2023 June 21st, Days 69 & 70 Carbis Bay to Newlyn & Gwavas Lake

Leaving Carbis Bay required care as I counted at least 30 Lobster pot markers within sight, again no wind:

No wind as I motored towards Pendeen

Pendeen, abandoned tin mines ashore and lots of dolphins offshore.
The ripples on the water are largely down to tide not wind.

Here are just 2 of several videos of Dolphins of of Pendeen, they are hosted on Flikr as it is too big for Blogger The first is almost 2 minutes long, the second 59 seconds, both will play full screen on a large screen:

Common Dolphins

 

"The Longships"

I had thought to go inside "The Longships" but the water was rather turbulent so I changed my mind and went outside, that was probably a mistake as I went east from "The Lonships" the sea looked calmer inshore. Not dangerous but uncomfortable:

Over-falls south of The Longships, with less than 5 knots of
wind, one day from a spring tide but not at it's peak.

The Scilionian on route to Hugh Town, St Mary's in calm water,
you can see the edge of the overfalls just this side of her. 

Mousehole

I went into the harbour and was lucky to find the inner berths full but several spaces on the outer fingers so there was no pressure to go and double park there which is tricky with limited space and water. Soon all of the outer berths were full and most had 3 boats in each bay but the third in "mine" being a big boat had tied up to the other boat rather than to Sancerre.

I was surprised to see another boat flying the RAFYC burgee, actually one designating one of the club officers (know as in most sailing clubs as a "Rear Admiral), chatting with them I found another boat was due in and later we all sat down for a drink. One boat was, like me, heading back to the Hamble the other heading for the Isles of Scilly. During the cruise I spoke to club members on three other boats and saw another, remarkable considering there are only a couple of hundred boats flying the club burgee.

After a shower, shopping and a visit the the laundrette in Penzance I moved out next afternoon to anchor in Gwavas Lake for another night before heading off, saving a nights berthing which is rather expensive for what you get.

Newlyn harbour from the Gwavas Lake anchorage.

That evening there was another RNLI "shout" to witness as the All Weather Lifeboat (they also have an "Atlantic" class inshore boat) went out of harbour at high speed to return fairly quickly in company with a dive boat. A diver had suffered "the bends", trained crewmen assessed him and the casualty was taken to Penzance Heliport and flow by a Coastguard helicopter to Plymouth where they have a decompression chamber.

The Penlee Severn Class Lifeboat returning from the shout, the original lifeboat house and slipway is visible by her bow from which the "Solomon Browne" launched to the aid of the "Union Star" in December 1981 - that resulted in the loss of the boat with it's entire crew and that of the ship and all on board, some of whom had made it to the lifeboat. There is an RNLI account here also an excellent BBC documentary available on YouTube here: penlee lifeboat diaster - cruel sea

32 miles in 6 hours

Click here for St Mawes

2023 June 4th, Day 52 To Eileach an Naoimh, Oransay.

Oransay is a small tidal Island at the southern end of Colonsay with a much better anchorage than the main island. Again the wind was mostly very light or non-existent but there was good sailing in an ENE wind at 12 knots from a mile or so after leaving Loch Aline, through the main channel out of the Sound of Mull, the first time I have used it as previously I have used the southern channel, past Duart Point to a little west of Loch Spelve, the rest was under engine.

Sailing past Duart Castle

Minke Whale in the Firth of Lorn, close enough to hear it breath
- an impressive sound!

Colansay with Oransay on the extreme left.

It is nice to have such clear water so the when there is some sun
(not as often as I would like in Scotland!) you are able to see the
seabed and plant the anchor clear of weed, here in 4 metres.

A lovely evening and a peaceful night.

42 miles in eight and a half hours.

Click here for Port Ellen

2023 May 29th Day 46 Opsay Basin to Taransay

Facebook Post:

I didn’t fancy the planned anchorage at Ensay so ended up at loch na Huide (auto corrected to Huddersfield, glad to have noticed), Taransay and its a cracker… and with sun!! St Kilda probably tomorrow.

Threading through the islets and rocks from the Cope passage to the
Stanton passage was interesting, I initially went to an anchorage
off Ensay but decided it was not for me and went on to an excellent
anchorage in Loch Na Huidhe, Taransay.

A more detailed view, interesting but straight forward pilotage
in benign conditions.

Turning to starboard out of the Cope Passage by the stbd hand
green Conical NW of Groay.

I could have done without the ferry which will leave this stbd
Lateral (NW Rodel Rks) close to starboard, there was a safe place
to wait to the east so I let the ferry past here rather than having
problems in the narrow entrance into the Stanton Channel at
Grocis Sgeir.

One of several Minke Whales in the Cope Passage, Sound of Harris.

Loch Na Huidhe anchorage, Taransay.

20 miles in five and a quarter hours.

Click her for St Kilda!

2023 May 19th, Day 35 Loch Drumbuie to Vatersay Bay.

The 20:30 download on Thursday showed reasonable conditions on Friday but on some models possibly iffy on Saturday with winds favourable in the morning but not so good in the afternoon with the possibility of higher waves due to strong winds further out in the Atlantic so Friday it was, and an 04:00 start to avoid adverse tides getting out of the Sound of Mull and past Ardnamurchan point. That meant an 03:15 alarm as my back is still playing up and I need half an hour after getting up before it eases and I can do anything useful.

I was away at 04:10 and was sailing in light winds shortly after getting out of the Loch but it was short lived and the engine went back on for short periods twice to get clear of the point and then I was sailing  in a fairly steady 8 knots of wind from the WSW.

Bad new came at about 05:30 when I found my main domestic battery bank (2 x 120 Amp Hour AGM's) was indicating only 65% charged, although later that was found to be rather pessimistic, I had a problem; especially as it was discharging at over 5 amps, more than I would expect even with low input from the solar and virtually none from the wind turbine. I switched off non essentials like the cool box and it was still going down, I started the engine and no charge!

Not an emergency as I have a separate engine battery and a third 120 amp AGM domestic battery and can start the engine from any or all of the three “banks” but concerning, and if it was the alternator I would have to go direct to “civilisation” with good communications so I could get a replacement shipped there. 

Alternator top right, water pump bottom left.

So I took a Stugeron anti seasickness pill - working on an engine at sea is a good way to get sea sick especially when there is a big sea running and the wind light so not stabilising the boat, and after a short wait started work. I was in luck, getting the alternator off took 10 minutes or so and I found that the wire to the field winding had broken off at the terminal, in another 20 minutes I had it repaired and all back together as well as tightening up the water pump belt which had stretched a bit after being put on last winter.

The engine started and thanks to the external “intelligent” regulator the 55 amp alternator was soon charging at over 40 amps to the domestic batteries with more to the engine (I don’t have an ammeter on that) and keeping the boats electrical systems working.

I don’t know when the wire broke, both domestic banks were at 100% the previous evening but with some sunshine, a rare commodity, and some wind the “renewables” could have made good usage from a failure any time after Tobermory.

The main domestic bank recovered quickly, I think it had gone down to between 70 and 75%, still a lot on 240 Amp Hours, part of this and the high discharge rate I spotted, was down to it discharging to the engine battery; because the engine had been running (ignition on) the Digital Voltage Sensitive Relay was enabled and that allowed current to flow - unlike some more expensive types it is bidirectional. I had started the engine half a dozen times and the alternator was not recharging, then there was getting the anchor up. I motor sailed for an hour or so to get charge back into the batteries and then it was back to sailing.

The sailing was cold and damp with mist patches and occasional drizzle but on the bright side the steady rain did not appear until after I had got to Vatersay Bay.

And the wildlife spotted on this leg was exceptional, not much variety in birdlife just the ubiquitous Guillemots and a few Gulls and Gannets but the marine life was like nothing I have seen before in just a few hours:

• 200+ Dolphins north of Hawes Bank (which is north west of Coll, see chart above) over many square miles, visible for well over an hour mainly as I moved west at 5.5 knots (motor sailing after the alternator problem).
• Multiple small pods of Dolphin all the way over.
• 3 individual Minke Whales - off Hawes Bank, ½ way over and a couple of hours out.
• A small(?) pod of Orcas @ 12:30 c 12 nm SW of Hyskeir Rock. c 56º 50’ N 6º 57’ W
• A basking shark ½ mile SE of Muloanich (which is just E of Vatersay).

A distant pic of the Basking Shark, when it has been raining it
takes time to get the camera up and running!

With the wind dying and heading and the tide pushing me south I put the engine on at 16:40 and motored into Vatersay bay where I was anchored by 18:30 and thinking of dinner after a long day and as the rain started.

The famous beach at Vatersay Bay, reckoned to be the finest in
the Western Isles.

Not looking its best in the mist but at least by then I could see
to the end of the bay.

58 miles in 14.5 hours.

Click here for the short leg through Fisherman's Passage to Cornaig Bay.