M.A.R.I.N.

My bunk in the port hull straddles a large Volvo Penta diesel engine which doubles as a very effective alarm clock!   The foul weather that we had anticipated has not arrived and we depart our berth early heading into a calm sea and light winds to cruise towards the North Channel past the islands of Jura and Islay (where the good single malts come from) and onto the Mull of Kintyre.

The winds freshen and swing Westerly so the sails go up and we are ploughing along at 8 to 9 knots in flat water between the islands, just as we pass the last of the Scottish Islands a medium size whale surfaces 50 metres in front of the ship but we are both moving fast and avoid contact, the whale surfaces again on the starboard beam and then quarter before sounding into the Firth which reads as 147 metres deep.  Ahead the outline of the Ulster coast materialises.

The Midnight watch is pitch black and freezing cold, following the distant lights on the Irish coast, no shipping to be seen except one small fishing boat.  We are close to port now so I remain on deck and we berth in Carrickfergus at 03h00.

We leave our berth and head for “Neptune’s Ladder” a series of eight locks that take us to the Sea Lock and out to the Firth.

“Boogie Woogie” is a big vessel, 11.9 metres long and 6.7 metres wide, sitting high in the water and so attracts a good deal of attention from the tourists who track our relatively slow progress through the serial locks.  We walk the big boat along the lock-side paths, leading her like a horse on a halter, and holding her as the water falls and gates swing open.

Once we have cleared the final Sea Lock we cruise down the Firth heading for Oban and watching for the foul weather that has been forecast.  Predictably it arrives, heavy grey rain wrapped in a cold wind, Ben Nevis has its peak shrouded in low cloud moody as a pagan God.

All hands to the keyboards below as the ship once again turns into a typing pool, The robot ship running on auto-pilot, blindly forging out to sea, deaf dumb and blind but with a great sense of direction!

We arrive in a marina nestled behind a fortified Manse, some 3 nautical miles North of Oban and head for the Restaurant ~ finally we are in time to eat!

Off at 09h00 sharp and into the sea lock of the Caledonian Canal where we interview the Lock keeper who is very friendly and informative.  The canal system is well organised and very carefully maintained ~ fantastic to experience heritage as a working and functional environment.

We proceed slowly through series of swing bridges, lock gates and wooded canalised waterway sections that finally open into Loch Ness which is an extraordinarily beautiful stretch of deep water bounded by rugged wooded hills ~ this is the beginning of the Great Glen, a natural fault line that bisects Scotland diagonally between Inverness and Fort William.

The crew of course are more interested in the virtual world, Tapio and Mike (and even the skipper Lars) are below, on-line ~ I am the analogue boy preferring to handwrite and draw up on deck.

Dreaming of sighting the Monster and a single malt when we dock this evening!   We tie up in Fort Augusta at the Northern end of Loch Ness, no Monster but the single malt is highly possible as the lock sides are lined with comfy bars which we loiter in too long and miss dinner ~ having to make do with fish and chips!

We continue to work up the East coast the air is extraordinarily clear, as is the sea.  The coastline looks beautiful and dotted with small settlements as we gradually track to the West into the Firth of Inverness where we plan to moor overnight before entering the Caledonian Canal.

We are accompanied by pods of Dolphin up the Firth which I take as a good omen and finally berth in a small and brand new marina just west of the suspension bridge.  The marina has a distinctly Nordic population, our Danish flag fluttering alongside Norwegian and Swedish pennants; there is even a sailing replica of a Norse longship on our jetty, a reminder of the cultural heritage of these islands ~ it is only a two day sail to Norway from here.

We re-supply in Inverness and spend the evening on-board preparing work schedules and equipment.

Neptune is still demanding his pound of flesh but I am getting on top of the nausea and can begin to focus again.  The solo night watches are have sublime moments with phosphorescence streaming out from the twin transoms and large wracks of rain filled cloud looming over the horizon.

On the midnight to 02h00 watch a serious spate of hand steering as the ship roars dead downwind, sails set Goose-wing and big lumpy breaking rollers piling up from behind pushing her this way and that.   Finally we spy the Scottish coastline and follow it northwards keeping a sharp lookout for the coastal and oil-rig traffic centred about Aberdeen.

Mike volunteers to make a pasta and I realise that I am starving and actually want to eat, even though the idea makes me nervous.  I manage to keep it down and am glad that the boat motion in the following seas is quite different than the rocking horse effect when going straight into it!

Today is a long haul, up at 06h00 at a guest house in London, lugging too much gear on the local bust to Heathrow.  Catch up with Mike on the 10h30 flight to Hamburg and then into the momentary confusion of German train world.   Three trains and one long bus ride later we are in Brunsbuttel but with scant idea as to the location of the ship.  We find the Alter Hafen but the boat location has been changed ~ more confusion ensues.  Finally we arrive by taxi dispatched by Tapio to the marina near the Kiel Canal sea lock and meet Lars Dall our skipper and look over our ship ~ “Boogie Woogie” a 11.9 metre catamaran. Overnight at Brunsbuttel.