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| Portavadie marina |
We left late morning after refuelling the boat and waiting
for a passing rain storm and headed over to Lochranza again. The trip was
identical to the previous day. The wind direction was the same the waves were hitting
us in the same direction but today with a couple of knots less wind we made the
journey in good time. Using the conditions rather than fighting them.
The wind today was gusting to 20 knots instead of 26. The
sea state was calmer meaning we didn’t climb every wave just every third wave
and the reefed main gave us plenty of speed today. Guess that’s sailing.
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| Portavadie's very narrow entrance |
Another good sign today – there were a few other boats
already successfully tied to the visitor’s mooring’s today whereas yesterday
they were all empty, not a single boat had stayed the night but now it was
obvious they were all planning to spend the night on the moorings.
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| Flatter
seas today and slightly less wind |
Today we were prepared, we were going to try the successful
reverse manoeuvre again and it worked first attempt. We watched as several other boats came in
behind us determined to learn from others as to the best technique to use. One
large boat came in with just a couple on board and they had a specialised boat
hook which deployed some kind of thin line with what looked like a metal bar on
top. The man then got his dinghy in the water and secured the boat at water
level. Smart, but wouldn’t have worked yesterday in the high winds.
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| Waverley
in the distance |
A BritSail training boat sailed into the bay with a few
trainee sailors and instructor on board and we watched carefully as the
instructor did a fly by and then lassoed the buoy with a rope which neatly
caught the buoy underneath. He secured it to the boat which then allowed him to
dangle a trainee over the side holding onto one leg. He gave instructions and
poke her with a boat hook until she had secured a second line. They all cheered
as she completed the difficult manoeuvre. Clever but, there again, wouldn’t
have worked yesterday. We later spoke to a fellow sailor who gave us the trick
of a weighed line – possibly with a piece of chain – and using that to lasso
the buoy.
The evening was spectacular and another few dramatic
pictures were taken.
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