Since joining the DCA towards the end of last year, I have received a number of letters from other members containing “would appreciate any helpful comments regarding the sailing around your area” etc. With the hope that other readers might also be interested, I will attempt to say something on the matter.

First of all, my qualifications for doing so. I am now 63 and have been small boat sailing as a pastime continuously for the last 50 years. During that time I have lived somewhere near the sea and have sailed most coasts of the UK, Ireland and the continent. I have been round the Fastnet and retired to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran in 1982. I bought my present Skipper 17 at the end of 1984 and since then have sailed on average about 70 days a year, covering 4000 miles, all without an engine.

Having finished the boasting, let’s get back to the question. Enjoyable sailing here is dominated, more than anywhere else I know, by the weather. I have just been looking through the dictionary to find one word to describe it. I found ‘awful’, went through ‘extreme’ and finished up with ‘vile’. When the Victorian yachtsman asked the local expert what kind of vessel he should get to sail these waters, he was told a 40-tonner with a paid crew. This is all very good advice and is available in such vessels as the Malcolm Miller (or was it the Winston Churchill) that I passed going north yesterday? Failing a 40‑tonner the next best thing is a DCA type, with a personal preference for a small sheltered cuddy. Anything else falls between two stools and gets the worst of everything.

Traditionally, practically every croft had a small, light, strong boat for fishing and general transportation and a large number of small, drying, sheltered landing places were constructed for these boats. They are still available — empty and calm. I have a list of 20 within a 10-mile radius of Lochranza. I know that a similar situation exists in Jura, Colonsay, Gigha, etc and would guess it to be usual throughout the west coast. A boat too big to use these is limited to the few marinas or to anchoring out in the wind and swell. Lochranza has an evil reputation for wind, swell and poor holding, but it is no different from anywhere else around here, just more popular. Even here you can find perfect shelter and calm waters in the Dhuican in a DCA type vessel. The largest scale OS maps are much better than charts.

The weather generally can be split into rain, wind, waves, air temperature and sunshine. ‘The rain it raineth every day’ is the doggerel to remember. At the time I thought 1984 to be a poor season, so in 1985 I kept a record. It rained here every single day during May, June, July and August. I don’t think I can adequately describe the wind. You must come and experience it for yourself. Just about every possible type of wind comes together here, forming a near impossible situation. Officially, I believe the average wind strength is less than on the south coast and I think that is true. What is not allowed for is the rapid variation. A typical wind will gust in instantaneous blasts that turn the water white. It will also vary in direction by up to 90º. It will change completely every hour and each five mile square will have a different wind from the others. I call this area a 90% area, because 90% of the so-called sailing yachts motor for 90% of the time. Because of the deep enclosed nature of the sea, any wind produces waves immediately and these keep going long after the wind changes. The result is the worst bugbear of all for a small boat: lots of short, steep swell, but very little or no wind.

In the course of a week’s sailing, you are quite likely to find yourself beating out of a following sea. 15ºC is a good summer air temperature and 20ºC is a heatwave! Come prepared. Sunshine is the saving grace. With the clear air and a clear sky it can be hot — really hot — and it can quickly burn even people from the south coast. Unfortunately, there is not nearly enough of it. I bought my Skipper with the intention of cruising it ; I am still waiting for a long, warm, sunny, calm period to do so. We have not had one since 1983. Last season I went away for three separate single nights. I shall still continue to sail from here because when the weather does settle, for however short a period, the area is transformed into the nearest thing to heaven that I know.

To summarise, come prepared for it to be raining when you get here and continuing to rain the whole time you are here. Also come expecting it to be cool. If you must make a set itinerary and be determined to stick to it, bring an engine. Come prepared and hoping for at least some settled sunshine. Swimming is possible during the summer months, but you will probably have the beach to yourself!