2025, June 6th Day 69 p.m. Puilladobhrain to Kinuachdrachd Harbour.

With a brisk headwind to contend with I left earlier than planned to motor past Insh Island in time to catch slack water in the Sound of Luing, there is no particular problem going through with the tide but the wind could make it a little choppy and the really fast section is only a couple of miles long so there was nothing to be gained by waiting although if I was early I would be plugging quite a strong adverse tide, as it turned out that was not to be a problem as the very short choppy see meant that I slowed down for comfort and went past Flada with a couple of knots of tide under me.

The wind eased as the tide turned and once through the area of significant back eddies I sailed down to the anchorage at  Kinuachdrachd Harbour on the east side of Jura just south of the Gulf of Corryvreckan which with a north westerly wind gave the best protection.

The Gulf of Corryvreckan to starboard, Crinan

hidden by the islands on the port bow.

16.5 NM in three and three-quarter hours.

Click here for Islay.

2023 May 12th, Day 28 Port Ellen to Bag Glean Righ Mor, Loch Tarbert

The ferry arrived in  thicker fog than this, it's fog horn announcing
its presence when over 5 miles away (Measured on AIS). I was
surprised that a French yacht left in the thickest fog (before the fog
horn was heard), fortunately she was AIS equipped so was able to
avoid the ferry by moving into Kilnaughton Bay

I had planned to explore the anchorages along the south coast of Islay and was all set to go at 07:00 but the Mull of Kintyre had disappeared from view 30 minutes earlier and the fog bank appeared to be coming my way so I stayed where I was and sure enough a few minutes later I could not see 50 yards, visibility varied from 50 to 150 yards until is suddenly cleared at 09:45 and I was off.

With the sun out and warm and with a light following wind it was an excellent sail under spinnaker until Ardmore point when the wind disappeared, so on went the engine to head for the Sound of Islay. On arrival the wind set in from the North at 10 - 15 knots and cold, I went from sun bathing to multiple layers of cold weather cloths in about half an hour.

I was half an hour early for the tide and the tide was rather late in turning, not unusual in this part of the world, so I was heading into a knot of so of adverse tide until well into the sound but it did enable me to clear the north end of the Sound before over-falls formed.

With mist and drizzle I went straight for the anchorage to find a French boat, also single handed, in position "A" but there is room for several boats and I slotted in without problem although rather closer to the shallow water than I would have preferred.

Two excellent distilleries in view 

Passing Ardbeg. pic by Leigh from his 50 footer White Cloud.

McAuther;s Head

Bag Glean Righ Mor, Loch Tarbert

31 miles in 9 hours.

Click here for Loch Tarbert to Mull  

2022 St Kilda Day 32 to Loch Tarbert, Bag Glean Righ Mor

I woke up well before the alarm but decided I might as well get moving so I was underway at 04:40, in the previous 30 minutes the wind had increased from virtually nothing to 14 knots so I was sailing immediately, 30 more minutes and it was blowing 25 knots and I was beating in to it and rather uncomfortable. 

McArthurs Head at the entrance to the Sound of Islay, between
Islay and Jura.

Struggling to beat up the sound the slight
changes of course N of the legend "Sound
of Islay" were actually tacks. 

As I approached the Sound of Islay the wind was down to F2 from the E, this set a bit of a pattern for the day with the wind constantly changing. 

To make the tide I used the engine for about 4 miles to McArthur's Head but I was then able to sail most of the way through the Sounds 11 mile length but after tacking back and forth with 1 - 3 knots of tide behind and the wind F4 varying quickly from east to north west. The wind was also gusty due to the mountains.

A very nasty sea built up as I approached the north end of the sound so I motored out.

I was heading for Loch Tarbert, I anchored on the south side in Glenbatric Bay in 2020 but with the wind from the north the north bank was a better option or a long way up the loch through some tricky Pilotage. 

Also I really wanted to see the raised beaches that line the loch but which I had been unable to check out previously due to time constrains and bad weather. These beaches were left stranded well above sea level as the land rebounded after being depressed by the ice ages.

On this occasion I had plenty of time, so the plan was to check out all of the anchorages up to and perhaps beyond Cumhann Mor the first very narrow passage.

The first anchorage I passed is quite open to swell but a useful stop off point waiting for a southbound tide through the Sound of Islay which one boat was doing. The second anchorage, Bag Glean Righ Mor, looked really nice, more of that later. It was high tide so I could take a few small liberties as I went further up, unfortunately struggling to take pictures in difficult conditions coming up the Sound I had accidently switched the camera to black and white mode, at some point I'll put those up as a slide show but it will take a while as there are a lot!

Multiple raised beaches in Loch Tarbert

My track up past the 3rd anchorage, nice but not as nice as the
second, and into the small pool at the top, very nice but with
limited room.

I turned round at Cumhann Mor, in the conditions and with the Antares charts and GPS going further would not be a problem but I might be leaving in the dark and at low water so decided to go back to the Bag Glean Righ Mor anchorage.

Raised beaches at Bag Glean Righ Mor.

Raised beaches at Bag Glean Righ Mor.

 

Forty miles in eight and a quarter hours.

Click here for Tinker's Hole

Stage 12, Loch Tarbert - Tobermory.

I had hoped to head north to Mull then to Tobermory west-about via Iona at the western end of the island and Staffa (Fingle’s Cave) but strong southerly winds would make most of the anchorages untenable and part of the trip potentially dangerous so plan “B” was to make for Tobermory going east of Mull, through the sound. Update: I made Iona and Staff during my 2021 anti clockwise round GB trip.

My pre-planned alternate was to go via Lock Spelve on the south-eastern side of Mull which is a safe anchorage but very isolated and with a spell of bad weather forecast I decided, if possible, to get into the Sound of Mull on the first day where there are some good anchorages a couple of which have shops etc. within dinghy reach.

The trip fell into three parts, a boring and initially cool trip motoring north past Colonsay towards the south side of Mull avoiding the “Great Race” to the east that stretches several miles west of Corryvrecken, as I drew close some wind filled in and it was a pleasant sail along the coast past Loch Spelve to Lock Dun by which time I was making 5 – 6 knots running using the cruising chute flown from the pole as a spinnaker.

Lady's Rock light, Firth of Lorn with the entrance to
the Sound of Mull to the left.

Then things started to get a bit “interesting”, fighting a 2 - 3 knot tide and on the edge of over-falls between Lithmore Island and Mull the wind started to increase and within 2 miles I had gone from running  with the spinnaker to broad reaching with two reefs in the mainsail  and two in the headsail and still making 5 – 6 knots in 20 – 25 knots of wind.

Passing Glas Eileanan (Grey Isles) using the narrow 

southern channel into the Sound during one of the lulls in the wind.

In the Sound the wind was very variable, coming down from the mountains on Mull, one minute it would be 20 knots the next 5 to 10, but I made good time and was approaching the entrance to Tobermory about 5:30 to find a drama unfolding for a yachtsman. 

A bit breezy approaching Tobermory

I had heard one side of a conversation with the coastguard and a lifeboat but the high hills had prevented me hearing the other half or seeing the lifeboat on AIS (Automatic Identification System) until I was quite close. A yacht had run aground on the lea shore just south of Tobermory and was being pulled off, with some difficulty by the life boat. At least they had a rising tide which helped.

The Tobermory "Severn Class" lifeboat preparing to tow

off a grounded yacht, their inflatable “Y boat” with 2 crew is alongside.

I went into Tobermory Bay, ahead of the lifeboat and the rescued yacht that was able to move under its own power.

Intending to anchor in the sheltered west side of the southern section of the bay I found mooring buoys had been placed there and in the only space with less than 20 metres of water the bottom was steep to and weed covered and I could not get the anchor to set. The east section had 20 knots of wind blowing through it and a very small space between the shore and a wreck of uncertain position so I gave up and went to the northern part of the bay and picked up a (chargeable) visitors buoy as the anchoring area in that section was temporarily suspended. 

At least the showers etc. were available and I was close enough in to row the dinghy in saving fitting the outboard motor. 

A lazy weekend followed, waiting for strong winds to abate, except for an hour and a half on Sunday spent tying to get weed off the bottom of the boat, accumulated mainly in just 3 weeks on the Hamble despite premium anti-fouling. 

Monday does not look promising at the moment, but there may be a short window to move further north, but Ardnamurchan point has a reputation for rough seas and much of the route is exposed to the Atlantic weather and waves so caution is needed.

A pretty Harrison Butler (Z4) at Tobermory.

And a not so welcome albeit colourful visitor.

57 nautical miles in about 12 hours.

Slide show all of my pictures from Loch Talbert to Tobermory. 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:

Tobermory - Broadford

Stage 11, Port Ellen – Loch Tarbert.

Ardbeg Distillery emerging from the mist an hour or so out 

from Port Ellen.

I left Port Ellen at 07:30 on Thursday the 23rd in very murky conditions, fortunately, a light wind sprang up shortly after leaving giving some clearance of the muck allowing the radar to go off and with time in hand for the tide up the Sound of Islay it allowed me to sail on to McAuthers Point by which time the wind was about 13 knots and I ended up arriving rather early making slow progress into the entrance until the tide turned. 

McAuthers Point.

With a strong tide, a head wind, and a channel between ¼ and ½ a mile wide I motored for an hour to clear the narrows and was through in just over an hour and a half covering 10 miles. With plenty of time in hand I sailed on to anchor in Glenbatrick Bay, Loch Tarbert on the north coast of Jura. 

Glenbatric bay as the sun starts to break through. One of the
numerous raised beaches just visible on the extreme left, most
are on the northern shore and unfortunately too far away to photograph,

T

The same view of Glenbatric bay next morning.

An hour after I arrived the sun finally started to break through for a pleasant evening.

The planned route (blue) and actual track (red)
The little green mark bottom right is an AIS
transmission marker from the ferry "Hebridean
Islands" displayed on the PC (which is linked to the
boats instruments etc.) when I took the
screenshot when at anchor later in the day.

Gannets diving in Loch Tarbert

Slide show all of my pictures from Port Ellen to Loch Tarbert. 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:

Loch Tarbert - Tobermory