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September 2008 
My excellent Scottish Sailing adventure!
Posted on Sep 2nd, 2008
by 
Kristin
Kristin
I've just come back from the most amazing and wonderful experience sailing in Scotland! We sailed in my friend's 27 foot yacht from Kilcatten Bay on the Isle of Bute, to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran, and then across to the Mull of Kintyre and back again.
It was certainly a weekend of extremes. At times the ocean was a still as a millpond, the sun shone now and again, but was also had howling winds and pouring rain. I think the highlight for me was our return trip in the rubber dinghy (with outboard motor) from our secluded anchoring spot on the coast of the Mull of Kintyre, down to Caradale. We came back from Caradale at about 10:30pm, the sky was so full of stars, the Milky Way splendidly stretching across it, the stars reflected in the stillness of the water, phosphorescent sparkles dancing in the wake of the dinghy and eerie mist sitting on the top of water against the Isle of Arran. On top of all this, my two Scottish sailing companions sang Scottish songs during the 30 minute journey back to the yacht and our beds.
As if to prove the extremes of Scottish weather, the next morning we were woken up by rough seas, sending the bow of the yacht (where I was sleeping) plunging up and down dramatically. I struggled to get dressed so that I could get up on deck (better from the point of view of sea-sickness), but it's hard to put your trousers on when you're being tossed about in the ocean! Only two or three hours later, the sea was quiet again, we didn't have enough wind to sail and busied ourselves applying sunscreen! But for the final run home, the wind came up and we had a good sail around to Kilcatten Bay.
Truly a memorable experience and one to add to my list of life's favourites! Oh, and yes we did sing the famous song while on the Mull of Kintyre!
More pics on my photos page...
It was certainly a weekend of extremes. At times the ocean was a still as a millpond, the sun shone now and again, but was also had howling winds and pouring rain. I think the highlight for me was our return trip in the rubber dinghy (with outboard motor) from our secluded anchoring spot on the coast of the Mull of Kintyre, down to Caradale. We came back from Caradale at about 10:30pm, the sky was so full of stars, the Milky Way splendidly stretching across it, the stars reflected in the stillness of the water, phosphorescent sparkles dancing in the wake of the dinghy and eerie mist sitting on the top of water against the Isle of Arran. On top of all this, my two Scottish sailing companions sang Scottish songs during the 30 minute journey back to the yacht and our beds.
As if to prove the extremes of Scottish weather, the next morning we were woken up by rough seas, sending the bow of the yacht (where I was sleeping) plunging up and down dramatically. I struggled to get dressed so that I could get up on deck (better from the point of view of sea-sickness), but it's hard to put your trousers on when you're being tossed about in the ocean! Only two or three hours later, the sea was quiet again, we didn't have enough wind to sail and busied ourselves applying sunscreen! But for the final run home, the wind came up and we had a good sail around to Kilcatten Bay.
Truly a memorable experience and one to add to my list of life's favourites! Oh, and yes we did sing the famous song while on the Mull of Kintyre!
More pics on my photos page...
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