Monday 19 September 2011

"Pieces of eight!"

Avast behind! This update is being posted on September 19th, which is of course 'international talk like a pirate day' mi'hearties. It also happens to be the day of my birth some 50'odd years ago. So grab yoursel' a tot of rum and raise a toast to seafarers the world over. Arrrrrh!

I mentioned last post that I had anchored in Asgog bay, this is located at the Southern end of Loch Fyne. The bay faces South'ish looking towards the Northern tip of Arran. It is a gorgeous anchorage, but only suitable  for use in settled weather as the holding here is not the best.
On this occasion the weather was kind to me allowing me to stay here for the night. The ships batteries were running a little low just now as 'Otto' had been steering for most of the day and because I have had no access to shore power to keep them topped for a couple of days. The laptop used for blogging and video creation is pretty hungry for power and drains the ships batteries quite quickly, so with no chance of blogging the night away I decided to turn in for an early night. This was about 22.30, (as anyone who knows me will testify this is early for me as I tend to bit of a night owl).
At this point I must tell you that during the whole of my trip I have been a little disappointed with the views of the night sky. I was quite prepared for a lack of stars during the early part of the trip because it was just too light for most of the time. The sun only dropped to a twilight glow rather than the full inky blackness of night this far North. But I did expect to see some spectacular night skies as I progressed down the Western shores. Unfortunately I had not had the opportunity to see one single spectacularly clear night the whole trip, the best I had seen was a few stars peeping out from behind broken cloud.
Around 00.45 I was awoken by the boat having a very agitated motion. I guessed something big was making its way up or down Loch Fyne kicking up a sizable wake in it's track. It was not only the motion that had robbed me of my slumber but it was also accompanied by the sound of the leathered gaff jaws creaking and squeaking against the mast as it swung to and fro. There was no way I was going to get back to sleep until I'd re-tied the boom off to silenced it, so reluctantly I threw off the duvet and slid back the hatch to be greeted by a most fantastic sight. The sky was like a diamond studded velvet cloak with the clear swath of the milky way down the center reaching from horizon to horizon. As my eyes became accustomed to the light I thought I saw stars reflected in the water. I then realised that this was not a reflection, these specks of light had the peculiar green tinge of phosphorescence and actually emanated from the water. I dropped a weighted line over the side of the boat and swished it around to display an explosion of bio-luminescence. It's a shame that my camera is not sensitive enough to capture a record of these sights.
It was almost as if Ruach had woken me up on purpose to see this sight. "Come on David, get up, now, get up, you just gotta get up and see this!"..... and I'm so glad I did.

If you click this chart to zoom in at the white arrows you will see there are two Rubha Dubh's.......
.......but try as I may I couldn't find three men in a tub!

The next morning I made my way the short distance from Asgog to Kames in the West Kyle of Bute, but to extend my sail I went almost all the way across to the Kintyre shore before heading back across and up the Kyle. I spent a night here on one of the moorings provided for patrons of the Kames Hotel before heading just a few more miles further along the West Kyle to Caladh harbour; located where the West and East Kyles meet.
A windless view from Kames looking East along the West Kyle

The Northern entrance to the tiny Caladh harbour

While I was preparing my evening meal I heard the unique slap slap slap sound that emanates from the Paddle Steamer Waverley - The last of a long line of sea-going paddle steamers. I stopped my preparations while I watched her glide majestically past my anchorage as she made her way through the Kyles. (See the video).


Next day I was off down the East Kyle to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. Again, not very far and the little wind there was was on the nose, but as time was my own I tacked my way down the Kyle passed Port Bannatyne and on into the inner harbour at Rothesay.

Rothesay - Looking more Torquay than a Scottish island


If anyone out there is having trouble donating at the justgiving sites (behind company firewalls, don't trust the internet with my card details or just don't want to give that way, etc) you can mail me a cheque direct. To do this just send me an email and I'll send you the details.

Don't forget to drop me a note at onpassage@dhippey.co.uk to sign up to be informed when blog updates appear.

Please share this site with your friends and family
( Especially the rich ones :-)  )

If you came to this blog from the main website www.eventoftheyear.co.uk you will hopefully have had a look around the site and be aware of what I'm up to, both the adventure itself and the fact that I'm aiming to raise awareness of dementia in our society and to raise money for the Alzheimer's charities.
I'm doing this trip for fun and funding the trip myself, but while I'm on this venture you can do your bit to by supporting the Alzheimer's charities through either www.justgiving.com/david-hippey or www.justgiving.com/david-hippey-scotland

Catch you next time.

Regards,
David H.

Saturday 3 September 2011

....but it's not yet over


If you have ever seen the Where's Wally books and pictures (or Where's Waldo if you are in the States) you may appreciate this photo. Take a look carefully; can you see both Ruach and me hidden in this photo? It is a shot of the pontoon at Campbeltown taken from a webcam, For a clue - I'm waving at the cam.

While I was on the pontoon at Campbeltown I met two brothers, both in their late 70's who were sailing their Folkboat from Ardrishaig, Loch Fyne to Ireland for a holiday. I hope when I'm in my 70's I'll still have the dream, desire and vitality to carry out such trips. I shared a brew and a 'blether' aboard their boat before they set off for the South. Does this count as another boat visited on this trip?
I also met a nice couple and their three lively boys who had sailed up from the Isle of Man in their Westerly Centaur.
These 'exotic' places now seem all the nearer since I have begun this journey.

Although I'm now back in the Clyde the trip isn't quite over. I'm about 40 miles South of the line level with where where I started this trip from and I'm dragging these last few miles out as long as I can :-)

A good while ago I'd promised one of my friends at Otter Ferry in Loch Fyne that some day I would pay him an aquatic visit. It's just over a year since we based Ruach in the marina at Largs and in this time I have not managed to fulfil this promise so, as I had a few days to spare before needed to get back to my employment, I thought I would take the opportunity. I had a further reason for heading up Loch Fyne, this was an invite from the owners of a Cornish Shrimper to come and have sail in company. So it was settled, I would head North.

Campbeltown to Tarbert with views of the Isle of Arran

I left it to the weather to decide which route I would take to get there. If the wind outside Campbeltown Loch was direct from the North I would head East round the bottom of Arran and up the Clyde, or if the wind was from any other direction I'd head North up the Kilbrannan Sound. As it turns out the wind was almost non-existent so I headed North towards Loch Ranza. During the early part of this passage the winds came from just about any direction they could think of, but finally decided to settle on being mainly from the North West. So after a faltering start I made good progress up the Sound, so much so that I decided to extend my passage beyond Loch Ranza and instead headed for Tarbert.

Tarbert Marina

Tarbert North Shore

Tarbert South Shore

Restored, rebuild traditional boats at Tarbert

 When I left Tarbert I had to manoeuvre around an in-bound inflatable boat. When I looked back I saw I was being chased by the same boat. Oops, what had I done now?
It turns out nothing! The occupants of the boat had seen the graphics emblazoned on Ruach's hull and one of the occupants of the inflatable turned out to be one of the regional managers of Alzscot, one of the two charities I'm raising funds for on this trip.

The wind was quite strong, gusting force five, but coming directly from the stern again, so I was able to carry full mainsail and jib for this down hill thrash towards Otter Ferry. The wind being so strong I decided it was safer to tack through around 340 degrees rather than gybe the mainsail.

As I approached Otter Ferry I was careful to keep to the buoyed channel rather than taking the risky short-cut across the tip of Otter spit.

As I turned towards the moorings I spied Cornish Shrimper 377 ELSKA heading my way. After pirouetting around each other for a short while I was invited by Jim & Ann to share a meal later that evening at the Oystercatcher.....
        ....and very nice it was too. 

The Oystercatcher at Otter Ferry

The following morning I sauntered up the hill to meet my mate & fellow engineer Bob in the old School house before setting off back down Loch Fyne to another of my favorite anchorages in Asgog Bay. But more of that next time.



If anyone out there is having trouble donating at the justgiving sites (behind company firewalls, don't trust the internet with my card details or just don't want to give that way, etc) you can mail me a cheque direct. To do this just send me an email and I'll send you the details.

Don't forget to drop me a note at onpassage@dhippey.co.uk to sign up to be informed when blog updates appear.

Please share this site with your friends and family
( Especially the rich ones :-)  )

If you came to this blog from the main website www.eventoftheyear.co.uk you will hopefully have had a look around the site and be aware of what I'm up to, both the adventure itself and the fact that I'm aiming to raise awareness of dementia in our society and to raise money for the Alzheimer's charities.
I'm doing this trip for fun and funding the trip myself, but while I'm on this venture you can do your bit to by supporting the Alzheimer's charities through either www.justgiving.com/david-hippey or www.justgiving.com/david-hippey-scotland

Catch you next time.

Regards,
David H.