Following breakfast the first thing we did was to go to the Lochranza pontoon in order to change the genoa to the small jib. This was a much easier job with two people (I usually have to do it myself). Once the jib was on the roller furler and we'd bought some of the lovely Arran oatcakes from the butcher (which is bizarrely the only shop in Lochranza!), we were off.
We had a really wet and windy sail to start with. Visibility was also pretty poor although we could always see land. We sailed really well with the little job up, even when going to windward close hauled. It was actually pretty exhilarating sailing despite being ostensibly pretty miserable. The thing I really like about sailing in the rain is that the rain pours off the end of the boom: so much of it falls on the sail and it all collects in the furled mainsail and then discharges from the end. As long as you are not sitting underneath it, it is quite an interesting sight. On the first tack we ended up somewhere near Bute, on the second tack we got to just north of Brodick. The wind then abated. We firstly changed the genoa at sea to the large genoa and then had to motor towards Troon.
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| Royston steering in the rain around the north of Arran |
For the final night we went to Scotties restaurant above the marina building in Troon. This is a great place and we had a great final meal together (washed down with lager of course). I had the seafood gratin which was really fantastic. The vegetable tempura for starters were also great. It was a nice end to the week that I'd spent with Royston on board.
All that's left now is to get Cervisia to Bangor marina in Northern Ireland where I'll leave her for 3 weeks.
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