The stunning Kyles of Bute | Sailing around the Isle of Bute, west coast of Scotland (Ep6)

[@kevinsmyth2744]

Love the videos. It makes me want the season in April to begin again. My boat (Jacqueline) a 32 foot Jeanneau is currently on the hard at Clyde Marina Ardrossan. I regularly sail to Tarbert and Portavadie. I’ll look out for you and say hello next time I’m there. Kevin👍

[@tarbertsailing]

Glad that you are enjoying the videos. I must make the time to edit and upload the rest of our 2024 trips before the new season starts!

[@clayspence6462]

Thank you for explaining what you see in details and places you pass and enter. Much more enjoyable when you as a visitor to learn about the places and animals and birds and shoreline and the weather and why you make your decisions. Thank you for sharing.

[@tarbertsailing]

You're welcome. I find it challenging to balance our talking with simply leaving viewers to watch and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Hopefully we have it about right.

[@Kosty19]

Beautiful scenery!

[@tarbertsailing]

It certainly is, and we feel very lucky to have it on our doorstep.

[@SailingSula]

very nice guys 👍

[@tarbertsailing]

Thank you 😀

[@dutchovenguy]

Cheers from Tallahassee, Florida, USA. I have visited the islands only as a tourist. I hope to return someday.

[@tarbertsailing]

The draw of the west coast of Scotland is strong! I'm sure you will be back soon.

[@pabloblue999]

A great place to sail. Have you explored the Caol Ruadh Sculpture Park just to the North of the Burnt Isles?

[@tarbertsailing]

No we haven't been around the park, although have seen it from the water. We sometimes anchor in Fearnoch Bay, which is a bit further up towards Loch Riddon, so we will have a wander back next time we are there.

[@pabloblue999]

@@tarbertsailing Fearnach Bay is a great little achorage in any northerly wind. I would greatly recomend a walk round the sculpture park.

[@tarbertsailing]

Will do - thanks for the suggestion!

[@TheSeahawk34]

Hi there! Realy enjoy your videos and love your home port of Tarbert. We live in North Wales but spent 9 weeks as liveaboards in July and August 2022 sailing to the Clyde via the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. We spent over a month in Scotland visiting many locations and managed to take in the Sea Food Festival while in Tarbert over a very wet weekend! We returned home to N.Wales but last year headed north again to the Clyde and relocated Magic Hawk at Holy Loch where she is currently hard standing. We have only scratched the surface of this spectacular cruising ground and plan to take in much more this season. The Kyles of Bute were very memorable for us in 2022 as the weather was shocking with torrential rain and visibility of only 50m so we didn't really see very much! Better luck this year. Keep the videos coming! Best wishes. Mark

[@tarbertsailing]

Thanks for the kind comments about our videos Mark! When is Magic Hawk back in the water? There is a lifetime of sailing up here, and several attempts may be needed to experience the true beauty of a place - as you have discovered with the Kyles - and for some reason, in recent years at least, it always rains on the seafood festival weekend!

[@TheSeahawk34]

I think realistically, we won’t be able to launch Magic Hawk until the end of April or early May this year. Now our round trip to the boat is 602 miles, we have to plan our maintenance work carefully and hope for good weather too. We were due to travel up on Sunday but with another spell of cold, wet and windy weather blowing in, we’ve decided to postpone for a while. We’ll get there in the end I’m sure. One thing we have already learned about Scotland is that when it rains, it’s at a level above what we are used to in North Wales! But when the sun shines, it takes some beating! Have a great season ahead!

[@martinrasmussen]

Beautiful scenery and footage. What a lovely dog ❤cheers from Denmark

[@tarbertsailing]

Thanks, and Pip says thanks too 😍

[@Sailinggenevieve]

Interesting. We arrived in your part of the world in October. We anchored a few nights in Mull of Kintyre, Arran and Burnt isles but the weather got too chilly so we headed for Largs where our boat is staying for the winter. Looking forward to returning to exploring the highlands… back to wake up Genevieve in early April. See you out there!

[@tarbertsailing]

Certainly a spring feeling in the air today as we were antifouling our boat ready for a lift in on Saturday. Here's hoping for some decent weather in 2024, and a great season for you on the west coast.

[@gingerbard2607]

As a nervous novice based on Holy Loch I'm valuing your opinions on anchorages - I'll add them to my Clyde Cruising notes.

[@tarbertsailing]

Thanks - glad that our videos are proving useful to you.

[@gingerbard2607]

@@tarbertsailing I'm just trying to plan an 'epic' Bute circumnavigation. St.Ninian's Bay and Scalpsie look (on maps) as if they'd be reasonably sheltered for anchoring except from the S or SW (if I hadn't been aware of your warnings about them). D'you mean they're just a bit uncomfortably rolly or actually dangerous?

[@tarbertsailing]

@gingerbard2607 A trip around Bute is one of the nicest sails in the Clyde, so well worth doing. I would avoid Scalpsie and Dunagoil bay unless there is some east in the wind. They are both wide open bays. Even in a NW Scalpsie can feel quite exposed. St. Ninians is a different matter, and is quite safe in anything other than a wild SW. The other advantage with St. Ninians is that if it gets too bad, you can always move quickly to the east side of Inchmarnock should you need to. Obviously if it is settled, anchor where you like - but we haven't had much settled weather recently! Regardless, have fun :)

[@gingerbard2607]

@@tarbertsailing That's very helpful, thank you.

[@sailingwyn]

Looks amazing - really have to make the crossing from Norway once my boat is finished. Looks like spectacular sailing!

[@tarbertsailing]

It is great sailing, although I believe that the sailing in Norway is also great. What a difficult choice you have!

[@sailingwyn]

@@tarbertsailing True - Norway is beautiful for sailing and will do much more of it but the whiskey and haggis are just not the same😅

[@DirkJacobsz]

Love your vlogs - hope to be there summer of 25 - we are coming in from N. Italy - learning all about W Sotland area - maybe even winter at Tarbert - i notice you have a spade - do they hold well in kelp- as i have heard there is a lot of kelp in Scotland

[@tarbertsailing]

Thanks. Yes we do have a spade - and one of the reasons is that it is very good at cutting through kelp. Kelp is quite common, especially along the east coast of Jura and in Canna harbour. You can easily find other clear anchorages though, should you wish to avoid the stuff.

[@DirkJacobsz]

@@tarbertsailing thank you for replying - and for your answer - that is great to hear about a spade as we have one - will come and catch up with you and have a wee dram - when we get there. appreciate your help.

[@alexandermathie66]

Looks like orienteering punches those clicky things. Thank you enjoyed your video

[@tarbertsailing]

That is what we guessed - there seemed to be quite a lot of them. Glad you enjoyed the video.