Round GB 2021, Day 52. Gigha to Eilean Dubh, Carsaig Bay.

I had planned to explore some of the mainland lochs as I went north but the weather was miserable, overcast with mist, drizzle and the inevitable chilly wind (I was back to wearing 2 fleeces) so I decided to make use of a favourable tide of up to about 2 knots to get close to Crinan and hopefully to get into the basin the next day (Sunday) to enable an early start on Monday.

The wind dropped shortly after leaving and I almost put up the spinnaker but the forecast was S - SE F3-5 and there were some big clouds upwind so I waited for about threequarters of an hour and suddenly it was blowing 15-17 knots. With the 45 sq. m asymmetric cruising chute that would have been a bit of a struggle  to get down but single handed  the 60 sq. m symmetrical I would have put up would have had a real challenge. 

So I was feeling vindicated as I went up the loch making 7 knots over the ground under the headsail alone.

There are a number of small anchorages and a bigger one about five miles from Crinan so I went for the smallest, highly recommended on the Antares chart, unlike the main Carsaig anchorage close by  described as "usually an unattractive option".

The anchorage, the red marker is the boat. Note the scale.

The outer Island from the Sound.

The southern end of the anchorage with an narrow passage back
into the Sound.

The eastern shore, an island. the top of a yacht's mast visible
centre.

Looking north to another, less attractive Carsaig anchorage.

This is turning out to be quite a noisy anchorage, at least when
I go into the cockpit and all the young birds start giving alarm
calls, there must be half a dozen varieties on the long, thin island
outside of me but Oyster Catchers and Gulls seem to be the most
numerous. And they sure have loud cries.

20.1 miles over the ground in just under 5 hours with less than 20 minutes on the engine, and that included a 5 or 10 minutes battery charging the batteries whilst I backed up the anchor, just in case given the  size of the anchorage.

Slide show of all my pictures from Gigha to Eilean Dubh , 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 quick hop to Crinan and into the canal.

Round GB 2021, Day 51. Port Ellen to Gigha.

The weather yesterday and last night was nowhere near as bad as has been forecast for days, although it would have been very hard sailing. Today the forecast was for S - SE 3-5 and there was no point in staying tied to a pontoon so after a last minute shop I left shortly after 10:00 for the Island of Gigha and to an anchorage "Bagh na Doirline" at the norther end, which the Antares charts said had good holding and shelter.

As usual on this trip the wind was cold, although not as cold as on the first 40 days. It was on the nose coming out of Port Ellen so I motored for an hour to clear the outlying dangers before heading of to the NE, initially under a reefed headsail but still making c 5 knots, after an hour or so the wind started to drop and I was under the full genoa and more comfortable as the waves dropped partially due to the lower wind and partly due to shelter from the Mull of Kintyre. 5 mile from the anchorage the wind dropped further and I was only making a little over 3 knots so up went the mainsail.

The CalMac ferry on route to Port Ellen, we past 3 times whilst
I was on this leg.

About to turn into the anchorage which is behind the spit of
land on the right.

The anchorage, I'm not as far out as this wide angle short
suggests. The water was clear enough to clearly see the bottom
a little over 5 metres down.

The wind is now (16:45) increasing and it could be over 20 knots this evening but that should not be a problem as tomorrow promises to be much the same as today and I will move closer to Crinan, in good time to go down the canal on Monday. 

Rafted up, anchored fishing boats.

I have not seen this before, in the evening a fishing boat anchored nearby, then a second larger one rafted up on it. They were still there at 23:30 but gone at 08:00 next morning.

20.2 miles over the ground in 5.5 hours.

Slide show of all my pictures from Port Ellen to Gigha , 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 Gigha to Eilean Dubh, Carsaig Bay.