"You start on Monday with the idea implanted in your head that you are going to enjoy yourself. You wave an airy adieu to the boys on shore, light your biggest pipe, and swagger about the deck as if you were Captain Cook, Sir Francis Drake, and Christopher Columbus all rolled into one" - Jerome K. Jerome, 3 Men in a Boat
It was the beginning of the oddysey, and kip marina was as still as a millpond when the peace was broken by the rambunctous arrival of the pipe smoking, ever staggering crew. The pontoon groaned under the weight of alcoholic beverages, not to mention the weight of the alcoholics themselves...Friday nights were ever thus at the beginning of what the yachting fraternity glibly term 'cruising'. There would be drama on the high seas (and the crinan canal...) to come, and able seamen Finnigan and Fargo were determined to meet it head on with a belly full of ale. Meanwhile, the skipper fussed around the boat, adjusting this, fitting that, and generally wondering what he had let himself in for...
The plan was a fortnight of cruising the coast and islands of the west, beyond the safe haven and cosy anchorages of the Clyde. The skipper needed a holiday; the crew thought that a holiday from their lifelong holiday was in order. So it was that 3 men came to be in a boat...
Back in the real world, the skipper had noticed a few days before that Griff Rhys-Jones, Dara o'Briain and Tory McGrath were also sailing the same waters at the same time (making the latest installment of 3 men in a boat), although at the time of writing (saturday 14th) our paths have yet to cross. Practicalities have meant that the skipper's phone, on which he now writes, has been out of action for the last few days, so what follows is a catch up of the first week which will be added to as time, the sea and mobile reception allow. Seaman Farago will provide photos at some point along the line too. Standing by at anchor on a beautiful and tranquil morning on Loch Etive...
