THE NORTH BECKONS

TUESDAY 27 APRIL 2010

We caught the 0800 ferry to Oban as we discovered the skipper had brought a gas stove but no gas cartridges! Doh! After a quick breakfast we bought the cartridges and some chandlery to fix the the missing gudgeon and returned to Kerrera on the 0910 ferry. We packed our gear aboard, extruded ourselves into our dry suits and set off at 1000 in light rain. The Inshore forecast was S to SE 3/4 increasing 5/6 later so we should have enough wind - or should we? We drifted out of Oban Bay and Angus had to row for about 15 minutes before the promised Southerly filled in. It took us 90 minutes to get to Lismore Lighthouse and by 1200 were off Duart. The wind was still light and Angus was busy trying to entice some fish onto his hooks - alas in vain. Once we passed Glas Eileanan  the wind picked up to F4 and we really took off, sailing at about 5/6 knots. However when it increased to F5 we had several near broaches and I hove to at Fishnish to put a deep reef in the main. We set off again and had a great sail to Tobermory goosewinged before a F5/6 surfing at up to 8kn! Fantastic. We passed through the Doirlinn passage to the South of Calve Island and tied up alongside the pontoons at  1530. The last 18 miles  were covered in 3 hours! Bucketing rain and so we adjourned to the pub still in our dry suits 25nm nearer Plockton.