Not one of our better days

Yesterday, Friday 14th, proved to be difficult for all involved, the weather forecast was bad and unfortunately proved to be on the button regarding the wind speed and direction.  On this run strong winds from the North West make the berthing at either end of the run difficult, in particular at Oban as this means it blows directly onto the berth through the North entrance to the Bay.  We departed from Oban on time in the morning and on arrival at Craignure the wind had increased in strength to 35 knots and up, a Force 8 or 9 gale or severe gale.  The  next two sailings were subsequently cancelled until we departed at 13:00 for Oban.  

On our first entry to the Bay we turned round and headed back out to sea to review and wait for the squalls to pass.  We berthed successfully on the next attempt utilising the port anchor to hold the bow off as we approached the berth.  On departure we found on recovering the anchor it had picked up a long piece of wire rope from the bottom of Oban Bay which had wrapped itself around the flukes. This had to be removed before we could proceed as there is always a danger that it could get caught round one of the propellers once we were underway.  Removing the wire proved to be difficult as we had to hook it using a grappling hook, tie it off and then lower the anchor to get it clear.  This was eventually carried out and unfortunately we had to let the wire go back into the water.  We arrived back in Craignure nearly two hours late and so picked up the usual schedule having missed out three round trips during the day.  So sorry folks but hopefully you all made it across eventually.