In which Sid and Doris fire up the pig.
Doris is insisting that going ashore using the inflatable (known to us as The Pig ever since we towed one around on a Croatian flotilla) is key to understanding the Western Isles. Sid is convinced that no trip to the cafe or viewing of the church can be worth the messing about. But here in this lovely pool on a still day Sid thinks conditions are about as good as they could be so over breakfast it is agreed today is the day. We will go to the cafe recommended by Dr Fowler.
First watch the video dealing with pig and Honda outboard. Our boat will take six people so we have six man pig. After a brief but intensive search in many lockers we find all the pieces. We put it between the traveller and the vang (behind the mast) and start to blow it up. A new shift comes on and only 40 minutes later it is ready to launch. [sorry the photo of the completed dinghy is out of focus – do not adjust your set – D.]
We have a practice run of the outboard where it is stored on the back of Flyer. Open fuel tap, open vent in fuel cap, pull out choke, put on some twist throttle, pull starter string, pull string, pull string, pull string, stutter, pull string, wheee, stall, pull string …..
All you do now is move a very heavy and sharp thing from a fairly stable platform onto a soft bottomed lilo and while keeping it mostly vertical then attach it to a bread board on the back with two clamps. Sid has forgotten to shut the air vent and pours 15ml of fuel onto his foulies and the bottom of the boat. The engine is attached. Much of the fuel is mopped up before it can get to pristine bay with seals etc.
Doris comes aboard and pulls the string, pulls the string… It will only run with the choke on and lots of throttle. Whenever it starts it sets off like a mad hare, throws us all backwards, throttle falls from grasp, engine stalls. Repeat. We untie and Doris steers us toward the slip. As we get close she must steer the other way, but is sitting where the combined tiller and throttle needs to be. We grind onto the concrete. Sid has his sea boots on, splashes out and prevents it all floating off.
The cafe is shut.
But we are are in a better position than the party of walkers who have been told there will be no ferry for them today as CalMac has had another breakdown. We pay for our mooring in the honesty shop (which, the walkers observe, still has plenty of whisky in its stores) and visit the church. It is like a very long Gothic arch and has a cylindrical tower steeple as we saw last year on Mull.
As the Haynes manual says, now simply reverse the above procedure. This time Sid drives. The course is a bit wobbly but we get back. Now simply remove the heavy sharp thing full of oil and petrol, keeping it mostly vertical having first shut the vent and fuel tap. No petrol leaks this time, ha ha. Instead as Sid passes up the engine from the wobbly lilo it showers engine oil liberally onto the stern, cockpit teak and Doris’s new boots. If we ever do this again we will buy our own electric outboard.
The pig is deflated and hogtied in front of the spray hood. Sid will be happy for it to stay there. The first time you do a new thing is rarely the best. Well let’s hope not.
We motor and sail and motor across the Sea of the Hebrides, see Ardnamurchan Point from a new angle and go round into Kilchoan Bay to pick up a visitor mooring. At this point the wind picks up, a lot.
Some moorings have convenient ropes to pick up and drop over a cleat. This is not one of those but instead has a cluster of shackles, on top of a very heavy tin, through which it is very hard to pass a line while hanging off the bows.
We pass a line but also have an enormous strop with metal eyes and its own vast shackle to fit over the anchor roller. Sid and Doris get it fitted with no loss of blood. What with the pig and the strop the swear box is full. Chairman Sid says: a good day on the water is better than ….. a bad day on the water.
Once Sid decompresses we agree that Kilchoan, on the mainland of Scotland, is a contrast to the starkness of the Hebridean islands. It looks green, lush, and promises easy living. When the Vikings and their boat-oriented culture ran the society here it is easy to see why these accessible promontory harbours were key places. A very different mindset from a land-only culture.