2024 June 22nd Days 85 - 87 Bagh na Doirline to Druimyeon Bay then Bangor

Saturday morning:

The wind went round to the NW overnight making the anchorage a little uncomfortable, I was anchored well out as there were four other boats in the anchorage, I could have gone further in but single handed I prefer not to have boats behind me, it can be difficult to then get out as I have to be at the bow to raise the anchor and the boat will drift down wind (and / or tide) potentially into another boat. So as the wind was light and the tide good I made a quick hop around the north of the Island to a better protected anchorage in Druimyeon Bay.

Looking back at the Bagh na Doirline anchorage.

An interesting place to park your RV, on a ruined jetty at
the extreme north of Gigha.

Lots of boats in Ardminish Bay, the most popular stop on Gigha,
if you don't need the facilities, Druimyeon Bay is in my opinion
to be preferred.

Druimyeon Bay anchorage.

4 miles in 1 hour

The weather forecast for the next few days is not hopeful with headwinds, mainly light or moderate except perhaps on Tuesday  / Wednesday. And more hopefully tonight; I try and avoid overnight sailing, not because of the dark - except for the avoidance of pot buoys and often the cold, that is pleasant and even easier - but because of the length of time that it takes me to recover and to recharge my sleep bank, it is definitely harder than it was a few years ago.

However the window for westerly, or even a north westerly wind, has expanded since yesterdays forecast, now it looks to be turning westerly at c20:00 and to be favourable for most if not all of trip to Browns Bay, NI although on the down side the 07:00 forecast the sea North Channel is to be "smooth or slight, occasionally moderate", but that is not a major problem although rough would be around The Mull of Kintyre.

If I leave this evening there is a reasonable chance to make Browns Bay (Larne) in 12 - 13 hours, with Red Bay (further north) as an alternate if the doing is slow, and Bangor a possibility if I feel fit enough and the forecast southerly wind is no stronger than forecast and does not arrive early. I would then have Monday to recover and perhaps re-store. Then the tide south from Bangor through Donaghadee Sound is favourable from c 08:00 on Tuesday and 50 minutes later on Wednesday, allowing a reasonable start time an hour before.

Scenarios for a night crossing, calculated by the navigation
software and tabulated for reference, one of the times at
the corner of the TSS should match the actual and gives me
the course to steer without having to start up the PC in
the middle of the night. It also shows the best times to leave.

I have diesel for well over 250 miles but prefer to sail so if the forecasts do not change it looks like an evening start.

Saturday evening.

I left at 19:00 with  a southerly wind F4-5, with the domestic forecast predicting the wind should veer to the NW by c 20:30, then when I refreshed it 30 minutes later, it said 21:30 ☹️ so I was motoring for longer than anticipated and making a lot less than the 5 knots I had planned for the trip down the east coast of Gigha due to the head wind, the choppy sea and the crud on the hull. About halfway to the Mull of Kintyre the wind backed to the SE! This actually helped as the sea got calmer due to the shelter from the Mull.

On the revised time schedule, almost to the minute, the wind quickly veered to the NW at F4, being late to get round the Mull at or before slack water I kept the engine running but motor-sailed with the main and the genoa with one reef. Shortly after I picked up the strong S going tide and was making 8 knots, the engine and sails together generating enough power to over come the drag from the weed on the hull so I could make 6 knots through the water.

With this boost I got to the end of the TSS a little ahead of schedule, switched off the engine and rounded the Mull in good order. The Chute went up for a couple of hours but had to come down as the wind dropped and the engine went on, 20 minutes later the wind was back and up when the chute, but I should have waited because the wind kept increasing and within 10 minutes I was taking in down in 18 knots, quite a bit over the limit for the sail. I continued under sail for a while but had to put the engine on again as with lack of wind I was likely to be pushed north into the TSS. Half way over I was sailing again but after the previous problems I was reluctant to put the chute up and waited for almost an hour before doing so.

Off Red Bay the tide was running north faster than I could sail and I was heading almost W when heading S, so on went the engine again. I started sailing again until past “The Maidens” (pics to follow), then the wind disappeared completely and I motored on to the anchorage off Bangor arriving at 10:00.

A large, 270m IIRC, cruise liner heading for Belfast @ 03:55.

Approaching "The Maidens".

"The Maidens" 6 miles NNE of Larne @ 07:10.

Dinner got a little complicated, I had started prep for 2 portions of Chicken curry, then found that the chicken was off, smelling really bad; it was well within the sell by date but there was a small hole in the packaging, so I ended up with spag bol.

The Ballyholme Bay anchorage is quite popular with boats on
passage who don't want to pay for the marina, and as a Sunday
lunch spot.

Monday was a rest day but I spent much of it working on the boat.

With the strong southerly wind a lot of boats came

north on Monday, most arriving late afternoon on

the last of the tide through Donaghadee Sound. 

Most went to the marina but 3 came to the

anchorage within an hour, now there are four

of us, 2 Brits, 1 Irish and 1 Norwegian.  I think

all are single handed.

Ardglass on Tuesday and I hope that, with all the boats heading north, there will be a berth available, if not it is going to be a long sail to a safe anchorage and tinned food 🙁

Click here for Ardglass.

2024 June 21st Day 84, Eilean Dubh to Gigha

The wind was very light when I woke up so I decided to head for Gigha, if the tides behaved themselves I should be able to complete the short 20 mile hop before the tide turned adverse at 11:00 and it would shorten the leg to Ireland.

I was away at 07:00 and shortly afterward the rain started and the headwind steadily increased to the F3-5 creating a light chop but with 1.5 knots of tide I was making reasonable progress.

Then the tide turned early and the wind went to F5-F6 and I was making < 3 knots over the ground due to the very short sea, wind and tide. In the end I gave up on that, set  a double reefed headsail and motored sailed at 45 degrees now making 4.5 - 5+ knots. I had been trying for east coast but that was not really practical so I went to Bagh na Doirline on the NW corner. 

It rained most of the way and my expensive, not that old, waterproof top proved it wasn't despite re proofing last winter so I will be reverting to last years cheaper replacement.

There is little chance of moving further south until Sunday or later and that will probably require motoring. But there are hints that an overnight passage might be completed with favourable winds for some hours, that is a decision for tomorrow (Saturday).

The anchorage after the rain stopped.

21 miles in 5 hours.

Click here for what happened on Saturday.

2024 May 15th Day 47, Browns Bay to Craro Bay, Gigha.

Wednesday I left at 05:00  initially under engine making good time until some wind filled in at 08:15 so off went the engine except for an hour to avoid going into the Traffic Separation Scheme off of the Mull of Kintire. Heading north I was able to sail for a good portion of the time. With a northerly wind forecast overnight I went to Craro Bay on the SW corner of Gigha.

Approaching The Mull of Kintyre.

S. Gigha.

Typically just after I anchored in the 80 yard wide anchorage a wind set in from the south from which there is no protection, fortunately it was light and variable and unlike on a previous visit the anchor had penetrated the weed and had a good hold as the boat went all over the place during the night, quite close to an islet on the west side.

Swinging in the anchorage.

50 miles in eleven hours.

Click here for Muilean Eiteae Bagh, Loch Caolisport.

2022 St Kilda Day 67 Craro Bay, Ghia to Bangor NI.

This opening is getting repetitive! But it was another early start, this time 04:00. Initially I had assumed a slightly later start to give fair tide down the side and round the end of the Mull of Kintyre before the tide changed at 11:00 but the forecast was for fairly strong northerly winds and I did not fancy the rough seas wind against tide would cause in the middle of the North Channel so I left earlier to hopefully get to the Irish coast before the tide turned and possibly hug the coast.

There was no wind, so I motored to the SE corner of the Traffic Separation Scheme off the Mull, there was then enough wind to sail but a merchant ship was heading north for the TSS (a bulk carrier going to Murmansk in ballast, a product of trade sanctions?) so I kept the engine on until across her bow then sailed at good speed south with the wind from the NE making good time. 

It was uncomfortable with waves coming from all directions but not too bad until I reached “The Maidens (NE of Larne) with the tide running strongly north when the wind started to drop so I put the engine on to maintain good speed but it remained uncomfortable until well into Belfast Loch. 

When I had a phone signal John on Pippin and I exchanged emails and texts, he had made good time coming north with the tide from Ardglass facing some nasty seas under engine and it was touch and go who would arrive first.

Half an hour out I called the marina for a berth and found John had called ahead but did not yet have a berth allocated and the helpful berth master put us together. I was in first and was on hand half an hour later to help Pippin onto the berth which was really a size too small for her.

Sancerre with Pippin, a 34 Francis Pilothouse.
Pic shamelessly stolen from his blog (returning
the compliment 😀) 

I spent a couple of days there restocking for a long trip south, the next revictualling would probably be Newlyn, getting a couple of small jobs done and eating. John seems to have the knack of spotting good places to eat, we had excellent meals on both nights one at a Thai restaurant also doing European food and the other at a pub which was spotted after we found the Thai was closed on Monday so we could not get seconds.

John's account with lots of good pictures of Bangor marina can be found on his excellent blog here and here, or from the link on the panel to the right. Fortunately, it does not include the picture of me at dinner that was included in a summary of the blog published in Practical Boat Owner later in the year.

I particularly like, and endorse this paragraph:

My Jester friend [me] cast off quietly and without fuss in the wee hours to continue his journey south towards the Hamble without disturbing me. That’s the thing about Jester types, self sufficient and contained, quietly gregarious amongst their own kind, always ready to assist each other, non judgemental, followers of the KISS principle. Its a select rather eccentric group and the first mate said I would miss the whole thing – but as with being a soldier, once a Jester always a Jester; the mindset doesn’t change.

63 miles in a little under eleven hours. 

South to Dundalk Bay. 

2022 St Kilda Day 66 Tobermory to Craro Bay, Ghia

After a couple of planned nights at Tobermory to restock and get some washing done, I had another couple of nights waiting for some decent weather. A familiar story but at least it was only 2 nights, and I was only “stranded” on the boat for one day due to high winds, having stowed the outboard for the winds the previous night I could not be bothered to put it back on the dinghy and it was too windy to row. 

Rain in Tobermory, when the wind came up further the

crew of the boat behind had to turn out to put on the

second mooring line they should have already had,

especially as the single was just threaded through a

chain link without a round turn to reduce chafe.

Then on Saturday I was off.

A normal early start, this one at 03:40, the driver this time was the trip down the Sound of Mull and the chance of getting through the Sound of Islay on the first day, so I left just before the tide changed favourable outside of Tobermory. The trip down under engine was uneventful with little wind.

Duart Castle, Isle of Mull at the southern end of the sound.

After dodging the ferry at the southern end I headed off westward under sail as the wind set in and apart from a short burst of engine when under the shadow of cliffs near Loch Spelve I sailed in light to moderate winds all the way to Islay initially hugging the coast of Mull to avoid “The Great Race” rushing out of the infamous Corryvreckan.

Looking up the Firth of Lorn as I turned west.

"The Great Race" is shown as the red
shaded area NE of Colonsay.

I was a little early for the tide down the Sound of Islay and to slow down I dropped the mainsail and put a reef in the headsail, running before a brisk F4 this was also a good plan for sailing down the Sound as the wind gets gusty and variable in direction, so headsail only avoids a lot of potential problems with accidental gybes.

Yet again I met the ferry from the mainland and maintained my 100% record on this from four transits.

As I emerged from the southern end there was some bad news, the latest weather forecast predicted overnight winds possibly reaching F6 from the E or NE which could make both anchorages close by on the south side of Islay untenable or at least uncomfortable. 

Port Ellen was the obvious alternate but I headed off for some small anchorages near the south tip of Ghia instead (the ones that I had planned to use heading north), they were a little closer and in the northerly wind forecast for next day would give me a reach to the Mull of Kintyre rather than a slower run and a better chance of getting to Bangor in time to meet up with fellow Jester sailor John battling north to deliver his newly sold boat “Pippin” to the Clyde, like me he had been having weather problems, fortunately I was not stuck in the marina at Holyhead, wind damaged some years ago and with minimal facilities.

Raised beeches on Jura on the approach to the Sound of Islay.

Islay at the entrance to the sound.

This was my fourth time through the sound and each time I
have had to keep clear of the ferry on this occasion going in
the same direction.

It was a quick trip across to Gigha and I arrived and anchored for the first time at 20:12. I dragged back until Sancerre came to a very sudden stop as the anchor hit a rock. After putting the boat full astern to see if the anchor held I stayed for a while to see what would happen when the boat swung and after a while the anchor skipped over the rock and another burst of reverse engine had me dragging at a rate of knots.

Craro Bay, Gigha from the first anchorage I tried, the second
is at the extreme right.

When I got the anchor up there was Kelp on it, trailing back over half the length of the boat, so after hacking the weed off with the boat hook I motored a few hundred yards to the next small anchorage where I spend a comfortable but short night.

78 miles in sixteen and a half hours, excluding the change of anchorage. 

Click here for Gigha to Bangor.