The Caledonian Canal

Arrived in Corpach, by Fortwilliam late in the evening and moored in one the side of another yacht preparing to go in through the locks in the morning. Already by the jetty we could see that the climb through the locks onto the lochs would be considerable. Alec at the sealock office was great and gave us sound advice for the passing.

After a much appreciated good night's sleep we headed into the canal. Massive gates opening, sliding in, waiting for them to close and then the water rushing in, causing quite a bit of restless movement of the hull of the yacht next to the Victorian stone walls of the basin. The fenders needed to be in the right place and still we had to push the boat off the wall at times. The sun was shining and we pulled out all of the stuff from the forecabin to dry on deck - a failure to lock the hatch from inside had probably caused an accidental opening of it during the previous night (doesn't take a lot to have your foot swipe a lever open unless it is locked from inside). Something that was already rectified then by closing it properly, but drying of the cargo and cushions had had to wait.

Fuss expertly cooked a fry as we made steady progress through the Neptunes staircase and some more locks and swing bridges. We put on our Slender Delta Viking Quest 2010 T-shirts and smiled and sang for the tourists watching the canal operation, wondering why it was that we had had to pay 178 pounds for the passage and not the other way round. Fuss in particular stood out with his Welsh baritone. Dynamo and Chief Eng. kindly stayed quiet and concentrated holding the boat steady with the warps that we sometimes attached ourselves and at other times were thrown down for us by the canal staff.

It was easy going and lovely on the lochs Lochy and Oich. We made steady progress, arriving in Fort Augustus in the evening. A nice curry in the comfort of the cockpit of the boat and some friendly conversation about various aspects of the life of man and the appreciation of the opposite sex that makes all this possible was just what we needed.

Just a little drop through a couple of locks first thing in the morning and we'll be in Loch Ness. The total passage time without any pressure and going by the 5 knot speed limit will have taken about a day and a half as estimated.

A Good Day's Sailing

The words of warning of a fellow yachtsman have become a source of amusement onboard: "You should stay in Ballycastle (Northern Ireland) overnight". Well, I wonder where we would be if we had done that and not looked at the weather forecast and pushed into the night...

The night time sailing past Ballycastle through the North Channel and around the Mull of Kintyre on the Scottish side went extremely well. First motoring with the main up and then, after the wind picked up to between 15-20 kts the engine could be turned off and sails alone took us on at between 5 to 7 kts. It was a beautiful, clear night with stars etc. We split the crew into 2 watches and worked ourselves in 4 hour shifts through the night into a beautiful, sunny morning with nice wind between force 3 to 5. Dynamo, the 1st officer started his early morning shift by expertly hoisting the jib in fairly brisk wind and bumpy sea. Very energetic!

Rugged charm of the Scottish Isles and coastline. Lots of other boats out too. Passing through the Sound of Jura we saw the famous paddle steamer Waverley, full of tourists, going South as we were pushing North. Fuss the stand-in chef spoiled us with the cornucopia of provisions that had initially caused mild amusement. Well, nobody was complaining there was too much food now...well perhaps there is too much food, as Dynamo managed to break the toilet seat, talking some jibberish about things not having been made to be used at so and so many degrees of an angle. Well, the bowl is very much usable still.

Passing through the Sound of Luing and seeing the tidal swirl and experiencing the speed that it adds to the boats passage - when it is in your favour - was fascinating. The Baltic Boys don't really want the tide for their home waters but it is always an interesting experience.

We've done well but due to the lost time we will not go through the sea lock of the Caledonian Canal today. We'll arrive late at night and will pass as they open for business at 0800 tomorrow. We've been in touch with them and will call them on channel 74 as we approach.

Chief Engineer, alias Steven Spielberg, has had the video camera out and we others have taken a few still photos of each other and the scenery basking in sunlight. It is a hard life at sea. It is a beautiful sunny evening now and the wind has just dropped to the degree that we've had to turn on the Yanmar 27 that has been going really well so far. We even had a virtual toast for the 1500 ours of engine operation - a milestone that was passed today.

Navigating in Scottish waters is very straight forward and compared to the rocky Gulf of Finland there is a lot of space and depth. So far we've had winds to use jibs 2 and 3 but neither the spinnaker nor the storm jib - the latter we don't necessarily want to use either...

Gremlins and frustrations

One could easily write a very, very long report on the events of a single day. The day felt particularly long too. The day of departure turned into a day of disaster at around 23.00 on Friday as, just about to cast off, we turned on the GPS only to realize that both our GPS devices and the VHF wouldn't power on or faded just as a blink of light could be seen to indicate some life. The departure had to be postponed. Indescribable frustration after weeks of careful preparation and particular attention to electrics. But that's all part and parcel of buying a second hand boat I've been told...The only useful thing to do before retiring to our bunks was to fuel up.

Contacts to find electricians started at 0700 in the morning and everybody was doing what they could to improve the situation. Some excellent breakfast was cooked to lift the mood and compass light and the navigation light for motoring were fixed. Chief Engineer also started work to expose the wiring behind the main instrument panel above the navigating table. Everybody agreed, as disappointed we were, that it was best we had this problem in home port rather than in the middle of the North Sea.

By 1230 we had an electrician at work. He could not find the reason for the problem but found a cure by drawing new power cables for the dysfunctional instruments. Meanwhile wind had got quite mild and after a departure with the sails up at around 1830, we soon found ourselves motoring up along the Antrim coast. Some delicious chilli was cooked and warm thoughts went towards all those people who had in various ways supported our voyage.

It is now 22.40 and we have good internet connection. Just checked windfinder and xcweather who were agreeable that we should probably push on into the night to recover some lost time. About 15 knots wind from the NE through the night and in the morning and the slightly less. Still slowed down by the tide a bit but about 4.9 kts ground speed nevertheless. And at 15 minutes past midnight the tide will start to turn into our favour. So we have decided to push on.

Some hot chocolate is being prepared, waypoints marked on the chart and blog written. Oh yes, and there is a helmsman steering as well. Location 54N 54 and 5W 48.9

The mood is good now. The men are at work.

Day of Departure

Sunny morning. Windguru says that the first leg towards the North Channel from Bangor will go with mostly Easterly winds, speed between 11-15 knots. The Scottish East Coast on Saturday isn't looking bad either - mild Southerly winds! Well, what can we say about that...but that we'll remain sceptical and gladly take what's on offer if it really is to be!

For provisions we have a good measure of survival food. The Chef cannot unfortunately join us, so we will be four, but he has kindly provided the sea menu for the 1st leg, including some of his famous chilli, a huge lump of fresh roast beef and a horseradish sauce and a bottle of Tawny Port. We shall be grateful!

SATURDAY
Breakfast: Muesli, Milk, Coffee, Tea, Eggs, bread
Lunch: Tinned Soup and Sandwiches x 4 x 3days = 12 tins (tomato, chicken, lentil), Sandwiches with beef and the sauce (we've also cheese, chorizo, tuna for the sandwiches)
Coffee/tea break: biscuits, apples, bananas
Dinner: Chilli beef & basmati rice (chilli provided by the Chef)

SUNDAY
Breakfast: as before
Lunch: as before but flavour changes for the soup
Coffee/tea break, as before
Dinner: Pie

MONDAY
Breakfast, lunch and break as before
Dinner: Chicken curry.

We shall not starve. Meet at the boat between 20.20 - 21.00

Slender Delta in Bangor

Just a short late night note to confirm that Slender Delta has in deed moved more or less according to plan from Killyleagh to Bangor during the course of Wed 26 May. We started in great spirits at 1105 and motored on towards Portaferry and the Lough narrows. A jolly seal greeted us on the way down, just a few yards from the boat. The sun was shining.

The dreaded narrows was passed at exactly high water and we were looking forward to hoisting the sails. That wasn't to be however. The wind was against us, expected perhaps, but sometimes it changes in your favour. Well, this time it did not. Also coming out of the Lough the sea was pretty choppy with big waves and to dampen our sailing expectations the wind picked up to about 30 kts mean speed, more in gusts. Certainly quite a bit more than in the forecast. Musto's and Prorainer's gear was put to a good test and they passed with flying colours - a definite off shore gear weather. Waves estimated about 4-5 metres at the highest.

Needless to say, after helping the engine with jib n:o 3 we accepted that whereas speed was a lot greater, between 6-7 kts, we couldn't go a straight line. Chef, whose lovely sandwiches went down well couldn't eat himself and admitted his sea legs had been left home.

We hauled ourselves a bit closer to the shore, which in turn required more careful navigation. It helped weatherwise, though. The weather was beautiful throughout but due to the aforementioned circumstances we decided we'd do a lot of sailing later, not today. The heater and the fridge were tested properly and found working very well. The Ebersprächer diesel heater is hard to beat!

All sort of useful observations were made and in all chief engineer and I thought this was a great exercise, although it took the whole of 10 hrs before we were safely moored into the impressive safety of the Bangor marina, who charged us 45 pounds for two nights. As sometimes happens when sailing, everything worked!

Friday night...cannot wait

Good Bye EDYC

Preparation continues. Doing the dishes yesterday, flushing the water tank again. Now finally full of potable water, approx. 70 litres and a few purification tablets. One 12V 'cigarette lighter' type outled added - no point charging the mobile phone through the inverter, wasting precious energy, when it can be done with a car charger from a 12V outlet that runs directly from the leisure battery.

Cockpit railing needed epoxy and a bigger stainless steel screw to replace a loose one. Got it done. Also changed the mast foot block for the main halyard - boy was that worn. Should be easier to hoist the main! The Tuff Luff for the forestay hasn't arrived but should hopefully come in today...and the last chance saloon for it is actually Friday, as we won't sail until late in the evening. Spray dodgers ordered at the last minute too. Good for keeping the wind at bay, too. Got a gas bottle refill and bought an extra bottle - our Michelin star chef needs his cooking gas! The camping gas 907 is not very large. Probably about 2.5 to 3 kg.

The chief engineer arrived from Finland on Tuesday. He is particularly well kitted and carries medicine for the Ulster Hospital!Hope we won't need any of it. Today Chief Eng, chef and I will sail the boat to a pole position in Bangor. There should be good wind and quite a bit of sunshine, according to the BBC coastal forecast and Windguru.com.

Good by EDYC, you've been great! First time through the Strangford Lough narrows! Exciting. Lots of good advice received.

Preparation

1988 Dehler 34 Top Nova, the Slender Delta was bought in Northern Ireland during the winter 2009-2010. Thanks to the helpfulness and camaraderie of previous owner, she lies at Killyleagh, East Down Yacht Club, and is being prepared for a Viking Quest sailing trip from Northern Ireland through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness and on across the North Sea, through the Skagerrak & Kattegat to the Baltic and her daughter, Helsinki, and on further East along the Gulf of Finland, eventually to Pernaja, Backstenstrand. The people at E.D.Y.C have been great - extremely friendly and helpful. I will not name anyone here for privacy reasons but the ones deserving a particular mention will know who they are.

During the winter she was given a new royal blue faux suede interior to freshen up the dull greyish interior that no doubt was very fashionable when the boat was launched in 1988. The curtains, at least, could be dyed. She is the Top Nova -version with a white, rather than traditional mahogany bulkheads and surfaces. That means a more light interior for this relatively small space that even a traditionalist can learn to appreciate, especially with the royal blue cushions!

Just before the tidal launch, which was a new experience for a Baltic Boy, she got a royal blue anti-fouling on the hull, which according to the previous owner who was, again very helpfully, in charge at the launch, looked better than he had expected. Well, the fish will either agree or disagree - we won't be seeing much of it during the trip, hopefully.

Interior lights got some new energy-saving LED-bulbs and some wiring was re-done to replace less reliable cables and contacts. The ever-so-crucial navigating lights got a new connection too, to rectify an on-off situation that puzzled us for a while. A radar was fitted too, the radome of which on a pole at the stern, supported by two stays and a rigid bar on the stern railing. The second hand radar monitor unfortunately eats up quite a lot of space on the navigating table, but for that bulky object, that was deemed the only possible location. All essential instruments were already there and working, including a fresh Garmin plotter. On the less important entertainment side, there's now also a new Fusion ipod-gobbling radio/music player that replaced a trusty and rusty old panasonic that had clearly been there since 1988.

Frantic preparation is at an advanced stage but one can seemingly never do enough and get everything done. A solid boat that has mostly been club-raced rather than cruised, for a voyage like ours, needs a careful, closer look: worn gooseneck pinion hole, damaged Tuff Luff groove - one groove will not be enough on a long trip because there needs to be at least 2 options of everything that is crucial, sealing of instruments coming off, allowing moisture to get in, a loose screw here and there and some requiring a bigger screw, floating MOB lights requiring work on contacts and obviously fresh batteries. Speaking of batteries, two new ones - a 105Ah deep cycle Leisure battery for the instruments and another biggish starter battery for cranking the 27 hp diesel, which 'purrs real harasho', were fitted and the old ones given maintenance (distilled water, Granville BatAid tablets and a slow charge) and taken along for backup.

What sort of provisions, how much and where they'll fit could easily be a chapter of its own. The water tank obviously needed chlorinating, but still, all drinking water will be boiled - we cannot afford to be unwell, or the watch roster will be torn to shreds. We'll have a jolly crew of maybe 5 to Inverness, 4 across the North Sea and 6 from Denmark on. The minds are already focused to the tidal streams, tides and timing of arrival at the mouth of the Caledonian Canal in Corpach, some time during the coming Sunday, we hope. But preparation is not advanced by writing blogs, so...