Working aloft

Colin had a wee trip up the mast during a recent calm spell of weather at Ardfern.  We were bringing down the wind instruments, which were to be sent off down south for servicing. 

 Careful planning is essential as you don't want to get to the top only to discover you left behind that one essential screwdriver, so all the necessary tools need to be assembled along with head torch, spectacles and of course a woolly hat, as it can be very fresh up there!

To get up the mast we use a bosun’s chair - a rigging safety harness with the addition of a plank or a rigid seat for added comfort during extended periods aloft. There are two loops: one for your bottom and the other for your back. The bosun’s chair is secured to a halyard and, on Moonshadow, we use an additional safety line, attached to another standing halyard using a prussik knot.  Along a tight rope, this knot slides when not weighted, but jams solidly when under load. 

It goes without saying that the person pulling you up the mast in the bosun’s chair should be someone who can be trusted. Good communication is vital, especially an understanding of the hand signals or instructions from the masthead, as sometimes, from 29 meters up in the air, things don’t seem quite so clear.  Fortunately, after 30 years of marriage we seem to have have this down to a fine art! 

Sail the Hebrides - cruising highlights

Sailing the Inner Hebrides - a wee video from September 2013

Hitting the Wall - Stone Skimming on the Island of Easdale

Easdale lies about 200 metres off the Island of Seil, which itself is connected to the mainland by the 200 year-old Clachan Bridge, the "Bridge over the Atlantic".   

The island has had a colourful history.  Between the 17th and 20th centuries it was an important centre for slate quarrying and had as many as seven working quarries, some being 300 feet below sea level. Together with other quarries on the neighbouring islands of Seil, Luing and Belnahua, the island gave its name to the famous Easdale Slate which was exported to Glasgow, Ireland and beyond.  A storm in 1881 flooded the quarries and the last slate was finally cut in the 1950s.

One of the disused quarries now forms the perfect arena for the annual World Stone Skimming Championships, which are held in September.  An assortment of prizes is awarded to competitors, in particular ‘The Bertie’, named after the event's founder, presented to the Easdale Islander who skims the furthest and 'The Old Tosser Walking Stick', for contestants over 60 with the longest skim.  The real champions can hit the back wall of the quarry with ease.

We visited the site in July and had great fun perfecting our skimming techniques (some more successfully than others!).  Nevertheless, it was agreed that with a bit more practice ‘Team Moonshadow’ might be a real contender in 2014.  For more information on Easdale Island, stone skimming and this unique event visit: www.stoneskimming.com.

The Shiant Puffins

The Shiants are a small group of islands lying some 4 miles off Lewis and 12 miles from the northern tip of Skye.  As one of the great bird stations in the northern hemisphere, the cliffs and surrounding skies are filled with guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, kittiwakes, shags and great skuas.  But what we really wanted to see were the puffins. 

Nearly a million of these comical birds appear from the oceans every year, taking up residence in cliff top burrows throughout the British Isles.  The puffins start congregating in the waters around their breeding sites in April and generally lay their eggs during May.  Throughout June and early July the birds are very active flying to and from their burrows with food for their chicks. 

Photo courtesy of J. Amies-Green

The puffins on the Shiants represent one in eight of the British total and 2 percent of the world’s puffins.  The islands are also the only place in the British Isles where the Black Plague rat exists in any numbers.

Moonshadow visited the islands during a trip to Barra and the Uists in June and we were not disappointed!  Despite their tragic-comic expressions, puffins are very approachable and we were able to get within a respectably close distance to admire their colourful tangerine feet, dapper plumage and rolling gait.  It was too early for the eggs to have hatched, but by July their parrot like beaks would be full of sand eels for the pufflings.  A good excuse for a return visit.

Winter work

Our winter at Ardfern is drawing to a close and it will soon be time to head back up to Dunstaffnage to start another season.

It's been a busy few months, with Moonshadow ashore over Christmas and New Year for anti fouling and underwater inspection.

Back in the water, the routine maintenance continues. A calm, sunny spell of weather allowed us to get the sails back on.  A whole days work which certainly beats going to the gym!

The engine room also had a wee spring clean last week. Our own Dan Macphail, armed with his lethal weapon, squeezed himself into all those inaccessible corners, getting very wet and greasy in the process.  All the hard work (and contortions) has paid off as it's fair sparkling now!

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A Big End to a Busy Year

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

With the slipway modifications completed the largest boat to date was hauled up the slipway here at Ardfern Yacht Centre on Tuesday 18th Decemeber.

The Oyster 68, weighing in at around 'Moonshadow' operated as a skippered charter vessel by Colin and Pauline Taylor, moved from her winter berth here at Ardfern and was hauled ashore for annual maintenance. All works will be undertaken during the festive period with the boat being relaunch towards the middle of January.