Sometimes things which make no sense become more clear with experience. Take the small diameter low output windmills so often fitted to British cruising yachts. The small diameter blades take a lot of breeze to get meaningful output. Cruising in the tropics there is rarely enough wind to make these useful. The same would apply to the East or West Coasts of the US. But in Scotland, these are perfect (in other words, this is a windy place!).

The same applies to the Nauticat in the background. We used to think these were really a silly idea.

But in a cold, windy, and damp environment (where could that be?) the big house with its inside steering is wonderful.

You probably know already that we are into testing the local foods. We have been pleasantly surprised by Scottish strawberries. They are exceptionally yummy, better than anything we imbibed in Ventura, California, which we previously thought was the strawberry capital of the Northern Hemisphere.

The further north you voyage, and the worse the weather, the more often ships and yachts make use of red (which stands out in fog, rain, and snow better than other colors). This is the first totally red tanker – all 250 meters of it – we have seen. Makes you think of the Clint Eastwood movie “High Plains Drifter”.

We caught up with this new HR under sail yesterday. They were looking good working the shifts heading up the loch on the North side of the Isle of Mull (everyone else was using their iron genoa).

They were also heeling over quite a bit which brings up a few points. The HR yachts step their masts on deck. This has a single advantage – no leaking mast boot. But the deck stepped mast has a huge disadvantage. By giving away the structural “couple” formed between the deck and keel, the mast extrusion has to be 25% stiffer on average. More weight and windage aloft, which is a huge penalty going upwind like this and would be even worse in a big sea with the increased polar moments and resulting motion.

There are a couple of other hits as well. The main furls inside the mast. That adds additional weight and windage to the system. The main has little roach (at least it is not hollow – note the vertical battens) which reduces drive and increases heel from higher induced drag (the result of pressure bleed around the masthead).

But they are sailing and looking good doing it.

Here is yet another Scottish castle. We think these are very cool and a major reason to put up with the weather hereabouts (the other being the friendly locals).

Speaking of weather, above is the GFS model run for this morning. Our location is near the hand symbol, just north of Ireland, in harbor at Tobermory on the island of Mull. This is the good news. The next few days are projected to be worse. Our anchor is well dug in and the harbor has lots of room to swing. We may have to move to a different part of the harbor tomorrow if the wind shifts to the northwest. Right now we are comfortable and secure and excited about the family coming to visit tomorrow.

The folks behind us in the mooring field are probably wondering about the maintenance schedule right now. They are also thinking about mooring pennant chafe. We much prefer being on our own hook, but the 90 foot (27m) depth means you need a big anchor and lots of rode.