Mark has gone off to a vacation for the week, leaving me as the captain of Mare Liberum, with two friends of mine that came visiting as the crew. Our objective is to reach Islay as soon as possible and indulge in whisky, so today we're about half-way between Oban and Islay.
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| One of the crew - Daniel. We would be sailing together again in Faroe Islands some 6 years later. |
Oban was a great little town, but they did not have any gasoline (only diesel) in the marina at Kerrera side (very much recommended, there is a free ferry taking you to the city of Oban every hour and a bar where you can wait for it while sipping on a Kilt Lifter IPA). The boys went over to Oban to get som fuel, but it costed about 15 pounds to get the fuel containers transported (a separate ferry had to be booked), but even paying that it turned out that the UK law prohibits filling plastic containers larger than 5 litres with fuel. WTF?
Leaving Kerrera, we were low on fuel and low on GPS batteries, heading to one of the most dangerous areas of the coast. But it's a Yo-ho-ho (etc) and a lot off pirate spirit, very impressed by the boys' crewmanship, so we made it through the fast current, the boat making over 7 knots on just the main, and later on without the sails and just a slight bit of engine power to be able to steer. The winds were to become stronger, with a near gale warning in some parts of Scotland so we decided to put anchor at Easedale. Navigating through the extremely narrow channel we mad plans to moor up at a buoy, when, suddenly, the engine just died. What a great time to stop working - cliffs on one side, shallow water within tens of meters and a current of 2,5 knots! And it would not start again for a while. Now both the inboard and the outboard were dead, great!
Well some andrenaline had never killed anyone! But luck (or skill ;) ) was with us and we got the engine to run, all the way to Craob Haven Marina where we are now warm and dry, free-surfing in a lovely pub called The Lord Of The Isles. There was no gasoline here either, and we're down to one litre to spare or so, but the harbor captain got a 20-liter container to be delivered, just telling me to stick around the pub until eight. Wonderful idea, wonderful service.
Next leg was Jura - Islay, read here!
Next leg was Jura - Islay, read here!