Boating Weather

With a clear sky last night and the stars exceptionally bright - Canis the Dog Star seeming particularly prominent - we woke to a hard ground frost under a blanket of high stratus clouds. The clouds haven't moved, and nor has the air: we haven't had a breath of wind all day, and it has seemed damp and chilly, the air temperature never above 4C.

Shortly after eight the frigate HMS Sutherland, F81, came slowly down the Sound. Sutherland is a Type 23 frigate of the Duke class, the thirteenth RN ship to bear the name. Off Kilchoan Bay she stopped, lay motionless in the still waters for a few minutes, then turned sharply and slid gently back the way she had come.

We saw her again later from the top of Druim na Gearr Leacainn, as she passed just south of Muck.

Last Thursday HMS Shoreham, M112, a Sandown class minehunter, passed us, moving with rather more intent.

Soon after lunch, the Northern Lighthouse Board's Pole Star came south. She and Pharos, are the two ships responsible for servicing all the NLB's lighthouses, beacons and buoys. We've seen both of them this week. Pole Star is pictured passing the beacon at Ardmore Point.

Not to be outdone, two hardy souls from the village took a couple of turns out in Kilchoan Bay. If it weren't so cold, it would be perfect boating weather.

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