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October November
13 Aug Sufiana lifted out for Coppercoat antifouling and replacement of the masthead wind speed and direction unit. Plastimo autopilot now works too,
23 Aug It took us this long to clean all the old antifouling off and rub down the hulls. Then Amanda’s wedding took us by car to Wells and Yeovilton.
September
1 Sep Coppercoat applied and polythene sheeting fixed to hulls to keep rain off.
4 Sep Sufiana was lifted into the water without rudders as they need bushes. Reversed to pontoon using steerable drive leg.
13 Sep We were all set to go but the forecast is not all that grand. Better Tuesday.
14 Sep 1230 Karen saw us off from Lossie and we motorsailed as far as Nairn 1600 where the wind turned to N 20 knots. The motor went off and we sailed till we turned to enter Inverness Marina. Tied up at 1850. Unfortunately I had left the camera in Lossie so photographs are sparse.
15 Sep 0930 We phoned the canal office and were told all was ready. At the sea lock we paid £135 for an 8-day pass and waited till 1125 for the tide and a yacht descending. Once in, the canal was all ready and we arrived at Dochgarroch at 1430. In Loch Ness at 1500 the wind was light and SW so we kept the motor on and tied up at Fort Augustus at 1850.
16 Sep 1000 A lot of dithering in Fort Augustus saw the first convoy ready with us last in the lock. We must have done well as we were out of the top lock at 1140. In Loch Lochy we called ahead to Gairlochy saying we would stop there for the night arriving at 1620.
17 Sep A simple motor to Corpach where we decided to stay till Monday (Wind SW 4-5 increasing 6-7). In all this cool weather the Bengco charcoal heater was a boon though finding lumpwwod charcoal for it was not always easy as the BBQ season had come to an end
22 Sep Strong winds W-NW 6 decreasing noon till 1500 told us not to go to Islay. We decided on the Crinan Canal and shelter of the Mull of Kintyre. We left the Corpach sea lock at 0930 and sailed to Craobh Haven passing through Cuan Sound with the tide and arriving at 1700.
23 Sep 1100 We set off for Crinan, entered the canal (£81) reaching the summit reach and lock 8 at 1645. The handles were off the gates so we walked to the hotel bar at lock 5.
24 Sep 0900 into lock 8. Work was hard as we had to open and close each set of gates. We got into the sea lock at 1300. By 1350 we were provisioned and off to Tarbert (Loch Fyne) arriving at 1600.
25 Sep 1015 To Campbeltown with severe gales in Rockall Malin Bailey Hebrides NW 9. We were sheltered enough and arrived at 1530 deciding to stay 2 days as there was a forecast of SW gale later.
27 Sep 0745 Motor on and away on a misty morning with 2M visibility and not as much wind as forecast but 10 knot on the nose. We motored all the way to Bangor arriving at 1758. Here we waited for Itch. Richard arrived at 1200 on Tuesday 28 and the weather deteriorated. Daily - Irish Sea - SW severe gale force 9.
Oct 5 Gale Irish Sea SW force 8 continuing. But there is hope. By this time our diversions to Isle of Man and Cork begin to lose favour. Outlook W/NW 6-8….
7 Oct 1030 At last away from Bangor. A fine sail for two hours then dying wind and motor to Ardglass with Itch tied alongside. In the evening we met the crew of an Elan 36 from Carlingford Loch. Finished a bottle of Highland Park with Tina Park.
8 Oct 0910 Drove out of Ardglass and put up the sails. Sailed till 1440 when the wind had dropped and the motor went on. I called Howth Marina and found that it was full due to their Autumn Series. Malahide were welcoming so we went there through a channel which could be tricky and tied up at 1855. Forecast for the next two days was not good. We decided to stay at least till Karen arrived on Tuesday. Wednesday was SE 4-6 Thursday 14 looks good. NW 4-6.
14 Oct The wind and Karen held us for 6 days. She brought us the charts and canal books we had left in Lossie. Thanks Karen. 1015 We set off for Milford Haven and were going so well that we decided to change our destination to Penzance - then disaster. We were swept sideways on to a buoy by the tide. This made a hole in the middle of the starboard side – about the size of your forearm and 5 cm above the waterline. I patched up the hole from the inside with wood, screws and Simpsons Professional ISR 70 03 which stuck to the GRP and kept the water out. We were close enough to Arklow to go in there tying up at 1815.
15 – 17 Oct spent patching the hole. First with West epoxy resin, then glass tape on the inside held with 9 mm marine ply. Finally the ply was epoxied and taped on the inside and epoxy with high-density filler smoothed the outside which was so dense we could not make much impression on it with wet and dry.
18 Oct 1230 Motored out of Arklow against the last of the tide which turned at 1421. The wind was not W or NW as forecast but SSW so we motorsailed South. We went really well till 2000 then the tide turned and we were making 3 knots over the ground. We had no more help from the tide till we reached Lands End. We did get several shows from the dolphins surfing on the waves and leaping from the water.
19 Oct By 1200 we had motored 23½ hours and the motor gave a great sigh and stopped. Due to the sea state air had been sucked into the fuel line. We put 40 litres in the tank and then bled the fuel lines. The engine started OK but occasionally faltered due perhaps to the filter being swamped. Sailing is so much easier. By this time our ETA for Penzance had slipped from 1800 to 0200 so we set waypoints for Falmouth so we could arrive in daylight. But this was not to be. At Lands End (0049) the wind turned to E and we had wind against the tide. Nasty lumpy sea with Sufiana bouncing up and down crashing into troughs – the motor faltered again. We found that by reducing speed to 3 knots the motion was less and the motor ran sweetly. 36 miles at 3 knots put Falmouth into infinity. We turned towards Penzance and the wind went NE. Oy Oy Oy who is in charge of de winds? 0455 saw us moored in the drying harbour. Hugh kept telling me that we were 2m from the buoy and I would give a burst of power – still 2m. We were aground in the mud but still able to moor to the buoys – so we did.
20 Oct 1000 woke up to see the lock was open to go into the ‘wet’ harbour. We called the harbour master and were invited in. We are still here 22 Oct. The forecast is SW Severe Gale Force 9. Oy Oy Oy again.
25 Oct There was a tiny gap in gales but we could not be sure of getting to France before the next lot. We put Sufiana on the slip and painted the boot topping. Also put bailers in the engine compartment – unfortunately the gum I used to seal them did not set in water and they leaked later.
26 Oct Went back into the wet harbour as the forecast was storm 10. Waves broke the sea wall between Penzance and Newlyn and put out the harbour lighthouse. 3 times Oy again. Fortunately the Penzance harbour master and his crew were a cheerful lot and made the stay enjoyable.
31 Oct –0510 With a break in the weather - NE to E force 3 to 5 we set off for L’Aber Wrac’h 98 miles meant we would arrive after nightfall so we headed as far East as we could to try for Saint Malo by morning. Before dawn broke there were still two planets together in the East, Venus and one other ? The trusty Plastimo autopilot gave up the ghost so we tried the Raymarine ST2000 again. It squealed and refused to steer. We had to steer the rest of the way. The log clocked up 5000 miles at 1337 and 5 seconds at 49º23.81 N 4º49.16 W. This (Corus) is the third and best instrument system in Sufiana (the NASA was totally shoddy – not worth half the price) and the total for all three is now 21500 miles since 1984 – nearly once round the world. Back to the sailing, as Cy told me, Hugh cannot see either the instruments or distance so I had to attach the Shetland flag to the shroud in front of him so he could keep the boat on course with the wind direction on that. At 2030 the moon came out and the sky cleared. I saw a shooting star and wished – (Leonids). We decided to head for Morlaix and anchor till dawn which we did after rounding the position of an East cardinal buoy Basse Ne du Pot de Fer which was not there. We anchored in the Rade de Morlaix at 0415 and Hugh went to bed. I stayed on anchor watch till the GPS stopped wandering. I woke to a cup of tea at 0800 and we set off up the river at 0830. We had put the clocks forward now we were in France. As we approached Morlaix we ran aground 500 m North of the lock but were able to reverse off the gooey mud. We tied up under the autoroute bridge at 1000. Later we entered the marina through the lock at high tide 1900. Here we arranged winter mooring for 5 months 389.
9 Nov 2230 We drove in a hired car to Charles de Gaulle airport (with two navigation errors which lost us only 5 minutes) there the security personnel were bright and cheerful at 0630. Easyjet flights to Luton, then Inverness, a taxi to Nairn then 2 buses got us back to Lossie by 1530 so we showered and went off to Charlie Chans to celebrate.
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