Day 3 and 4 of the maiden voyage

Once in the night our anchor watch alarm claimed that we were drifting. Jumped out of bed and checked. False alarm. But better one false alarm than no alarms when needed. In the morning the engine batteries were empty again so we needed to jump from the domestic batteries. We need to find a good electrician.

We left the bay in rain, mist and a little wind, both very glad that we have waterproofs from top to bottom and warm dry sailing boots. Once out in to the Firth of Lorn the wind picked up and we were soon sailing under Genoa. It was a great feeling to be sailing amongst barely defined, mist shrouded islands. Almost ghostly.

Later the rain stopped, the mist cleared and the wind picked up so we changed from genoa to jib. Furling the genoa was a little easier today but it will be even easier once we have a block to replace the broken one. Under jib we sailed at a gentle four knots to Oban

Entering Oban Bay with a sailboat is spectacular. You are presented with the imposing shorefront and surrounded by ferrys and working boats. We hid in the marina on the Island opposite and commuted “in to town” by water bus.

During the day we had heard a storm warning on the VHF radio and it arrived that night. We were blasted by strong winds from the side and at two in the morning were scouring the marina for extra fenders while getting drenched. At five thirty we decided we weren’t moving but by nine the wind had dropped to “only” 20 knots so we moved across to a pontoon in the town. Here we met a local marine engineer who is working on rewiring the batteries. We are also waiting for the sailmaker who needs to repair a zip on the bag that stows the main.

So here we are in Oban as planned after three days. We have learned a lot about Artemis but most importantly we have seen that we can rely on each other and master problems together.