Drascombe Lugger Braveheart
Cruise to Jura and Islay July / August 2011
For our second overnight cruise on
our own with Braveheart we decided to get in some more sea miles and venture
out to some of the Scottish west coast islands that we had not really been to
before. A plan was formed to sail from Tayvallich on the west coast - (launching
into Loch Bhealaich) down Loch Sween and then across to Craighouse on Jura. If
the weather held we would then sail on down to Port Ellen on Islay before
returning to Tayvallich. This would give us a three day trip with 2 shorter
legs of approx 20.45 and 22.12 miles and a longer leg of 40.94 miles = Total
83.51 miles. Rather than sleep on Braveheart we would take a tent and camp ashore
each night or find a local bed and breakfast.
During this trip we would be sailing
mostly in and around the Sound of Jura which has to the east the Isles of Jura and Islay and to the west Knapdale, the area of land which
lies at the top of the Kintyre Peninsular. The north end of the sound is
particularly treacherous, being filled with skerries, small islands, strong tidal currents and whirlpools. (Corrievrekan, one of Scotland's most
notorious whirlpools is just to the north of the sound). The south end, in
contrast, is much wider and more open; most of the small islands and reefs are
close into shore.
Most of Jura's small population lives on the
east coast, overlooking the sound, and amongst these would have been George Orwell when he was writing his novel Nineteen Eighty Four
The tidal range between the north of the Sound of Jura and
the sea to the west of the island is such that there's a 1/2m difference from
west to east at HW and LW. On the flood the tide gets gradually constricted as
it runs northwards up the Sound of Jura – an interesting bit of water to sail
on!
Looking at the tide tables for the
sound of Jura the tides appeared to be favorable for the weekend of the 31st
July / 1st August 2011
Friday 30th
July 2011
Leaving early on the Friday
morning we arrived at Tayvallich before
lunch and found the public jetty next to the small village shop. The jetty is
pretty small and is suitable really for only launching dingys and small boats.
At 18’ Braveheart would not prove to be a problem though. After paying our
launch fees and arranging to leave the car and trailer at the rear of the
village hall (a small fee being charged). We quickly launched Braveheart and
after stowing our gear we headed out across Loch Bhealaich and into Loch Sween
under full sail.
As we left neared the end of Loch
Sween it became apparent that the low cloud and mist were totally obscuring
Jura and where the island should be, there was only a grey wall of cloud. With
no landmarks at all to head for we had to rely on steering by compass. Given
the size of the island we were confident that even if we missed the entrance to
Craighouse Bay, we would at least not miss Jura!
Weather conditions were mixed with
light rain and low cloud. A variable force 1 / force 2 wind was blowing
generally from south west. This allowed us to tack most of the way down Loch
Sween but as we reached the end of the loch and started to cross the sound of
Jura what little wind that there was began to drop off until with 5 miles or so
still to go we were forced to motor as the tide was beginning to change to run against
us.
Arriving at Craighouse just before 18.00hrs
we tied Braveheart up to the village pontoon. Local boats had already taken all
the berths on the lee side, leaving only the windward side free for visitors. This in itself would not have been a problem
as the pontoon was pretty sheltered, however a Drascombe Lugger has gunwales
which generally sit lower than pontoon decks. This causes a problem wherever we
go as even small waves tend to lift Braveheart up under the pontoon which can
and has caused damage to her timbers. Our usual practice is to hang some of our
fenders from the pontoon rather than from Braveheart herself. While perhaps
unorthodox this has in the past proved to be effective.
We camped that night beside the Isle
of Jura Hotel which had a small campsite at the bottom of the garden. Despite
it being the summer season there were only another two tents pitched which may
have been a reflection on the inclement weather that had been prevailing for
the last couple of weeks.
 |
| The tent was not really pitched on it's end! |
After a good dinner at the hotel we
made the most of some evening sunshine and the clearing sky to walk along the
main road to the north for a couple of miles in order to stretch our legs. For
the hour or so that we walked each way, we did not pass a single car nor after
leaving the immediate area of the hotel did we meet anyone out walking despite most
of the population of Jura living along
the side of the road.
Saturday
31st July 2011
We awoke to a blue sky and what
appeared from our sheltered position to be a westerly wind. With time now on
our side, we decided to take a walk southwards to explore a bit more of Jura
and to see what the weather was going to do and to see what the actual wind and
sea conditions were out with the shelter of the bay.
The road to the south leads to Feolin
where the ferry sails from to Port Askaig on Islay. At just over 8 miles away
it was a bit far to walk to and back as we wanted to leave by lunchtime if we
were to get to Port Ellen on Islay by late afternoon. Four and a half miles
each way along the road heading south, did however not only give us some exercise
but allowed us a good view down to the south west of Islay , due to the road
climbing up over the saddle of a hill before dropping once more back to sea
level.
Back at Craighouse we packed
everything up and stowed it on Braveheart which was still tied up to the
pontoon. Unfortunately at some point during the night our fenders had “jumped
up” onto the pontoon allowing Braveheart’s gunwales to go under the pontoon.
Wave action had then continually bashed the
timber gunwales against the underside of the pontoon resulting in some localised
damage, which while not severe was sufficient to be annoying!
By lunchtime there was a good bit of activity
around the pontoons and old harbor as Craighouse’s annual regatta was about to
start. Not only locals take part in the regatta as boats had been attracted
from Islay, Tayvallich, Crinan and Oban – not quite an international fleet but
still fairly impressive! We left just as things were about to start as we were
conscious of the time and the length of journey ahead of us. Next time we will
stay and watch or even take part!
We cleared Craighouse Bay with all
our sails set and soon the wind began to pick up, gaining even more strength as
we crossed to Islay across the Sound of Islay. It was an exhilarating sail as we
had breaking waves and white horses both upwind and downwind of us as we flew
along. Occasionally the odd wave came
over the gunwales depositing some green water into the cockpit.
Approaching Islay the wind which had
been channeled down the Sound of Islay began to swing round until it was over
our starboard quarter. The wind stayed in this position although it gradually
dropped off in strength as we rounded the east coast of Islay towards Port
Ellen.
The shallow draught of the Lugger
allowed us to sail closer to the shore than would have been possible with a
yacht, but even so we were constantly on the lookout for submerged rocks which
in places were only inches below the surface despite it being near high tide.
This is certainly a stretch of coast to catch out the unwary!
By late afternoon we were becalmed
off Port Ellen and after dropping the sails we motored into the harbor
pontoons, just before the Cal Mac ferry from East Loch Tarbert arrived.
Once berthed for the night we set off
to find somewhere to camp. At the end of the pontoons we met the owners of a
Drascombe Longboat who were waiting to board the ferry having trailed their
boat out to Islay to go sailing. They had watched us come in and had walked
across to say hello as fellow Drascombe owners.
At the end of the main street and at
the edge of port Ellen we found another island hotel (The White Hart) which
offered camping, this time in their beer garden which was really just an area
of short grass in front of the hotel with some picnic benches. This looked to
be an ideal location as we were just above a sandy beach and we had splendid
views across the bay. The fact that there were some other tents already pitched
sold it to us and pretty soon we had pitched our own tent and were ready for
some dinner. The hotel even made a bedroom available for Kathleen to have a
shower before we ate.
We ate dinner in the hotel, a decision
which we soon regretted. Our first impression of the hotel was of stepping back
in time to the 1940s. This was based on the decor, which may have been new in 1940 but
which was looking its age now!
As usual we should have gone with our initial
impressions and it was a mistake to sit down to eat as the food and service was
appalling. We regretted not just cooking ourselves outside at the tent it was
that bad. Nor was it cheap!
Escaping as soon as we had finished
what had passed for our main meals we spent the remainder of the evening
wandering around and exploring Port Ellen, which seemed a nice place, before
heading back to the tent. We wanted an early night in order to get up and catch
the tide at 6am for our return trip in the morning.
We were just into the tent (10pm)
when the other tent owners arrived. We had a stag party as our neighbours! I do not think that we
slept at all as the party goers kept shouting for us to join them alternating their
shouts with various threats regarding letting our tent down or urinating on it!
Needless to say it was not a great evening!
Sunday 1st
August 2011
When the stag party eventually
quietened down (or passed out) around 4am we decided to get up and leave before
they started off again. By 5am we were leaving Port Ellen Marina and soon the
sun was shining through a cloudless sky. Unfortunately we had no wind at all
and with the Sound of Jura like a mirror we had to motor the 42 miles back to Tayvallich running with the
tide for most of the way.
By early afternoon we were once again
pulling Braveheart out of the water and packing the car to head home. All in
all we had a great trip, marred only by the ignorant behavior of some locals on
Islay whom I hope woke with the islands biggest headaches!
We had very mixed weather but that is
just the norm around the Scottish islands. Our trip log showed
Tayvallich – Craighouse = 21.45 miles
Craighouse to Port Ellen = 22.82 miles
Port Ellen to Tayvallich = 42.10 miles
Total =
86 .37 miles
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