57:09.15 N, 005:47.60 W

 

After leaving the car where it will be ok for a week or two where we were lucky and met Lexi who ran us back to the village and also handed us a goody bag of produce from her poly-tunnel plus some nice cheese and fruit to munch on our way south past Skye. The wind was down to a gusty force 5 or 6 as we wrestled with the mooring lines to free Awelina. The two lines we had left her tied up with had to be replaced with a slip rope to  be able to let the mooring go safely. This took much longer than expected as the lines pin of the shackle was completely stuck. Brute force rather than technical know how solved this issue at some cost to James's back. With the temporary slip ready to go we decided we could go ahead and leave. The Minch dolphins appeared briefly as though they came to wish us goodbye.

 

We passed under the Kyle Bridge with all sails set at about 1:30 pm and waved to Lexi who was watching from the Kyle Akin shore. The wind dropped to a force four and gave us a lovely reach down Kyle Rhea to the corner of Skye - we were cruising along at around 7.5 Knots. Even the sun came out briefly as we switched to engine power to make the passage past the otter reserve and the Skye Ferry, now shut for winter. Lexi had driven over and waved as we passed down into the Sound of Sleat. We were following a large sail training ketch and let out more sail (albeit still with with two reefs in the main) to try and catch her as we tacked back and forth down towards Mallaig.  We broke open Lexi's food parcel for a lovely lunch of home grown baby carrots, biscuits, dip and cheeses. The wind gradually dropped somewhat and drew more ahead do Mallaig began to look further away. We realised that we would not get there until well after dark so opted instead to anchor off Isle Ornsay on Skye for an early supper and a start at first light. We were joined by the posh but small cruise ship in the wide bay - we think we may have picked their usual spot. The weather let us sleep this time and we passed a quiet evening. There seems to be a 24 hour weather window before the next southerly storm is expected around Sunday lunchtime.

 

Rainsquall in the Sound of Sleat