Winter Dinghy Cuising on Scotland's West Coast.

One of my lockdown projects was to edit some of the footage I have of trips made in the past. This series of clips is from March 2010 and is an account of a trip by two DCA Wayfarer dinghies on Loch Etive, one of Scotland's most beautiful and longest sea lochs. We had to modify our plans early in the trip and so sailed only on the part of the loch north of Taynuilt. The weather was mixed and varied between lovely, clear weather and fresh southerly gales. We had intended to camp as usual but the weather encouraged us to use the MBA bothy at Cadderlie. The anchorage left something to be desired and our inability to anchor properly in it led to problems which the film shows.
The music comes from a variety of TH-cam sources: The lovely Leaving Uist by Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle; a brilliant instrumental version of Jimmy mo Mhíle Stór by Tinwhistler; and a super version of Carolan's Ramble to Cashel by Northern Lights. I don't own this music but I love it and would encourage you to check out the music and artists.

[@eladioboss]

Bellísimos lugares de Escocia, y un hermoso video de vuestra aventura.... gracias por compartirlo.

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching!

[@andybullock6848]

A fruitful lockdown project. I hope the outboard recovered from its drenching. The snow on the surrounding mountains made us really know it was winter. Lucky you had the bothy!

[@charliehitchen5263]

Lucky indeed. The MBA is a great organisation. We had intended to camp as on the other trips but as it turned out the bothy was just what the conditions needed. Thanks for watching.

[@rogberube6422]

Thanks for sharing, Charlie. :)

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching.

[@micheldevries7975]

Beautiful!

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching and your kind comment.

[@alexbowie6316]

Some of the best days of your lives guys!

[@charliehitchen5263]

Amen to that! Hopefully more good days to come!

[@sailinghiggy10]

Fantastic real life adventures 🙂👍

[@charliehitchen5263]

Hi Matt, thanks for watching. Our adventures are always fun.

[@danielmargenat5755]

Congratulations. I envay your mood .😀

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching.

[@VISTLER]

Thanks for an enjoyable film 😀👍

[@charliehitchen5263]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@adylangford3744]

What a wonderful film, many thanks!

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching and for your positive comment.

[@aadmonk]

Wonderful video. Thanks for sharing.

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching.

[@jspate61]

Beautiful. Looking forward to more. It really takes the chill off the -20 C temperature here in Montreal QC. Cheers

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching! I guess it looks positively tropical from Montreal! Having said that we did have a -23 C recorded in Scotland a few nights ago. I guess that is a record. I will keep churning them out as long as the lockdown lasts...and then I am away sailing!

[@fabmanly1070]

Fantastic stuff

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching. A stand out trip with great company..and that's what it's all about.

[@fraserconnell21]

Now i'd call that "quality time!"..A new subscriber. Brilliant and a merry 2021 to you👍

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching. I guess that any time spent sailing is quality time for us. Hopefully more in 2021. All the best.

[@jw8360]

Wonderful video and beautiful landscape - cheers!

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching.

[@betulegi8931]

Amazing adventure

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching. Enjoy your sailing. :-)

[@nathananglen8669]

So good! I really enjoyed the heartfelt laughter throughout!! Keep them coming! And happy new year.

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching. It was a good humoured trip. I had forgotten how good humoured until I found the footage again.

[@ploughboy10]

good to see you staying cheerful even with the swamping------did you have the boats anchored by the stern into the weather??

[@charliehitchen5263]

The problem was that the beach almost dried out. They were held over a sandy patch by a couple of lines. They were fairly well sheltered until the gale began to blow directly into the bay. Something we should have foreseen. We should have beached them much earlier. You live and learn! Thanks for watching.

[@VISTLER]

March is spring, not winter.
Although, granted, it's a bit difficult to tell the difference sometimes in Scotland!

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching. You are right about Winter/Spring of course. But it seemed like winter to us! The other Loch Etive trip on our channel was fromtwo weeks later, the following year. Conditions were really warm then. We were lucky to have the bothy to get into for this trip but we could have managed without it.

[@ianscott4542]

thank you for sharing your trip . It is something i would love to do myself Scotland is a beautiful place.

[@charliehitchen5263]

Thanks for watching. We did not sail that far compared to other trips we have done but it was pretty memorable. Give it a go.