Confessions of a fender trailer

[DaveS]

So there we were on Sunday, happily motor sailing down the Sound of Mull. A weel kent formite hove into view, heading in the opposite direction, and spoke us. What pearls of wisdom were we to receive? General cheery greetings? Compliments on our trum? Na, Na. "A yir fenders is hingin owr ra side!" An so they wur!

What had happened was that leaving Loch Aline things hadn't gone quite right. We'd spent the night rafted up with trimiran Starlight - hence the fenders - and after they left I had problems with the anchor windlass. Eventually we had to lift the anchor by hand - it's loss makes you appreciate the machinery, but thankfully there were numerous crew. What with one thing and another, however, the fenders got forgotten.

So all in all I thought it better to "fess up" to bein an eejit before incriminating evidence gets posted... Oh, and the windlass is OK again - but I don't know what caused the problem

[Silkie]

You were lucky to make it out of Loch Aline at all, the state you were in when I saw you!

We had a cracking goose-winged run down the Sound at hull speed, lighter conditions in the Firth of Lorne, a fair swell (with lumps) between Insh and Seil and perfect timing at Cuan allowing us to sail through. What were conditions like for Avilion?

[DaveS]

Well, we were a good bit later. I'd convinced myself that the windlass battery was low, so we had lunch while it charged. (Wrong diagnosis: on analysing it more logically back at Craobh the fault turned out to be mechanical, not electrical - and it sorted itself out after a bit of persuasion.)

Anyway, by the time we left the wind was a good bit lighter, so we had a pleasant rather than sparkling sail. Had to resort to motor assistance occasionally, during the calmer patches. Good progress in mostly F4 across Firth of Lorne and through Sound of Luing then gradually died away approaching Craobh. The weather was nice, however, which made up a bit for Friday and Saturday.

[claymore]

Well - thats my thunder stolen - anyway - we tried to call you on the VHF but to no avail so we have ssumed that you were not keeping a radio watch and have reported same to Clyde Coastguard, the MCA and the Ministry for Work and Pensions for good measure.
We - Dr Musgrave, P Handy and my good self were of the opinion that you looked a motley bunch and we felt that it was to the benefit of our Livers and Kidneys that we never made Loch Aline.
Had a breezer of a sail back from Iona yesterday. Pouring down with very poor viz and a lumpy cross quartering sea which made life very difficult for me trying to get some kip in my bunk. Stayed in the Bull Hole the night before and went onto Iona for a couple of hours - very bouncy anchoring session!

[DaveS]

You're right about the crew motleyness, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Excellent service from the Lochaline Hotel, BTW. We were running late on Saturday because of the weather, and gave the hotel a ring as we entered the loch at about 8.30 to let them know that 9 of us were wanting to eat and when did they stop serving? The response was that last orders was normally at 8, but if we arrived PDQ they'd take us.

Well we tried to be as quick as possible, but as usual when you're trying to hurry it ends up taking longer, so after successfully anchoring at the second attempt it was after 9.30 before the first party of 4 was landed. The rest of us landed a few minutes later and walked through the sand works (having somehow missed the path) and saw a car waiting at the entrance. Were we about to get a row for wandering through the works? No! It was the hotel manager come to give us a lift - as he already had for the advance party. Obviously it helped them to get finished earlier, but it was greatly appreciated by us.

The food was excellent too, and we felt it only right to stay there for subsequent drinks rather than move to the WMC. (Judging by the caberet there when we passed at around 0100 this was a wise decision.) So all in all top marks for the Lochaline Hotel.

[claymore]

I've tucked in on the right once you get in there which is a shorter distance than going up to the anchorage by the burn. The trimaran was running nicely along - I'd not realised she was with you.
Bit of a disaster on Tuesday night at Croabh - we'd no food as we'd decided to dine ashore only to find both the Cabin and the Lord of the Isles were having chef problems. Cost us £16 for a taxi to Ardfern. Food was OK but I can't see the owners hanging onto their livers for much longer - whit a pair o' pishpots

[Silkie]

Avilion was anchored immediately beyond the sand jetty.

The 2nd annual muster of the Hurley 22 Appreciation Society* were anchored up by the reef. We were in the White House when they anchored and they were in the hotel by the time we spotted the boats so we never met that night sadly.

* Self, Ian Mackie (smallest ever ARC entrant - 28 days 13 hours in 1986 - guess the boat!) and his son.