Friday dawned, and the wind was getting up again, and even more gale warnings were being issued on the radio. We swithered for a while, then decided that having sat out two gales in Armadale's rolly anchorage it would be worth our while to move the four or five miles to Mallaig, to take up one of the brand new yellow mooring buoys there in a much more sheltered harbour, with easy access to lots of shops, facilities and the internet. So we made our preparations and watched a squall go by, then timed our leaving to the leaving of the ferry. Our thinking was that we would arrive at Mallaig harbour entrance just after the ferry had left again for its next trip. We hoisted the main, triple reefed, as it was blowing force 6 to 7, and occasionally gusting to gale force 8. To our dismay we suddenly noticed that one of the slugs connecting the mainsail to the mast had broken off, leaving the sail vulnerable to being ripped by these high winds. So we took the quick decision to lower it again, and motorsail, possibly using the genoa as well. We made good progress, and were about half way across the four mile stretch of water when something went clunk, the engine note changed all by itself, and we slowed down. Neither of us could work out what had happened, but it was a situation we had to deal with, as we still had two miles to go and it looked as though there were questions about the power of our engine, or the state of the propeller, if what we had heard was the impact of some floating object hitting the prop or rudder. I checked that we still had steerage, and we did, so the rudder was OK, but we had slowed down from over 5 knots to about 2 knots, with the engine still running at its 1900 revs. Quickly we rolled out a reefed genoa, and our speed picked up again to over 6 knots, as the wind was increasing and wintry squalls were bearing down on us across the Sound of Sleat. We had noticed as we left Armadale that the hills opposite us in Knoydart were covered in snow!

So there we were, heading still for Mallaig harbour, and just hoping that our timing would be good with the ferry departure, as it is forbidden to enter or leave the harbour at the same time as the ferry, and I couldn't see how we could have more than one go at entering the harbour, if we had lost all propulsion from the engine. I went below and checked with a torch that the prop shaft was still turning, and it was. But I still wasn't sure what had happened. We noticed that the engine note changed a couple of times by itself, and that worried us even more. Finally, as we were approaching the outer buoy for the harbour the ferry finally came out, and passed us by on our port side. I hung on grimly to the helm as the genoa sailed us into the harbour, where immediately the rough and tumbling seas subsided and calm water let us relax a bit. Ju was convinced we did have engine power, and so we rolled away the scrap of genoa, dug out a boathook, and headed under engine - and it was working after all???? - and picked up a mooring buoy.

Relief was huge, on all fronts. We were in a good safe harbour, with marine engineers within shouting distance, and we can employ a local diver to check out the prop and rudder if necessary.

Troubles however always come in threes. The broken sail fastening was the first, the clunk and loss of power was the second, and we discovered the third when Ju decided to pump the bilge. It was full of water. Something is leaking. Another inspection of the stuffing-box (the bit on the prop shaft which is supposed to keep the water out) showed that it is leaking, more drops than it should be. So we summoned a marine engineer, and a diver, and awaited developments.

Later in the afternoon our diver arrived, and did an inspection of the entire hull. The good news was that the rudder and prop are fine, although he surprised us by saying that our keel showed a long scrape in the antifoul, indicating that we had indeed hit something. This was reassuring, in a way, although we have no idea what it was - fishing debris, such as floating creels, or a marine mammal, or a deadhead tree branch - we couldn't see anything at the time, but the sea was between rough and very rough so that isn't surprising. As he left, our diver asked if we liked scallops. When we replied that we did, he threw 15 of them into our dinghy! Ju and I spent a memorable half hour getting these creatures out of their shells. We were both a bit freaked by the fact that they occasionally moved! Of course they were still alive! ANyway, we had them for dinner with butter and garlic, boiled potatoes and green beans. Living high on the hog, here in our safe harbour!

Our marine engineer will take a look at things tomorrow. Meantime yet another gale forecast, really this is February weather, with a hailstorm with bits of ice as big as fingernails arriving on deck in the afternoon. We haven't been ashore yet, and right now I wouldn't want to go in a dinghy in force 6 to 7 here in the harbour.