Raasay in Inverness

Raasay is safely in Inverness Marina.

Everything went almost according to plan.  We had one small worry and a larger one going out over the Findhorn bar.  The small one was that the engine overheated briefly, making us turn around.  We picked up a mooring to check it - filter, impeller etc. - and couldn't find anything wrong.  The warning alarm had actually switched itself off before we stopped, so it looked like something transient.

The large one was that the bar conditions were very bad - there had been a day or two (I think) of northeasterlies, so there was a heavy swell and large breakers.  I was following a GPS track out (no channel bouys this early in the season), and it was very hard work - a lot of motion and confusion.  It's easy to become disoriented:  at one point I drifted north of my track, finding it hard to believe that the deep water was really among all those whitecaps.  It was, of course, and the echo sounder quickly informed me of my error - I was sure we were going to bump the sand.

Unfortunatley, the trip over the bar made one crewmember seasick - he didn't recover until some hours after arriving in Inverness.  There weren't many other places we could have dropped him off, and we weren't going back into Findhorn ...

Getting ready to go ...

I'm planning to move to Inverness this weekend, if all goes well.  We'll be motoring in very light winds against a strongish spring.  High water is near mid day, so we should be tied up by teatime if all goes well.

Or we may decide to do some sailing and take a bit longer ... it seems a shame to waste a shakedown opportunity.

We'll miss Findhorn.

Back in the water ...

Raasay is back in the water, as of Thursday.  A bit early, but everything was ready and I'd rather do the final tidying on the mooring.  (Most of it is washing down the decks and cabin sole, and putting things away ...)  I'll spend a day in Findhorn this week sorting out loose ends.

I'm planning to move to Inverness Marina in early April.  I have a slight concern that the Findhorn channel bouys won't have been laid by then, so a preliminary task will be navigating the channel at low tide to get a definite safe track on the GPS.

The move is a bit of an experiment - marina life will be more expensive, but I can walk aboard and also keep the boat in the water all year round.  It will be easier for grandchildren to visit, and short sails will be possible (at present I can really only take her out for multiples of twelve hours ...).

The launch went well - a breezy day, and the tangled mooring was a pest.  I don't think it could have been untangled from a dinghy, so there probably weren't any options here.  Angus and I picked it up, and then had to rig a temporary strop to lift the bouy clear of the water and untangle the main strops, which had become wrapped around the chain riser.