Rosneath to Port Bannatyne 2011

Rosneath to Port Bannatyne - September 2011

With the cancellation of the 2011 Loch Lomond Rally, we were invited to join two other Drascombes for a weekend’s sail from Rosneath down the Clyde to Port Bannatyne on the island of Bute. We would be sailing “Doon the Water”!

Friday 9^th September

Leaving Lenzie after work we trailed Braveheart our Drascombe Lugger down to Rosneath Castle Caravan Park via Kilgreggan where we briefly stopped to check into a local hotel where we stay that night. After checking in we took Braveheart along to the Rosneath Castle Caravan Park where Nigel Wardrop a fellow Drascombe sailor managed the sites slipway and boat park. We would be launching from here in the morning so we had arranged to rig Braveheart and leave her there on her trailer for the night. 

With Braveheart rigged we joined Niall and Nigel Wardrop and Bob and Margret Heasman with whom we would be sailing, for dinner at the campsite. After dinner we walked back to our hotel as Braveheart had no tent to sleep under.

Saturday 10^th September

Rising early we walked back to the campsite to load and launched Braveheart. Setting off pretty sharply (by Drascombe time) we headed out of the mouth of the Gareloch and into the Clyde. With force 2 / force south / south westerly winds forecast we should be able to sail most of the way to Port Bannatyne if the wind held.

Sailing down the lower section of the Clyde is something I have always wanted to do as Kathleen and I had previously paddled in Kayaks from Glasgow Green to Renfrew passing many famous industrial landmarks on the way. We had also paddled sections of the lower Clyde particularly its seas lochs but we had not as yet seen the stretch from Port Glasgow down from the water.

The lower Clyde gave us a fascinating sail as we passed first Greenock then Gourock, Dunoon, Inverkip, Wemyss Bay ……. All names steeped in the history of Glasgow and the Clyde.  The river had plenty of traffic as well which made it a very interesting sail.

The wind stayed with us until we reached Innellan which is a small village south of Dunoon on the west shore. With no wind we motored the last couple of miles to the marina at Port Bannatyne on the island of Bute.

Port Bannatyne started in 1801 with the building of a small harbour on Kames Bay. Lord Bannatyne of Kames Castle, at the head of the bay, planned the village in an attempt to rival Rothesay. Initially known as Kamesburgh, by the mid-19th century, steamers were calling there regularly In 1860 the Marques of Bute purchased this part of the island and renamed the village Port Bannatyne in honour of the long historical association of the Bannatyne family with the area. Boat building became an important local industry.

In 1879 a narrow gauge horse drawn tram linked Port Bannatyne with Rothesay. This was electrified and extended across the island to Ettrick Bay in 1902.

Port Bannatyne developed into the 20th century as a quieter alternative to Rothesay. In the Second World War midget submarines exercised in the bay and nearby Loch Striven.

Leaving Braveheart to fend for herself tied up alongside a marina pontoon, Kathleen and I went off in search of somewhere to stay for the night. Our previous uncertainty of destination had meant that we had been unable to book accommodation in advance.

We managed to get a room at the Port Royal Hotel. Although basic it was fine and we later met the others in the bar downstairs for dinner.

Miles sailed – 23.9 miles

Sunday 11^th September

Arriving at the pontoon on the Sunday morning after breakfast at the hotel we found Bob and Niall bailing out Braveheart. Bob had noticed that she had filled with water overnight and had filled to just below the top of the center board casing. Had she taken a few more inches of water the centre board slot would have been submerged which would have made emptying her more of a task.

Once the water level dropped we found the leak. A screw sized hole had appeared in the side of the centre board casing. We presume that the hole had gone un noticed when I replaced the keep strip and that it had been sealed with paint when the hull was re coated. The paint had obviously given way leaving a round hole some 8mm in diameter. This had been enough to fill the boat overnight.

Luckily Bob who must be one of the most prepared men to set sail on the Scottish Coast had some instant epoxy in one of his many boxed and this was successfully used to temporarily plug the hole.  I now carry instant epoxy as well just in case we need it or others need it again!

By mid morning were ready to set off back up the Clyde. With no wind we motored out of port Bannatyne, however a force 2 / 3 southerly wind soon filled our sails as we ran to the Cloch Lighthouse before we turned onto a reach that would take us all the way to Rosneath Point just short of our starting point the day before. As we entered the Gareloch we ran into a wind shadow created by the Rosneath Peninsular and so we started our outboard for the last few hundred yards back to the caravan park slipway.

We had an excellent weekends sail. The scenery was fantastic with the peaks of a number of mountains as a backdrop and with the industrial heritage of the Clyde in the foreground. Plenty of other vessels of all types had passed us going upstream, downstream and crossing back and forward between the east and west sides of the Clyde.

Miles sailed – 20.2 miles

Total Miles sailed – 44.1 miles