Wednesday 28 June
We motored to the North of the bay to pick up a visitor’s mooring off Lamlash. It was dry so visibility was better, but windy so the sea was very bouncy. The mooring had no pick-up buoy, so Mate had to reverse me right up to it so Skipper could hang off my rear side deck to feed a warp (mooring rope) through the ring, and then walk it forward to secure at my bow so I lay into the wind. Cleverly, he realised it would be easier to fit the outboard engine to the transom of the tender while it was still on my back step, but she still tried to slide under my stern while my poor crew were trying to board, and they had a bumpy ride to tuck in behind the sailing club jetty where they climbed a short ladder to go ashore.
After all that, it was half day closing, and the only place still open was the Pier Head Tavern, good for a warming coffee and enough wifi to obtain a weather forecast. There was frustratingly little mobile phone signal.
Regaining the relative comfort of my solidity was not easy for Skipper, whose back was bumped against the step as he tried to slide up out of the tender, and then Mate let the lid of the engine locker go, against the side of his face. Fortunately he wasn’t permanently damaged from either incident, but Mate was shaken, and glad to slip to find better shelter in the lee of Holy Island, where she made amends by cooking him steak and jewelled rice.