the second is a novel way of reducing the opposition tried out by Bernard - by slicing her in two with your outrigger. Jan unfortunately managed to get under the windward outrigger and capsized with the aid of quite a strong wind.
The weekend was most enjoyable with strong winds and rain all afternoon on Saturday and a bit less strong on Sunday. It was very nice to see JohnS with his slightly bigger boat. He managed to right his boat and get back in after a capsize while frolicking in the wind on Saturday but bailing in the waves was impossible. The moral there is to bail first and get in later. He'll be ready for a full sized boat soon.
Week At Loch Morar (PeterB)
Loch Morar runs 20 km into the mountains, averages 1.5 km across and is more than 1,000 feet deep. After the Loch Ken meet I spent 7 nights unsupported on the loch, exploring every corner by sail and paddle, walking over most of the hills and mountains nearby and fishing many of the hill lochans. Praise the joys of a loaded canoe rather than an overloaded rucksack with 8 days' food! I really enjoyed myself and could recommend it to others. Campsites are plentiful with dryish grassy spots just behind many of the small gravel or sandy beaches and a burn with drinkable water always to hand. Midges are plentiful so choose a windy site. Oban bothy (open to all comers, but why not join the MBA?) at the eastern end is also available outside of the stalking season.
The western end of the loch has fairly predictable winds (Malin/Hebrides) but after a few km anything vaguely westerly tends to be funnelled straight down the loch. Beyond Meoble Bay the winds are treacherous, down draughts can suddenly appear from any direction. Early mornings are the calmest time and I would start off at 4 a.m. to avoid an unfavourable wind (see June Gossip!). One day a N force 3/4 managed to provoke a SE force 7 blowing up the loch from the bothy. This blast petered out after a couple of km but the resultant swell was running all the way up the loch. The waves can seem larger than is reasonable, maybe because of local winds like this, with the odd 3ft set coming along even if the average is only 12-18 inches. The scenery makes up for any inconveniences.
The loch lacks navigational marks, the islands near the western end can be thought of as 3 parallel archipelagos running north-south. The Eilean Ban island group in fact continues to the south as far as the other two with reefs and skerries not to be found on the map (about 700m beyond the last islet on the map). This area must be navigated with care. The various sounds and channels between the islands are also studded with small islets and skerries. There are many unmarked rocks near the shoreline even where the loch apparently plunges straight into deep water. A sudden view of a submerged seamount rising towards you from the normally inky blackness gets the adrenaline flowing even in calm weather. On my first day, heading downwind in a fresh breeze, I came to the realisation that it was a bit too fresh and the swell slightly too large for comfort. So I decided to tuck in behind Eilean Allmha to reduce sail. To go outside would have required a gybe so I cut between the island and the shore, only to see the waves foaming on submerged reefs. It was too late to change my mind so I headed for a gap in the breakers, half expecting a crunch and to be thrown out of the boat, but floated over unscathed into the lee of the island. After that I always approached a shore slowly and in control! The waters are cold and lonely for a solitary canoeist.
Crossing the loch from Eilean Allmha on another windy day, I waited in the lee of the island for a favourable lull and smaller swell, and then set off across to Brinacory Island. Half way across I did a sudden double take as a horned head appeared in the waves. !!Morag?? However, it turned out to be a deer on exactly reciprocal course making about 3 kts as we crossed about 10 feet apart. It had probably been waiting on Brinacory Island for the same break in the weather as me before starting the more than 1 km swim. So the waters were not so lonely after all.
Mouse (BillW)
I received the following article from BillW after he had seen SueB and DaveT at Loch Sunart - Ed.
Around 1963 I thought that I was going to spend a summer running dinghy sailing holidays on Loch Fyne and started to dream up, design and build a craft for exploring the western coast and lochs. It would have to be light enough to travel up on the roof of my sister's van, and be seaworthy enough for cruising single or double handed, and be able to carry camping gear. The result, a sort of outrigger canoe, appeared in the 1964 edition of the Amateur Yacht Research Society journal and a model is still living in a bottle at home.
It was successful, but family and children intervened, and the MK2 version was not built till about 1994. The job specification was unchanged apart from the fact that I now owned a car so it was easier to tow the boat on a light trailer. However, to pull the boat up rough beaches the weight had still to be kept to a minimum. The design is a wee bit more sophisticated and materials have improved so the MK2 has terylene sails, alloy spars and crossbeams, not cotton and wood, and is joined and protected with glass tape and epoxy resins, not brass screws and aerolite.
|