Castlebay - Tinker's Hole
Sometimes getting out of harbour is a community event. Higher than expected winds right on the beam, with nothing but the finger on our lee and a neighboring boat hanging way beyond the stump of a finger meant that leaving would be difficult. As there was just 2 meters of pier left in front of us, we contemplated and tested leaving bow first. No chance, the wind pushed us in so hard.
Then we drove to the bow spring and reversed out. All fine and dandy but the wave break was 2 boat lengths away and Lille Ø didn’t want to turn in that space this time. So after a bit of harbour tango later, it was time to abort the try, so we side tied on to the wave break. Phew.
It was time for a new plan. By this point we had already 2 persons helping us. We decided thst the best idea is to reverse along the pier (which of course contained a 130° angle) until we are in lee of another boat and then with ropes turn our bow pointing towards the exit.
With the helping hands this was achieved, so a couple of deep breaths later we thanked the helping hands and waved goodbye to the harbour, who were all watching by this point. The crew of the lovely French boat even gave us applause. So Suski raised her hand in victory and exited on stage left. Hopefully Lille Ø doesn’t to star in ‘hafenkino’ again any time soon. At least we didn’t hit anything, and don’t have a scratch on the boat.
After motoring out to The Minch, we raised the main and staysail, based on the wind we’d had in the harbour. About 3 seconds later the wind dropped to 10 knots which meant that it was time to change from staysail to genoa. With that and wind on the beam we were eating miles. In the middle of The Minch we got the biggest surprise of the day. A big whale was splashing it’s enormous tail multiple times. We were glad to see it in a bit of a distance as we were definitely way smaller than it was.
![Image](../2024/d7bc756a0faeb9b97cbfbe5077315700.jpg)
After passing the Gunna Sound the sea state calmed a lot and we were gliding nearly silently further. As we came closer to Mull, wind decided to pick up again, so it was again time to switch back to staysail and back to genoa about 30 minutes later.
![Image](../2024/33635f2a6dc298a628ba4d0ac3ead833.jpg)
In the SW corner of Mull there is a plethora of anchorages, so after a bit of shopping around we came to Tinker’s Hole. The main channel was full of boats, but we chose rather the other side of Eilean Dubh to have no view of other boats and a chance to see the sunset, if it stops raining before that.
![Image](../2024/a7b17e5a238264c5f8c4680af2cb880b.jpg)
![Image](../2024/0514e23ec032cca2272cfc8485c42363.jpg)
- Distance today: 57.8NM
- Total distance: 2065NM
- Lunch: Couscous salad
- Engine hours: 1.9
Time |
Position |
Course |
Speed |
Log |
Weather |
Remarks |
07.07. 11:06 Z |
56°57'15"N
7°29'33"W
|
309°
|
0kt
|
5246.7NM
|
wind
8.9kt
261°
baro 1007 hPa
|
Filled water tank, Barra municipal water
|
08.07. 11:10 Z |
56°57'15"N
7°29'33"W
|
170°
|
0kt
|
5246.7NM
|
wind
1.4kt
171°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Filled up 35l red diesel + 2 caps biocide
|
09.07. 6:46 Z |
56°57'14"N
7°29'33"W
|
11°
|
0kt
|
5246.7NM
|
wind
17.1kt
90°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Started main engine
|
09.07. 7:22 Z |
56°57'4"N
7°29'30"W
|
185°
|
4.9kt
|
5246.7NM
|
wind
19.3kt
63°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Motoring
|
09.07. 7:37 Z |
56°56'16"N
7°28'34"W
|
110°
|
3.5kt
|
5247.8NM
|
wind
16.6kt
68°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Autopilot activated
|
09.07. 7:53 Z |
56°56'3"N
7°26'50"W
|
146°
|
5.4kt
|
5248.9NM
|
wind
17.3kt
31°
baro 1016 hPa
|
Motor stopped, sailing with Main, Staysail
|
09.07. 8:00 Z |
56°55'34"N
7°26'10"W
|
126°
|
4.1kt
|
5249.5NM
|
wind
13.1kt
42°
baro 1016 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 8:10 Z |
56°55'6"N
7°25'19"W
|
137°
|
5.9kt
|
5250.1NM
|
wind
14.3kt
53°
baro 1016 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
|
09.07. 8:56 Z |
56°51'36"N
7°19'53"W
|
144°
|
6kt
|
5254.7NM
|
wind
17.9kt
53°
sea state 3/10
clouds 1/8
visibility 8/10
baro 1015 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1 (40% furled)
|
09.07. 9:00 Z |
56°51'15"N
7°19'26"W
|
150°
|
5.7kt
|
5255.2NM
|
wind
17.9kt
55°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 10:00 Z |
56°47'2"N
7°12'29"W
|
118°
|
6.1kt
|
5260.9NM
|
wind
16kt
55°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 10:21 Z |
56°45'50"N
7°9'33"W
|
122°
|
5.7kt
|
5262.9NM
|
wind
16.6kt
53°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1 (20% furled)
|
09.07. 10:50 Z |
56°44'8"N
7°6'0"W
|
132°
|
5kt
|
5265.5NM
|
wind
12.9kt
20°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
|
09.07. 11:00 Z |
56°43'38"N
7°4'55"W
|
128°
|
4.4kt
|
5266.3NM
|
wind
9.7kt
47°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Whales! Tail slaps and everything
|
09.07. 12:00 Z |
56°41'16"N
6°58'49"W
|
140°
|
4.7kt
|
5270.4NM
|
wind
14.3kt
49°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 12:09 Z |
56°40'40"N
6°57'52"W
|
139°
|
5.5kt
|
5271.2NM
|
wind
13.8kt
47°
baro 1014 hPa
|
56° 41,41N 006,°16, 10W 30 meters of black pipe floating
2.5 miles west of Ardnamurchan light
|
09.07. 13:00 Z |
56°37'24"N
6°52'8"W
|
125°
|
5.4kt
|
5275.8NM
|
wind
14.5kt
4°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 14:00 Z |
56°33'46"N
6°44'59"W
|
139°
|
4.7kt
|
5281.1NM
|
wind
14.5kt
22°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 14:10 Z |
56°33'12"N
6°44'3"W
|
133°
|
4.8kt
|
5281.9NM
|
wind
13.4kt
3°
sea state 2/10
clouds 7/8
visibility 8/10
baro 1014 hPa
|
Past Gunna Sound green buoy
|
09.07. 14:51 Z |
56°31'22"N
6°41'17"W
|
155°
|
3.3kt
|
5284.4NM
|
wind
8.2kt
40°
baro 1013 hPa
|
PAN PAN Stornoway CG: Near Mull island people stranded in Arisaig(?) bay, paddle boarders surprised by weather. Really poor reception
|
09.07. 15:00 Z |
56°30'53"N
6°40'55"W
|
163°
|
3.4kt
|
5284.9NM
|
wind
8.4kt
56°
baro 1013 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 16:00 Z |
56°26'59"N
6°36'54"W
|
160°
|
4.6kt
|
5289.4NM
|
wind
13kt
19°
baro 1013 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 17:00 Z |
56°22'53"N
6°32'31"W
|
138°
|
4.9kt
|
5294.2NM
|
wind
14.1kt
23°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 17:37 Z |
56°21'35"N
6°30'25"W
|
118°
|
1.7kt
|
5296NM
|
wind
7.3kt
109°
sea state 2/10
clouds 8/8
visibility 7/10
baro 1012 hPa
|
Wind is dying and shifting.
|
09.07. 18:00 Z |
56°20'42"N
6°29'20"W
|
156°
|
4.6kt
|
5297.1NM
|
wind
12.2kt
97°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 18:21 Z |
56°19'11"N
6°28'7"W
|
158°
|
4.7kt
|
5298.7NM
|
wind
17.4kt
78°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Staysail
|
09.07. 19:00 Z |
56°17'21"N
6°25'27"W
|
133°
|
3.6kt
|
5301.2NM
|
wind
8.9kt
82°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
09.07. 19:00 Z |
56°17'21"N
6°25'27"W
|
131°
|
3.8kt
|
5301.2NM
|
wind
8.7kt
83°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
|
09.07. 19:19 Z |
56°16'46"N
6°23'18"W
|
98°
|
5.1kt
|
5302.5NM
|
wind
10.5kt
63°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Autopilot deactivated
|
09.07. 19:19 Z |
56°16'46"N
6°23'12"W
|
103°
|
4.1kt
|
5302.6NM
|
wind
9.2kt
53°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Sails down, motoring
|
09.07. 20:00 Z |
56°17'38"N
6°23'9"W
|
126°
|
0.5kt
|
5304.5NM
|
wind
5.3kt
64°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Anchored
|
09.07. 20:05 Z |
56°17'38"N
6°23'10"W
|
256°
|
0.3kt
|
5304.5NM
|
wind
5.8kt
42°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Stopped main engine
|