Yes I have a Panorama function on my iPhone

Quick photo taken today heading back to Oban on the lifeline service.
Lovely weather since I joined on Wednesday.

And that's another season over

Julie, Lynne and David off for the last sail of 2012 in a brisk wind
from the NW, not many others out but we headed off with a heavily
reefed mainsail and genoa. On our way down the West coast of Great
Cumbrae we were doing over 8 knots with the wind on the beam. Lunch
swinging around on a mooring bouy at Millport before heading back up
the Largs channel where I took this Panorama photo. Great day's sail
and a good one to finish the season off with, the boat comes out of
the water this Monday.

Out with the lads

Out for lunch today at the Point in Greenock with, from left to right,
Ian, Brian and Walter. Always good to catch up with the local and
Waverley news, between Brian and Ian there isn't many folk that have
navigated the waters or the streets of Inverclyde that they don't
know. Walter's expression can be put down to his shock at having to
get a round in now that it's September again. (only joking Walter)

At Anchor

Just arrived off the North end of Bute, anchored by the Burnt Islands and indulging in a Pimms to watch the sun set

Lunch out at Rhu Marina

Out on an Awayaday to Rhu and lunch with Mum.  We bumped into Frances Mascarenhas who was also dining out at the Marina Cafe, incidentally a  nice place to visit if you are ever in the area.

Visiting ship

The Passenger Vessel Amadea anchored off the entrance to Oban Bay this
morning. In between showers they have a wonderful day for it.

Pot of gold?

Heavy rain showers at the moment which produced this rainbow over
Lismore and an interesting cloud.

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.

Celebrity for a morning

We had the BBC on board this morning filming for a new series 'Town'.
This particular programme will naturally feature Oban and Caledonian
Macbrayne is an important part of the community.
They asked for a suitable crew member to be interviewed on board and
yours truly was as you can imagine reluctantly persuaded to step
forward to be filmed with Nicholas Crane. Those of you familiar with
the Coast programme will know him from his signature umbrella.
It was good fun and I hope we look good. Unfortunately you will have
to wait until spring 2013 before it is broadcast on BBC2, don't worry
I'll alert you to it.

Lifeboats and old boats

I have been back on board the Isle of Mull for five days now, providing the service for the good folk of Mull. Now that the jet stream has decided to position itself in the usual position i.e. just to the North of here, we are experiencing what we Might call, our usual weather. As London and Paralympics bask in sunshine, we have mist and rain, see photo of Oban.

This morning to kick off our Sunday we dropped the two starboard lifeboats down to the water and sent them away for a wee trip.

One of my old ships Balmoral has been here in Oban ever since I joined, berthed across the Bay on the North Pier. I'm unsure what is the matter other than she is undergoing repairs, great pity for them
as they have had to cancel their Northern Ireland sailings.

Tomorrow sees a BBC crew coming on board to do some filming and maybe even a wee interview with yours truly.

Anti-clockwise circut of Cumbrae

We set off on the boat with a good friend Carolyn of Two Fat Ladies
fame. The weather didn't look too promising at first with a gentle
westerly but this picked up as the day went on and the sun came out.
We had a terrific sail, latterly with just the main up as the wind got
up to a force 5 giving us up to 7½ knots.

Film night Total Recall

Out on the town last night.  We went to see Total Recall, the remake of the 1990 film, which should have been a good film, but I'm afraid isn't.  More like a series of chases with admittedly great special effects but lacking any kind of a plot and with 'super' humans that fall 30 feet and then pick themselves up before letting off another burst of bullets.  Interestingly, maybe as it was rated 12A, there was a limit of one swear word that was used throughout to describe all events.  

Back to school

Well cook school actually as Julie gave me a birthday present of an
Ashoka Cook school voucher to attend a class on curry cooking. It
has taken a while to get a suitable date but I made my way out to
Motherwell College yesterday and had a very enjoyable morning making
Chicken Tikka Masala, pilau rice and a chapati, see photo. Our tutor
was a chef from the Green Chilli Cafe here in Glasgow, very
knowledgeable and helpful. This has been the second cook school I've
attended and I'm impressed by the extra wee tips that a professional
knows about cooking that you don't seem to ever see in books or on the
TV. Apart from a rather well done first chapati, (carefully concealed
under the second one in the photo) the meal was really good. Ashoka

Motherwell College is also very impressive, and I didn't even know

that it existed.

Not just for drying clothes.

Living in a flat in the West end we have high ceilings so a pulley in
the kitchen is a great place to dry clothes. Also a good place to dry
my home made pasta. Easier than I thought to make, but not on the
first attempt I will admit, but this second batch was tasty and very
filling.

Getting to grips

My cousin Judith, from the far flung fields of Lincolnshire, dropped by and we took her out for a wee cruise.  Usual weather requiring a double reefed main and a handkerchief of genoa.  Once underway Judith was on the helm.

And you say that the boat could capsize and we would all drown if I get this wrong?

Actually it's not all that difficult.

Steady as she goes, aye aye.

Quite fun this, what was all the fuss about?

Alternative activites for windy days

Dear reader, as you know we have been on the boat this week, sailing around our local Clyde waters. As luck would have it we have been subject to a windy spell of weather, nearly all from an Easterly direction. On Wednesday at Largs it was like the Levanter off Gibraltar, screaming down the hill and giving me the willies about even getting off the berth, so we decided to head South to the Robert Burns Museum in Alloway, near Ayr.  For any of you that have been to a supper at the end of January or appreciate the musings of our national wordsmith this is a good day out.

There is the museum itself, where there is a collection of memorabilia on Burns life and some interesting interactive displays.  At the back of the building a cafe restaurant which opens onto a well laid out garden.

Then you can take the short walk down a path to the cottage where Burns was born.  On the way you pass some fun sculptures of characters from his poems, wee sleekit, cow'rin tim'rous beastie here, which for those of you who know your Burns, which I don't, will appreciate was a metaphor for the working class farmers being downtrodden by the land owners.

A Tam o Shanter wind vane, pointing to the East wind.



The cottage.

The bed that Rabbie and his siblings were born in.

The grate.

Brig o' Doon bridge where Tam's mare lost her tail to the pursuing witch, who couldn't follow them over the running water, the River Doon.  Good day out and if you're like me and find the Scot's and local Ayrshire words unfathomable then there are useful translations next to all of the scripts on display.  Maybe something I need in the blog to explain what I'm on about?

Windy with showers

We have been having a few days away on the boat, not going too far
just around the Firth of Clyde. We were thinking of returning to
Glasgow this morning as the forecast was pretty grim but Julie
insisted that we have a go and it was one of the best days of the
season.
Great sail over to Kilchattan Bay for lunch and we are here in Largs
in a calm sunny evening. Tomorrow is also forecast to be horrible
too, well we'll wait and see.
It was great to see Brian and Ian yesterday for what again turned out
to be a great day's sail. Ian proved to be a terrific Quartermaster
on the wheel and Brian wasn't bad when he got a chance. Should have
taken a photograph when they were on board.
Apologies about the dippy photo of me cooking a tuna rice recipe but I
was told it had to go on, something about women's lib.

Unfortunate day for some

I don't particularly like displaying other people's misfortunes but
they are a diversion from the normal routine. This morning a poor
yachtsman found himself on Lady's Rock being buffeted by a strong ebb
tide. Not clear how he managed it, there was little wind, we'll be
generous and assume that it was his engine that failed at a critical
time. Lady's Rock is at the South end of Lismore Island and we pass
14 or so times a day, as I have posted in the past you have to be wary
of the tides around here otherwise you could easily end up on the
beach. The Oban lifeboat was out there in double quick time and
hauled him off before the tide went out too far, so hopefully not too
much damage.

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.