Round GB 2021, Day 46. Sound of Islay to Port Ellen.

The Sound of Islay is another of those places in this part of the world with tides strong enough that you can't go though against the tide in most small (or many big) yachts, but it is one of the easier ones with straightforward pilotage and no serious over-falls. 

I arrived with a couple of hours of the favourable spring tide remaining and went through very easily despite the wind increasing to more than 15 knots.

The "Paps of Jura", the 85 metre coaster was heading to
Port Ellen with grain (barley) for the malt whiskey distilleries.

Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay.

Ardnahoe Distillery, Islay.

Caol Ila Distillery, Islay.

The CalMac ferry berthing at Port Askaig, going into 5 knots
of tide in the channel with >15 knots of wind behind.

Making 4.8 knots through the water and 10 over the ground:

McAuther's Head, at the southern end of the Sound.

Naturally as I came out of the sound expecting a nice reach along to Port Ellen but the wind died then came round to the southwest until I was only a coupe of miles from the offing so I did not get much sailing 😒 but I did get a good lift from the tide for over an hour.

Port Ellen from the offing. The factory looking building is a malt
house for those distilleries that don't do their own malting.

Port Ellen ferry terminal and berth for the grain ships.

Ardalanish to Port Ellen, 51.8 miles over the ground in a little over 11 hours.

Slide show of all my pictures through the Sound of Islay to Port Ellen, page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:

Click here for time in Port Ellen and plans for the next legs.

Round GB 2021, Day 45. Ardalanish.

They are reckoned by one source to be the most shelter anchorages in the area but the pilot warns they should be avoided in unsettled conditions. It is clearly very well sheltered from the wind so I suspect that the warning is because of the entrance, some "surge" coming in if there is a big sea outside or perhaps because the is very limited swinging room so if the anchor should drag you will be on the shore very quickly

The entrance is not easy to find or navigate by eye but the chart plotter and, further inside, the Antares charts on the iPad make it much easier.

Approaching the anchorages, there are several in there, none
of them large.

There are anchorages in most of the inlets but the best are in
the north east corner, especially the right hand branch

Passing the Islets of Sgeir an Fheidh that guard the entrance.

Past the islets picking out the two channels is not
straightforward. the right hand channel is almost dead centre.

The right hand channel opening up. Its 80 yards wide.

In we go.

The anchorage is small, from Sancerre's position,
the red circle, its about 60 yards to the land to the
NW, E and south.

Like most anchorages in the area the water was clear enough
that in 5 metres of water I could drop the anchor clear of weed.

I was just settling down to dinner and in came another boat that
anchored close by. It has a long keel so there was a possibility
that she would swing at a different rate to Sancerre was a bit of
a concern, but in the shelter of the cliffs there was little wind
and nothing untoward happened.

The Russler 36 (actually a tad over 35ft) is a much desired boat
built to high standards and you would be pushed to find an old
one for less than £70k and at the end of the day you would
probably need to be spending at least £100k

Tobermory to Ardalanish, 38.2 miles over the ground in just under nine hours.

Slide show of all my pictures in and around Ardalanish, page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:

Click here for the first part of the next leg.