After a few jobs, a walk for Bea and filling the water and diesel tanks we departed Inverkip at 11:50 with a very light easterly wind and overcast skies. With not enough wind to put the sails up, and no need for the steadying effect of the main sail in the very calm seas, we motored south towards our first overnight stop at Lamlash, Arran. Around midday the sun began to burn its way through the clouds and the layers of clothes were stripped off. What wind there was disappeared as gannets dove into the Firth of Clyde as we past the Isle of Bute and small rafts of razorbills drifted by. Harbour porpoises gently broke the water's surface as we came closer to Lamlash. However, I espied the First Mate comparing our course on the chartplotter to the map on her phone. She turned and asked "Are we heading for Lamlash?". The Captain looked at the screen and agreed that our plotted destination looked rather like Brodick rather than the obvious anchorage at Lamlash protected by the Buddhist owned Holy Isle.
We arrived in the 'correct' anchorage just after 1600 and picked up a mooring buoy. Log entry complete, the man in his tender arrived for our mooring dues (£10 and it won't be that cheap again until we return) and advice on local walks.
In t-shirts and shorts, we made for shore in the dinghy with Bea eagerly wagging her tail at the sight of land. An hour's walk along to the point in amazing May sunshine and warmth past Barnacle Geese, swans, a heron, and pretty birds a couple in camouflage outfits and big cameras were taking photographs of before Bea shooed them away.
We had dinner on board Sulaire as the sun set and we couldn't quite believe how lucky we were with the benign conditions for the start of our journey south…and we did think why we were heading to areas of limited anchorage and crammed marinas when we had such sailing grounds on our doorstep…but it is an adventure after all…night night.
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