Trip's end

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!

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

Tidal waters

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.

Aaargh!

Rain of Biblical proportions this morning, there was waterfalls coming down the side of the hill that I had never seen before.  In amongst this deluge I was in charge of loading up the car deck at Craignure, unfortunately the young lady on the shore's walkie talkie had become waterlogged & I couldn't make out what she was telling me about the vehicles ashore for loading.  I'd had a look and didn't think there was anything to worry about.

With just three trucks to load you will have to imagine my consternation when the third to last truck came down onto the ship and it had a trailer on the back making it about 21m long.  It came to a stop once it was a far as it would go with the trailer nicely blocking the entrance.  There was plenty of room on board but the two remaining trucks couldn't access it.  Fortunately the driver of the truck was able to back up and I had to call all the vehicle drivers back down to do a bit of shuffle about.  About 15 minutes late on departure combined with the gales and we never caught up with the timetable again.  Woops.  Everyone says that it has happened to them too.

Forgetful passengers

In the last couple of days we have had some notable & slightly strange events.  Yesterday a man was in his car about to leave the ship when he pulled over, I enquired what was the matter and he said he had lost his wife.  He waited a moment or two and then she duly arrived and off they went.  Another husband and wife, she somehow got locked in and he was outside the car, I wasn't there but somehow she eventually got out and they stomped off, clearly not talking. 

When we depart all drivers have to leave their vehicles and go into the passenger accommodation, before locking the car deck we do a check to make sure that no one is still in their car.  Walking along the line of cars today I came upon a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser with the ignition keys in place, and the engine still running.  

Every so often someone drives on and then forgets that they brought their car and gets off at the other end as a foot passenger leaving the car behind.

I find it quite encouraging that I'm no worse than many.

Scurrilous news

Should you oh reader peruse other publications, then you may have noticed in today's Daily Record there is a wee article about the CalMac ghost ships http://goo.gl/NDtQn  Apparently this may be true, that up to 800 trips in December were empty of vehicles or passengers, this is across the fleet of 22 vessels.  

Clearly this does not apply in the case of my present vessel the Isle of Mull that provides a vitally essential lifeline service to the good folk of Mull, many hundreds of them today.  We have carried out 14 crossings today with hundreds of passengers and vehicles, on time too despite the weather.  On the other hand I wouldn't be able to say the same for the good folks of Colonsay.

I don't know where the journalist who wrote the article got the figures from, but I wonder who in the head office, for that must be where they came from or the Government, leaked the statistics?  

Windy old day

It really does rain a lot here, serious organised got it together water coming down in torrents at 05:45 this morning.  A bit snoozy as the ship's generator broke down at midnight which made the emergency generator above my head click in automatically.  Not to sure what went wrong, but then neither are the engineers.

Day went well but then the wind got up and we spent a couple of hours alongside at Craignure pinned on the berth by a Force 8 coming down the Sound of Mull.  Back on again at 15:00 when the weather had improved.  Saw the Queen's sometimes passenger ship the Hebridean Princess at anchor in the Sound.  We had a coach load of German tourists on board telling us about their rough old trip across to Iona with the spray coming over all, amazed that they made it all.

Hitting the deck running

Off at the crack this morning to join the ship, well 8:40  seemed like the crack of dawn after three weeks off.  The bus driver had clearly taken time out from his Formula 1 career as we flew along up and down the hills, here's a hint it's best to get any reading over and done by Inverary, onward from there holding on takes priority due to the twisty road. 

Raining stair rods in Oban when we arrived, it keeps the dust down apparently.  Joined the ship on time and off we went back and forwards to Mull without much time to draw breath really.  Some complicated loads with large trucks and buses to take back from Mull, there are a regular stream of tar trucks going back and forward each weighing 30 odd tons when full.  Then the earlier drizzle and rain disappeared and the sun came out, which was great with the brown hills shining in the moisture.  We are spending the night alongside in Craignure tonight, the reason being that there is no berth available in Oban due to all of the Cal Mac boats around this evening.  Earlier in the day it was a bit of a traffic jam with three vessels arriving and departing at the same time.

7 round trips tomorrow, starting at 6:45 through to 19:45 back into Oban.  This is the way it'll be from now on this summer.

This is a picture of the ship's anemometer from yesterday, it is showing a reading of well over 80 knots, which includes the ship's speed, so the gust was over 70 knots.  We moan about the weather but when I see the pictures from Japan today, I can only be thankful for the little inconvenience that we suffer here with a gale of wind.

The Placid Waters of the Firth of Lorn.

Here's a photo taken through the bridge window on our way over to Mull. Our instruments showed a gust of 87 knots which includes 14 knots of ship speed so over 70 knots anyway. All the sailings bar this one were cancelled today. I'm on a bus now on my way home, looking forward to a beer.

Snow and tempest

Bumpy old night alongside in Oban now that the wind has gone round to the West.  Woke to snow on all the surrounding hills with a bitter wind coming down the Sound of Mull.  The high pressure area has disappeared and we are now back into a run of North Atlantic depressions, familiar territory for those of us who live here on the West coast.

We had a very successful day yesterday, carrying a thousand or so passengers and hundreds of vehicles over the 12 hours we were running our vital lifeline service.  Wednesday is changeover day so a number of the officers are off, but not myself who is staying on for a further day to allow my relief to attend an interview for promotion within the Company.

The inshore forecast is up to a Storm Force 10 for later today, all from the west or southwest. We are scheduled to visit Colonsay so we'll have to see how it goes.  The pier there is quite sheltered from that direction but you have to get there first!

Redemption

I was pleased to load the vessel up at Craignure this morning with a full cargo of vehicles.  We got all the booked and then managed to squeeze in the last 9 stand by cars so we sailed with 54 cars and about 7 commercial vehicles, could have taken on three or four more actually, so a new goal to pursue.

Nice run to Colonsay today, a new record there as well 11 vehicles going onto the island.  I brought her back going inside the Garvellaches and getting the benefit of the Great Race so we had about 3 knots of tide with us as one point.  All tied up for the night now at 5, unfortunately night on board for me so no shore leave.

I am staying on an extra day going home on Thursday evening now, after we have been out to Coll and Tiree again.  Early starts all round.

Weather forecast

I watched the weather forecast on Countryfile this evening and I see that our period of settled, and more recently dull, weather is nearly over.  The high pressure that has dominated things for the last week is to depart east and we are to go back into the normal run of North Atlantic depressions, with snow by Wednesday!

I knew it was Sunday today we had a steak for dinner, and Julie I only had a baked potato no chips.

Full but not down to the marks

Surprisingly the 4pm run over from Oban was very busy with cars about 60 of them, folk getting away for the weekend I guess, then I loaded up the 5pm back from Criagnure.  We had about 20 "white vans" and 25 cars to load with a furniture truck to finish off.  It became pretty clear to me that it was going to be a bit of a squeeze and before I knew it the deck was almost full and piling up to where I was standing at the entrance.  

I managed to squeeze in the last car and van but regrettably the furniture van had to wait for 2 hours until we returned.  Fortunately he wasn't booked and was on standby so there wasn't any comeback but with hindsight I can see how we should have got the crew to cram them in a lot tighter.  

The moral of this tale is that I still have plenty to learn.  Off to Coll and Tiree again tomorrow, very settled weather at the moment so it shouldn't to difficult.

Running around

The day started with the normal timetable across to Mull and then we did our scheduled run to Colonsay but then we went back to Craignure to pick up traffic there.  I had the watch taking us all the way up the East coast of Mull which was a first for me so quite interesting.  We then picked up folk in Oban that should have left 2 hours earlier, not awfully happy.  Tied up for the night in Oban and a lot of guys have gone ashore to watch the Old Firm game at the local boozers.

Daily routine

I wouldn't want to disguise that it is all fun and frolics here.  Today was a straightforward Mull run from 08:00 departure Oban until finish at 20:00.  Leaving from each berth on the hour thereby making it 12 crossings for the day.  Dante's purgatory had a level where men were subjected to constant repetition of their life, I guess our modern equivalent is Groundhog Day where the main character is destined to repeat each day ad infinitum. 

Well I exaggerate, and I've told you that a million times, but this gives me a good taste of what every day is like during the summer.  Which leads me on neatly to the news earlier in the day that we're going to Barra to overnight and then do a couple of days to Coll and Tiree again.  Which I thought was great, but not to all on board who consider being away from the home port as a punishment.  Unfortunately shortly afterwards in the day the Barra trip was cancelled, but we are still on for Coll and Tiree later in the week.

 

 

Another fine day here in the West Coast.

Why would you want to live anywhere else?

The main town in Colonsay and a wee Island on the way, anyone recognise it?

My Office

Port hand view

It was a lovely fresh day.  The sun shone from early on and turned the hills a wonderful colour.  On the way across I took a couple of photos with my phone so not great quality.

Off south to Colonsay tomorrow, weather forecast says that a high pressure area is to be established over the Irish Sea for the next few days, so that should make life comfortable.

For Ian Ramsay I owe an apology, I should read things more carefully.  This ship, the Isle of Mull, was constructed at Appledore Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd.. which at that time was a subsidiary of British Shipbuilders.  Clyde Built and not in North Devon as I stated.