Round the Island

We did are first serious sail today round the island of Great Cumbrae. The forecast was for a gentle Force 3 at most from the south. We had some rain but it was generally a lovely sail. We sailed round clockwise

We saw a porpoise which swam round the boat, it announced itself with a rather watery cough and then kept appearing for the next half an hour or so. Gannets were diving, the Eider ducks were just floating around and of course were were inspected by the odd seal.

Hilary did really well and coped with everything that went on, she had to put up with some wallowing around in calm conditions off Sheanawally Point and found that drinking lemon and ginger tea helped to deal with the queasiness.
The highlight of the trip was seeing a submarine, I presume nuclear , heading out to sea as we headed towards the Portachur mark. It was surrounded by guard boats that kept a continuous ring around it as it steamed down the channel.
The trip was 14.5 nautical miles, took 5 1/2 hours and our average speed was 2.4 knots.
No pictures I'm afraid as we were too taken up with enjoying the sail!
When we got back to the Marina I was treated to pair of very smart sailing boots as an early birthday present - thank you!!