Having survived the first day without causing any damage, we today continued on our maiden voyage towards Oban with the plan being to spend our first night at anchor. Today we had two tidal gates to pass through so the state of the tide specified when we had to leave and therefore when we had to get up. A tidal gate is a gap where the water flows fast in one direction or the other depending on the state of the tide. If you arrive at the wrong time in a sailing boat, you will find yourselves going backwards. Arrive at the correct time and you shoot through with wind and current both helping you along.
As soon as we left the lagoon and entered Loch Craignish we had a wind of about 13 knots so it was out with the Genoa and we sailed the rest of the day. We reached the first tidal gate “Dorus Mor” dead on schedule and were helped by the current between the headland and the island. Turning north we headed through the Firth of Luing and cleared the second gate without hitting any of the submerged rocks. By now the wind was gusting beyond 20 knots so we rolled away part of the Genoa. It was warm (for Scotland), not raining and we were doing a good five to six knots. Life was good. Continue reading “To Puilladobhrain”