Solo sailing around Scotland's Small Isles

Paul Radcliffe takes advantage of good weather to explore the islands off the west coast of Scotland

- Paul Radcliffe

May 2016 and the forecast for the west coast of Scotland was wall-to-wall sunshine for at least a week. I couldn’t believe it. This was a fantastic opportunity to sail north to the Small Isles of Canna, Rum (Rhum), Eigg and Muck and hopefully even as far north as Loch Scavaig on Skye.

As none of my sailing friends were available to join me, I made the decision to sail solo for the first time. My wife, obviously anxious, made me promise to phone her as often as possible, which I agreed to, at the same time knowing that most of the places I intended to visit had no mobile phone signal.

I packed my bags and headed off to Barcaldine on Loch Creran, where my boat Wavelength was moored. Wavelength is a 9.7m (32ft) sloop with fin keel – a Pionier 10 of Van de Stadt design and built by Western Marine in 1976. It’s a very sturdy boat, easy to handle and relatively fast for boats of its length.

The next morning was gorgeous – bright sunshine and a gentle northwest wind. I packed up quickly because the tide at the entrance to Loch Creran runs at 4 knots, and this morning it was in the perfect direction for sailing easily out of the loch with Tobermory, on Mull, being my ultimate destination for the day.

Sailing backwards

Sailing effortlessly and with plenty of time, I thought it would be interesting to sail around Lismore Island on the way. Here the current was against me so I started motoring to gain headway. I hadn’t gone very far when suddenly there was a loud bang and although the engine was at full throttle there was no traction and the tide started taking me backwards.