Campbeltown to Lamlash, Arran

Today- the first day of our assessed expedition (!). The wind happened to be in our favour, so instead of spending half the time tacking, we occasionally jybed in and out of the waves. We had an early start at 7:00- or, at least, some of us did. Others grumbled and pretended to be asleep.


One group of 4 (Charlotte, Emily, Emma and Hawwa) went shopping for our food - much cheaper than expected. The other 4 of us (Erin, Lydia, Taniya and Katie) stumbled off to the nearby showers for our first (and final) shower before the end of our trip. When everyone had cleaned up, Biswas and I (Taylor) spent 2 ½ hours (very little exaggeration) grilling bacon for lunch.

We set off at 13:00, having popped pills so as not to have a repeat of yesterday- 3 people in counting chundered. It was also much faster than yesterday going at an average of 6 knots throughout the day. We took ½ hour turns at steering the boat and being the Helmsman (not Hellman’s).

For anyone actually interested in the dynamics of the sails, we let the Genoa out at first as we were sailing downwind, and as we changed direction, at the Southern end of Arran, to sail across the wind, we also let out the Mainsail and the Staysail. It was a bumpy ride, but at least we made good time.

We were so fast in fact that we were anchored by 18:00, and ready to eat by 18:30 (pasta and gateau- very nice job, cooks). Needless to say, everyone is buzzing/hyper/out of their mind crazy right now (hard to type with our current conversation about the awkward toilet situations, to be honest), but we are trying for an early night.

Our goal tonight, considering it took us 1 ½ hours for all of us to use the toilet last night, is to finish up in 45 minutes and attempt to get to bed at 10:00. Tomorrow will definitely be longer but after our easy day, we’re ready for it. Wish us luck!!


Read more about Sail Training on board Tenacity of Bolton at http://www.tenacityofbolton.org/