Now we are on a bit of a deadline to get to Troon ( I bought my train ticket yesterday), we have planned our route south, round the Mull of Kintyre and back into the Clyde. Trouble is the tides through the sound of Luing run in the right direction only from 7 am this morning or this evening. Neither are particularly good times but we decided to go for the evening one and put up with sailing bit in the dark at the end as the wind should be going round to the North west which will be a much better direction for the journey. So we had a morning to wait. Did various things, J got a new battery for his phone which had died and I had another lovely shower. There were two Atlantic rowing boats on the pontoons which was interesting…..so tiny!!! We eventually set off about 230 pm into a grey, drizzly murky afternoon. We had to be at the top of the sound about 7 pm. The wind was okay to begin with but we were having to tack and then it dropped, went all over the place and came back in various different directions. We kept pulling in the headsail, putting on the donkey ( motor) and then doing it all in reverse when the wind came back. Anyway, got to the sound at the right time! Annoying then that the tide still seemed to be against us! Although the sky was pretty black, at times the sun broke through and gave the most amazing light and colour effects to the seascape . The black hills and white houses of easedale looked spectacular as the sun shone on the white breakers on the shoreline, and seagulls contrasted against the cliffs. The photo J took shows the shadow of our sail cast on the green water….. if you look closely! The wind had filled in by now and we had an amazing sail under a (lovely )10 knot ( my favourite speed) wind on flat water down towards the sound of Jura. Julian cooked us a fantastic hot meal! Scottish pies, potatoes and mange touts! No less! Cuppa hot cocoa for pudding . Sadly it got dark. The funny thing is one spends a lot of Time looking out for lobster pots during the day, once dark you just forget about them! ( and hope! ) I don’t like sailing in the dark. Whenever we do it the wind seems to get up and you’re crashing along through pitch black without being able to see where you’re going . There are Lots of “allegedly” identifiable lights….. (according to proper navigators, rather than RYA day skippers). They look simple in the text book but in reality, are very confusing. Red and green and white. All flash singly, or don’t flash or in odd sequences…. all of which you’re supposed to remember. Perspective is lost at night so what is near or far-away is difficult to fathom. Not really selling it am I!! Anyway fortunately we have a wonderful plotter which tells us exactly where we are thank goodness! So we continued to speed down the black coast of Jura in up to 20 knots. Since the wind was at 90 degrees we were going fast and with 2 knots of tide with us, were careering along at 9 knots ! We finally arrived at our destination, just before midnight and I was very relieved when the anchor bit, and we finally came to a standstill. We could vaguely make out the outline of the Jura distillery on the shore! So we had one to celebrate……
What I learned today……………I haven’t changed my mind about night sailing. Maybe in quiet weather with a dawn break………….I might ?
Atlantic rowing boat 
Mull in background 
Brighter ahead? 
The sun is shining! 
Easedale with sail shadow 
Supper! 
Arrived pitch black 
Reward! 
Here’s where it’s made!
Angelique 