With Scottish blood coursing through his veins, and a little whisky, our Committee member Peter Hetherington decided it was overdue to reprise a Classic Malts Cruise off the West Coast of Scotland from Oban that he had undertaken on member Tom Sperrey’s yacht in 2004.
Eleven other club members were reckless enough to want to join in, so 2 yachts of somewhat differing character were chartered from Oban: an Ovni 43’ of aluminium construction with lifting keel, running backstays and a comprehensive inventory, and a Bavaria 42C with in-mast furling and rather more basic inventory/documentation but boasting typically more space of the relatively modern AWB.
A fortnight at the beginning of June was settled on for its long daylight hours at such latitude, and relatively low midge-risk. The group made their way up to Oban in 5 different cars – some constrained by 240V charging access, others by a desire to avoid being overnight in a Tesco carpark (motorhome) by seeking out a baronial lodge run by a titled relative of a patient of the retired doctor… So set the tone for a most exhilarating set of experiences, fuelled by the great humour & conviviality that marks all NYC exploits.
This was planned as a gentlemanly cruise but with ambitious aspirations. Without a plan being formulated, it would have been impossible to change it so comprehensively to meet the weather challenges in a proper seaman-like manner!
So, we headed south from Oban down Kerrera Sound since there was no south in the forecast wind, negotiated our first tricky navigational exercise that was Cuan Sound, a 1 mile long channel that narrows to 3/4cable wide and achieves a Spring stream rate of 7 knots around various rocks… The large-scale privately-garnered “Antares” charts on our tablets were to prove invaluable compared with Admiralty large ship data from the 19th century…
The lack of south in the wind meant we could anchor in Askenish Bay and storm ashore by dinghy in full oilies to take the Loch Melfort Hotel and grazing Highland cows (impressively horny) by surprise, to enjoy fine dining with a splendid view down towards Jura from our table. The next day however saw us scuttling back and abandoning the planned assault on the notorious Corryvreckan whirlpools towards Colonsay & Iona, as gale force southwesterly’s were looming.
Instead, we sailed the 23M around the SE of Mull and up the Sound past Castle Duart to seek refuge in Loch Aline on the opposite Morvern peninsula, where remarkably there is a full-service small pontoon and a very friendly welcome. We sheltered out the storm very satisfactorily the next day, walking up the loch side track past the silica mine (an important source for high quality glass optics eg for submarine periscopes in WWII) to the old castle and mansion at the head. Here we rewarded ourselves with more fine dining that evening at the Whitehouse Restaurant in Lochaline village.
Suitably fortified with food but beginning to run low on whisky rations, we set off north in still stiff winds (15kn, regularly gusting to 30kn) the following morning to anchor in sheltered Glenmore Bay on the south side of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. This offered much the best access to the newish distillery, reached by dinghying ashore & a short walk along the single-track “main” road. A most excellent tour of the distillery after lunch aboard was succeeded by plentiful purchases in their shop and a short 7M onward passage to Salen jetty for the night.
Heading approximately due West for 27M, we arrived at the island of Coll by mid-afternoon the next day, picking up moorings in the delightful inlet at Arinagour. We dinghyed ashore at the old stone pier in time for a leisurely exploration of the village and evening meal at the long-established, well-positioned, Coll Hotel overlooking the bay.
A 30M passage north after another unhurried breakfast took us to the best shelter in the Small Isles: Canna Harbour was the scene of much kelpy anchoring drama for us in 2004 but in 2025 we were able to avail ourselves of recently laid moorings. This allowed us to explore in relaxed fashion some of this island left to the National Trust for Scotland in 1981 by the Gaelic folklorist & scholar John Lorne Campbell whose archives are now stored in Canna House, whose beautifully restored garden we toured.
Our Commodore had now finally caught up with us, having set out earlier around the Mull of Kintyre on a Scots friend’s boat with the aim of rendezvousing nearer Iona but being frustrated by the adverse weather of previous days. He was resuscitated aboard the Bavaria that evening and was soon spinning tall tales again of his exploits.
Difficult curtailment decisions then had to be faced, taking into account the weather and the fact that we couldn’t do/see all we’d like in the remaining week: Skye (Talisker distillery & the dramatic Loch Scavaig beneath the Cuillins) had to be axed. We abandoned any further northwards passage and instead headed east before the wind, calling in at Rum for a lunch stop (views of the extraordinary Victorian Kinloch Castle) on our way to another intricate Antares pilotage up the south channel to mainland Arisaig, a village bordering a large, sheltered shallow basin.
Arisaig boasts some 60 swinging moorings, though it was not so easy to identify which were for visitors; by 5pm however we were safely attached and able to investigate the extensive shoreside offerings for such a small place. We had a good circular walk ashore the following morning, which allowed just sufficient tide to approach the tricky diesel fuelling stone pier after 3pm before heading off through the exciting channel again to the open sea towards our destination, the fleshpots of Mallaig some 12M away.
Oban, Mallaig & Tobermory are really the only towns of any (smallish!) size in the whole area, and we resolved to have a lay day in Mallaig, with its laundry facilities, most excellent bakery at the harbour, and free toaster loan! Curiously though, despite its size & active fishing fleet, there is no diesel supply for yachties there other than via laborious jerry-can transfer – we were glad to have refuelled in Arisaig!
Suitably replenished on all counts, we headed south for 17M, to the north side of the Ardnamurchan peninsula this time, to one of my favourite anchorages in the stunning Loch Moidart off the ruined Castle Tioram islet. We also had an arrangement to meet the locals on Vanessa Branson’s island there – a fun weekly community hall gathering in the evening, although midges lurked outside if one ventured to deal with excess beer consumption.
Energetic crew in search of panoramic views then climbed Eilean Shona’s peak the following morning: we could gather sprigs of heather en-route, to display according to tradition on the bow of the boats, as we successfully rounded Ardnamurchan Point and lighthouse on the 24M trip to Tobermory marina that afternoon. A large pod of dolphins came to celebrate the passage with us too.
Tobermory has to be visited of course, and a lay day included a walk to Ardmore Point lighthouse and a memorable Last Supper all together at the Mishnish Hotel before our concluding 24M passage down the Sound of Mull back to Oban on Friday 13th June.
So, what of the cruise as a whole? The west coast of Scotland has a coastline approximately equal in length to that of the rest of Britain, so its perhaps not surprising that it is regularly counted amongst the world’s finest cruising grounds. This was a first limited exploration of scenery, wildlife and wilderness far away from the Solent settings. Chartering is not the same as sailing on your own boat but does open up new adventures, and when done in the company of the fabled NYC members it cannot be beaten! There are hundreds of pictures of our exploits available, and quite a few show us kitted up in full oilies: sailing off Scotland is not for the faint-hearted perhaps and we certainly found the weather to change frequently within a day, but we never had protracted adverse conditions that put any sort of dampener on our enjoyment. There’s much enthusiasm to redo the venture – just find someone to organise it!
As Ronald Faux put it over 40 years ago, “The West often requires a stoic spirit and a keen appreciation of shades of grey but such bad days are always relieved by times when the sun puts a bright sparkle on the Hebridean sea, when the breeze is steady, the tide is under the stern and sailing among the islands is a delight. The islands are unforgettable and most enjoyably explored in a cruising boat”.