Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

4 th of July 2012 - Looking for fairies.

Tuesday 4 ^th July

Today we had an alarm call at 0600 in order to catch the tide through the Sound of Luing. It was raining and had been most of the night so there were no problems deciding what to wear. A couple of boats left at the same time. We started motoring as we knew we had to get to Luing in good time to ensure we didn't get 5 knots of tide against us. However the wind seemed to be in our favour so we sailed out of the sound of Mull for a time at 6-7 knots before the wind decided to stop altogether. Once we were through Luing we lost the other boats and were able to sail to our destination Close hauled Speedwell was incredibly light on the helm and was able to hold her course easily without us or George needing to help much. We had fair tides until we got close to The McCormack Islands at the mouth of Loch Sween. At this point the tides turned and the wind dropped so we motored straight through the overfalls and into Loch Sween.

OVERFALLS MCCORMACK ISLANDS	TOP OF LOCH SWEEN

The weather started to look good and we were gradually able to remove layers. We found a lovely anchorage with no boats at the Fairy Isles just past Tayvallich. We arrived around 1500 and had a visitor who thought our red tender was a fishing boat.

We went for an explore in the tender around the islands. The water was shallow and clear, but there were no roads to make any noise. It was perfectly sheltered making us feel very secure in our anchorage and tender.

A few kayakers came around later and a family in a sailing dingy fishing, but otherwise we were alone. It was very warm for the first time and before we settled down there was a very heavy rain storm which soon cleared leaving a low mist above the trees, but no wind.

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