The willkcraft tours The Corryvreckan

[willk]

It was all BruceB's fault. He fired us up for Scotland and then wussed out. So, when the clouds parted and the winds subsided, we gassed up every damned can we had and surfed out from Greencastle bound for Rathlin with a fine following F3/4. The lunch was had in (ironically enough) Bruce's Kitchen Restaurant.
Pics of the route, the UpsideDown Lighthouse (with swell) and Church Bay on Rathlin.

[willk]

The run to Islay was uneventful (apart from my foolish sally into the capricious overfalls off the NE corner of Rathlin where we shipped the only water of the entire trip).
donegaldan's gekkos (thanks again Sonar) did get a wetting south of Islay but he got tired of my incessant humming and switched the comms off. That was the last rain we actually had.
Port Askaig was made in good time and after some auld chat with the local lads, we got snuggly with the pot boats in the tightest wee harbour that I've had the pleasure of tying up in. The Hotel comes highly recommended and the Seafood Platter (at £22) was a massacre of lobster, langoustine and squat lobster tails. The bar was friendly and housed a confusing selection of malts. At least I think it was "confusion" that I was suffering from.
Pics of Port Askaig/willkcraft/Paps* of Jura, Jura Ferry, The Port Askaig Hotel/willkcraft

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* Gaelic for "Jugs"

[Mollers]

Stunning scenery.
Nice busy dash, in a Jardon-esque stylie.

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by willk

The bar was friendly and housed a confusing selection of malts. At least I think it was "confusion" that I was suffering from.

crazy - I thought they would have sorted that out by now - last time I was in there (about 10 years ago) I seem to remember being "confused" also.

[willk]

Reveille on Day 2 at 0730hrs (AKA Silly O'Clock)

donegaldan assures me that we ate a cracking Scottish Breakfast and gassed the barque before 0930, departing Islay at 0950. I believe him. Certainly the VISA bill supports his thesis. Petrol and diesel are available about 50m uphill (uphill - thank God) from the quay, normal prices apply.
Conditions were now flat calm and we raced up the west of Jura, an uninhabited wild coast with stunning views, cliffs, caves and raised beaches. We kept a keen eye out for deer but saw only goats.
About a mile south of the Gulf of Corryvreckan we hit our first and only glitch of the trip. Sudden cavitation saw me haul off the power and spot a trailing line - we had snagged a floater. Drifting in 90m of water just off a rocky lee shore, our stress levels were elevated as we raised the legs, only to discover that we had lucked out as the 8m rope had wrapped itself around both legs but missed the props (I think we cut it). I reckon that it was an old floater that had lost the marker buoy.

Relieved, we headed up to the Bay of Pigs and The Corry. We arrived an hour after high tide so things were calm, but as we looked around the gulf picked up and we had a hint of what it could be like. We met some of the Seafari ribs from Oban and the Islay ribs having the Craic.
We hailed Jambo on the VHF but he was in hiding so we headed south down the east coast of Jura to Craighouse for lunch and a Whisky Check. It was ok, so we wrote the Cheque (Isle of Jura).

Pics of Goats, Whirlpools, Craighouse.

[willk]

We left Jura in high spirits and made the run to the SE of Islay watching ominous rain storms flit over the hills. However, as we made The Turn for home, the skies lightened and the sea settled some more. The 40Nm leg to Donegal was made over glassy seas, interrupted only by the enormous wake of a supertanker. I was stunned by the panorama arrayed around our drifting horizon - the entire north coast of Ireland, Kintyre in Scotland, Jura, Islay, Gigha, Rathlin - a Constellation of Islands through which we passed...
Pics, East coast of Islay with Rain, Heading Home

[willk]

The actual log shows just under 180Nm over two days, using c.270 litres of fuel. I had a ball and the barque performed without a single fault.

donegaldan must be thanked once more for "suiting up" at no notice and abandoning his missus yet again

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by willk

..interrupted only by the enormous wake of a supertanker.

Interesting. We had a convo on Alderney along the lines of, the really big 'trawlers', don't kick-up much wash these days.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Stunning scenery.
Nice busy dash, in a Jardon-esque stylie.

Thanks.

There's nothing wrong with my dash - I need ALL that shit

Incidentally, I finally got to grips with the fluxgate thingy - nice bit of kit, glad the previous owner paid for it

[willk]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Interesting. We had a convo an Alderney along the lines of, the really big 'trawlers', don't kick-up much wash these days.

There it was. The tanker was a good mile away by then and the wake had spread out with a perfect triple wave, each tall and steep and very close together, very tricky had we hit them at cruise speed. We came off the plane to cross them. It was glassy calm though, which may have allowed the wake to "develop" more than usual.

Bear in mind too, we're only little, and waves seem bigger when you're alone