Quick Break on Land...and a Long Night at Sea

It’s been a couple of weeks since we last updated Penguins — mainly because we’ve actually been at home. It still feels strange saying that after so long without one. We had our first proper visitors too, and what a brilliant few days it was. Late‑night partying, good food, a trip to Glasgow to meet friends, and an introduction to The Boolers, our new local. We even squeezed in a visit to the marina.

Andy and Marie left on Monday, and on Tuesday Olly — Nick’s son — arrived. A few weeks earlier, during a catch‑up call, Olly had mentioned he fancied some sailing. Tracey had mentioned she did not fancy another trip around the Mull of Kintyre with Pepper. And so a plan was hatched: Olly would come up and sail the boat back to Craobh with Nick, while Tracey drove his car there with Pepper. It meant father‑and‑son time for the boys, and no Mull‑of‑Kintyre trauma for Tracey. A win all round.

Olly arrived late Tuesday night, and by 10:30am Wednesday they were on their way to the marina. By 12:30 they’d departed. The original plan was to head to Campbeltown — about seven hours — and stop for the night. But the wind had other ideas. The forecasts have been so inaccurate lately that we’re constantly checking multiple apps, and by the time they reached the turn‑off for Campbeltown, the next day’s weather looked grim.

At around 7:30pm they called Tracey for a three‑way conference. We were all watching different forecasts, trying to make sense of it. The conclusion: if they went into Campbeltown, they’d be stuck there. The winds the next morning were not favourable for rounding the Mull. The decision: push on.

The next realistic stopping point was Gigha — another six hours away. They could pick up a mooring buoy, but as Tracey pointed out, they’d only get about four hours’ rest before needing to leave again to beat the incoming weather. So all agreed: sail through the night and get to Craobh in one go.

And then came the drama.

Somewhere in the darkness, after hours of hard sailing and heeling over, the engine made a strange noise when they tried to start it. They shut it down immediately. In the pitch black, with falling wind (just for a few hours) and no land in sight, they pulled the boat apart to find the problem. The impeller was fine — which left only one culprit. An air lock in the cooling water pipe. Thankfully, they resolved it quickly, but it added a healthy dose of adrenaline to an already intense night.

Nick tried to get some sleep — he was coming down with a cold (man‑flu in full swing) — while Olly carried on, enjoying the challenge of new waters and the quiet intensity of night sailing. Meanwhile, Tracey lay awake at home, watching their progress on MarineTraffic and worrying about the rising winds and their lack of sleep.

At 10am on Thursday morning, the call finally came: they were alongside in Craobh. Tired, cold, but safe. After a 22‑hour journey, they put the boat — and themselves — straight to bed for some well‑earned rest.

Repairs, Recovery, and Yet Another Delay

Tracey drove up to Craobh on Friday and, over a well‑earned steak dinner, finally heard the full story — including the part they’d “forgotten” to mention on the phone. At some point during their epic overnight slog, the instruments had stopped working. Completely. No depth, no speed, no wind data. Just darkness, rising wind, and two very tired sailors pushing on through the night.

They spent most of Friday chasing wires around the boat, pulling apart panels and muttering in increasingly colourful language. Eventually they found the culprit: a single corroded wire on one instrument that had taken the rest down with it. One tiny fault causing a full‑scale blackout. Fingers crossed it’s all resolved now.

Nick was still recovering from his cold, Pepper had a day of being unwell, and today — Tuesday 16th June — was supposed to be departure day. But now Tracey has come down with the same cold. Honestly, at this point the boat is the healthiest member of the crew.

We will be leaving tomorrow, even though the winds once again aren’t on our side. It seems to be par for the course up here at the moment. Thankfully, we’re only heading a few hours around the corner to anchor in Puilladobhrain — a new view, a quiet anchorage, and hopefully a gentle re‑entry to life afloat.

Time to shake off the germs, hoist the sails, and get moving again.Read more