So the Port Ramsay Muster finally happened in Castlebay after a rough Saturday put paid to the original plan! Peter retreated from just north of Shuna in Fly that day and met Mark, who then also turned back, coming out of Ballachulish Bay in Mingming II. Meanwhile Gregor and Lorraine, who’d gone home after sitting out Storm Floris aboard Tina Louise, had arrived back at GBC ready to go cruising, and Club social sailing’s alive and well after we all set out again the next day and found our way to Castlebay for Thursday!
Venue to be confirmed on Friday 8 August, but probably Bernera Bay (B) or Port Ramsay (R), with less likely alternatives Achadun Bay (A) or Port na Moralachd (M).
Since we’ll be anchored overnight with no visitor moorings, food shopping or pub, participating yachts should be carrying appropriate ground tackle and provisions.
VHF channel for boat-to-boat communication will be 72.
Happy to report that our second Club muster of the season had actual boats as well as people attending with two boats and three crews making it to Ardgour yesterday. So we had Fly with Peter and guest crew Twig, Caron and Amanda followed there by Prudence with her own crew of Matt and Pam plus Gregor and Lorraine from Tina Louise after they left their boat with radar half-fitted to finish today. A nice meal and fire alarm (!) at the Inn at Ardgour was enjoyed by all, after which Fly left in time to battle the first of the ebb tide through Ballachulish Bridge and Prudence stayed for the night. Most of the muster (now three boats and two-and-a-quarter crews) then spontaneously reconvened at GBC this afternoon with Peter returning to Fly to retrieve his camera while Gregor was up Tina Louise’s mast (assisted by Matt below) to finish the radar installation before we enjoyed a hot drink and some food in the Clubhouse. So a good day/weekend for people getting together, and looking forward to seeing more members join the fun!
Next muster is the Lismore Weekend Muster (overnight anchorage still likely to be Bernera Bay or Port Ramsay) of 9–10 August, with your main contact for info etc.
So here’s a quick update on recent Club activities followed by a reminder of this year’s remaining muster/race programme and more detailed Ardgour Muster info…
While no boats made the trip across the loch for the Camas na h-Eirghe/Lochleven Seafood Café midsummer evening muster on 19 June, we had 12 people representing a broad range of Club interests at the Café for a very convivial evening. So still highly successful in terms of bringing people together for an enjoyable Club event, and we’ll be looking at how to make this work better *with* boats next time!
Wednesday night sailing is still happening, albeit very much towards the ‘informal’ end of the scale and with some Wednesdays seeing no activity mainly due to less attractive conditions. But remember we’re rebuilding here after a period without organised activity and Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Skiff rowing continues to be as popular as ever with some longer rows (e.g. 25 June up the loch through the Caolas nan Con narrows) supplementing the regular Thursday/Sunday programme. But the slipway winch is also unfortunately out of action since that day and may be for some time, making rowing currently dependent on other means of launching Corrag. So for the time being Skiff Officer Gordon Milne will be updating rowers via WhatsApp on a day-by-day basis as to whether rowing’s on or not.
Note that some other launching/recovery activities (e.g. the Omega dinghy) may also be compromised by the winch unavailability, but not all as severely as for Corrag, and we do at least have other boats available for sailing nights.
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And now that reminder of our remaining muster/race programme:
Sat 26 July: Ardgour Day Muster (with Sun 27 July as ‘poor weather’ reserve day)
Sat 9/Sun 10 August: Lismore Weekend Muster (probable venue either Port Ramsay or Bernera Bay TBA depending on weather)
Sat 23 August: Round Balnagowan (Yacht) Race (with Sun 24 August as ‘poor weather’ reserve day)
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Ardgour Day Muster
Making use of similar tide times to our former ‘Ardgour Double’ day of yacht racing there and back, this brings an interesting ‘mini adventure’ through the tidal gates at Ballachulish Bridge and Corran Narrows with visitors’ moorings and *possibly* food ashore (not sure pub times play nicely with tides this year?) but, as a muster rather than racing event, is of course open to Club craft of all kinds.
Predicted tide times are for the scheduled date of Saturday 26 July and would of course be a little later on the following (reserve) day.
Note that these are near-spring tides making awareness of the following gates (all times BST and predicted approximations) all the more important:
The tide is favourable out through Ballachulish Bridge from 08:52 till 14:38.
The tide is favourable northwards through Corran from 13:53 till 19:58.
The tide is favourable southwards back through Corran from 19:58*.
The tide is favourable back in through Ballachulish Bridge from 14:38 till 20:53.
*With approximately five nautical miles from Corran Narrows back to Ballachulish Bridge via Cuil-cheanna Spit buoy or four cutting the corner as tightly as you’d want to go, most participants may wish to leave Ardgour a little earlier against the last of the northbound tide.
Sunset is at approximately 21:47 BST.
We welcome participants of all experience levels and can ‘buddy’ anyone unsure of the ground or tides.
We can do a pre-departure onshore briefing on the day if requested.
To express interest or ask further questions, please contact Peter Duggan on .
Our Thursday 19 June Camas na h-Eirghe/Lochleven Seafood Café evening muster is fast approaching and we’re hoping to see a good turnout. We now need to know how many people expect to be joining us there so the café can plan for the evening.
We have tables booked for 7:45pm that evening, which should hopefully allow both people coming from work to attend and boats to return to GBC in midsummer daylight/twilight.
It’s on a ‘skiff’ night because we were unable to book a Wednesday ‘sailing’ night, but musters are for all types of boats and we hope to see at least a skiff-load of rowers there.
There should be a mooring available that we can raft up on if necessary.
While we’ve planned a muster for boats and would obviously like to see boats heading across, it’s equally appropriate to go by road if you can’t take a boat and/or the weather’s not suitable. It’s very much a social event either way and something we hope to repeat in future years, so please try to support and make this first one a success if you can.
What we really need to establish now is an idea of likely numbers, so we’re both polling you via social media/email to gauge interest and requesting that you contact Vice Commodore Peter Duggan direct on with numbers of crew/guests if you have definite plans to attend. If you have further questions, please also address these to Peter.
