Sailing Expedition ‘Celtic Fringe’, Scottish Isles, August / September 2005
4626 (AE) Squadron RAuxAF
Members of 4626 (AE) Sqn enjoyed an exciting 2 week sailing expedition on board the RAFSA yacht Sirius. We departed from Largs and passed through the Crinan Canal to reach the more demanding sailing grounds of the Firth of Lorn and the Sound of Jura. Each member of the crew faced new challenges, the novices learning to handle the sails and take the helm, the more experienced sailors taking over command and the skipper the challenge of finding remote anchorages and making best use of wind and tide. Sailing south, we stopped at Port Ellen on Islay before crossing the North Channel to Rathlin Island and then on the Larne and Bangor. Highlights of the first week were a passage through the Corryvrecken and a delightful anchorage shared with hundreds of seals in the Ardfern Islands.
 Teaching Vicky |
 Night sailing |
 Through the worst |
At Bangor, we were able to take advantage of Budget airline flights to change crews, the skipper and mate staying on but a new group of novices and less experienced sailors joining the yacht for the return voyage. We re-crossed the North Channel to the Island of Gigha and thence north up the Sound of Jura to Pouilladobran before returning south to Craighouse on Jura where we experienced a most spectacular sunset. The penultimate day of the voyage was to prove the most dramatic. We slipped the mooring at 3:00am to catch the tide to carry us round the Mull of Kintyre and back into the Firth of Clyde. The wind was forecast to be force 3-4 gusting 5. Well before dawn we had 3 reefs in the mainsail and 30 knot winds and by midday as we rounded the Mull the wind was gusting to 40 knots and we were pounding into 15 to 20ft high breaking waves. Wet and tired but well pleased with the day's sailing, we spent a final night at an anchorage sheltered by the mountains of the Isle of Arran before returning to Largs. |
We covered a total of 370 miles in 14 days mainly under sail; our longest day’s voyage was 85 miles. We completed 12hrs of night sailing and only used established marinas for 3 nights. All the novice crew members were trained to Competent Crew standard, and the more experienced sailors developed skills which will enable them to take higher RYA qualifications with confidence.
S M Elcock, Sqn Ldr, Expedition Leader