Round Britain Diary

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We depart Jura and head for the Corryvreckan whirlpool which lies between Jura and Scarba in the Inner Hebrides.

The Corryvreckan is the third largest whirlpool in the world

As we approach the Corryvreckan the water around us is ripping in every direction and we can see the whirlpool on the horizon...

Many of the boats have turned back and gone around to avoid the washing machine that awaits us.

But as for Team Black Hawk we press on through the eerie waters. The power of the Corryvreckan is becoming more clear as we watch the behaviour of the currents under the calm surface...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyFT...ature=youtu.be

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Now you're probably thinking that a whirlpool looks like something in your bath tub when you pull the plug, but it was much different to what I was expecting...

Huge confused chop, breaking waves in every direction as currents ripped pulling the sea to pieces and tossing it into the air.

As always the camera flattens the sea so you don't get so see the size of the waves.

But as you can tell by my voice, we're excited to be there but on the other hand if we were to turn over then it would all be over...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JnqK59uln4

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A bit of info of under the waters surface...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEehfAvvvFY

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This is a video of the Oban Lifeboat in the Corryvreckan whirlpool...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jevwjLDhJrY

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Next we were off the Grey Dog, The Thornton's in Fast Forward were always advising us in this part of the trip and as always gave us a great description of what we needed to do and what to expect

It was my turn to helm so off we went for the next part of our adventure.

It was an awesome experience, like white water rafting.

No video or pics, but here's what the Grey Dog Tidal Race looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yHbJEIwwic

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Refuelling at puffin island, however they ran out of fuel so Blue Ray continued with what they had in their many fuel bladders...

From left to right:

Scrambled - Ribeye 600 - Yam 150
Black Hawk - Osprey Vipermax - E-tec 250
Finn - Redbay Stormforce 7.4 - Suzi 250
Blue Ray - Shearwater 8.6 cabin - Verado 275
Duma - Shearwater Cutter - Merc 150

Kalish must be at the pump - Humber 6m Opti 175

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Update on the Targa's...

They are both fixed and trying to catch up from Wexford...

Facebook post by Mrs G from the day before:

Understand that the Volvo team sent their best and that Seasalt and Watershed are both fixed and ready to start the chase tomorrow morning! Woohoo!

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Facebook posts by Huw - Sea Salt:

Watershed & Sea Salt approaching Bangor heading towards Oban



And another later:

Watershed and SeaSalt arrived after a 275nm run from Wexford to Craobh Haven. A very long day and time for a long sleeeeeeeep

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As we enter the marina and I'm mooring Back Hawk my knee hits the key and switches off the engine and I bump the bow on the wooden pontoon. No damage, but it gets you thinking, what if the engine just cut out???

So off came the cowling and out came the laptop and Jurgen fired up the diagnostic software. No faults were found so it must have been my knee that knocked the key into the off position.

We carried on with our maintenance schedule until the boat was ready for the morning, then off to the shower and then the pub at the marina.

Some rooms had been double booked which saw teams having to take long taxi rides to other accommodation.

I think Jurgen slept in a van, Trev in Blue Ray and me and Rick G slept in the reception area with permission from the marina.

The automatic light was a pain until we covered the sensor.

A view from my bed...

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A facebook post by Mrs G:

Today was a bit bouncy, wet and windy, but all ribs safe at Dunstaffnage.
Finn had a prop change at Redbay this morning and running better now, Black Hawk a possible engine hiccup but all seems well now, and Blue Ray suffering with a steering problem, but not out of the game.
Unfortunately, Finn's rooms had somehow been cancelled, so they had to find alternative accommodation tonight.
Watershed and Sea Salt have tried to catch up but are at Gigha now, after a "bouncy Kintyre" and are probably going to stop for the night at Croagh Haven.
5am start tomorrow through the canal, but they still may not get all the way through. Hopefully, the Targas will catch up tomorrow.

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End of day 6 (here's the planned route)

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Jambo informs me that:

"Grey Dogs is also sometimes known as the wee Corry".

Thanks dude

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Day 7:

Trevor G walks in through the door to the reception area at about 4:30 am ish???

"Come on you two wake up!"

He's holding Ricks drysuit because it's hammering down with rain

So we're up, sleeping bags left open to air for a few minutes while we pack up and leave the room as if we were never there.

The teams are starting to meet in the small shelter with the gate that leads to the pontoons and thats where we all get kitted up.

Fast Forward are staying on to continue their awesome trip, for more info on their adventures click this link:

http://www.rib.net/forum/f18/fast-fo...ays-63727.html

We leave the marina and make our way to the Caledonian canal for 8am...

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The mist lifts and the sun tries to break the clouds.

We arrive at the first Lock and I leave Jurgen in the boat, all Gecko'd up in the rain and run up to the Lock keepers office to buy our canal licence...

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As arranged the lock keeper is there early and much to the disgust of the yachts that have been waiting there overnight for the first lift we gain entry into the first lock at Fort William and the yachts are a lock or so behind us.

Now we already know that we probably won't get through in one day, but we will try our best to keep to our schedule as most of the teams have booked all of their accommodation for the whole trip.

We need to get from Fort William to Inverness in one day...

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Found this on the net...

Neptune's Staircase is a series of 8 locks on the Caledonian Canal. It is the longest staircase of locks in the United Kingdom and links the canal with the northern end of Loch Linnhe at Banavie near to Fort William on the west coast of Scotland. The staircase ascends through 19.5m, with each lock gate weighing 22 tons.

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Am I'm looking forward to possibly 2 days in the canal? Not really... However, I really wanted to see Loch Ness and I had no idea what was around the corner so I kept an open mind...

This is a video on the canal, it's around 10 mins long but it really is something that anyone, within reason can enjoy and the views are breathtaking...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev4zwlz5wq0#t=649

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After a wet start, my hands were shrivelled by handling the wet ropes in the locks, but it's warm so we can't complain.

We climb the several locks and everyone relaxes, there's speed limits on the canal which we stick to but there is no speed limits on the lochs

Team Kalish gab some Z's so we sound Jurgen's massive foghorn from just a few feet away and they s**t themselves.

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I won't labour the details about the locks but it's slow going but at least all the locks are hydraulic and operated by the lock keepers.

As we continue, the views just get better and better...

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We reach the first loch and in true RIBnet form we gun it

We are joined by Red Mist who is a local Ribnet member and is really interesting to talk to

This is a copy of the booklet you get with your canal licence:

http://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/medi...uide%20rev.pdf