A Cruise in Company
Our Snapdragon 890, "Pegasus", has its home mooring in
upper Loch Carron on Scotland's North-West coast and rides to a
swinging mooring during the summer months in the shelter of Slumbay
Island, along with some dozen other yachts and motor launches. The
area has a very active sailing club based in the village of Lochcarron,
which has a full programme of dinghy races and, in recent years,
has been catering for the ever expanding cruiser fleet. This year
has seen three yacht races taking place opposite the village, and
in July the club held a 'sail-away' when five of us took off for
a weekend with the destination being Isle Oronsay which lies to
the south and beyond Kylerhea, on the Isle of Skye.
"Pegasus" being weighed down with extra gear for the comfort
of the crew during their cruises on the west coast and having proved
its suitability for comfort and couth cruising over its speed in
the organised yacht races, we were looking forward to this "sail
away" when the start times were fairly loose and we were able
to set off with a good cushion of time over the back markers. It
does boost morale not to be at the back of the fleet. We were also
flying our new full size headsail which did give us improved performance
especially upwind. The tides and winds for both the Saturday and
Sunday were the deciding factors in the choice of course which was
in the order of sixty miles over the two days. Ample time to overhaul
those in front or, more likely, be overtaken. There were five of
us, giving us a mixed bunch. A Westerly Fulmar, a Vega 27, a Contessa
32, a Liberty 23 who was on his first long cruise, a forty five
foot steel hulled motor launch which often acts as our committee
boat during the races and was the venue for the evening barbeque,
and ourselves twenty nine foot of cruising comfort with a newly
anti-fouled hull.
Saturday gave us a following wind once we were out of Loch Carron
and with the tide in our favour we ran before a good breeze. We
passed under the Skye Bridge and through Loch Alsh to carry the
fast tide through Kylerea which is a narrow gut which separates
Skye from the mainland. The Kyle has one of only a few remaining
'four car' turntable ferries plying between Skye and the mainland,
and it is now run by the Glenelg community. It is here that with
a favourable spring tide and a good following wind Pegasus has been
known to touch ten knots over the ground. Not so today, but we were
enjoying the lush steep hillsides on either hand and had enough
steerage to keep well clear of the ferry. There is much to be said
for this type of cruising where the pressures of racing are put
aside, unless of course you find yourself overhauling the boat in
front, when skipper and crew start tweaking sheets, adjusting fairleads,
and checking any item of boat equipment that may give us some improvement,
without making it too obvious that we are endeavouring to catch
or even overhaul whoever is in front. We all do it. Once into the
northern end of the Sound of Sleat and with Isle Oronsay light as
a marker it took us under an hour from exiting the fast tidal ripe
of Kyle Rhea to come up to the sheltered anchorage of Isle Oronsay
where we were able to settle to the anchor at the second attempt.
"Meridian" our 45 foot steel motor launch acted as mother
ship and some twenty of us were able to foregather around the barbeque
set on the steel deck aft of the wheelhouse for a very pleasant
and boisterous evening well clear of midges and with the hills of
Glenelg and Knoydart as a backdrop. As is usual in such situations
there was discussions of past cruises and races. Members had been
to the Outer Isles to sample the remote anchorages found on its
east shoreline, putting down a lobster pot or the fishing line to
augment the supper, savouring the lonely stretches of white sands
or describing the navigation through the Sound of Harris before
the sail out to St Kilda. All this against a backdrop of sizzling
hamburgers and clinking glasses we were disturbing nobody and so
it was well into the evening gloaming before crews returned to their
boats.
Next morning was a leisurely start and with the wind having backed
180 degrees we were able to catch the north going tide and have
a fast sail back past the busy port of Kyle of Lochalsh to our own
moorings either in Loch Carron or Loch Kishorn. So, unencumbered
with racing starts and course layouts, or concerns about being caught,
or overhauling the next boat in front who could well be the doctor
with whom you had an appointment on the Monday, our concerns were
more to do with the art of couth cruising in the familiar surroundings
of home waters with the only concern being what was for tea once
we had finished the coffee or beer on our own home mooring. There
is life outside racing particularly in these cruising grounds of
the Scottish West coast.
|
