A short cut for a short mast!

Eriska, to the south of the entrance to Loch Creran, is a tidal island. Normally we get whooshed into and out of the loch through the main channel to the north which forms the narrow neck to a large bottle. However to the south there is another, secret channel, normally the preserve of canoeists. A few issues ago Roger Barnes described it as a place where he would like to overnight. On the way back from our second picnic on Eilean na Cloiche on a windless day last summer, I thought I would explore it.

The entrance at the west is also secretive. One enters a little bay surrounded by a shingly beach with weed-covered rocks. Nothing is apparent, not even the bridge half a mile away spanning the channel and linking Eriska and its fine hotel to the mainland. Just at one point I noticed a distinct current moving towards the northeast. Letting the boat drift we moved slowly towards a point where the beach seemed lower than all around. Then the current took us and we accelerated to a good three knots in water scarcely six inches deep in which rocks and boulders abounded. Though the sails were still hoisted there was no wind.

The bridge hove into view, and it was clearly very low. To gain a measure of control I decided I had better go through under oars and backwards. We swept round the corner and seemingly downhill towards the bridge. By rowing furiously against the stream I managed to float down gently to the bridge where it became apparent that the mast was four feet too high to go under. Even more furious rowing took me into a weedy pool at the edge of the main stream where I lowered Curlew’s gunter topmast, and with the sail draped in ungainly fashion I tried the bridge again. The mast was still a couple of inches too high, but whilst I was working things out, the current took her, there was a loud SPONG as the masthead was held back and then released by the girder. Hastily I heeled the boat over to get under the second girder, and we were through. At this point I heard the engines of the fleet passing the eastern end of the channel, and by the time I reached it they were all a couple of miles ahead of me on their way home to base.

The Doirlinn is scenically most attractive and a super alternative route for canoes. For sailing dinghies, basically if there is sufficient water to float the boat then there is insufficient height to get the mast under the bridge. The channel is in any case dry until half tide. One could certainly overnight there in safety, but as a passage I’m afraid it is not much use. However, for a rather childish adventure, being swept along by the current and dodging the rocks is great fun.