Racing around the Bay

Lots of yachts about for West Highland Week which is based here in
Oban. This was the line up this morning for the round Lismore race,
starting just off the entrance of Oban Bay. There must have been up
to 60 or 70 yachts involved. Whether by design or good fortune they
haven't got in the way of the vital lifeline service, which
incidentally has been pretty busy since I joined with the English
school holidays now started.

Younger visitors

My brother and family unexpectedly stayed overnight. Here's Eva and
Felix my niece and nephew enjoying our easy chairs.

Terror on the high seas.

A few years ago, after a visit to the London Boat Show, I was
convinced by a very nice man at the Jeckells Sails stand that the
thing I needed in my life to make my sailing pleasure complete, was a
Cruising Chute. For those not in the know this is a large, very large
and colourful sail. About 700 square feet of cloth that when filled
with anything more than a gentle zephyr inspires gut wrenching terror
in the crew.
Safe to say it doesn't get many outings as the wind never seems to be
quite right. Today we had another go, up it went and off we went at a
smart lick, unfortunately with me hanging onto a line attached to the
top and twisted all around the sail. Well we had it up for a few
minutes and as you can see David got a lot of amusement out of it, and
the picture of me reflects my thoughts.

It is July?

Just back from a brisk sailing weekend with Hamish and Julie. We
headed up the River to Loch Goil and picked up one of the visitor
moorings at Loch Goilhead, then ashore for an excellent meal in the
Hotel and the scenery out the window is fantastic, very fjord like.
Overnight, I was woken by the sound of the rain battering off the
deckhead which was to set the theme for Sunday. The return sail was
quite exciting with the odd gust up to 35 knots and lumpy seas from
the west once we were past Wemyss Bay. You'll note that we are all
togged up with full waterproofs over fleece with gloves, I had
forgotten how painful rain can be on the bare face. Well it is July
in Scotland.

Relief as Britons are allowed to use hose pipes again.

THOUSANDS of relieved gardeners are finally able to water the swamp-like areas attached to their houses, as the hosepipe ban is lifted.

Many homeowners had been concerned that, unless the ban was lifted soon, they would be unable to keep their lawns submerged to the depth required to support larger marine life like catfish and snapping turtles.

Accountant and keen gardener Nathan Muir said: "With only 38 inches of rainfall since January, the mangrove region of our garden, which I navigate with a type of one-man hovercraft, was beginning to dry out very slightly and the alligators which arrived in February were getting a little bit irritable.

"If only the ban had been lifted a little earlier I might still have a pet dog and a left arm below the elbow, but better late than never."

Julian Cook, a retired doctor living in Devon, said: "If I fill the garage with water then open the door, I can ride the wave on my canoe past the first few rafts of feral starving children and my wife can pick off the rest with a high-pressure hose.

"That might give me a chance of reaching the ruins of the supermarket, where I can skin-dive for precious cans of food."

The lifting of the ban has triggered a kind of watering mania among some homeowners, who are hosing with wild abandon their gardens, cars, carpets, laptops, and priceless stamp collections.

Housewife Carolyn Ryan of Durham  said: "The ground floor of my house is already four feet under water thanks to torrential rain, but it was missing something. 

"Now I can wade out to get the hose, hook it up to the bathroom tap and create a beautiful cascading water feature down the stairs.

"Plus I just watered a horse, for the sheer hell of it.

 

Couple of interesting yachts

On our transits we pass hundreds of yachts and motor boats. Most are
of the white fibre glass variety, like my own, but occasionally there
are some more interesting examples. The first is Prince Philips old
yacht Bloodhound, looking very elegant. The other is French, built in
aluminium with an interesting rig, the main mast is far aft with a
small mainsail and a couple of large headsails. It is also equipped
with half a dozen solar panels and two wind powered generators.

Yacht race

While a large part of the UK struggles under the weather, and I'll say
it quietly lest the weather gods hear, we are having a great spell
here. Today was the round Mull race from Oban which takes place over
the next three days. This is looking out towards the North entrance
to the Bay, where we transit 13 or 14 times a day, good job we made it
in before they set off.

Pics around the Bay.

A strange weather day, started off with a glorious sunrise. This is
looking up towards Ben Nevis from Craignure.

On our way over to Oban
we could see thick fog patches rolling out from the Bay, it looked
like the hills were on fire.

  Looking back out to sea it looks like a
new mountain has appeared near the Island of Lismore, whereas it is
actually just a hill of fog.

In between showers it's a lovely day

One minute it's like this and then the next heavy rain and rubbish
visibility. Still it's nice and warm and there is hardly any wind as
you can see, not much good for the yachts but makes for an easy life
for us berthing the ship.
Lots of coaches going back and forth along with truck loads of
building materials .

Walk down the Kerrera Sound

I joined the ship last week and we have been doing good business with
lots of traffic over the weekend and again today. Weather has been to
say the least a bit mixed, but in comparison to other parts of the
country we are doing pretty well.
We were tied up by 20:00 this evening so I went for a walk down to the
Kerrera Ferry, about 4 miles, so I should sleep well tonight.