BLUEMOMENT

I'm in Craobh and have been talking to a couple of yachts that came in from Tobermory today. apparently the Tobermory to Oban passage race was cancelled due to a surfeit of wind.

One yacht told me they had encountered regular gusts of 45 knots with one gust of 50 knots on their passage down the Sound. Another said they had never seen Cuan as bad, but I also met another guy I know who is a former Seil resident who said he had seen it much worse. I imagine it depended on the state of the tide . . . While the over falls are normally only at the West end on the flood I have never seen the Sound in full eb with a very strong South-easterly such as we had today.

I gather Shadowfax lost her rig.

All in all a rather annoying Summer depression . . . Badly timed for me as well.

I see that the series results have already been posted. Lemarac and Salamander came through Ardrishaig this afternoon. The basin here is busy - some boats went out to the lighthouse and turned back in through the sealock again. Mistral had a 42', 17 tonne, ferrocement yacht rafted outside her for most of the afternoon. Wind direction was OK, but have managed to warp the big one into a better berth where she's leaning against a wall. Might have to spend a third night here, and then do a long hop home. We have a ferry out of Troon to catch on Tues evening.

Ash

PS - What's the gossip on Marisca being disqualified on the last race - anything juicy? - I'm relying in the Green Boat to spill the beans!

We heard the Shadowfax shout on the vhf while battling down the Sound of Mull on Friday but Billy F's Bendytoy of the same name was safely parked in Oban when we arrived. The dismast was south of Muck.

As for the DSQ, not a lot to tell - no contact, near miss or otherwise. I was tempted to take it the full protest committee route but dragging in other boats as witnesses on the Friday when the WHYW was all over seemed churlishly pointless if not downright impossible given the weather we got. The mug I would have won went to the charming Alison on Hot Toddy and she and her crew deserved it.

I hate good losers