18 May 2009
OYT Fundraiser Updated with report.
A happy Commodore, on completion of his 12 hour fundraising event.
19 laps of the islands.
His faithful companion Bluey.
A welcome glass of fizz.
Last job of the day ... on the dishes!
Congratulations to Dave on completing his OYT fundraiser, and well done to his support team especially Mhoira and Dougal.
We expect Dave will give a full report soon, watch this space! OK Carol, you did ask! .............................
To raise funds for the Ocean Youth Trust Scotland I volunteered to complete a twelve hour sailing marathon in front of Lochcarron village. The challenge was to sail around the Islands as many times as possible without stopping. On Friday night the wind did its best to shiver my timbers as a full Easterly gale blew up – which incidentally broke the yacht “Nomad” off her mooring and left her stranded on the shore at Dalachladdich. But by early Saturday morning the wind had subsided and it seemed possible to go ahead. I wore a drysuit with plenty of padding underneath and launched my Laser 2000 dinghy at just after 8.00a.m. The wind remained from the East all day, varying Force 3 to 4 with a choppy sea, plenty of white horses but no swell and only one or two squally showers. I hoped to capsize as seldom as possible and so used a reefed mainsail on the dinghy and used the jib mainly when sailing “off the wind”. (When I tried to sail close to the wind under full sail I capsized and quickly learned my lesson!) Any shore watchers would have seen my mascot, “Bluey” an inflatable toy dolphin, attached to the top of my mast. As well as looking silly, he served a very useful purpose by stopping the boat turning upside down on capsizing – he earned his keep! However Bluey wasn’t the only dolphin who joined me. On the third lap I was alerted to the presence of the Lochcarron dolphins by a loud splash. Soon they were swimming alongside me, turning on their sides and leaping out of the water to take a good look, they seemed as fascinated by my dinghy as I was with them. After a few minutes they were gone, but they returned twice more during the day. On lap ten I noticed a brown log floating on the waves halfway between the islands. Suddenly it developed two small dark eyes. As soon as I realised he was an otter floating on his back eating a small fish he was gone in a splash. During the day I was joined as crew by four friends, Fiona Macdonald from Ratagan, Fin and Nic MacAuley-Smith from Achintraid and lastly by nurse Fiona from Arinackaig. They helped make the time fly by – particularly Nurse Fiona who kept me cheerful during the last two hours. I must also thank the many people on-shore without whom I could not have undertaken my venture. Special thanks to Mhoira and Dougal who took great care of me and even brought out flasks of hot coffee and a cheese toasties! Thanks also to rescue boat operators Doug Angus, Ian Mitchell (Mitch), and Graham MacAuley Smith and to all those who gathered on the shore at 8.00p.m. to cheer me in. For the record, I sailed a total of about forty five miles, capsized four times, made nineteen circuits and raised £706. (This has been doubled and sent to the Ocean Youth Trust.) Other contributions that have been made by personal donations or through the webpage on www.justgiving.com/davidmurray4 have raised the total to £3,332.00 Many thanks to the staff at the Rock Villa Hotel and the Surgery for their help with fundraising. If you would like to help children take part in adventure sail training with the OYTS please visit the above webpage to donate on-line or come and see me anytime. Thanks again. David Murray.(Apologies for the photo's those who know me already know that my talents do not include photography!!)
