Tragic event here yesterday when a diver was lost. I could hear the whole drama unfolding on the radio from the initial report through to the search being called off a few hours later. The team were diving in 32m of water on a wreck close to us, the SS Breda in Ardmucknish Bay, when a 54 year old failed to surface with his buddies. At the first report he had 15 minutes of air left, as time went on and there was no sign of him the tension was palpable as a half hour had passed and there was still no news. The other divers had gone back down with a spare tank but unfortunately there was nothing to report. The surface search went on for a few hours more but today the area is being searched by police and navy divers, all very tragic as later we saw the boat and the individuals being interviewed by the police and coastguard. It is a dangerous pursuit but I guess those who dive know that and accept the risks.  Cambridge News

Changes as ever

Back on board the Isle of Mull for a fortnight. The efficient and
timeous transportation of folk along with their vehicles and
accumulated stuff continues, with yours truly doing his part to help.
This is a Bank Holiday weekend so we have been particularly busy with
people maybe heeding the Government and doing the staycation thing.
Which will help the local economy and indeed Caledonian MacBrayne in
getting them there.

The Orkney and Shetland ferry services called Northlink are owned by
the Scottish Government and managed by Caledonian MacBrayne. The
contract for this service was up for tender and renewal this year.
Yesterday it was announced that the contract has been won by Serko
plc. who will take over in three months for a six year term. Cal Mac
management will clearly be upset about this and it has also got a few
on here talking and considering the future as all of our Clyde and
Western Isles services are up for tender next year. Change is
inevitable, except from vending machines.

The photo is of Duart Castle which we pass up to 14 times a day, not a
bad view from the office window. Great weather since I joined, wall
to wall sunshine just a pity that it is so chilly, snow caps on all
the distant hills, but then it is May.

Wiser after the event.

Out boating this weekend, off to Troon on the Saturday then a great sail the next day up the West side of Bute, about 29' doing it in 5 hours with a wee bit of genoa out, same tack all the way.  Initially we anchored opposite Tighnabruaich but the wind got up from the East so I thought a move to the sheltered waters of Colintraive would be a better bet for the night.  We picked up one of the Hotel's mooring buoys and initially all was well but by midnight the wind was screaming down the hill straight of the shore.  By 7:30 in the morning I'd had enough, we let go and motored down the Kyle with the wind on the port beam, by Loch Striven it was 40 knots plus, but we persevered.  It was a rough old passage across to Great Cumbrae when the NE wind coming down the river met the East wind screaming down the hill at Largs and the seas were all over the place.  Got into the marina and amazingly managed to get onto the berth without any casualties, and minimal shouting, soaked with salt spray and our little legs had all gone jelly like.  Forecast was a NE 5 or 6 but the local conditions around Largs and Loch Striven funnel and increase the wind to gale force.  On our drive back at Kip we noticed a yacht out with full sail up, 6 miles further south he would have been on his beam ends.  From now on I'm not going out anywhere when the wind is from the East.