THE HARDEST SAIL

tuesday 4 may 2010

Malcolm and I caught the first ferry to Craignure and arrived in Tobermory at 0900 to find the Nancy dismasted! At first we thought she had capsized but the harbour master confirmed that the mast had fallen down on the monday of its own accord! A bottle screw had unscrewed itself apparently with th motion of the boat against the pontoon! Anyway = we rerigged her and set sail atb 1030 into a N4/5. It wasn't a pleasant sail upwind across the mouth of Loch Sunart and when we tacked we felt the full force of the wind and decided to abort due to the seas which constantly broke aboard and the heavy squalls. We turned tail and headed back to Tobermory. However just South of the lighthouse the wind and sea eased and the wind backed and.we made a unanimous decision to have another shot!  This time we were successful and after 7 hours of beating we were off the lighthouse and freeing sheets for Eigg, We enjoyed a small dram to celebrate and had to row clear of the confused seas off the lighthouse. Visibility was atrocious (barely 1mile) but we made our landfall by steering a compass course of 040 degrees and entered Eigg harbour at 2030 very tired and wet,  As the weather was so bad we decided to camp out in the community hall reception area which had showers and toilet facilities. Without doubt this was the hardest and most dangerous leg of the voyage and we were both greatful to have it behind us.