ETD 0945, CTS 180, 57nm
Through the outer Summer Isles we sailed in a good NE3 south to visit Loch Ewe and the Inverewe Gardens at Poolewe. Skipper was feeling nostalgic having been there as a child! En route we were very excited to see another sailing boat; can you believe it's the first we've seen since The Solent at Easter and this one was a square rigger which looked splendid coming out of Ullapool. Dropped anchor at 1200 at the head of Loch Ewe. A warm climate compared to the open water, a micro climate which has allowed the spectacular gardens to flourish. A shore party enjoyed a couple of hours whilst I looked at passage planning for tomorrow. 1545 weighed anchor for Torridon, 7 miles back out of the Loch before we could round the headland and turn south again. Great expansive views, mountains around Torridon on the mainland, Skye and the mighty Cuillin to the south, and right across to the Western Isles with Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis which is sponsored for me by Richard in favour of climate justice.
Sailing topped 9.4kts again whilst the days learning curve was in jamming the Genoa sheet around its winch. We attempted a rolling hitch on a line to the main winch but the angle didn't help us reduce pressure in the jenny sheet. We're short of the ideal spinnaker winches as we don't carry a 'kite' or even a cruising shute. We resolved what can become a problem by depowering through heading to wind and gradually sweating the Jenny sheet until we could release her.
I was pleased to be entering Loch Torridon after a stay there with my wife 29 years ago! From the boat it was great to see the Monroes we'd climbed, Liathach and Beinn Eighe. I'd always seen the sea lochs from land and whistfully wondered ...?
Passing a wee islet with seals we piloted to Lower Diabaig, a large cove style bay but deep. The limited shallows we sought were already occupied. Laying anchor in 10m we let out all the chain (ideally want about 4.5x depth in chain length; we have 45 metres. But we were laying close to the fishing boat whilst needing the shelf, the breeze was still gusting strong, so we laid a kedge anchor at angle off the bows; this kept us clear all night although the breeze meant the skipper set his alarm to keep regular watches whilst we all slept.
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