Before we showed our latest sailing adventure, we thanked our supporters and they are
- Darrel Walters from the Sail Cruising UK Facebook group
- Paul Johnson
- Al from Perth
- Léon Pluymaekers who kicked the Ko-fi account off
In addition there are a few honourable mentions and these are to
- John and Yvonne from Wavedancer
- Gwen and Dave from Carrick
- Roy the Sailing Sheriff
We really want to thank you all very much for supporting our videos
I have to say Beverley was in an interesting mood as she put this weeks video together, but it does give a sense of place, as to where Oban is in the world. I was on sheets that day, so after I got all the fenders in and stowed the ropes, it was time to hoist the sails, so Beverley went to wind and I hoisted the main. Beverley and I have a little competition going and for the first time I hoisted the main to the spreaders. Beverley is a touch beyond the spreaders, but I was happy with my progress. After getting the main up, I adjusted the traveller because we were close hauled and bringing the sail across the boat allows us to sail closer to the wind. I then got the Genoa out and I flattened the Genoa, so much that I had the Genoa touching the shrouds. I then went on to tidying up the ropes as I waited for the sound that I like, which is the engine going of. The fact that we were only travelling at 3knots was immaterial we were sailing. If you want to go faster, then you need a motor boat, the joy of sailing is that you can travel, using very little fuel. Even when we are using the engine, we only consume 1 litre an hour, when we are under motor, at medium revs. Beverley then adjusted the kicker and that brings the boom down which flattened the main sail. It helped increase our speed by 1/2 knot and a tell tail that was not flying before was now flying.
Beverley and I then had a laugh about the Isle of Lewis. First, Beverley said that the Isle of Lewis was astern of us, and I looked out the side, then my geography was going nuts as the Isle of Lewis is miles away, before Beverley cleared up my issue, by telling me that the Isle of Lewis was a boat.
After, I tidied the boat, I went downstairs to sort out a brew. Meanwhile Beverley pinched to the wind. Pinching is a technique where you sail as close to the wind as possible, then fall off. Beverley wanted to stay on the path we were on as long as possible, so that we had a great line to go through the overfalls at Lismore point. Despite Beverley's best efforts, to pinch, we had to tack, but the tack was not the best because, the lazy sheet was loose, so that when it became the working sheet, it wrapped around the forward cleat, so I had to go forward, to sort that out. My next tack, which was needed to avoid a commercial ferry was a lot better.
Our next obstacle was the overfalls at Lismore point. We were still sailing but because the wind had decreased we decided to put the engine on as a precautionary measure. The tide was starting to suck us in to the Sound of Mull. We navigated through the race at the bottom of Lismore point without having to use the engine but it was a nice safety net to have.
We continued our sail up the Sound of Mull, dropping the sails for the entrance to Loch Aline, where we dropped the anchor at the bottom of the loch. We decided to use or anchor marker this time because the sea bed was a mixture of mud and rock, but also Loch Aline is a popular anchorage and it is useful information for other yachts.
