St Mary's Loch May 2012

St Mary’s Loch  May 2012 

This was the first Scottish Rally of 2012. It was also a venue that we had not been to before so I was keen to get out on the water and sail somewhere new. Despite the cold weather that was gripping Scotland I managed to persuade Kathleen that as there was no available local accommodation we should camp. Kathleen, I am sure only agreed to this on the certain knowledge that there would be no midges at that time of year or with the temperature as low as it had been recently. With further low temperatures forecast we decided that we would travel down on the Saturday and camp for just one night.

Saturday 5^th May

We made an early start and headed off south down the M74 planning to stop in Moffat for breakfast an hour or so later. From Moffat we took the A708, a road that gets progressively narrower to St Mary’s Loch arriving there at 10.30am.

After quickly pitching our tent we rigged and launched Braveheart from the beach. As we had changed our BMW for yet another Toyota Land cruiser (over the years this was our 6^th) we now had a great deal more flexibility when it came to launching .

Saturday afternoon saw us sailing down the loch to a beach for lunch. Light winds and sunshine made this a pleasant if not too exciting sail.

Dinner that evening was held in the St Mary’s Loch Sailing Club’s clubhouse where we all sat down to a group meal. After dinner Kathleen and I went for a short walk to explore the surrounding area (in the dark). The sky was clear and the stars were very visible.

Sunday 6^th May

We awoke to a world that was white with frost. Overnight temperatures had plummeted to minus something. A glass of water in Tangram’s cockpit had frozen solid! Another walk before breakfast in the clubhouse was in order to get the circulation going.

Sunday’s sail consisted mainly of “Admiral’s Maneuvers” which were carried out in light winds and sunshine. This was the first time we had experienced “Admiral’s Maneuvers” where all the boats follow the lead boat or “admirable” turning as one when the “Admiral” signals to do so. All I can say was the Royal Navy have nothing to worry about from the Drascombe Association when it comes to co ordination (or knowing port and starboard!)

With virtually no wind the boats were generally pulled out of the water in the middle of the afternoon and soon we were heading home for dinner.