Falanda Sailing

 We have made it to Port Ellen, after a great sail from Oban, 65 odd miles ago!  The wind ended up picking up a bit as we sailed down the Sound of Jura, gusting a 5 - 6, so we were averaging 7/8kts through the water, and even touched 10kts over land!! Aproaching Port Ellen, it got a bit choppy, with water EVERYWHERE, so my last clean (dry) clothes got soaked in salt water!  Despite that it was great fun, and although I didnt manage to get any photos or vidoes when the wind picked up, I had a great evening putting in and shaking out reefs.  Once in port, I had not-such-a-great-time  cleaning up the boat, and wringing out bilge water from my sleeping bag!  After a couple of hours of passage planning, and debating how to beat the Southerly coming in on Monday night, it looks like we may be due for a 30hr passage, all the way to Holyhead. Now me and dad have the fun job of replacing fuel and diesel filters in our engines, and topping up with water. [VIDEO: I wa...

Here is the amazing drone footage taken yesterday by Maggie and Andrew, who came to say hi on their little boat.  I would also like to thank Helen and Dallas, from D & P Reinforcements Ltd   https://www.dandpr.co.uk/ for paying for my transit of the Caledonian Canal. It was a major part of my trip, and we enjoyed it greatly thanks to them.

 Today, as we began our descent of Neptunes staircase, at the end of the Caledonian canal, someone very kindly came down to serenade us on the  bagpipes!! It completely made my day, and even the lock keepers couldn't help but stop and smile while he played. After  a great start, we left the canal behind, on our trip to Oban, where we are now safely moored up.  Although there was no wind all morning, it did start to pick up when we were joined by a Maggie and Andrew on their boat. They took some amazing drone footage, which I will post later, and some brilliant shots of Falanda sailing, so a massive thanks for them for coming to see us!! One in Oban, I got to meet @Murdoch McGregor  (as well as lots of others..) , who is also sailing around Britian singlehandedly. If he completes the trip, he will become the oldest man to do so! Solo sailing is a challenge in its self, but to sail around at 82 (!), and on a tiny 23foot boat.... Wow!! Murdoch is raising money for ...

 We've almost completed the Caledonian Canal, so hoping to get to Oban tomorrow, where Mum and Reuben will abandon ship, and leave dad alone on Amaryllis. Although there was very little wind (and what there was was against us!), I enjoyed the motor across loch oich, and loch locky, thanks to the beautiful scenery. It was honestly stunning,  and with the mist rolling across the tops of the hills, Scotland really did seem magical.  A massive thank you to Jeremy, who actually videod us with a drone, as we crossed loch locky. After the time spent tacking across loch ness yesterday, in the rain (after the wind swung round), we decided just to motor the 7 miles across. It was unfortunite we weren't sailing for the photos, but they are amazing anyway! We met quite a few people today, and have gained quite a bit of 'local knowlage', although I'm sure the yacht infront of us was slightly annoyed when we ended up practically following them for most of today!  The locks have b...

Although Nessy didn't pop up to say hi, we have crossed Loch Ness, and are now way over half way around Britain!! Yesterday my mum and brother came up, and have been (crewing..?) for Dad on Amaryllis. I'm not sure how much help they have actually been to him, and so far, since they've arrived its been non-stop terrential rain!!  After completing my first staircase yesterday, the heavens opened, and rain hasn'pt stopped (except for an hour whilst I got my spinaker up!), untill now, when we're left with soggy boats, and light showers! When it did pause, we were at the start of Loch Ness, so I made use of the light winds by trying out my new (dad's old) spinnaker. Its not something I've ever used before on Falanda - and I've only ever helped get up on Ros Ailither (parents old boat) a couple of times. Although it probably wasn't set properly today (and I didnt have another halyard above the spreaders), it was fun to try out, and got us moving at 5.5 kts...

Today we had no wind, no sun, no vis, a complete contrast to the lovely day we had yesterday... however, we are now just  outside the enterance to the Canal! After an early start to get out of Lossiemouth, and catch the tide, we ended up motoring the 35 miles to Inverness, in thick fog! With hardly any visibility, we had a pretty boring trip  spent staring into the whiteness infront, and shooing away the occasional wasps/storm flys/ swarms of fruit flys! Luckily, the fog did start to lift as we appoached the big bridge before Inverness Marina, and we were left with a beautiful afternoon. Getting in around 1pm, we then had all day to top up with fuel, make a few repairs, a (breif) tidy, and most importantly, make a swing out of a fender!! Tomorrow, once the first few locks have opened, we can start our transit of the Caledonian Canal - exciting and terrifying at the same time! I have been told the Canal is beautiful, so have been looking forward to it, but also still partly ner...

 I couldn't have been on better boat today, as we had the best sail yet, on an unfortunitely short trip from Whitehills to Lossiemouth, (less than 25 miles). We left late morning, and with the wind picking up, had a cracking downwind sail the whole way. I finally had my wind, and dad was also happy because we were in no rush to leave, so no alarm clocks!! Although we had an amazing sail, and even touched 9.5kts, I can safely say coming in the narrow enterance to Lossiemouth was the scariest part of the trip so far! After getting the main down 200m away, motoring into the channel was slow going, even with the sea behind us. Although I had almost full revvs on coming through the brakewaters, we were hardly moving, and I had almost no steerage, so we were being thrown around, with only meters either side to the breakwaters. (yes, I still dont know how to spell breakwaters so put both) Once into the main harbour, there was almost no swell (but still plenty of wind), so I shot straight ...