Sailing ho

Visit to the lifeboat

2012-01-30T18:50:00.000Z

Our regular Chief Officer is off with a sore knee and his relief is a local man who also serves as a coxswain on the local lifeboat when he is on leave. The boat is stored just across the Bay from our berth and Mark took me on a quick tour of their boat house and the boat itself. Really impressive bit of equipment made to withstand just about anything that the West coast weather can throw at it. As it is the busiest boat in Scotland it is very popular amongst crews as there is every chance of being called out on a shout.

I know I know, enough sunrises

2012-01-28T18:12:00.001Z

Okay I know that you have seen a hundred sunrises and sunsets before, but as they are such a, almost phenomena up here, I couldn't resist taking this one this morning as we left Oban on our way back to Craignure. And the other photo is looking out west to Duart Castle and the snow topped mountains of Mull.

Great weather and this Captain is letting us all have a go and berthing and unberthing which is good fun, as long as we don't break anything that is.

Survivor

2012-01-24T21:26:00.001Z

As part of our emergency training one of our regular exercises is a man overboard drill. On our way back from Colonsay, with our four passengers on board, we took the opportunity to throw poor old Bill over the side and do a realistic drill. Maybe not entirely realistic as it's not everyone who thinks to take an empty 25 L plastic drum with him when he goes on an unintended swim.

Last night you may have watched An Island Parish, a programme on BBC2 about everyday folk on the island of Barra. One of the individuals featured was Captain Michael McNeil. He was shown organising a fishing competition on the island where unfortunately he managed to end last and was duly awarded the wooden spoon marked loser. He was sitting next to me in our Mess Room as we watched as he is on board here relieving for the usual skipper who is on holiday. On the day they managed to catch nearly a ton of fish which was distributed amongst the assembled islanders and tourists.

Maintaining the lifeline service, at times

2012-01-22T12:09:00.000Z

I joined the ship last Wednesday and we have been doing our thing to Mull and Colonsay without incident until Friday afternoon. Unfortunately the old enemy, the weather, then intervened so we didn't manage any of our late Friday sailings and yesterday, Saturday, was a bit of a wash out with only the one round trip then we called off for the rest of the day. Mull truly became an island as the other ferry service to Lochaline was also called off so there was no way of getting to the mainland.

Not much traffic around at the moment anyway, I guess that this post holiday period is always going to be quiet.

Across the seas to the Isle of Bute

2012-01-15T19:19:00.002Z

Wemyss Bay Ferry and Railway Station.

Sunday opened with a crisp blue sky and a plan to utilise myfree ferry pass by making a trip across the river to Bute. We made it for the 12:00 crossing anddirected by Ms. TomTom we went on an interesting trip round the back streets ofRothesay before heading off to Kilchattan on the South coast and lunch at theKingarth Hotel.

Kingarth Inn

We had a fantastic meal with mussels in a sweet chilli sauceand a smoked fish platter to kick off, before finishing with a couple of steakpies and great big crunchy chips. I hada couple of pints of real ale to help wash it all down. Great place, pleasant atmosphere with goodfriendly service, well worth making the ferry trip across from the mainland.

Keen volunteer rambler on Kilchattan prom.

The weather was a bit on the chilly side, but it stayed dryso we musn’t grumble. We then took a walkalong the sea front at Kilchattan Bay to take in the bracing air, there wasplenty of that but not an awful lot else going on.

Lunch out with the chaps

2012-01-11T22:04:00.000Z

I spent a very pleasant afternoon today in the company of Ian, Walter and the newcomer to the group Brian, Chief Engineer from the Isle of Mull. On my way to pick up Ian I took the extended scenic route to Langbank via Bowling and Glasgow Airport, thanks to the road repairers. This was to avoid the roadworks and possible delays at the Airport roadworks.
After a good lunch at The Point we adjourned to Walter's for coffee and tabnabs.
Thanks to all for a grand day out.

Roof damage

2012-01-05T11:23:00.001Z

Back home by bus from Oban yesterday, heavy rain all the way and as well as the many signs of wind damage around about, there was a lot of flooding with all of the burns running white.

Next door to my flat hasn't fared all that well either, two large pieces of lead cladding came off the front of the building on top of dormer windows. They flew over the top of the roof and landed on the Mews cottage out the back. One was left dangling on the Mews roof and the other landed in the courtyard. Roofers came round yesterday and brought down the piece with the white pipe. As you can see there is some damage to the slates. Our roof has one slate out, which isn't a big deal but unfortunately the water is coming in where it is missing. The roofers think it may be a week until they can come round to repair it.

For those of you with a meteorological bent

2012-01-04T12:55:00.000Z

The photograph shows the barographic trace for the storm that went through yesterday. This shows the change in barometric pressure as the depression passed over the West Coast.

From a gentle breeze to screaming storm

2012-01-03T10:09:00.001Z

At 08:00 the wind was blowing from the west at about 10 knots. The barometer started to rise quite rapidly and by 08:15 we were experiencing winds in excess of 80 knots. You can see the Clansman heeling over in the wind and in the background is the Lord of the Isles tied up on the North Pier, these are photos taken in the sheltered waters of Oban Bay. Needless to say we aren't sailing anywhere this morning.

Off the scale, almost

2012-01-03T07:30:00.000Z

Picture of our barograph on board, the barometric pressure is 954 mb. It has dropped 36 mb in 7 hours. This is going to be a big one.

Wonder why it's cold outside.

2012-01-02T18:36:00.001Z

Two of my fellow deck officers standing amongst the hail stones on deck. Contemplating the empty car park and the prospect of having to go back to work post Hogmanay. Happy New Year everyone.

No ferries today from Oban

2011-12-28T15:38:00.001Z

We made it across to Mull this morning at 8:00 but due to the storm surge and it coinciding with high water we couldn't use our forward ramp to discharge the vehicles due to the height of the tide. This meant turning the ship around and putting the stern in, it is configured differently from the forward ramp, so it was usable. It meant some of the bigger vehicles having to back all the way ashore, but they did get there. The wind was coming round to the West all the time and increasing in strength, as forecast. The first photo shows the view from the bridge on the way back, about a Force 10, wind at about 50 knots. Now we are pinned alongside in Oban with 50 to 60 knots of wind on the beam and the ship banging away against the pier, see the second photo. No more sailings from Oban, or nearly anywhere else on the West coast for the rest of today. This has got to be one of the windiest months for a long time, this storm is due to peter out tonight before, hopefully dying down and we can have a gentle step into the New Year.

Back to normal

2011-12-27T20:46:00.001Z

For the first time since I joined the ship last week, today finds us back on our normal schedule. Until now we have either been sailing up from the Clyde, following a holiday timetable or indeed been on holiday. Routine on here is the norm, and it is reasonable to say that the crew are far more comfortable with the familiar and predictable. There is an expression for those of us that have been on this service for a year or more as becoming "Mullified", embarrassingly I must admit to having joined this set. I know when to appear and where to stand to the minute and the inch. One of the deck crew was most perturbed when ordered to move from his normal standby station at the bow to work down aft on the poop when we had some new men on board.

Earlier in the month I had an interview for a 2nd Mates position that had become available in the fleet; unfortunately I wasn't successful in my application. I have the opportunity to get feedback from the company, so I'll probably take them up on that to see where I can improve or went wrong on the day. Jobs are becoming difficult to find at the moment so I am grateful for the work that I do have here with my schedule laid out until the end of 2012.

Weather today was OK, well for this part of the world, tomorrow promises to be a real stormer with a forecast up to Force 11, winds in excess of 60 knots maybe. I hope that you aren't aiming to go to Colonsay.

Thanks to the cook

2011-12-26T13:06:00.001Z

We had a very restful Christmas Day. Thank you very much to "Fitzy" or John the cook on board for all his work on the day. It was great to sit down to a fully prepared meal and not to need to wash up afterwards. We are slowly fading away to small mountains with the amount of food that we had at lunchtime and just in case we got hungry later in the day the mess room table was groaning under the buffet that was left out for the evening.

Weather wise there was no concession to Christmas Day. Wind and rain all the way but so mild, 12.6 C today, not winter at all.

Hope that everyone had as good a day as we did.

It's not a real one

2011-12-22T18:35:00.000Z

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-22T18:33:00.001Z

Decorations are now up in my cabin and in our mess room.

Home again from the Garvel

2011-12-07T15:06:00.001Z

Hebridean Princess with Isle of Mull in background

Stern section with Greenock Ocean Terminal and the hills covered in snow

In the dock looking forward to the bow thrusters.

Bow thrusters

Starboard stabiliser fin in stowed position.

Twin propellers and rudders

Variable pitch propeller

Becker rudder, note the extra flap at the back to increase the effectiveness of the rudder.

I'm not long home from the ship, left high and dry in the dry dock at
Greenock. The work has started in earnest now and the ship is slowly
but surely being taken apart by small teams of men in dirty boiler
suits and quilted jackets.
Some of the main jobs are the painting of the hull above and below the
waterline. This year the hull is being hydrowashed from amdships to
forward to take off all of the old paint and go right back to the bare
metal of the hull. The ship in the dock with us is the Hebridian
Princess which has undergone the same treatment overall, you can see
the brown rust on the hull. Apparently this is necessary to key in the primer
coat of paint.
Hardly ideal weather conditions to do any work with frequent snow
showers and icy winds, but what can you do in December?

Good to be in Greenock

2011-12-04T18:29:00.001Z

Well we made it to here but it was a rough old passage down here to Greenock from Oban. There was a gale of wind which is OK, but alongside it was a high westerly swell that hit us on the beam once we were clear of Islay and heading for the Mull of Kintyre. The ship's motion was pretty awful and then about 4 in the morning we took one seriously large roll of 30 degrees or more and the decision was made to head towards Ireland to ease the pain and damage. Fortunately this paid off and the motion came back to tolerable, we stayed on this course for an hour then turned due East and surfed our way in towards the sheltered waters of the Firth of Clyde.

Here we are alongside in James Watt Dock ready for our training exercise tomorrow and then into the dry dock itself late afternoon. We will be sharing the dock with and ex Calmac vessel the Hebridian Princes formally the Columba. Snow on the hills all around and temperatures down to freezing, so it should be fun splashing about.

Heading for the Clyde tonight

2011-12-03T15:05:00.001Z

We have one more run to do across and back to Mull and then this evening we are heading off at 20:30 for Greenock, on the Clyde. James Watt Dock to be exact, we were there earlier in the year at the Marina with Tarawa. We are aiming to arrive about midday to suit the tide and will be tied up there till Monday evening when we transfer to the Dry Dock next door and we dry out to sit on the blocks.

Before that we are carrying out an emergency evacuation drill on Monday morning. This will involve inflating one of the liferafts and the MES, (Marine evacuation system) which consists of a slide and floating platform and then as many of us as can be rounded up sliding down into the wet platform and boarding the liferaft. It is for our own good so hopefully it all works well.

So dear reader while you are snuggled up in your bed tonight think about us heading round Cape Horn, sorry Mull of Kintyre, into the snow and wind. Winter has arrived now with a thump

Holiday snaps

2011-11-27T21:27:00.001Z

If you care to go to Jamaica then you can see a mess of photos from our recent holiday out west. The photos are rather higgly di piggly as the latest way of displaying photos doesn't seem to allow me to edit or order them in any way, so apologies for that.

Spectacular fireworks

2011-11-27T20:35:00.001Z

Earlier in the year Oban had a fireworks display for Guy Fawkes night,
unfortunately due to a technical hitch the whole display went up in
one minute rather than the 20 that was the intention. Youtube at
http://goo.gl/hI5Xf

Tonight we were treated to another amazing display from the Northern
Lighthouse Boards quay which as well as being fantastic went on for
about 10 minutes. Well done to all those involved.

I have never seen fireworks fired into the air which then carry on
firing even when they are floating in the water.

Close call

2011-11-26T19:24:00.001Z

It has been a spectacularly bad spell of weather yesterday and today. Heavy rain with a South Westerly gale all day, fortunately the berths are sheltered at Oban and Craignure from this direction, so we have continued running. With the heavy rain the visibility is quite limited and of course at this time of year it is still dark at 8 in the morning. We were coming into Oban Bay at about 7:30, the seas had been high and the rain was still coming down hard. I was leaving the stabiliser fins out to the last minute before the narrow entrance. The port one wasn't for coming in so we slowed right down and kept in to the starboard side to let the engineers sort things out. We came into the Bay and just after turning towards the berth a small steel hulled fishing boat passed down the port side, it had broken free from its mooring and was drifting quickly across towards the North shore. No one had seen it in the dark as it had no lights and looked low in the water. A minute or two earlier and we would have probably hit it square on, if hadn't been for the slow down on the approach it could have been a bad start to the day.

We have continued to run all day, most of the other services are off now, not a good day for travelling anywhere though.

So much wind

2011-11-24T20:55:00.001Z

Not long back and there are 3 of the shipping forecast areas with
Force 12 Hurricane winds forecast. Well we kept going today though
the last run was touch and go, always seems to be much worse when it
gets dark.

Clouds

2011-11-12T14:51:00.000Z

Some concern this morning that a few clouds have appeared in the normally blue skies. Not to worry though, it is still 30 C in the shade and the water is warm.

Toilets

2011-11-08T15:29:00.000Z

The hotel being all inclusive means we can drink, eat and burn ourselves to a crisp without restraint. Due to our lack of will power we are over indulging and may need a lengthy detox on return to the Dear Green Place.
When one is tired after a couple of rums it can be confusing deciding which is the Gents by the signs. Can you work out which one this is?

Out west

2011-11-06T14:22:00.000Z

Day three of our visit to Jamaica, lots of sun, rum and swimming. A photo of Julie at the breakfast bar, palm trees, pool and a Trade Wind blowing in of the sea. It is an amazing place.

Off on our hols.

2011-11-02T13:39:00.001Z

Bye for now folks, we are off to Jamaica for a couple of weeks. I will be making a determined effort to not watch any news or indeed go near an Internet connection.

Democracy

2011-11-01T22:54:00.000Z

Horror of horrors, the Greek Prime Minister has proposed a referendum on the bailout package that will impose severe cuts and austerity on the Greek population. The very suggestion that the people be allowed to determine their own future through the ballot box is anathema to the Bankers and Bureaucrats of Europe. Democracy, as demonstrated the other day in our own Parliament, is only convenient when it suits those in power.

Politicians got us into this mess, why do they think that they have the solutions to get us out of it?

Rex O'Reilly Lyons - RIP

2011-11-01T22:43:00.000Z

Today was spent over on the Isle of Bute attending the funeral service of an old friend Rex Lyons. Rex was never one to embrace the conventional and today was in keeping with his philosophy. The service was held in the Marble Hall of Mount Stuart House, a magnificent setting. To start we were all treated to a glass of champagne on entering the Hall and were asked to toast his life by his daughter Leyla.

Music and readings finished with the Willie Nelson song, For all the Girls I loved before. Which if you knew Rex was a very apposite song.

Later we attended at Barone Cemetery at the back of Rothesay to his final resting place. The world is a slightly poorer place for his passing.

I'll take the High Road

2011-10-30T11:18:00.003Z

Despite the overcast skies with rain showers Julie, Dave and I set off in the Yeti for Overtoun House near Dumbarton to stroll amongst the hills and glens. The first part of the walk was grand, albeit a bit damp, well sodden, underfoot but we had our boots on and were suitably clothed in the middle class outdoor clothing of choice, Goretex.

There was a certain amount of dissent amongst some of the party as we slipped and slid our way up the hill but once we had caught David back up again at the top, the views made it worthwhile for all the effort. On our way backdown the heavens opened up and we arrived at the car soaked through from the waist down, the Goretex keeping the upper half dry and sweat free.
Overtoun House is owned and run by a Christian Group, mainly from America, and they are in the process of turning it into a refuge for women and children. They have also opened up one of the downstairs rooms as a tea room which we headed for to dry, or drip off.
The house is now somewhat in the twilight of its years having laid empty for 15 years but the group have plans and it will be great if they can seem them through.
We came into the building through the rather grand entrance and were met by a couple of very friendly ladies who were warming themselves by the fire.
The main room at the front is quite spectacular, and the Glenn Miller music playing in the background made it all seem a little surreal, as we were the only customers I felt like we had stepped into a Stephen Poliakoff play. The tea was lovely as was the cream scone and we came away much fortified after our soaking.

There are many more photos at the House web site http://overtounhouse.com/

Weather damage

2011-10-25T19:24:00.000+01:00

We have been experiencing strong SouthEasterly gales over the last few days, unusual for this part of the world wherestrong winds and storms usually hit us from the western half of the compass. We were scheduled to do our first run of thewinter timetable south to Colonsay on Monday, but with the pier being on theeast side of the island and the forecast predicting a SE force 7 to 9 we had tosensibly call off as it would have been impossible to tie up safely.

Due to the disruption to other services, outto the Outer Hebrides, we continued with our Mull service. There were high seas and strong gusts of windwhich lead to the vessel rolling and pitching heavily on the way across, indeedas can be seen in the photo below we did sustain damage in the mess room. Fortunately procedures are in place to minimiseand contain any consequent damage in that the cap was securely screwed on.

The chef this time round is excellinghimself, this was the sweet of the day for lunch.

It isn't like this all the time, honest!

2011-10-22T20:35:00.000+01:00

To the nice people in the 274 cars that we carried over to Mull today, presumably from England, to start their October school holiday we are very sorry. Even we haven't seen this much rain before, when the locals start commenting, it must be bad. Unbelievable. Also those folk that went all the way out to Tiree and Coll today on the Clansman and then came back because they couldn't get alongside, sorry

Friday breakdowns

2011-10-21T19:44:00.001+01:00

Another wild old day, with gale force winds from the south. The removal of the fish box and the insertion of a nut and bolt into the rope guard seems to have helped a lot with the vibration.

All was going well until early afternoon when we couldn't raise the aft ramp after loading at Oban. The fault was tracked down to one of the hydraulic units that supplies the power to the aft winches and the rams on the ramp to raise and lower it. Fortunately our busy Chief Engineer was on the job and we were off again after about 45 minutes. We were now running so late we cancelled one of the round trips from Craignure, this allowed us to catch up with the timetable and we were able to get folk to Oban for the 18:10 train back to Glasgow. This is a priority for us as this is the last train of the day.

As compensation to the people that had their sailing cancelled they were allowed to sail for free on the Loch Aileen ferry across to the mainland. A lot further to drive but they would be back into Oban quicker than waiting for us and saved the fare.

When we arrived in Oban I was despatched down to the bar to attend to a gentleman who had collapsed with chest pains. Glad I did my first aid course last year and fortunately the paramedics attended quickly and treated the gent for a suspected coronary attack. Eventful day really.

Bouncing about

2011-10-21T09:23:00.002+01:00

When we were departing Oban yesterday afternoon the ship was vibrating a lot more than usual, particularly at 60% pitch. It was getting to the point that it was difficult to fill out our forms on the way out of the harbour, so clearly things were getting bad.
On leaving Craignure we used each engine independently and found that there was more vibration from the port engine as compared to the starboard. Clearly something was amiss so the company organised divers to attend last night, to check out the propellers.
They found a plastic fish box off a fishing boat stuck in amongst the propeller gear and a missing bolt from the rope guard on the starboard prop. This morning, things seem to much better so they must have been part of the problem, though the vibration hasn't gone completely.
From a chilly 6C the other morning it was 13C today, accompanied by a Southerly Gale, blowing on the way across, complete with driving rain. Autumn equinox gales maybe?

At sea again.

2011-10-19T19:41:00.001+01:00

Island of Lismore.

Duart Castle with Mull in the background.

It was a rough old night alongside at Craignure Pier, the wind blew
all night and the ship bounced off the pier. I mustn't grumble as I
had a bed and duvet, unlike our new residents that had a few blankets
between them and the couches. Some of the stranded passengers found
accommodation in Tobermoray, to add to their stories the taxi ran into
a deer on the way down the coast. No one hurt, well other than the
deer.
We got off OK at 6:45 and even the two drunks that were chucked off
earlier made it back on board. The sun came out and the snow, yes
snow, came down and covered all the tops of the hills. My camera
isn't up to the long shots required but here are a couple of the views
on the way across to Oban.
That's me half way through the week, quite eventful with engine
breakdowns and storms.

Conversion to passenger ship

2011-10-18T21:29:00.001+01:00

We knew that it was going to be a windy old day and so it proved to
be. We had a bit of a heavy landing onto the pier at Oban as the wind
freshened up from the NW, then in the early afternoon we called off
the berthing at Craignure just as we were approaching and hove to,
waiting for a squall to pass through. When it had died down a bit we
came alongside and everyone got off but we didn't load anything, just
waited and waited to see what would transpire while listening to the
wind howling in the rigging.
Here's a couple of photos taken out of the wheelhouse as we hove to,
if you look carefully you can spot a yacht heading up the Sound of
Mull, going to windward against the tide. Put's the rest of us fair
weather yachters to shame or maybe we're not that daft!
The wind continued to howl and we couldn't depart for fear of damaging
the ship or maybe running aground when we pulled away. By 18:00 a
decision was made that we were going to lie alongside here for the
rest of the night in the hope that the wind would die down by the
morning. Unfortunately we have 114 passengers on board, some have
found accommodation ashore but 60 odd are now making their beds around
about the passenger areas of the bar, cafeteria and observation
lounge. We gave them a free meal and drinks, a local hotel has
rummaged up some blankets and we are now all bunking down for the
evening. Apparently this has never happened before, can't believe
that, but it makes for a change.

Thanks for all the snowballs

2011-10-17T19:49:00.001+01:00

I have been on board now for nearly six days, for the first time ever
I missed the boat on Wednesday when I joined, thanks to the roadworks
on Great Western Road in Glasgow. Only by minutes despite the
herculean efforts of the bus driver we arrived in Oban to see the ship
sailing across the Bay.
This weekend was the Mull Car Rally, sponsored by amongst others
Tunnocks, who anyone from Scotland will know, makes Caramel Wafers,
Snowballs and Macaroons. Mr. Tunnock knows his clientele well as the
Scottish have a fondness for sweet sticky sweets, particularly those
made out of dubious ingredients. Does anyone know what that sweet
sticky stuff is inside a snowball? Their retro van was on board and
the driver was kindly handing out free samples, see photo. The dark
chocolate caramel wafers are delicious, so I'm told, as clearly I
wasn't going to be having any on my diet.
It has been interesting seeing the rally cars going out on Friday and
the bits coming back yesterday and today. Due to the pretty appalling
weather there was several cars damaged that had to retire.
We unfortunately didn't cover ourselves in glory today when we broke
down alongside at Craignure on the first trip of the day. Two and a
bit hours later we got going again, sorry about that folks. The Chief
Engineer is now phoning around trying to source bits for a 25 year old
water cooling pump. Anyone who has looked for spare parts for
something that age will sympathise.
Pretty grim weather as well today, up to Force 9 in the Minch and our
fellow ferries have been badly disrupted in carrying out their vital
lifeline service. More tomorrow, this time from the North West which
may impinge on our service too.

On my way home

2011-10-09T21:55:00.001+01:00

At Tower Pier

Dining Saloon

Docking Telegraph

Left the dear old paddler this evening and now making my way north on
the train. Sorry to leave as it was good fun on board, a bit like
piloting an aeroplane, quite long periods of dullness with short
moments of terror.
Back to the day job on Wednesday, will seem even more
'straightforward' than usual.

Trip across the river

2011-10-06T18:56:00.001+01:00

Waverley alongside at Tilbury Landing Stage

Princess Pocahontas Ferry

Princess Pocahontas

Gravesend Pub, note chandeliers

As we were off for the third day in a row, myself and Tony the Purser
went on the Princess Pocahontas ferry to Gravesend, which is just over
the other side of the Thames from Tilbury. We had to go and deposit
some excess change at the bank. Once that was done we had a walk
through the quite smart town and visited Princess Pocahontas's grave
in the churchyard. See http://goo.gl/IMYfT for more information.
Naturally we felt obliged to visit a pub to sample the local ales, and
found this rather splendid place with its chandeliers and delightful
Polish barmaid.
The good news is that the weather tomorrow is scheduled to abate and
we are going upriver on a charter run from the Tower, so at last we
will be underway again. Crew will all be raging alcholics if we stay
here much longer.

No sailing again today

2011-10-06T07:41:00.001+01:00

The weather has still not abated, we were all up at 6:00 this morning ready to head upriver to pick up at Tower Pier. Given the strong winds at the moment we would have been able to carry out the first part of the cruise downriver but with the forecast it would not have been possible to carry out the rest of the day down to Southend and the River Medway. We would probably only have been able to take the people to Tilbury and then bus them back, about 2 and a half hours, so Ian, the Captain, has decided to cancel all of the day's sailings. This is the third day of cancelled sailings and everyone feels really bad about it, but it is hard to see what else we can do.

Weather stops play

2011-10-04T14:20:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately our great spell of hot and calm days has come to an end. It is overcast now with a stiff west or southwest breeze blowing down the river. The forecast is so bad we have had to cancel our day's cruising as we would have been unable to berth at Clacton or Southend. Regrettably tomorrow doesn't look any better, indeed worse with a gale forecast. Still we might make something of it, it's another day and things change.

Cloudless Skies

2011-10-02T18:07:00.001+01:00

Still unbelievably warm, passing Greenwich you can see the clear blue sky.

New Building

2011-10-01T07:22:00.001+01:00

Unless you have been in London recently you may not recognise this new skyscraper. That is HMS Belfast in the foreground.

Not another sunrise!

2011-09-30T19:27:00.001+01:00

Well yes, but this was taken at Tilbury on the River Thames this
morning. Not the most scenic of places, well actually probably one of
the most un-scenic of places, but in the early morning with the sun
coming up as a big ball of flame and the mist on the river it was
pretty good.
We have a great day, carried 600 odd folk up and down to the centre of
London and now we are on our way back up there on a Show Boat. Jazz
band on board bashing it out.
Tremendously warm day, up to about 28C and in the engine room 41C.
Engineers are all looking quite thin.

Drinking in the culture

2011-09-29T17:27:00.000+01:00

Like getting off a flight to the tropics alighting at Euston Station. 27C in the shade here, fortunately I have found some cooling refreshment. They expect Scotsmen to turn up on the ship with a good drink in them, cultural stereotype.

London bound

2011-09-29T15:35:00.000+01:00

At the moment I'm on a comfortable train heading South for London. Later in the day I'm going to be joining the Waverley to do a few days steaming up and down the Thames, hopefully in the glorious weather that is here today. I'm sure that there will be the odd anecdote or picture to post while I'm on board, please keep coming back for updates and maybe even leave a comment!

Latest visitor

2011-09-25T13:07:00.001+01:00

The Norwegian passenger ship Fram has anchored in the Bay and is sending her crew ashore in fast craft. Interesting ship. It looks like she has been ice strengthened and probably has been in ice recently judging by the lack of paint around the bow on the waterline.

2011-09-25T09:37:00.002+01:00

There may be troubles ahead.

A glorious start to the day but these red skies in the morning usually predict a bad day ahead, Shepherds and Sailors taking warning etc. And today would appear to have gone downhill quite quickly with rain and wind already and a gale forecast for during the day. The good news is that London is forecast to experience a spell of unseasonably warm weather, and that is where I'm off to on Thursday to join the Waverley. Long may it last.

25% Poorer

2011-09-24T09:35:00.001+01:00

Apologies to Matthew Parris in the Times but as it paywalled I have pasted his column from today. I believe that this sums up the situation we now find ourselves in, in terms that I can understand anyway.

Hard times: prepare to be 25 per cent poorer

We in the overindulgent, overspent West are living beyond our means. We must live less well or work harder

This spiralling downturn, we are told, is a failure of capitalism. Financial systems have seized up. Liberal market economics isn't working. Someone should have intervened — there should have been regulations, mechanisms, emergency bail-outs — to stop this, and keep us getting richer. Now we must find ways to kick-start growth, recoup the losses we've sustained, and smooth away our debts. Adam Smith's Invisible Hand has let us down.

Rubbish. Adam Smith's Invisible Hand is slapping us about, as we deserve and need. We are in denial. Since 2008, and for the rest of some of our lives, what we have seen and will see is a gigantic market correction. Brutally because belatedly, the market is bringing us crashing back to earth.

We had tried to buck the market and for more than a decade seemed to get away with it. We meant to get richer without working harder. We tried to grow our economies without increasing our productivity. We wanted to grow our health, our welfare and our pension provision at a rate our taxes and our businesses could not sustain. We gave citizens and employees rights without asking how they would be provided for. We in the old Western democracies have been living in cloud-cuckoo-land, and now that we are hurtling towards terra firma we cry foul and demand to know what went wrong.

We went wrong, and the market is telling us so. The market is working. The shock is healthy, overdue, and right.

Yet we find ourselves this autumn in an atmosphere of anger and recrimination. The cry goes up that someone — probably some bankers — made a big mistake, and we must put it right. A huge unstated assumption underlies this caterwauling for a remedy: that the problem is remediable without all of us getting quite a lot poorer.

The problem, it is assumed, has arisen from a glitch in the mechanism of the market — like a blocked petrol pump in a car's engine. The car has stopped. Simple, then: the blockage must be removed so the car can power us on. Bonnet up, we examine the workings; expert economic heads are scratched. But nobody asks where the fuel is coming from. The problem, we assume, is a process problem. So repair the process.

Process, process, process. How this oh-so-millennial fixation has sickened me these past 15 years. It is pure Freudian displacement activity. We keep telling ourselves how we need to have urgent "nationwide debates", great national "conversations", about the way we organise this or that.

And it's all a subliminally induced distraction from the hard questions we don't want to face: obsessing about how we count the votes in the ballot box, rather than talk about what the elected representative, once elected, ought to do. Fiddling with the knives and forks instead of asking where the next meal is coming from.

This autumn, one great evasion dominates all others. We attribute our economic woes to a malfunction in the market. Two principal causes have combined to produce this effect. They are (1) a public misapprehension about the theory of the market economy; and (2) profound embarrassment among politicians and economic commentators because they never saw this coming.

The misapprehension is the belief that free market economics guarantees growth. It doesn't. Most people realise (even if Gordon Brown didn't) that there will be booms and busts, hills and valleys; but they assume the overall trend must be up. Market economics guarantees no such thing. A nation can grow poorer, relatively or even absolutely, and stay poorer. Half the world — America and Europe, for instance — can fall behind permanently. There's nothing automatic about growth. If you're not keeping up with the competition, the free market will shrink your economy. This is not a failure of the market but a failure of your economy.

Politicians and commentators have an unconscious need to persuade themselves — and a conscious need to persuade their audience — that this crash was avoidable. After all, if it was unavoidable then they have some big questions to answer about why they never predicted it. I have found my colleague Anatole Kaletsky's argument that it was somehow all because the US authorities didn't bail out Lehman Brothers, frankly bizarre, as if Lehman was some kind of asteroid hitting our global economy from outer space. If the camel's back was so near breaking then the identity of the last straw seems secondary.

On seaside holidays in childhood my brother and I used to build sand walls against the encroaching tide, racing to shore up whichever section looked closest to being breached. In the end there was always a section that did fail — and it was always the case that it would have held if we had reinforced it better. But another would have failed in its place.

Distrust the temptation to ascribe the crash to a particular catastrophic event: the unlucky failure of a component somewhere in the capitalist machine. The machine has worked with a clumsy and destructive violence, but it has not failed. It roared ahead then ran suddenly out of juice. An engine, however, does not provide its own juice. We — you and I, our fellow countrymen — are the juice. It is upon our labours than a national economy is built. And we haven't been working hard enough; or not for the ever-improving lifestyle and retirement we've come to think our right. Travel beyond Britain, Europe and America and you will encounter a very different approach in the balance people make between what must come from them and what must come to them.

Travel Britain. At every level, too many are doing too little. Many do want work, or more work, but others don't, and they load on to our economy costs that drag down the rest. By what grotesque moral logic do those who won't stop eating become entitled to mobility scooters on the NHS? I mention this trivial idiocy only because it's indicative: something has gone seriously wrong with our idea of entitlement. Greece is simply rather farther down the road.

We in the West cannot continue living like this without overencumbering ourselves and our successors with debt until we topple forward on to our faces. All the rest, all the hocus-pocus about leverage, and sub-prime, and derivatives, and financial instruments, and PFIs and bonds and sovereign debt and bankers' bonuses, tangles into an intellect–baffling thicket, blurring our vision of the truth behind it: we are living, and borrowing, beyond our means. We must live less well, or work harder and longer, or both.

I've stopped deferring to professionals in the world of finance and economics, having found my own uneducated guesses no more deficient than theirs — so I'll venture this. Short of a rebalancing of individual input and output that I fear would be too cruel for any democracy to undertake, we in Europe and America must expect the market correction we'd rather call a market failure to persist, in fits and starts, until we are about 25 per cent poorer than we are today. Not until then will things begin to settle down. That is the message of the markets. Stop blaming the messenger.

2011-09-21T10:06:00.000+01:00

Weather and audits.
Bit of a blow on here today, strong SW'ly blowing up from the Irish Sea causing a nasty swell around Lismore Light but we are continuing to run. Having to lash down all the trucks and commercial vehicles just in case, naturally the crew are happy to help in this extra task.
Maybe in preparation for our Safety Mangement Certificate audit next week, our Company Mangement auditors are on board to do an internal audit today. Still as a small cog in the machinery of the ship this does not unduly affect my day to day activities. Captain seems to be quite busy though.

Permanent Crew

2011-09-19T21:00:00.000+01:00

I have just heard that my position with Caledonian MacBrayne is to be permanent, here on the Isle of Mull, trading twixt Craignure and Oban. So doubles all round when I get home.

2011-09-18T20:19:00.002+01:00

Sunday Activities.
Every two weeks or so we hold a man overboard drill which requires us to launch the ship's FRC (Fast Rescue Craft) to carry out an exercise in recovering a man in the water. Today was very suitable with a gentle wind and little sea, well I guess it was suitable as long as we only have people over the side in good weather. Anyway we launched the boat just after leaving Craignure and it zooms away at 27 knots to await our arrival in Oban. Here's a picture of it being recovered once we were alongside.

We are now on the reduced timetable so our last trip of the day was the arrival in Oban in 18:00. As it was so lovely I went for a walk up the hill to McCaigs Tower that overlooks the Bay.

How about a sunrise?

2011-09-18T09:11:00.001+01:00

Autumn is here and we are seeing the sun rise in the morning as well
as setting in the evening. So for a change here is the sun coming up
over the mainland as seen from Craignure on the Isle of Mull this
morning.

On the West Coast

2011-09-17T19:42:00.000+01:00

Dear readers, my apologies if you have visited the blog in the last few days to find that there has been no updates. I am lead to believe that one of the vital requirements for a blog to have and keep its readership is to keep a steady news flow so that there are new items to read, otherwise why visit?

Truth is that little worthy of printing has occurred in the last few days, I joined the Isle of Mull on Wednesday and we have been plying the waters between Mull and Oban on a daily basis with little of note happening along the way. Just like trains and buses our customers don't want anything exciting to happen. Turn up on time, convey us comfortably and safely to the destination and arrive on time is as much as is expected and we are pleased to provide this. Unfortunately unlike my previous employment with Waverley, where each day provided a new anecdote with thrills and spills along the way, the Isle of Mull tends to be pretty predictable.

So it may be a trifle dull on here, but the view from the office window is often spectacular and our customers are happy and so should I be. At the end of the month I am joining Waverley on the Thames for about 10 days so no doubt I will then have ample material to write about.

2011-09-11T21:11:00.000+01:00

Weather again

It was my plan to lift the boat out the water tomorrow, but unfortunately the old enemy has got in the way. For those of you who understand isobaric charts you will appreciate that this synoptic chart for Monday shows a deep depression centred to the NW of Scotland with its associated fronts and closely spaced isobars, which predict strong and gale force winds over our part of the country. So no lift out tomorrow, or the day after and gallons of water to fall out the sky onto us. The joy of a maritime temperate climate.

Heading North

2011-09-09T10:37:00.001+01:00

We, that is SWMBO and me, are heading north to the Highland capital of Aviemore for a Ladies Business Conference. I shall be using the hotels leisure facilities while the ladies network. Maybe one of those hot rock things? Then a dinner tonight, now I think I know how Denis Thatcher felt.

2011-09-05T22:39:00.001+01:00

Racing Results

Euroyachts have published the results from our little fun race on Saturday, to confirm our 5th place out of 15, 5 mins and 21 secs from the first place. Results for the full results.

Based on our 7th place last year and continuing at the same rate we should be winners in 2013.
Some more photos at Gallery

Euroyacht Fun Race

2011-09-04T15:46:00.001+01:00

Well the good news is that a Jeanneau Sun Oddyssey 37 won the 2011 Fun Race, this is an annual bash from Largs to Colintraive held amongst the Jeanneau owners. I own a Sun Oddyssey 37 but it wasn't my boat that won it was another entrant. A windy old day with a F4 southerly when we started at Largs which gave us a great run up the Kyles till about Rothesay. During the sail across, one of the other entrants, in a go faster Sun Fast 35 with fancy sails, decided to try and overtake me on the inside and maybe even intimidate me by coming so close we could have handed over a cup of coffee to him.

He failed and dropped behind, then the wind swung round to the NW and we were hard to windward for the last stretch up to Colintraive. It was all hands to the winches and sheets as it started to gust up to 30 knots with us still carrying full sail.

Happy Crew on hearing the race
result

Things all got a bit fraught about half way up the Kyle with the boats all crowding together in the narrow confines when a little bit of shouting could be heard above the sounds of winches and flapping sails.

The result, well on the day at the picnic ashore the SO 37 was declared the winner with Tarawa coming in at 5th spot in a field of 13, so not bad, though the crew didn't take it too well.

There was some dark mumblings about the No 1 result as some felt that the winner may have been a little "confused" about the start time. I understand that some of the official photos are to be scrutinised which will have the time recorded to confirm all is above board. Thank you to the crew, Julie and Dave and to Angus Scott for the beer and nibbles.

2011-08-30T22:06:00.000+01:00

Best not to anchor here.
The passenger ship departed the Bay with about 5 lengths of wire hanging of their anchor. I think some of the local fishermen have found a cheap way to dispose of unwanted fishing gear. Probably best to avoid anchoring anywhere around there in the future.

2011-08-29T10:09:00.000+01:00

The arrival of the Passenger Ship Albatros in Oban Bay has caused some consternation amongst the Cal Mac Captains. It isn't really quite the most convenient spot for our ships to arrive and depart from the ferry terminal. We are having to ask him to swing out of the way each time we arrive and depart.
Big ship to come into the Bay at 177m long and over 20,000 GRT.

Not another sunset!

2011-08-22T21:07:00.001+01:00

Well, yes but it could be a picture of the car deck with happy
passengers going about their travelling as we transport them to and
fro on this vital lifeline service, but the sun setting over Mull is
much more picturesque.
Where was all this weather when we went out to Barra in a Force 8?
Unfortunately we also managed to scoop up someones creel line that
night, as it is wrapped around the starboard stabiliser fin and
doesn't want to come off. It must have been then as that is the only
time we've had them out for months.

Stormy seas

2011-08-20T12:01:00.001+01:00

Quite a change from our usual routine as yesterday afternoon we headed off west to Castlebay on the Island of Barra. Rather than our usual forty minutes crossing to Mull it took us 5½ hours to reach the Outer Hebrides, a bit longer even than the normal timetable as we managed to find a gale on the way, so it was a rough old crossing. Unfortunately some of our passengers were a bit unwell and one or two of the regular crew, who are more used to the placid waters around Oban. Once in Castlebay it was a quick 15 minutes alongside and we were off back out again bouncing around the Minch.

We were taken off our usual run so that the Clansman, which has an open vehicle deck, could do the Coll and Tiree trips and carry the maximum amount of livestock to the sales yesterday. Having an enclosed vehicle deck we are restricted in the number of animals that we can carry on here as the ventilation is not adequate.

Interesting to see Castlebay, some of you may have seen it featured in the TV programme an Island Parish, apparently it has had quite an effect on the tourist trade this year.

Raffle Prize winners

2011-08-15T12:24:00.004+01:00

Emma & Kirsty

Way back in January 2009 we attended a charity dinner, as a raffle prize I put in a day sailing on a luxury yacht with champagne lunch, yes I know, second prize two days sailing etc. Kirsty the winner, didn't get into touch until earlier this year to claim her prize and yesterday we finally made it.

What a terrific day, more than enough wind and the sun shone on us all day. A quick anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the Cumbraes with a stop over at Millport for lunch. Off back to work on Wednesday, so this was a great way to end my leave.

Edinburgh Festival visit

2011-08-15T12:08:00.002+01:00

Off to drink in some of the culture of the East Coast. While walking around the streets we are handed flyers of the hundreds of shows that are running over the month. This is just a selection of those that we kept.
We went to a Best of the Fest preview and based on that went to see a completely different show with this amazing Australian duo.

Never thought that you could get that much emotion out of a puppet.
As it says not for Kids. Here's a link to a You tube
http://youtu.be/2UCuOZUENpM

2011-08-15T10:51:00.000+01:00

Visit to Norway

Earlier in the month we flew across to see Keith, Kris and family in Risor. Thank you to Ryanair for providing the on time flights and the opportunity to buy Duty Free, Car Hire, Scratch Cards, Hot snacks, Hotel Rooms etc. on the flight over. If anyone does fly to Oslo (Torp) with Ryanair it is about 2 hours by bus south of Oslo proper. The bus fare, being Norway, is about the same price as the flight.
Of course their two children Eva & Felix have grown up since we last saw them, Eva is in the business of replacing teeth and Felix is getting fed up of little old ladies stroking his hair. See photos for the reason why.
It was great to see them all again, here are some photos Risor . People over there are still coming to terms with the tragedy that occurred three weeks ago on the Island of Utoya. It is still on the front pages of the newspapers with much speculation about reasons and possible collaborators. There is considerable concern that Breivik may be killed in a revenge attack and that there is already a price on his head.

Thanks to Keith and Kris for looking after us and picking us up at the airport.

The Dark Side of motoring

2011-08-12T07:11:00.001+01:00

After 5 years the old Ford Focus had been giving me some cause for
concern so unfortunately it had to go. We were in a shop across the
road from a car dealers and nipped in to have a wee look. An hour
later and a test drive up the motorway I am now the proud owner of a
Skoda Yeti.
For those of a technical bent, it is the 2 wheel drive 2.0 litre turbo
diesel version and in Muscovado Brown.
All jokes about Skoda's on a postcard please.

Report from Risor

2011-08-09T07:55:00.001+01:00

I am out East in Norway visiting my brother and family. The rioting and financial woes of the UK seem a long way away from here, unfortunately I am heading back tomorrow.

A walk around the Greenock Cut

2011-07-30T08:18:00.001+01:00

Once we had done our morning chores, hand over Julie's office to the
landlord, buy my brother's birthday present, (see Keith we haven't
forgotten), buy a new car etc. We had a bit of time on our hands so
we arranged to meet the Chief Engineer from the Isle of Mull, Brian,
at Greenock and we went walking in the hills.
The first half of the walk is alongside the Cut which was designed to
bring water down from the resevoir Loch Thom down the hill, so it is
nice and gentle with a very gradual incline. Fantastic views all
around the Clyde Estuary and again a beautiful day, not too warm with
a gentle wee breeze.
The return is on a service road alongside the main reservoir and the
compensatory reservoirs which are like the overflows. About 7 miles
all round so we slept well last night.
Thanks to Brian for showing us around and buying us a pint at the
Point afterwards.

Sailing with the Margarets

2011-07-30T07:58:00.001+01:00

Our two new found friends from the Lanzarote trip came along for a wee
circumnavigation of the Cumbraes on Wednesday. Cracking day, with
just enough wind to keep us going but not too much tipping!

Back from our voyages

2011-07-25T10:24:00.017+01:00

We have been away for three days and strangely enough for Scotland experienced wall to wall sunshine with wind, sometimes maybe a little bit too much wind. But then yachtsmen are notoriously fickle and generally never happy with what is presented weather wise. Julie and I sailed to the new marina at James Watt Dock in Greenock where we were offered a free trial berth for the night. Good place, sheltered, easy access with all new pontoons and most facilities. At the moment, as you can see from the photo, plenty of spare berths but I'm sure that it will be successful in due course.

On our way downriver we passed this large vessel alongside at Ocean Terminal, this was the second large passenger ship in two days. We sailed on to Troon where David joined on the Sunday morning. We then had a spirited sail across to Lamlash on Arran where we anchored for lunch before a speedy sail back to Largs in North Westerly 4. Bit of tipping and wall to wall sunshine, a rare combination of sun and wind! Over 80 miles for the weekend.

Greenock bound

2011-07-22T20:51:00.002+01:00

After a gentle wee sail to the new Marina in James Watt Dock at Greenock we met up with Walter "charts" and had a good meal at The Point. Now to beat Julie at cards; just like on the ship no TV.

Heading North

2011-07-22T10:21:00.001+01:00

Not a bad day so we are heading upriver to the new marina at James Watt Dock to stay overnight, should be there by late afternoon. I rang to check and there is a bonus that berthing is free overnight! I'll call my Greenock chums once we are in place to see if they can pay a visit.

Lousy day for some

2011-07-18T14:20:00.002+01:00

On our return from Craignure I could hear the local lifeboat and the
Coastguard discussing a nautical casualty. It wasn't until we were in
Oban Bay that we could see very clearly the fishing boat Gleaner hard
aground on, colloquily know as, the Isle of Arran bank. Low water
isn't until 15:30 so he won't be going anywhere until this evening.
Apologies for the quality of the photo, the iPhone camera isn't up to much.
Post script. The vessel was re-floated at 20:00 this evening and moved back alongside under its own steam. Here's a link to the BBC news http://goo.gl/VKIY3

MS Athena

2011-07-18T10:21:00.002+01:00

This Portugese cruise liner anchored off the entrance this morning and
her lifeboats are busy takng passengers to and fro from the North Pier
in Oban.
An old ship built in 1946 and somewhat notorious as under a previous
name the Stockholm she was in a collision with the SS Andrea Doria in
1956, which resulted in the later sinking with the loss of 46
passengers.
Does anyone know why they have added those sponsons down at the water level at the stern,
looks very odd. I assume something to do with stability but if anyone
knows for certain it would be interesting to find out

Oh crap!

2011-07-15T19:49:00.001+01:00

Cal Mac regret that due to a truck getting stuck across the forward
entrance off the vehicle deck the Mull Service is running about 1 and
3/4 hours late tonight.
No one died, and there were only two people on board wanting the
train, so they are now on a taxi to Glasgow. And we are very sorry.
This low loader is coming back with a huge digger on the next run
tonight, hopefully a bit easier the next time.

Around the harbour this evening

2011-07-14T22:25:00.001+01:00

There are a few of the Tall ships passing through the area at the
moment, a few are berthed at the North Pier and of course we have our
local fishing boats.

Apologies

2011-07-14T20:04:00.002+01:00

To all the ladies and gentlemen that were being hassled on the PA to get to their cars on this afternoon's 16:00 run to Criagnure, our apologies. The man who was supposed to unlock the doors to the car deck, had a senior moment, and forgot to open them up. We often have drivers that appear to be lost but not a whole ship full. And before any of my readers point the finger, no it wasn't me and I promised Jimmy Dixon I wouldn't tell anyone who was responsible.

View from the cabin.

2011-07-14T14:11:00.001+01:00

We have been treated to a number of fabulous sunsets in the last few evenings. This was the view from my cabin last night when we were tied up at Craignure, if you look closely you will see the 10 trillion midges that were out and about at the same time, looking for a small blood donation.

MCA visit

2011-07-12T20:22:00.001+01:00

We had a wee visit, i.e. one crossing over and back later in the day, from our colleagues in the Maritime Coastguard Agency. I know the surveyors from my Waverley days, they work in the Gourock office and one is well known about the ports and harbours, his turban and grey beard are quite distinctive.
It was quite fun to watch and listen in to the Captain dragging out the paperwork and fielding the awkward questions. As a humble deck officer I am merely a cog in the machine and not concerned, anymore, with such important matters. Made me quite nostalgic for my previous work, do I miss it? No, not a bit.
Incidentally, it was picked up that we were not making our daily Radio Log Book entries correctly, so a non-conformity has been issued and we shall have to take immediate steps to rectify this serious breach. :-)

Weekend activities

2011-07-10T19:36:00.000+01:00

Saturday's are always busy, every trip was full of cars mainly. I believe that the majority of holidaymakers leave their hotels and holiday homes and change over on the Saturday hence the high numbers. We were having to turn away people all the time as there just wasn't room on board for any more vehicles, for most that will have meant a two hour wait until the next time we are back but even then they can't be sure as the ship is fully booked every trip. It is only down to the skillful directions and planning of the ship's crew that we are able to cram in a few more cars than that theoretically possible. ( he says modestly)

Today, Sunday is a real contrast with none of the sailings full, indeed loads of room sometimes, it's a pity that things can't be spread out over the weekend. Anyway I like the Saturday's as they provide a bit of a challenge and the day flies by.

We had a wee treat today when the Classic Malts Cruise departed from Oban after doing a parade of sail around the Bay and then heading out to Tobermoray and their second distillery visit. Of the 60 odd yachts involved I would say nearly half seem to be foreigners, mainly Scandinavian but several American and French. There was the odd smaller British boat in there amongst the Malo's and Hallsberg Rassesy's.

Still settled weather here, fortunately we haven't been experiencing any of the fierce thunderstorms and flooding that has been hampering the golf and flooding the good folks of Edinburgh. Makes a change mind.

Rain and mist

2011-07-06T19:48:00.001+01:00

Back on board today, all sober and keen. Rained all the way from Glasgow and got heavier the closer I got to Oban, as they say it keeps the dust down.

Horror of horrors the satellite TV that we have beamed into our cabins isn't working properly! What are we going to talk about if we don't have Eastenders or Coronation Street to watch and comment on?

Don't even have the radio over in Craignure, changeover to digital! I think they would be happy to get any kind of reception over there.

Fantastic weather

2011-07-03T22:38:00.001+01:00

Not long back from six days away on Tarawa. Didn't venture beyond the Clyde but why would you when the Kyles of Bute must be one of the most scenic sailing waters in the world. Last night, Saturday, it was a tad congested with the Kames Hotel moorings all occupied as was the anchorage at Blackforeland Bay with four yachts in situ. Normally we have it too ourselves. The little south facing bay on Bute, opposite the Kames Hotel, was empty, so we spent a very quiet night there in 9m of depth a few metres off the beach and rocks. Woke to the sound of gulls, oyster catchers and sheep all up and about at 5:30.

Fantastic weather, but here in Scotland you can't have sunshine with a good breeze, well not very often, so quite a lot of motoring as well. Back to the big boat on Wednesday.

Sailing with submarines

2011-07-02T08:23:00.001+01:00

John, Lynne and I are just back from a few days sailing around the
Clyde, in glorious, well most of the time glorious, sunshine. As you
can see from the photo still having the drink problems with the crew.
Interesting new vessel servicing the Trident submarine, the Eva that
appears to be a personnel carrier. Not sure why there is such a large
bow but it goes at a fair old lick.

2011-06-22T23:36:00.000+01:00

Home to Glasgow
A two and a half hour bus ride back to Glasgow and I'm home again. Good to be back in the dear green place.
We had a wee problem on the ship yesterday with the forward ramp, no pressure on the engineers but we arrived in Craignure with 60 odd cars all facing forward and the ramp wouldn't go down. All eyes on the Chief Engineer as he struggled away to get the damn thing to work.
Half an hour or so later and we managed to get the cars rolling again. Unfortunately the automatic system was defunct and it was 00:30 before it was back in full operation again. Late night all round.

Back to Normal

2011-06-17T20:16:00.001+01:00

I find that when the weather is good, as it has been the last couple of days, I don't enjoy the job on here as much as when it is overcast and wet. I think that it is my inbred Scottish sense of pessimism that knows there are only going to be so many good days in a Scottish summer and I would rather be on leave when they come about, than on here working and watching those lucky enough to have a fair wind and tide to sail up the Sound to Tobermoray, with a quiet night at anchor to look forward to.

Nothing to worry about though, back to normal today, strong easterly winds with rain. I had some American visitors on the bridge today, unfortunately they were dressed for a North Carolina June day not the West coast of Scotland.

Across the Bay

2011-06-14T21:37:00.000+01:00

It was such a lovely day today, which you would normally think would be great but I could only think about what a fantastic day it was to be to be out sailing. The photo is of our ferry peeking through the rigging of the Jubilee Sailing Trust Lord Nelson. There are also a couple of super yachts in the Bay and then we had an unexpected visit from the Islay ferry tonight, unfortunately the new vessel Finlaggan has broken down and blocked the mainland ferry port at Kennacraig so the other ferry came here to discharge and load up.

Half way through the week tomorrow, the second week always seems to go much quicker. Busy days as ever nearly always full, so if you were thinking of travelling to Mull on here I would encourage you to book.

Oban Bay

2011-06-13T22:50:00.000+01:00

Any more of this and we'll be starting to expect it every day!

Shock Horror!

2011-06-10T20:09:00.001+01:00

I am very pleased to report that for the first time, that I can recall in the last month or so, there was no rain. Indeed the sun has been shining since I started this morning and there has been a gentle breeze from the south.

Fantastic sailing weather, certainly there was plenty of yachts out and about today, all well behaved I must add.

Bit of an irony that on the day a drought order is announced in the East coast they have some of the heaviest rain in months.

On the water again

2011-06-08T19:42:00.001+01:00

Hi Folks, Joined the Isle of Mull at lunchtime today and set off in the sunshine for Mull. Seems that the number of passengers over the last few weeks is down on previous years, lets hope that things pick up. Maybe people are wondering if they want to have electricity & gas or a trip over the water, the cost of both isn't possible.

Casualty in Oban Bay

2011-05-23T19:36:00.001+01:00

Apologies again for the quality but this is another of the three or so
boats being towed back to safety after breaking free from its mooring.

No sailings today folks

2011-05-23T15:23:00.001+01:00

Anyone living in the West coast will know about the storms here today. We managed a couple of sailings and got a bit scared coming back in on the last one from Craignure where the wind was up to a force 9. It has just been decided that all sailings for the day are cancelled and we will resume in the morning. We took over three coach loads of tourists this morning who were scheduled to return on the 17:00, not sure where they will stay as the Lochaline service to Mull is also off so there is no other way to leave the island tonight.

There are 23 of the Cal Mac services disrupted today, which is probably not that unusual for January and February, but May!

We have been looking across the bay to Kerrera Island Marina and the yacht Drum, owned by Arnold Clark has broken free of her moorings and ended up on the beach. One of the workboats here in the bay has gone across to drag her off but I think they are doing more damage than good as she is now high and dry, lying at about 45 degrees over on her starboard side and this tug is trying to pull her away. Even if they do get her off there may be damage to the hull that will cause her to flood and possibly sink. Daft.

New vessel and the old enemy

2011-05-22T21:55:00.000+01:00

The forecast for the day was spot on, the afternoon was brought in with stronger winds up to a gale by the end of the afternoon and then back to normal this evening. Tomorrow is another depression, how well named, that is promising up to a Force 10 in the inshore forecast so we, along with most of the fleet are on amber alert. This means that there is a good chance that sailings will be disrupted or cancelled.

The latest edition to the fleet M/V Finlaggan, arrived in the UK today and berthed at the North Pier here in Oban. I didn't go on board but I gather it is quite luxurious inside. Apologies for the rather poor photos, my iPhone does lots of good things but taking pictures isn't one of them. Can't say the new ship has much in the way of character but then what do we expect? I'm sure that it will be very pragmatic and carry lots of vehicles easily with good facilities for the passengers.

We had a few complaining yesterday about the lack of room when they are parked on the vehicle deck. I agree with them there is very little room between cars when we have a full load on board, to the extent we have to get all the passengers out first before parking the car with only the driver still in. When the ship was built 24 years ago the lane widths were more than adequate for the size of car, nowadays, as anyone who has parked in a older car park will know, cars are far bigger. It brings it home to you when you see something like a Morris Minor that was on yesterday, just how small cars used to be.

Only 2 and a bit days to go and I'll be heading off home. The time flies by, well sometimes it does.

Snow on the Mull hills

2011-05-20T08:10:00.000+01:00

At 8 this morning, on our first run, I can see the white hills. Skiing season not over yet.

Day to day

2011-05-19T22:04:00.001+01:00

Dear Readers. Apologies for the lack of blogs since I joined a week or so ago. It is a common complaint from my fellow officers on here that when they call home there is little to discuss about the day to day goings on aboard "Daisy".

I could tell you about the hundreds of bus passengers that we had today, some of which had been kitted out with orange baseball caps so that their guide could keep them in tow. I was amused by the man who had perched his on top of his flat cap.

The old friend, the weather is always a useful standby, and today was the best day since I joined. Sunshine and showers but mainly sunshine so that was great, it certainly cheers you up.

The days pass quickly enough for sure, with so little time between ports there is no time to hang about to have our meals and get the planned maintenance done. Well, we are getting a lot of people from one place to another on time and safely. Craignure's gangway is now up and running so that has made life a lot easier. Back home on Wednesday and then back on the water on Tarawa.

Statistics

2011-05-15T09:05:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, Saturday the ship crossed the waters between Mull and Oban 13 times, covering 113 miles. We carried 588 vehicles and 2907 passengers, running up to 37 minutes late at one point. Pretty busy old day, still no gangway at the Mull end so all the foot passengers had to disembark through the vehicle deck. This means we can't load any cars until the last passenger is clear which can take quite a while, hence the delays. Still lots of heavy showers during the day, it would be good to have a day without rain, but I think that may be wishful thinking!

Continued career

2011-05-11T20:01:00.000+01:00

I joined the ship at lunchtime and we resumed the stately progression between Oban & Craignure, 100's of coach passengers doing day trips to Mull.

I have been asked to stay on here as the "permanent" third officer until October or November, hence the inverted commas. I guess that nowadays 11 months work is pretty secure, anyway I have accepted the offer so I will be getting to know the waters around here quite well.

Trip's end

2011-04-12T21:16:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow sees the end of my two weeks on board. As ever I have learnt more about the trade and how the ship works. Certainly I am a lot more confident about the job, in particular the loading of the car deck. I find this to be the hardest part of the work as the navigation to and fro isn't too challenging, other than when the odd yacht or fishing boat launches itself at you on the way past.

I have loaded a few near or maximum cargoes in the last few days and it is quite satisfying when it comes together and everything gets squeezed in with the ship upright and of a reasonable trim. The "lift" cars with their elderly occupants near the lift, the dangerous goods separated and no wasted space on the deck so that we were able to take all of the standby vehicles across. Oh and on time as well.

Hopefully I'll be getting my own boat in the water soon and then I can keep you up to date with visits to ports other than Oban and Craignure.

Sailing pals!

2011-04-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

With the sun breaking out over the weekend a few of my yacht colleagues have been appearing. I was overtaking one this afternoon on the way back to Oban, he was going to pass well clear down the starboard side when he came about and came across the bow passing a couple of hundred yards ahead of me. I would have altered round his stern but we were just at Lismore and Lady Rock. I noticed he was looking up at me a lot as we slipped round his stern. B****y yotties.

Off on the Tour de Mull

2011-04-09T18:16:00.000+01:00

Tidal waters

2011-04-07T20:12:00.000+01:00

Our passage between Craignure and Oban takes us past the very South
end of Lismore Island with its lighthouse and Lady Rock a distance of
about ¼ mile or less. The tidal range, that is the difference in
height between high and low water, isn't that great around here, it is
about 3 metres at the moment being spring tides and it goes down to
about a metre at neaps.
Despite the small range of tide the mainland and islands around this
part of the world cause this flow of water to be crammed into narrow
sounds and firths. This results in strong tidal currents, the most
famous around these parts being Corryvreckan which has its whirlpools
due to the nature of the seabed and the very strong tidal flow between
the islands at that point.
The waters around Lismore also have strong currents which we have to
take into account when steering our course to pass safely between the
Island and the rocks. I hope that you can see from the attached photo
of our GPS plotter two arrows, the blue shows the way the ship is
pointing and the red shows the actual course being made over the
ground. As you can see if you don't keep a good eye on the way the
ship is moving through the water then you would easily be swept up
onto the rocks. The strange thing is that at you approach the gap the
direction of the current goes right round so initially you are
steering one way to counteract the current then the other. As the
current hits the bow it actually makes the ship roll and swerve off
suddenly, not bad considering we weigh about 2,500 tons.