When we woke the wind was still howling, it was peeing with rain and it was cold. Not the greatest incentive to go sailing. We had arranged to move the boat across the bay to the council run transit pontoons in order to pick up a calor gas refill. Looking at the various weather apps showed that the wind would calm down and the rain would stop by 1100 which was fortunate, as this fitted in nicely with our planned passage to Loch Aline to start at 1200.
Edging out into the Firth of Lorn, the sea had calmed and the wind died down to about 18kts, so up with the sails, and we were soon reaching toward Lismore point. The sun came out and all was well. Famous last words, The wind quickly veered and Lismore point could no longer be reached, so we tacked which upset a large ferry which then had to alter course to avoid us. Nothing dangerous or close but it did put a dent in his straight line course.
Lismore point marks the entrance to the Sound of Mull, and the tide rushes out of it at 3 kts or so, and just as we entered this turbulent piece of water the wind firstly died, then just as quickly hit us head on at 25kts. Oo er engine on and a quick furling of the jib and we were back in business. It was a narrow gap we were going through and it wasn’t worth taking any risks.
Unfortunately that was the sailing over for the day and the second half of the journey was motoring against the slowly strengthening wind.
We arrived at the scenic Lock Aline and tried to dock at the pontoons, but a combination of tide and wind made it too difficult to do safely, and so we opted for a mooring bouy further down the Loch.
This wasn’t such a bad thing as the pontoons are close to a working sand mine, which at times is a bit noisy. This mine contains some of the purest silicon sand in the world and is used for making optical grade glass.
As the wind is a bit strong tomorrow we aim to stay two nights here and explore the area.
4 Kidneys and a Wonky Leg 