Monday 17 July
We finally said goodbye to Campbeltown in the late afternoon of a warm, sunny day. A light breeze encouraged us to set the genoa as soon as we were clear of the loch, and we drifted around Island Davaar towards a sheltered anchorage. A minor domestic ensued for no apparent reason, but was soon forgotten when a large yacht motoring fast towards our port side completely flouted the ColRegs, disregarding the fact that we had right of way as we were sailing and the stand-on vessel as he could see our port hand light (like road traffic lights: red Stop, green Go), and continued on a collision course until Mate, on my helm, was left with no choice but to slow down to allow him to pass ahead of us. To add insult to injury, he then turned left into ‘our’ anchorage, but my crew were mollified when he picked up a private mooring buoy, that they’d been told had been labelled ‘unsafe’, and was soon settled for the night.
We had plenty of room to anchor in clear water off Sanda’s North shore. It was only a pity my crew had allowed bad manners to distract them from the usual careful preparations for anchoring, Skipper’s fishing line hadn’t been reeled in before Mate circled me to determine the best position to drop the hook, and the line became wrapped around my propeller shaft – oops. Fortunately the prop cutter did its work and cut the line free in short order, but it wasn’t an auspicious end to a trying afternoon.
Calm was restored except for the calls of seabirds and seals. Supper was a Campbeltown lobster purchased on the quay that afternoon, enjoyed in the cockpit before a beautiful sunset.