The evening at Port Mor anchorage on the Isle of Muck — one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, will long be remembered for the tranquility of the surroundings with the sun sliding down from a clear sky leaving a glassy sea for the boat to rest in. The four of us were enjoying the peacefulness of the setting with refreshments in the cockpit and reflecting on that day’s events when we had landed on the Isle of Eigg. We had hired bikes and cycled across the island to the Bay Of Laig on the western shore. Here we enjoyed our lunch on the singing sands looking to the grand panorama of the Rhum Cuillins whose summits were swathed in light cloud.
However, a different scene woke us up the next morning. It was not entirely unexpected as we had caught the forecast the evening before which had predicting a force ten depression centered to the west of the Outer Isles. This would affect us with strong winds but less severe in our location, although probably not from the most suitable direction. This prediction turned out to be true and we found our anchorage becoming untenable. After discussion we decided to move to the comparatively sheltered anchorage of Arisaig where we could pick up a mooring.
After an early breakfast at 6.15am we motored out through the well marked entrance and set sail on a broad reach across to Loch nan Ceall, some twelve miles distant. What a grand sail we had with the boat doing around four knots, the main with double reefs in and the headsail set to balance it. The seas were lumpy but not excessive and with us under sail she remained steady and dry. I have always been one never to extend the limits of the boat beyond what is necessary, and although we could have shaken out a reef, the boat felt comfortable as did the crew. The entrance to the Arisaig anchorage is fairly tortuous and was renowned in the past as one of the most intimidating entrances of any of the anchorages on the Scottish West coast. It has now been greatly improved with prominent port and starboard perches provided by Arisaig Marine.
|
We had used it often in the past so had no qualms about using it now, and with the detailed pilot guide it is reasonable for all It does shallow to quite an extent at one point but with care it does not present too formidable a challenge, and there is always a secure mooring at the end of it. It is important to identify the correct entrance, but today a large white painted mark makes the entrance very clear. After some three hours of exhilarating sailing we approached the entrance and were soon ticking off the navigation marks and finally made it through the entrance buoys to the large expanse of Loch nan Ceall and were relieved to find a free mooring which was picked up with alacrity. Having had an early start and all of us being disposed to the life of retirement, we put our heads down for a few hours without the need to check on an anchor, as the winds were by now starting to increase,
The two up forward awoke first as the boat was pitching and when we had all surfaced and were sustained by a cup of tea or coffee, we considered our situation and found ourselves riding out a wind of between force seven or eight and were unable to get ashore. This was of no concern to us but it does leave you wondering as to what might have been had we delayed our decisions to leave Muck or if the wind strength had increased earlier, Better not to dwell too long on these facts except to reminisce as to what our option could have been, But we had had a super sail in seas which both the crew and the boat were able to cope well, and as a real bonus we had that magical evening on Muck to reflect back upon and store away tobe remembered during the long dark nights of the winters ahead The remainder of our sailing had other highlights which is really inevitable when your sailing grounds are the remote and scenic areas of the Hebrides which are vast enough to allow you to explore and never be disappointed with, but always with new vistas, new anchorages and new harbours and islands to discover. We never seem to tire of it and feel sure that anyone who has not sampled it will find the same.
|
