We woke to a drizzly over cast day, with stronger SW winds. Now lying to the wind, rather than tide, Eowyn had shifted a bit - I suspect the anchor broke out and reset during the night. No harm done, but I was closer to a moored work boat than I liked!

Once ready, I weighed anchor and went alongside Tarskavaig to pick up Pippa and Liz as my crew for the final day sailing in company.

Not to repeat the taunting of yesterday, we got the mainsail up in the shelter of Loch Spelve before leaving the loch. I was glad we did: visibility was very poor out in the Firth of Lorn and I would not have wished to be motoring head to wind in the channel. Despite the poor visibility, we had a cracking sail beating against it, til a sudden and marked wind shift let us tack and bear away for the entrance to Cuan Sound.

As we approached, another yacht emerged from the fog across our bows under power. Once to windward, he set sail on the same tack as us and bore down on us, shouting and gesticulating at us to presumably give way to him - on what basis I know not. He eventually passed behind our stern. Even other yachtsmen can be rude!

I got the sails down in good time to enter Cuan Sound. This is one of a few narrow passages from the Firth of Lorn to the Sound of Jura with infamously strong tides - the Gulf of Corryvreckan being the most famous. Cuan Sound is very narrow, and requires a sharp turn across the tide to miss a rock. At peak, we had 5kts of tide with us, making a fairly interesting passage, especially in poor visibility, but all accomplished safely.

We then set the headsail for a very gentle run up Loch Melfort to Kilmelfort Haven where Liz had reserved us two mooring buoys. Even under headsail only, Eowyn was able to outsail the larger Tarskavaig most of the way. Very satisfying! Or perhaps it was because I had a largely female crew that day?

We dinghied ashore for a walk to the local pub. The marina manager was very chatty, and revealed he and his family had been responsible for the restoration of a large steel boat named “Hippo” at Universal Shipyard on the Hamble, which Dad & I watched over several years in the 80’s and 90’s. After sailing it to Scotland, they’d sold the boat and it’s now in SE Asia being used by missionaries!

The walk to the pub was along a fairly busy road, but we survived and enjoyed good hospitality and card games. Back aboard Tarskavaig for Chef Jacob’s pasta carbonara - not fast food, but very well worth the wait.