August 2010

burn. There was still no sign of Roland by 1:30 p.m. so I decided to set off and try to catch up with the others.

As I was preparing to leave the beach I noticed a sailing canoe heading south past Inchlonaig. I set off in pursuit just after 2 p.m. and eventually caught up when we were between

Inchconnachan and Inchcruin. As I approached I realised that it was Roland, sailing a distinctive

wooden, orange-sailed canoe with his dog. He told me he'd launched from a beach north of Cashel, thus avoiding launch fees. We decided to try sailing through The Geggles, the narrow gap between Inchcruin and Inchmoan islands, although Roland warned me that it was very shallow. The headwind necessitated a couple of quick tacks as the channel narrowed and I

ended up making a mess of things by pulling my daggerboard up too high, so that it blocked movement of my boom and prevented a final tack, which would have taken me safely through the gap. I could see the white sails of the OCSG flotilla in the distance to the southeast so headed in their direction from The Geggles. Rather than chase after them I decided to land on a narrow beach at the northern end of Torrinch. Roland soon joined me and he and his dog ate a late lunch.

We spotted a sailing canoe leaving Inchcailloch beach and I recognised it as Ellen and JeffB (sailing Njuzu), who also waited for the fleet to return, which they did five minutes later, continuing on towards The Geggles. Roland and I joined them, leaving Torrinch just at 4:05 p.m. I wanted to film the fleet on the move but first asked GrahamD to demonstrate how he tacked his home-built Pacific proa, which is sailed with the outrigger to windward. This was interesting as I had never seen a true proa in

action. I then paddle-sailed to catch up with the main group and reached my maximum speed for

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