Pakwaci goes East

I finally managed to get out on the water this week.... Having not taken advantage of a few opportunities over Easter - too many other things to do around the place.!

Although in Scotland we are still under lockdown in these crazy times, I do have the added advantage of living right on the water and edge of the mountains so can, at will, head out or up as the desire takes me, without any need to be tied by more 'urban' rules etc.

I have been wanting to head up to the head of Loch Nevis since I finished the boat last year, and with nice F3 - 4 forecast in the right direction I set off that way.

The sunshine was out and we had almost 100% blue skies, but no suncream... wearing shorts and with a T shirt I was concerned about getting burnt knees and arms more than anything. The wind was warm, although when getting splashed by the sea, the water is still very cold, maybe just around 10 deg's maybe still in single digit's...?

No one else out, no other boat traffic from the few isolated crofts or communities, so I had the expanse to myself until late in the day.

The distance from home to the true head of the loch is approx 15km, quite open until one reaches Tarbet and Kyles Morar where a 'narrows' concentrates the tide and races through in whichever direction it needs to. I arrived at slack water, and with little depth here the kelp grows thickly. Any time I had wind in the sails, I would end up either catching with the daggerboard or the rudder and stopping almost all momentum. I conceded defeat as time was ticking, and I didn't wish to finish in the dark like my last outing.!

Turning to the West I was able to almost Run downwind with a couple of tacks to port to eventually clear the final headland in sight of home. I passed one other small boat on the return, a little 18ft Lug rigged affair. I later found out it belonged to a chap who lives on the land here in his Yurt.

I landed at a very respectable time of 6pm after leaving the slip at 11am. Only had mildly burnt knees, but more importantly had been able to breathe and let the wind through my lockdown hair for the afternoon.

During the journey I had with my my little Minox ML film camera with a roll of ORWO B&W film loaded. Film photography is my only outlet photographically now, having sold all digital cameras and made the return to analogue almost two years ago.

More images: https://snap.as/lhl/pakwaci-goes-east

Here is a link to a map of my sail: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/pakwaci-goes-east_466807

Looks beautiful, great to see the pics and the track of your journey.

Regards,
Paul.

Matt-LonghouseLife's picture

Many thanks Paul :)

The track is only an approximation really, not done through any kind of GPS software etc.

It was a great afternoon on the water, although we are now back to more usual weather in these parts of high winds and incessant rain..!

PuffinInTegel's picture

Thanks for the story and pictures!
That was a lot of beating on the way out.
That ORWO film has kept well. For Minox format, the grain is not too bad and actually adds an aesthetic touch.
I love analogue photography as I know which bells and whistles (only three I know about) to tweak and if I get it wrong, it's my fault. We used to run around with a Mamiya 220 (exactly the opposite of a Minox) until the 1980s, but with three kids and camping gear we decided to concentrate on 35mm from then on.
However I do appreciate the advantages of digital when it comes to video. But I do wonder whether my videos will survive as long as some of the home movies I've seen on TV recently, dating back to the 1930s or earlier. Some of those were even shot with 16mm equipment.
Cheers,
Gernot H.

Matt-LonghouseLife's picture

Thank you; a lot of beating, but long tacks, so not so painful

The ORWO is fresh, they are still producing it. I have also a Mamiya C220 and an RZ67 - would not want to be using those one handed ;) The grain was really because of a bit too vigorous agitation when I developed the roll, it should have been a little less noticeable..!

I have made my own 4x5 camera over the last few weeks and with it also the lens. Playing with using Paper Negatives now with some success.