by Malcolm Sadler » Sat Nov 13, 2021 1:27 am
Hello all
The 2022 Whitsun Rally will be in Scotland, launching on Saturday 28th May. The aim, weather permitting, is to make a passage from Largs, through the Kyles of Bute and Crinan canal, to Oban and to Dunstaffnage at the mouth of Loch Etive.
The route will take us through the Slate Islands, a group of small islands just off the coast of mainland Argyll.
These waters offer very varied sailing.
Within the Firth of Clyde the sailing waters are, with a couple of notable exceptions, wide and with moderate tidal flows.
Then we shall have the peace of the canal, where we will probably moor for one of the nights.
From Crinan, at the western end of the canal, to Oban, we will be in an area of strong tides with the opportunity to explore some challenging passages and anchorages in stunning scenery.
Overnight stops will mostly be in marinas with walk-ashore pontoons, but we intend one night on moorings at Tighnabruaich, and (weather pemitting) a night at anchor among the Slate Islands.
Gary Oldfield and I, who are organising this rally building on Charles Erb’s foundations, have not sailed the western section of the route (Ardrishaig to Oban), so we are relying heavily on the excellent Clyde Cruising Club ‘Sailing Directions and Anchorages: Kintyre to Ardnamurchan. 2020 Edition’ for planning that part of the trip.
It is clear that in unfavourable weather conditions the sailing north of Crinan can be very challenging, and of course we do not want to encourage any members of the Association or their crews to take go outside their comfort zone. Accordingly we intend to have contingency plans in the event of adverse weather. It will be a long tow up the motorway for those of us living in central and southern England, so we will have a ‘plan B’ which will provide a thoroughly enjoyable rally in the Firth of Clyde and surrounding lochs, even if our plan A of getting to Oban is prevented by gales.
We would like to schedule a plan A2 also - this would mean building into the timetable a couple of extra days which would give us the chance to stay in marina moorings to ride out heavy winds should they arise once we have gone through Crinan canal.
The logistics of a one way passage, where our recovery slipway will be 100 road miles away from our launch, inevitably mean some extra time will be needed to travel south by train or minibus, collect cars and trailers and drive north again to recover our boats. For this reason, our plan A, even without any extra days to ride out heavy weather, will require one or two more days for this rally than in some other years. But we want to offer an interesting programme which will
make the tow up the M6, and the price of the passage through the Crinan canal, worth the effort.
So it is a balance - hoping to schedule sufficient days to make this another memorable rally in some of Britain’s finest waters, but not planning an event which requires too many days which may deter members who have other commitments at that time.
Hence this message is a pathfinder - I will outline the projected route (note - no bookings at marinas or for meals have yet been made or even explored), and I would like people to respond to say if they are a definite yes, or definite no, or if the duration is a problem for anyone please say the maximum time that would enable you to come. That is not to say we will be able to design a route that accommodates everyone’s commitments, but we want to suit the great majority.
Plan A - the optimum passage, which effectively fixes the necessary minimum overall duration from launch in Largs to recovery in Dunstaffnage :-
Day 1 arrive Largs, launch and shake down sail. Overnight at Largs
Day 2 sail to Kames Hotel and overnight on visitor moorings
Day 3 sail to Tarbert - Marina moorings in the natural harbour
Day 4 sail to Ardrishaig and start the transit of the Crinan Canal and overnight part way along.
Day 5 pass through the remainder of the canal and sail from Crinan to overnight at Ardfern Marina
Day 6 Puilldobhrain (Poll Gorm) Anchorage on the west side of Luing Island
Day 7 Oban (Kerrera) Marina (or possibly brief call at Oban and then on to moor overnight at Dunstaffnage)
Day 8 sail to Dunstaffnage and get train back to Largs, drive with trailers back to Dunstaffnage (this is a long day!)
Day 9 haul out early (I gather the slip at the Marina has a short tidal window of about +/- 1 hr off HW, and HW is 10.11 on 5th June) and head south
Plan A2 - for when we are committed to Plan A but the weather subsequently turns bad.
As above but allow ideally two extra days to ride out adverse weather, maybe in the canal or at Ardfern or Craobh Haven. We would not aim to extend the 9 day plan except in the interests of avoiding really uncomfortable or dangerous sailing, but I would like at this stage to know how many people could accommodate the extra safety margin.
There are two other alternatives in the event of weather preventing the intended route after we have passed the Crinan canal.
One is to turn back, through the canal, and explore Loch Fyne, the anchorage at L Gair, and parts of Plan B
The other, if there is one day of favourable wind and tide, is to make Oban in a single passage from Crinan - the distance is not too great.
Plan B - if it is clear before we launch at Largs that strong westerlies or heavy sea states will make the section beyond Crinan canal too uncomfortable/dangerous.
In this case we will explore the Firth of Clyde, Holy Loch, L Long, L Goil and Carrick Castle, possibly sail up the Clyde into Glasgow, then Kyles of Bute, Portavadie and Tarbert.
This area will be no compromise - beautiful scenery and challenging sailing (the CCC Sailing Directions make frequent references to strong squalls in the upper reaches of the sea lochs)
There are a good number of marinas in this area, and once we know likely numbers attending the rally we will be able to do more work on Plan B.
You will gather that we have given a lot of thought to safety and how to minimise the chances of members finding themselves in situations beyond their comfort zone. The ‘Sailing Directions and Anchorages’ (SDA) describe some rapid tide races and potentially turbulent waters among the Slate Islands, and very careful passage planning and navigation will be required. Each skipper will be responsible for their own navigation and sailing decisions - as mentioned Gary and I do not know those waters and we have based all our proposals on a reading of the SDA. We strongly recommend every skipper who comes on the rally to buy the SDA and study it carefully, and also the Antares charts which, though produced by an amateur team of surveyors, are at a much higher resolution than the Admiralty/Imray charts and supplement those in some of the particularly tight passages. We will intend to have daily meetings to coordinate sailing plans, at least in the Crinan-Oban section.
I do not want to overstate the challenges of sailing in that area - in reasonable conditions it looks glorious and I for one am hugely looking forward to it. The rally in the Firth of Clyde four years ago started in F6/7 winds and I think I can say was very much enjoyed by all. So I do hope many members will join Gary and me and several other members who have already confirmed participation, exploring the western part of Argyll in 2022
Please will people post in this thread to say, provisionally at this stage of course, if you will wish to attend and let me know if your attendance is affected by the total duration of the programme ( and if so the maximum number of days from launch to recovery inclusive that would enable you to participate). Feel free to PM me if you wish.
Armed with likely numbers Gary and I can start doing the detailed planning and booking marinas.
All the best
Malcolm