The forecast was for north westerly winds so we expected a nice reach, south easterly and south towards Port Ellen. After we dropped the mooring buoy we raised the mainsail and motored out of the harbour to find little wind. We motored along for about 45 minutes and then we had enough wind to sail. Passed the Sound of Islay where we had bailed out of our previous attempt to reach Port Ellen and with the Hydrovane steering and the tide under us we were going really well. Then the wind died but we drifted on with the tide and then as black rain clouds gathered the wind built from 6 knots to 20 knots plus in just a few minutes. We reefed down and still the wind continued to build. Once we started tacking into the bay outside Port Ellen it was gusting 30 knots so we really should have reefed down even more but, with the gunnels underwater, Anne did a great job keeping us going as fast as possible into shelter at the head of the bay.
We dropped anchor off the beach, in sand, to recover and plan our next move. The anchor bit straight away and with 30 metres of chain in 5 metres under the keel we felt really secure. We had lunch and Anne rang the harbourmaster to ask about conditions in the marina and if there was space. He said there was just a “wee breeze” and plenty of space so the lure of a hot shower after we had been anchoring and on buoys for a few days was too much to resist so we organised the fenders and mooring lines and headed in to the port.
As it turned out it was not too bad and we managed a more or less controlled landing on the first pontoon we could see with an empty space. Then it was time to tidy up, hot showers and a little bit of shopping. Treated ourselves to take-away fish and chips and started planning what we will do tomorrow, after a tougher day than expected. Still strong winds forecast, so we will be staying put on Islay.