There was a tacking match between the lead boats along the coast of the Mull of Galloway in glorious evening sunshine. We got to see this beautiful, but relatively unknown, coast up close: a mass of slabs, zawns and pinnacles. We were sailing up here against the tide and against the slightly onshore wind. When there is a strong tide out at sea, the tide inshore is often less and hence there is advantage in sailing as close to the coast as possible. Hence we tacked close inshore against Ulula and Hazard Chase for a couple of hours. They were ahead of us. The goal was to round the northen tip of the Mull of Galloway: we'd then get out of the strongest tide and be able to make better progress.
The wind died by the northen tip. We saw the two lead boats in a wind hole: in glassy seas. Then we smelt land and the wind flipped to the other side of our sails. The wind had suddenly changed. Geoff steered EADS Innovation Works towards the open sea, towards the ripples and away from the lead boats. EADS Innovation Works sped up and we tanked past the lead boats at 6 knots to become the lead boat ourselves. That land wind was a godsend: cow poo never smelt so good!
We sailed across the mouth of the Firth of Clyde in the setting sun: Ailsa Craig and Arran to the north, the Mull of Kintyre to the west and Northern Ireland to our south. The sky was beautiful: pretty much cloudless and lit up red and orange as the sun set behind the Mull of Kintyre. There was a beautiful beam wind which gained us speed. The other boats dropped off behind or down towards Northern Ireland. As Geoff commented: if you're behind or downwind, you're behind.
Until the Firth of Clyde, we hadn't seen any especially fancy marine wildlife. There had been loads of jellyfish and the odd seal, but nothing to write home about. But in the mouth of the Firth of Clyde, we saw a fin rise out of the water and then the body of a whale arcing into the water. I'd never seen a whale before in any shape or form, so seeing one in the wild, in this race, was special.
Given that the race was likely to take some time, we'd decided that the plan would be to let the sailors get some rest overnight, so they would be able to race our yacht as well as they possibly could up the Sound Of Jura towards the finish.The runners could then get some sleep during the daylight, ready for an evening run up Ben Nevis. This made sense as it was unlikely that the runners would win the king of the mountains trophy after GFT's run on Scafell Pike. We might as well place all our eggs in one basket and just do everything we could to try to win the overall race.
I shared the first part of the nightwatch with Geoff, EADS Innovation Works tanking across the Firth of Clyde on a flat sea, under an orange sky, with the spinnaker up. John took over as we approached the Mull of Kintyre itself. The wind died and we spent some time rowing in the dark. When the wind reappeared, it had shifted. We got the genoa up, the wind built and we were on our way again: no other yachts in sight.
The Mull of Kintyre in the first light of dawn (which happens in the northern sky up here at this time of year). From seaward, it is a triangular massif, rising on both sides to a pinnacle summit. We saw it as a black silhouette against an orange sky: an amazing sight. It feels like a reaaly significant turning point: a british Cape Horn.
We turned the Mull of Kintyre sailing at 8 knots, doing 12 knots over the ground with the tide in our favour. The wind became really strange with hot and cold gusts. The wind then flipped through 180 degrees. We followed the wind and ended up pointing back where we'd come. As the wind shifted, we swap from pointing at the Paps of Jura (the right way) to pointing at the Mull of Kintyre (the wrong way). It was all extremely confusing! I was getting tetchy by now and I knew that the best thing to do was for me to just go to bed. Gary was woken up quickly and so John, Gary and the other Martin sorted things out while I went below.
It is now Wednesday morning. We are sailing along in a good wind. Nunatak has closed on us, but they've recently hit a wind hole and fallen back. It's going to be cat and mouse all the way to the finish. I hope that the sailors will be able to keep us going and keep us in the lead. I just need to rest now.
Stop press: we've passed loads of beautiful large grey dolphins. The wind has died and we're rowing like mad. There's a slight concern that another boat has gone the other side of Islay, but we'll soon be in the same water which will destroy any advantage they may have. Cruising boats all around Are motoring along offering us tows that we cannot accept. It is always a concern when they appear on the horizon as they seem to be going quickly and we think they may be in the race.
No sleep till Ben Nevis!
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