Vestvind

One of the useful features on the MarineTraffic app is the one that shows the forecast route for some, if not all ships. I used it this morning to see if the Vestvind, which is designed to carry large wind turbine parts, would be passing down the Sound of Mull.

As can be seen, she was, but she planned to take a short cut, which might have been quite exciting for people staying at Achateny and Fascadale, and for everyone in Kilchoan which was the point at which she would have re-launched herself.

Perhaps someone on the bridge noticed the error - this doesn't always happen - and corrected the waypoints or, as seems a little more likely, there was a glitch on the app. Anyway, in due course, she appeared off the Point of Ardnamurchan - this picture from Kilchoan Early Bird - and, in due course....

....turned into the Sound. She seen here being passed by the French cruise ship Soleal.

The Vestvind is on her way from Denmark to Belfast yet she chose to pass through the more confined waters of the Minches to the north of us, and then down the Sound of Mull, rather than to the west of the Inner Hebrides. There's more about her here.

Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for the picture,

and to SJC for alerting me when she came into the Sound.