Somewhere over a rainbow.

Summer 2006

"Is there something wrong?" inquired the skipper of a neighbouring yacht from his dinghy as he drew alongside our stricken Westerly. He surveyed the scene. Minutes earlier we had snagged a mooring line and the engine had ground to a sudden halt. The entire contents of the aft locker were strewn on the deck - sail bags, mooring lines, fenders, jerry cans, buckets and deck scrubbers - and Frank, our Mate, was standing in our (leaking) dinghy stripped to his trunks and contemplating the grim prospect of taking a dip in the freezing waters of Loch Fyne to check out the state of the prop.

Left to Right: Catherine Baudinette,
Guy Hammond, Emma Ascroft, Chris Smith

"We wondered if you had a mask or some goggles we could borrow" inquired Catherine, our Skipper. "Yes, and I have a wet suit too. Would you like to borrow that?". A smile broke out on Frank's face and the prospect of making Loch Ranza, Isle of Arran, that evening were looking up. In a few minutes, our guardian angel was back on his yacht gathering the aforementioned kit and he returned laden with goodies to help us out. His wife had wanted to come along for the ride and was recounting tales of their recent encounters with mooring lines in destinations as far a field as Malta and the Menai Straits while Frank changed in to the wet suit and mask. The rest of the crew were dispatched to add weight to the bow and ease the task of finding and freeing the prop as Frank ventured in to the water, armed with a lethal looking diving knife and resembling a villain from a James Bond movie. Sure enough, the mission went like clockwork and we were quickly free of the mooring line and on our way. As Frank shivered in the saloon, another yacht passed by and the skipper inquired after our predicament. "Ah" he said. "I have a dry suit if you need one". If only his timing had been better.

Brodick Bay

Our trip had begun somewhat less eventfully two days earlier when Frank, Catherine and Guy arrived in Port Ballantyne, Isle of Bute, to pick up our Westerly 32ft for a 4 day adventure around over the Bank Holiday weekend. Some duff information from Scotland Travelline about ferry times called for a spot of night sailing to pick up the late arrivals - Emma and Chris - from Inverkip, a swanky new marina at the mouth of the Clyde estuary. The full complement of crew then spent a very pleasant evening over several beers and the first of many good meals of Scottish seafood.

We edged out of a tight visitor berth on Friday morning to take the scenic route to East Loch Tarbert via East Kyle and West Kyle, the channels to the north of the Bute. Light winds meant we motor-sailed most of the day but it gave us a chance to get used to the Westerly's tiller, admire the striking scenery and choose a suitable hostelry for dinner. And we were not disappointed. With dinner that is. The weather was less predictable but the showers were short, the rain warm and the rainbows simply stunning and dinner at a local bistro more than made up for the damp start to our trip.

Cock of Arran

Day 2, Saturday, took us up to Loch Fyne and the incident with the mooring line but the wind picked up nicely in the afternoon and we sailed on to Loch Ranza on the north shore of Arran, encountering dolphins and some ugly dark clouds en route. The rain came and went but we made good time to our destination and tucked in to a late supper of fish pie and beers feeling pleased that we'd got ourselves out of trouble and learned some valuable lessons from our rescuers should, god forbid, it happen again.

Day 3 took us clockwise round Arran. Once again, the sun and rain came and went but the wind was strong as we headed south on a broad reach towards Holy Island. We spotted Sunday morning walkers along the rugged coastline and more dolphins.

Rothesay Bay, Bute

We anchored at Lamlash Bay for a spot of lunch before heading back along the coast to anchor in Brodick Bay for the night. We treated ourselves to a visit to the local spa resort for a much needed shower and a dip in the pool for those with the foresight to bring their bathers. The leaking dinghy, absence of an outboard and a strong tide made us cautious about rowing in the dark so we headed back to the boat early where Frank cooked up a stellar meal. We finished off the evening with a few rounds of cards and more beers.

We made an early start on Monday to head north on a long beat back towards Bute. It was another showery day but again the sun shone through and we were treated to the most spectacular of all rainbows that we had seen on the trip.

The rainbow arched right across the Rothesay bay, and tempted as we were to go in search of the pot of gold (which side is it on anyway?) we decided it would be more fun to race the ferry to the terminal so Guy could make it back to Weymss and then on to the airport needless to say the ferry won. It was not much later, after packing up the boat, that the rest of us were on the ferry heading back to the mainland and we could see the afternoon sun shining brightly on Rothesay. The ocean now a deep blue was a reminder that the bank holiday weekend was all too short.

Copyright © London Corinthian Sailing Club, 03 Dec 2006