New Rudder installed in a straightforward manner and we managed to depart Ardfern as planned on the last of the ebb tide on Saturday morning.

Both of us were nervous and decidedly unpracticed, but we managed to get ourselves down Lock Craignish and through the opening Dorus Mor with a gentle 4 knot favorable current! Then we decided to raise the sails… The wind came up nicely and before you know it we were sailing at 8 knots with a 2 – 3 knot tidal push towards Fort William.

We decided not to push through all the way to Fort William but instead to take Simon Currin’s recommendation and anchor in the little Loch Corrie under the Morven Hills. Very nice! Interesting anchoring however in 60ft of water…

Loch Corrie – Anchored under the Morvern Hills

We got up early Sunday (5:00) in order to take advantage of current and to get to Corpach – the entrance to the Caledonian Canal – which we reached just before 9:00am and went straight into the Sea Lock.

Transiting up towards Neptune’s Staircase a series of 7 or 8 up locks we made about every mistake in the book – failing miserably to dock the boat at every opportunity, unable to throw rope to helpers on land – you name it, everything seemed to go wrong – and tensions were running very high – but we managed to keep everything controlled.

Hold her straight!

The start of Neptune’s Staircase.

A different view of Ben Nevis

We locked through with a Belgian boat – and had people watching all our mistakes – and as we progressed up the Staircase, we chatted with spectators – all quite an ego boost (until we made the next mistake!)

Fortunately but the end of the day we were pretty well practiced and things ran smoothly…

Beautiful section between Lochs Lochy and Oich.

Our overnight stopover at Cullochy Lock

It’s great to be back on the water and on our way again!!!

The rudder arrived!

It fits!

It’s on the boat!

WE’RE IN THE WATER!!!

Tomorrow we’ll be on our way – heading up to (or towards at least) Fort William on the ebb tide, then taking advantage of the flood tide up to Fort William. Plan is to get to the Caledonian Canal and head through it Monday through Wednesday – and then, weather permitting, cross the North Sea (a 4 – 5 day passage) to Copenhagen in Denmark. From there we’ll head into the Baltic.

Scotland has been great – but it’s equally great to be on our way again!

Hope this doesn’t jinx it in any way – but Fed Ex says the rudder will arrive tomorrow!!!!!

Could we be on our way at the weekend????

Unfortunately, the shipping of the rudder got somewhat screwed up – and now not expected to arrive until June 18th! We therefore decided to head south to family – to the Yorkshire Dales where we’ve spent the last few very enjoyable days… Inspected Laurie’s new place, and a local disused Lead Mine.

Laurie’s New Place??

A couple more photos from a walk across Shunner – the highest hill in the area.

Going up Shunner – upper wesleydale

We’re convinced that Capitalism – or perhaps commercialism – or perhaps plain greed – is screwing with the British people… Last night we tried to enjoy our cockpit, eating cheeses that we both like – Laurie a Cranberry Wensleydale and me a Stilton…

Both were purchased at Tescos – the British equivalent of Stop and Shop – and both were absolute crap. Both were dry and boring and we both ended up throwing our cheese overboard – at not insignificant cost.

That got us to thinking about our shopping experience at Tescos in general… Not good. Nearly everything thrust upon us was a Tescos brand – and offering 2 for 1 or some similar deal. You just know it’s all going to be crap and it sure is. We sorely regret not going to Elijah Allen in Hawes, Wensleydale – or the butchers – Cocketts – to get all our fresh produce. So much better. So much more friendly. So less plastic. Maybe not as convenient – but what we ended up with was pure crap.

Sorry Elijah Allen – Sorry Cocketts. Won’t happen again…

On the other hand here we are in Gigha, Scotland – and got to visit their really cool Rhododendron based gardens… check this out!…

With time on our hands, we took a ferry back to the Isle of Islay and went Whisky hunting!

The small island of Islay is blessed with no fewer than 8 distilleries – so we went about visiting them all. Made for a good way of getting to see the whole island – and served well to stock the bar!

Caol Ila – Very nice 🙂

Bunnahbhain – Ho Hum

Kilchoman – new distillery – and surprisingly good!

Bruichladdich – Totally undrinkable. Put it in the medicine cabinet!

Lagavulin – Not so good on the rocks! (Still a favorite.)

Ardbeg – Disappointing visit.

Bowmore – Biggest – not the best but quite enjoyable!

Laphroaig – Nice and peaty!

A Man needs a Hobby!

We went to Fort William with one goal in mind – to get to the top of the UK’s highest mountain – Ben Nevis.

We actually had a couple of really good walks – one along Glen Nevis to a magnificent waterfall and then the second day was a long slog up The Ben. The last bit was trudging through snow! We made it though!

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Interesting warning!

Photographing this snail when this bird landed beside me. Photo taken with a 7mm lens!

Waterfall

Interesting swing bridge

And More

More Waterfalls

Waterfall in Glen Nevis

Going up The Ben

And Cold

It was as hard as it looks

Looking down on a rainbow

Stunning views on the way up

We got there – and didn’t see a thing!

While we’ve been laid up awaiting a new rudder, we’ve been out and about enjoying Scotland… in our fancy rental van…

First we headed up past Oban, right up the Great Glen and then over to Ullapool. We went further north to Achiltibuie and climbed Stac Pollaidh – except we got stuck from reaching the top – needed serious rock climbing gear. We must have missed the correct route – it was foggy!

We encountered all types of weather and magnificent scenes in all sorts of moods. The Gorse was in full bloom – along with the Broom.

Oban

We climbed this!

On the way up…

Quite steep!

OK we didn’t actually get to the top which required rock climbing…

And the fog came down anyway…

Our special rental – -overlooking Ullapool.

Gorgeous Glens all over the place.

Goofy ear!

How cute!

Scottish moodiness…

Picnic site…

Another Scottish rock!

Sailboat in the sound of Skye with Cullins in the background…

Pink Beach!

Overlooking Skye

Road to Applecross

Portree in Skye

Ahhh…

Fixer upper!

Since bending our rudder in the bay outside Lagavulin distillery, I’ve had lots of time to ponder the whole event and realize the numerous errors – some ridiculously obvious – that I made… So for a little bit of self-flagellation, here’s the list (maybe it’ll help someone else…):

Before hitting rocks:

• Don’t enter a knowingly tight bay on a falling tide.
• Worse still, be aware of the tide conditions before entering the bay!
• Don’t enter a knowingly tight bay without best possible charts or instructions.
• If you’re not sure of the lay of the land inside a bay, and there’s nothing stopping you anchoring just outside safely, then the smart and seamanlike choice is to anchor outside the bay.
• Make sure your depth sounder is calibrated correctly and that you understand the datum.

After hitting rocks:

• Don’t give up on reversing gently off the rocks too quickly. Moving forward (just because it goes) is likely to land you higher and drier than before.
• Attempt to rock the boat as you reverse off.
• Don’t panic. The bumping, grinding and shaking of the mast are exceedingly frightening and distressing, but it all sounds far worse than it really is. The boat is most likely safer sitting on the rocks than being dragged off them.
• Have a second anchor ready to deploy.
• Deploy second (kedge) anchor via the dingy, off the stern – in the direction from which you came – maybe not such a good idea – see postscript.
• Failing a rearward kedge, attempt a sideways kedge, with anchor attached to stern and to a halyard in a bridle fashion. Lean the boat over as you’re pulling her out.
• If you accept a tow, attach to the stern and follow the direction in which you entered.

Minimal damage to keel.

The damage done to Toodle-oo!’s keel and rudder bottom suggests that we could easily have sat there taking the horrible abuse and waited for the tide to turn and rise and simply float off. It was amazing to us both how minimal the damage was. Because we were mid tide and it was falling, it would have been a long painful wait – but if all other actions failed, it would most likely have been a far less damaging result than our final rescue was.

In chatting with the Workshop Manager at Ardfern Yach Center (where we await our new rudder), he indicates that most damage is done to boats when they are towed off rocks – not by being on them…

PS: It has been pointed out to me  (thanks Paul Lever) that reversing out may not be the best approach – for fear of damaging the exposed rudder – and banging it past it’s stops. I agree with this… however, if only the keel has touched, if you can immediately come back the way you came in, I do think that would be best. We tried, but before getting any success, the boat pivoted – now we could not come back out the way we went in.

Paul also mentioned sounding around the boat to locate the deepest water. Great idea! This stupid fool even has a hand held depth finder for just such a purpose – but didn’t even think to use it – even up to now!

Rudder bent backwards

Toodle-oo! was hauled yesterday and her rudder removed. The rudder post is bent right where it exits the boat, allowing the back of the rudder to foul the hull and jam (solidly).

Temporary fixes are possible, but confidence would be lacking and besides, the boat yard has plenty on it’s plate, so we’d be here a while anyway. So, we’ve bitten the bullet and ordered a new rudder – to be shipped from the factory in China… It’ll take 3 weeks to get here.

The damage to Toodle-oo! was minimal. The bottom of the keel was ground up in a couple of places and the bottom of the rudder too. Overall not near as much damage as we both thought would be there judging by the bumping and grinding she did while on the rocks.

Minimal bumps and scrapes on the rudder

Minimal damage to keel.

Not bent sideways…

This leads me to the unfortunate conclusion that if we’d simply have hung tight on the rocks and tried to stabilize her there with anchors, we’d have been in a much better position to float her off when the tide rose. Alternatively we could have continued our efforts to lean the boat over by attaching an anchor to a halyard (reducing her depth) and pull her off sideways…

Instead we were panicked, and had the rib pull us off the rocks. When we were on the rocks, the rudder was free to move (when it wasn’t stuck in a crevice) – but it appears now that it was the act of towing off the rocks that actually bent the rudder stock. This is not to blame Bertie and his crew in any way – we were certainly the ones calling the shots and wanted off the rocks come what may.

Now what? We’re going to enjoy Scotland for a few weeks by car, B&B, tent, etc – interspersed with various boat projects that we’ve been slow to get at. Laurie seems hell bent on refinishing the floors for example!

Everyone here has been exceedingly helpful during this ordeal – First Bertie and then Gus and the rest of his crew in Port Ellen for the towing, several dives to evaluate and then the Herculean efforts to straighten the the rudder to facilitate the tow up to Ardfern. The couple who’s name we didn’t even get that were in a boat at Port Ellen, who gave us an old CCC cruising directions (in case we decide to go visit Skye!). Phil Lambert of Outbound Yachts has been tremendous, answering all sort of idiot questions from me from his digs in China – I no doubt got him out of bed a couple of times! Then when we arrived in Ardfern, OCC members Simon and Sally Currin welcomed us, Ju and Liz have lent tremendous support – we were even offered Ju and Liz’s house as a place to stay while they are away in Norway. David Wilkie provided serious technical assistance when the rudder was pulled – offering several short term options to get us back on the road quickly. We were offered the use of cars from people we’d never met – the list goes on. What a great community the cruising/sailing community is! Thanks to All.