I last wrote as we relaxed in a serene anchorage in the North end of Strangford Lough, considering leaving the comforts of Strangford and heading back out into the wilds of the Irish Sea towards the North Channel.
Anchored off Mahee Island, Strangford Lough
Our final days in Strangford were, unbelievably, as blessed by sunshine and warmth as the first few. We motored back to Quoile in time to finish off some husbandry work on the deck (renewed the non-slip paint on the top of the deckhouse and cleaned and applied 'Semco' teak treatment to the deck - no small task considering the amount of deck involved!). Aside from the warmth and comfort of Quoile, and the friends we had quickly made there, we had a parcel arriving - a spare part to hedge against what appears to be the imminent failure of part of the boat's charging system (not being able to charge our batteries from the engine would be problematic). Parcel in hand, we headed around the lough to Strangford village which sits at the entrance, where we had been promised good Guiness (as well as a shop for supplies and a convenient place to stand by for the departure tide). I would be remiss here not to mention that the welcome we received from the Commodore and members of Quoyle Yacht Club throughout our time in Strangford Lough was nothing short of exceptional - we will certainly be back!
The Guiness proved to be just as good as promised, and we prepared the boat for what we expected to be a tricky passage up through the North Channel pass the Mull of Kintyre to Campbeltown. Tricky because of the nature of this difficult bit of sea, but also as the forecast promised variable breezes followed by a stiff Northerly (hard work) then forecast to veer to a stiff Easterly (much better for a close reach towards the Firth of Clyde.)
Theory (Red) Practice (Blue)
Aside from the variable weather, the main considerations for this passage are the strong tides and rough seas that occur through the North Channel and off the Mull of Kintyre, towards the end of our passage. My plan had been to fight for as much Easting as we could to give the Mull a wide berth, as the tidal currents ease significantly offshore. Trying to knit together a variable forecast and getting the timings right did not - quite honestly - go that well! The result was an entirely safe but tough sail into the teeth of a very cold and occasionally quite strong wind, enlivened by a 2-3 meter steep sea on or around the nose! The promised veer to the East never materialised and the wind, after a frustrating period of near calm which spoiled any chance we might have had of hitting the tidal gate, made it as far as NNE or occasionally NE. With progress hard against a gentle wind and a strong tide, we anchored briefly in the lee of Copeland Island (at the entrance to Belfast Lough) before heading back out when both the wind and Northbound tidal stream appeared. There was then no shortage of wind, and Tuesday night found us heavily reefed with our No3 Yankee (Smallest of the headsails on the bow) making a debut appearance as we bashed along into short and rather cold seas. The sail change to the No 3 was a somewhat emotional experience; Contour does not have any form of roller-reefing on any of our sails, so putting up a smaller sail consists of taking down and securing / un-hanking one sail, and (unless already on deck) moving up, hanking on, and attaching sheets to the new sail, before hoisting. Easy to type, harder to do in a seaway! It involves prolonged fun on the bowsprit, which in these conditions meant spending a lot of time buried in large chunks of the Irish Sea.
(I thought Hazel was steering at this point but it turns out she was taking pictures & laughing!)
Cold weather watchkeeping
Freezing jets of seawater made their way a surprising distance up the inside of my waterproof trousers (eat your heart out James Joyce), although for reasons which were not entirely clear to the more sane member of the crew, I came back aft with a huge grin on my face having very much enjoyed the view! The investment turned out to be a good one as, whilst the wind and sea both increased further overnight to a good going force 6, Contour was beautifully balanced and took it all in her stride, fine sea-keeper that she is - the autopilot taking most of the strain. Whilst we were sailing fast, we could rarely get much (or any) East into the course, and this lead us closer to the Mull of Kintyre than was ideal - we started to really suffer from the tidal currents, such that most of Wednesday morning was spent beating back out East (through occasional hailstorms) so we could round the headland and Davaar Island South of Campbeltown and enter safely. After what felt like a long day, we made our way into the well-sheltered Campbeltown loch, slightly getting under the feet of HMS PEMBROKE as she dashed in for a boat transfer, and happily anchored off the town to warm up, indulge in a sizeable (and admittedly fairly early) nip of whisky and a debrief in the afternoon sun (still with plenty of layers on).
Arrival
Tough sailing always teaches you things, and we learned a few good lessons; whether sail management (we had stowed the large No 1 Yankee given the forecast, but given the chance of weather worse than forecast we should also have prepared the small No3 in advance), eating more in bad weather to sustain energy levels, some technique points about using our lifelines and jacklines (I got very wrapped up in mine when changing sails) or (perhaps most amusing in hindsight) Hazel learning (again!) what a terrible idea it is to open the fridge on the Starboard tack......
Changing a damaged hank
We spent a quiet afternoon tidying up the boat and servicing gear we had used, utilising the ever useful YouTube to learn how to change a broken sail hank, before cooking an enormous stir-fry and collapsing into bed.
I'm writing this comfortably moored alongside in Campbeltown marina, which we are sharing with several participants in 'Exercise MCM Warrior', most notably HMS BITER and what seems to be most of Northern Diving Group.
Hail!
My memories of Campbeltown revolve chiefly around fleeting visits to the NATO fuel jetty when operating in the Northern areas, or the occasional long bus-ride from Faslane to join a boat-transfer. As is perhaps often the case, I had previously not entirely recognised quite what a stunning setting the town enjoys. Hazel and I headed off for the afternoon to climb Ottercharach Point at the South East end of the Loch and circumnavigate, by means of a prolonged rock-scramble, Davaar Island (accessible at low water over a Causeway). Again the weather has been kind, with bright sunshine and only the briefest hail-storm to remind us that we are indeed in Scotland in March.
View across to Arran from Ottercharach Point
Davaar Island Light
Davaar Island from the Loch
Teeming sea-life on Davaar beach
The weather is set to blow hard from the North for the next day or so, and so with a bit of time in hand there are (as always!) boat jobs to get on with as well as some life admin (and Hazel's job) to keep up with so we expect to be here 2-3 days before we again sail Northwards towards Rhu. We might in the margin also perhaps try and work out why Campbeltown is known as the 'Whisky capital of Scotland'......!
Never a shortage of weather....
We are hoping to make at least one stop en-route, perhaps on Arran, although with the Firth of Clyde before us there is plenty of choice....
Plans are always a basis for change.....and the last few days have shown it is often best to roll with the weather and circumstances. Having planned to stay in Pwllheli for a short 24 hour stopover, a combination of a somewhat tricky berth and a strong gale blowing us firmly into the corner delayed us for 24 hours, but this turned out very well.
My slightly aged aunt Joyce lives in Llandudo, so we had already planned to hire a car and head over to call in for a cup of tea. We enjoyed the drive along the North coast of Wales past the Menai Straits, to Llandudno, a very picturesque Victorian seaside town built on the side of a large hill called the 'Great Orm'. At the start of what has become a quite exceptional spell of warm weather for March, we tramped to the top of the Great Orm, then walked back into the town for the cup of tea. My Aunt spent her WW2 in the Royal Navy and we enjoy 'spinning dits' about the Andrew and her memories of her service and how she met my late Uncle (also RN).
Having made our way back to Pwllheli, firmly pinned to our berth and with access to a car, we decided to stay an extra 24 hours and explore a bit more, initially on a mission to find more calor gas (strangely scarce at the moment?). We drove South East along the Llyn Peninsular towards Porthmadog. Sunny weather can make any day outside a pleasure but nothing had prepared Hazel and I for the beauty of the Dwyryd estuary and Porthmadog and the great expanse of enclosed tidal estuary. We walked from Porthmadog along the West Coast to Borth-Y-Gest and further on to Black Rock sands along a sandy coastal path. Notwithstanding the weather, it felt as if this lovely corner of the coast enjoys somewhat of a micro-climate; the views and sheltered harbour are really spectacular - certainly one to add to the list to try and visit another time. Apparently turtles are occasional visitors - they migrate from the caribbean to eat jellyfish - based on the specimen we saw we can understand the journey!
On Sun the 20th we departed Pwllheli late at night to ensure enough water in the channel, then straight to anchor off the harbour ready for an early departure the following day. The next challenge on our route was the slightly notorious 'Bardsey Sound' at the end of the Llyn Peninsular. This narrow bit of water sits at the confluence of complex Irish sea tides. Shoals and rocks with names like 'Devil's Ridge', 'the Tripods' and 'Hells Mouth' are not especially encouraging! As often seems to be the case, different pilot books and almanacs emphasised the great importance of getting timing just right, otherwise risking cataclysmic overfalls, waves, and probably sea monsters. Given slight contradictory advice, we made the fatal mistake of referring to the internet..... the waves got bigger, the monsters more fierce, and the fleeting nano-second in the appropriate tidal window were even more elusive. We hurriedly looked away, planned what we thought was right, and after a pleasant passage West and a brief anchorage in Aberdaron bay, the reality of the thing was somewhat of an anticlimax!
The Irish Sea has a tricky reputation; James Joyce called it something like "scrotumtightening" and over the years I've seen enough of it to have a healthy respect for a piece of water whose geography, changing depths, and strong tides bestow an ability to conjure a steep chop from apparently nowhere. Generally bang on the nose.... so it was with a little care we had prepared for what can be a really difficult passage, albeit the weather was looking kind. Once clear of Bardsey and on a gentle Reach across Caernarfon Bay and past the coast of Anglesey, we crossed the shipping lane in a gentle South Easterly breeze, well set for our best point of sail towards the Isle of Man.
The wind eased back and early on Tuesday morning we took a totemic step - we 'Hoisted the Gollywobbler'. This brilliantly named sail is hoisted between Contour's two masts, and is used for reaching (ie sailing when the wind is at 90 degrees or more from where we want to go). It is really big and very good in gentle breezes - but can also be somewhat dramatic if there is more wind (which presumably is how the name came about). I have to confess to quite a fondness for this particular sail (one of our 9!) and I drew on great reserves of restraint to avoid waking Hazel up in the middle of her off-watch to get the thing up when the wind began to die.
This does perhaps give some sense of how Contour is to sail - she is not the typical cruising yacht for a couple; we routinely have 4 sails hoisted when sailing, sometimes more - each of which requires a degree of deck-work and handling which keeps us fit and busy! Mostly this is a pleasure, occasionally on a dark night when we realise we should have reduced sail earlier, it can be somewhat more entertaining than we might wish - planning ahead and a cautious approach to the weather is the secret.
We are now settled into a good routine for the longer / overnight passages; we tend to do three or four hour watches, both up for most of the day but taking it in turns to rest and ensure we are fresh for the night watches. 'Kevin' the autopilot is now working really quite well and this helps a lot.
After conversations with the harbour master in both Douglas and Peel on the IoM, we began to suspect we were not, sadly, going to be able to berth in the Isle of Man at all. A combination of seasonal fishing traffic, repairs, and the weather conditions suggested that any berth or anchorage would be really quite difficult. Mid-morning on Monday we made the decision to head for Strangford Lough - already our next planned destination - and we pulled off the wind and continued a further fast down-wind sail towards the coast of Northern Ireland.
Neither of us have visited Strangford Lough by land or sea in the past - it was somewhat of an unknown, so whilst we were disappointed not to be able to visit the Isle of Man, this hidden gem has more than made up for the disappointment and additional day of passage.
The challenge with Strangford Lough is the narrow and constrained entrance and associated bar, which like many places in this part of the world, benefits from a significant tidal range and rather epic tidal currents (around 8 knots at times). As ever, studying the pilot revealed the many and varied range of ways in which a small boat could come to grief, however the main conclusion is that timing is everything and care is required, especially in Easterly conditions. Timings meant a bit of a wait, so we closed the coast and reached South West as far as Ardglass and then back up the coast as the sun went down, identifying as best we could the various lights and buoys off the entrance. After some careful planning we had decided to commit to a night entrance - for which some care is required in planning. One notable hazard highlighted by the pilot was a 'tidal generator' mid-stream near the top of the very narrow straits at the entrance to the lough.
Aside from a bit of chop over the bar, the entry turned out to be quite straightforward and went to plan - Hazel and I identifying most of the planned headmarks and hazards in turn as we made our way up. All eyes peeled then, for the dread tidal generator, smack bang in the middle of the channel. By this stage the very brief slack water was over and as expected we were being washed up the entrance at some speed - no sign, however, of this large obstacle, so clearly described and evidently well lit. Slightly disconcerted, the notable absence of bad crunching noises reassured us and we made our way gratefully into the serenity of the sheltered lough - an amazing change of environment after a couple of days at sea. We anchored in a quiet spot and went to bed.
Curious as to how we had missed the tidal generator, it turns out it had been removed 3 years ago, however, updates to pilots and charts had not quite caught up!
Wednesday we woke to a placid lough and sunshine; keen to explore we set off towards a small sailing club in the South West of the Lough called Quoile Yacht Club, benefiting from some good advice.
This place is really quite special - tucked away in a rural locations some distance from any town, it is a community run sailing club with good facilities, and a stunning quiet corner, made better by the weather and the amazingly warm and helpful welcome of the members who ,without exception, did all they could to make us welcome, offer us lifts to shops, advice, or just a good chat!
It was great to be able to top up on water, and we borrowed a small hard tender and with our electric outboard motored the couple of miles to the small neighbouring town of Killyleagh, where we could get a few provisions. The Yacht Club is a hive of activity with owners getting their boats ready for the season so we were also not able to resist the chance to catch up on some quality paint / varnish / teak work to ensure Contour stays looking her best. We also managed a good long run (slightly longer than planned), and learned some of the fascinating history of this area and part of the Lough.
Fearing that we might never leave Quoile YC given the the warmth of the welcome, the 'Craic' and the endless opportunities to chat with fellow boat owners, we finished up the deck work (I nearly said 'final' deck work..... not ever the case!) and enjoyed a very placid sail North up the Lough to benefit from some of the collective wisdom of the YC members who were all keen to share their good spots. The venue as I write is 'Ringhaddy Sound' - a secluded spot amongst a maze of small islands - carefully timed to achieve a reasonable standard of 'sundowners'.....
The odd dolphin and seal has been seen, although they all seem quite shy so whilst the variety of bird and sealife is remarkable, few pictures in evidence as yet!
The plan is probably a bit academic as events so far have shown that they are only ever a basis for change (probably not a surprise) but we plan to leave Strangford sometime around Tuesday and once again brave the open sea, heading North for the Clyde in time for our appointment on around the 9th March at Rhu Marina, on the Firth of Clyde. We will write more before then as there will probably have been more adventures - and, honestly, probably the weather won't be quite as amazing as it has been for the last few days!
Anchored off Mahee Island, Strangford Lough
