But there is a human element to this we would all care about.

A young man who is Argyll’s one and only torchbearer will carry the flame on the A82 north through Tarbet on Loch Lomond at around 10.15 on the morning of 9th Jun 2012.

He is 17 year-old Myles Clark.

As the Olympic Torch webpage says in giving the reason why Myles was selected for this honour, a memory he will carry with him lifelong, he has the heroic spirit which is the essence of the Olympian.

The nomination for Myles says:

An immediately unusual boat – the MV Ocean Nova, was at Oban’s North pier – and was the length of it – on Friday 18th May.

Long, narrow, tall, sheltered, with expansive observation facilities, five or six Zodiacs stacked on her top deck and a stout bow, she seemed built for action and possibly action in cold climes.

Research shows she’s a polar specialist, built in Denmark in 1992, as the Sarpik Ittuk, designed to navigate the ice-cluttered waters off Western Greenland.

She had a major refit in 2006 with a glass-enclosed forward observation lounge constructed on her top deck.

With a capacity of 98 passengers she carries only 68, with a very good ratio of a 38 strong team of crew and polar guides who oversee daily shore landings – by Zodiac – and lectures on Antarctic wildlife.

A serious activity cruise and adventure ship, the menu of opportunities she offers stress just how active is the experience aboard  – or off – Ocean Nova, Pretty well all embarkations and disembarkations – as well as shore landings and retrievals, seem to be by Zodiac – so the fit, flexible and relatively young seems her target market.

For the winter she appears to be based in Antarctica with passengers getting themselves to southern Chile (Punta Arenas) or Argentina (Ushuaia), depending on the chosen adventure.

Holidays seem to be priced from from either port, with fly/cruise from Punta Arenas – flying from there across the drake Passage to King George Island in the South Shetlands, in Antarctica; and then embarking the Ocean Nova by Zodiac from the shore of Fildes Bay.

One alternative option is an Express adventure from Ushuaia in Argentina. Here you embark Ocean Nova from the port

This takes the Beagle channel to the world’s most southerly town, Puerto Williams, on Navarino Island and then heads for the awesome Cape Horn where, weather permitting, the Zodiacs take passengers to the lighthouse.

After that the ship crosses the Drake Passage to King George Island, does some wildlife and iceberg watching, with a flight back to Punta Arenas in Chile, from where passengers make their own way home to wherever.

The menu of possibilities includes wildlife watching and whale photography. (Reincarnation or cloning becomes increasingly attractive – if not necessary.)

This is the boat’s winter programme which runs to the end of March.

Further research, prompted by the fact that here she was in Oban in May and we could find no evidence for what had brought her there, shows that she also does a summer programme of the same sort of adventure cruises around Iceland and involving the Faroes and possibly Greenland.

Oban now seems to be a starting point for these particular adventures. Obanites may well have already seen her berthed alongside the North Pier but certainly seem die to see more of her over the season.

She’s the perfect size of ship for the North Pier and her specialism in colder waters and polar exploration chimes with our natures and interests here.

She was a muscular and exotic addition to the Oban bayscape on Friday and we too hope to see her again.

As things publicly stood after the election in the Dunoon ward on 10th May, the coalition for progress announced by SNP Leader Councillor Roddy McCuish then had 21 seats, with 15 held by members of the former coalition administration, the Alliance, the LibDems and the Conservatives.

The Alliance aim is to get to the best position they can hope for – a tied council, with 18 seats for each of two factions. Some are claiming that they have already achieved this.

Tomorrow’s council meeting

Whether or not this is the case, the first meeting of the council tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd May) will see cards on the table.

If the Alliance claim is true – and the rumours are substantial if not verifiable, the election of the Provost becomes centrally critical.

This is, at Item 2, the first substantive issue on the agenda.

Assuming that voting would be en bloc, whichever group of 18 formed a coalition administration would see every key decision go to stalemate at 18-18, requiring the casting vote of the Provost, who must be voted in by a majority of the entire 36 councillors.

If this vote too is not to be a stalemate, there will be insupportable politicking going on in all quarters right up to the off tomorrow.

This situation, however it ‘resolves’ itself tomorrow, is fully against the best interests of Argyll and Bute.

We would see continuing instability with whichever faction was in power maintaining a necessarily obsessive focus on their own survival in ‘power’, living in constant fear of the immediate possibility of a successful vote of no confidence.

Regardless of who came out on top in this, Argyll and Bute would be back to the politics of brute force and ignorance.

No decision would be made on the merit of evidence, rational argument and the interests of Argyll. It would be pork barrell politics and voting on automatic pilot, not on the issues.

To be prepared to force Argyll into this situation is typical of an Alliance whose sole unifying agent is the self-interest of each of its members.

It is equally typical of the administration it has led in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. They have no common political philosophy and are certainly not distinguished by general competence.

Responsibilities

Any Councillor minded to support an Alliance attempt to wheel a paralysing tie into the mix for Argyll should consider what the Argyll electorate voted to see.

It voted for change, the hope for probity and a culture of transparency and openness.

Would the proposed new administration of the SNP-led coalition for progress be any better in efficiency and policy-making than was and might be the Alliance-led coalition?

We have no idea – but it’s a very low benchmark.

They cannot be worse. We’re looking at a record of grandstand failure on financial management, economic development, roads and transport, urban regeneration, education, social services, procurement…

At least the coalition for progress would  will clearly work to be honest, to take decisions with integrity and transparency and to work for competence. These positions alone would be an almost heady  improvement capable of delivering serious benefits to Argyll.

The gold standard in either potential coalition is the Argyll First group who have put integrity and the larger interests of Argyll back into local politics.

Their decision to form a coalition with the SNP group is a political kite mark and, should the coalition for progress form the administration of the council, Argyll First’s continued presence in it or departure from it will be the indicator of its moral health. That is the responsibility Argyll First carry.

There is no other such a certain indicator except the new Independent from Oban North and Lorn, Iain Angus Macdonald, a very able man and another person of unassailable integrity.

A left field suggestion

This would see the SNP-led coalition for progress manage to get their candidate for Provost elected.

They would then give the Alliance coalition what they want, putting them in in to bat and farming them, controlling absolutely every move they made, between their own block vote of 18 and their Provost’s deciding vote.

They would work hard, research the issues, insist upon reasoned debate and test with rigour every proposal put forwards by the Alliance-led coalition and by the council officers under their instruction.

They would be the effective policy creators and drivers of Argyll and Bute.

They would vote on the merits of each issue.

This would be a wonderfully interesting and creative solution to the stalemate, a modern day judgment of Solomon.

Would they do it? Never. No political party can see beyond the possession of the moment, however insecure and all political parties lack this sort of imagination.

Argyll looks due for difficult times it does not deserve and has not chosen.

The history of the figures

When all wards were declared the position in seats was as follows:

• 13 – SNP
• 9 – Alliance of Independent Councillors
• 4 – Liberal Democrats
• 3 – Argyll First
• 3 – Conservatives
• 4 – Independents

Argyll First announced that they were to go into a coalition for progress with the SNP group, giving the coalition 16 seats in the 36 seat council.

Councillor Elaine Robertson, who had previously been a member of the Alliance, decided to join the coalition for progress, taking the Alliance membership down to 9 and the coalition membership to 17.

The four Independents progressively joined the coalition for progress, giving it 21 seats – hence its apparent 21-15 majority.

If the Alliance claims are correct, of having ‘turned’ three of these, the identity of the particular individuals involved will be known tomorrow.

Will we be there? That’s another issue.

WEATHER for Argyll and the Isles

Overnight: Dry with clear spells leading to a chilly night with a touch of frost in rural inland areas. Some mist patches forming by dawn. Min temp night: 4 C.

21st May: Dry and fine with good sunny spells, becoming warm inland. Any mist will quickly burn off. Light winds. Max temp day: 18 C.

ROADS

• A83 operating with usual traffic lights at landslip danger area. Hazard warning of 13th May removed.

Transport Scotland’s webpage specifically for the A83 at Rest and Be Thankful. is reviewed weekly and will be updated in the event of any new landslip.

Deer Warning: A83 between Dunderave and Strone Point – deer have being seen on this section of road, in numbers, nightly, for the past fortnight.

FERRIES

Week from 28th May: Advance warning of refit timetable from Argyll Ferries: With the scheduled annual refit of MV Argyll Flyer during this week, Argyll Ferries will be operating a reduced timetable with hourly departures. On 1st and 2nd June (Friday and Saturday) the 0100 and 0125 sailings are also cancelled.

• Western Ferries, Hunter’s Quay (Dunoon) -McInroy’s Point (Gourock): Sailing as schedule.
• Argyll Ferries unoon-Gourock (passenger only) : Sailing as schedule.
• SPT-Clydelink: Kilcreggan-Gourock (passenger only): Sailing as schedule.
• CalMac, (West coast ferry operator): Sailing as schedule, except for notifications below.

CalMac route notifications

• Oban-Craignure: 17th May onwards – Due to major roadworks on the Tobermory-Craignure road, passengers are advised to allow extra time for their journey.
• Kennacraig-Port Askaig: Due to major reconstruction works, Port Ellen Pier, Islay, is currently closed to ferry traffic. All sailings on the Islay service are therefore operating to and from Port Askaig for the foreseeable future. This is outwith CalMac’s control,  A revised Summer timetable will be published which reflects this and will operate until June 30, 2012.

TRAVEL INFORMATION SOURCES

Online Information

• BBC Travel News (best up to date)
• Traffic Scotland – Current incidents  (not reliably up to date)
• Argyll Ferries – Service status
• CalMac Ferries – Service Status
• Clydelink – Kilcreggan-Gourock – Timetable and Service Status
• Western Ferries – Service Status note on home page
• West Coast Motors – Service Updates
• Scottish Citylink Coaches
• ScotRail
• Glasgow Airport – Flight Information

Phone information only

• Hebridean Air Services: 0845 805 7465 (Flights between Oban and Tiree, Coll and Colonsay)
• Clydelink/SPT: (Kilcreggan-Gourock passenger ferry) 0871 705 0888
• Isle of Kerrera-Gallanach ferry: 01631 563665
• Isle of Easdale-Ellenabeich ferry: 01852 300559 (ferry shed) or 01631 562125 (Argyll and Bute Council)
• Isle of Lismore-Port Appin ferry: (passenger ferry) 01631 562125 (Argyll and Bute Council)
• Isle of Luing (Cuan)-Seil ferry: 01631 569160 or 01631 562125 (Argyll and Bute Council)
• Port Askaig (Islay)-Feolin (Jura) ferry: 01496 840681 (ASP Ship Management)
• Corran Ferry: (Ardgour and the Ardnamurchan Peninsula) 01855 841243 (Highland Council)

Any queries regarding any of the applications should be emailed to centralvalidationteam@argyll-bute.gov.uk

So here it is: my finished piece for stone setting. It’s been a super busy week – I had my Second Year Assessment (results pending) and had to finish this piece for Friday too.

I set the stone on Wednesday and polished it up on Thursday, so thankfully I managed to get everything done in time.

I was pretty stressed out at certain points, but I just had to remember a few things:

Friends care (so long as you aren’t super whiny):

The whiny part is pretty important here; as everyone is happy to listen to you and console you when it isn’t going the way you want, but only as long as you’re being pro-active about fixing it. No one likes the ‘why meeeeeeee!’ speech more than once.

Nothing is ever really that broken:

This is where Artist’s in Residence’s and Lecturer’s come in. They genuinely have all the answers. Especially to the questions that you really didn’t think could be answered or the problems that you were sure couldn’t be solved. The trick is, they’re already done an Silversmithing and Jewellery course, so it’s important to remember that you are still a little fish in a big pond, who will learn more and more of the answers as time passes.

Get happy about the little things:

Triumph over being able to set the stone, even if it wiggles a little to begin with. It will soon be sturdy and solid, once you’ve set it fully. During this time, remember that you’re using a skill you’ve only just learnt (this applies to EVERYTHING) so you can’t be a genius at it yet. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try… you get the message.

And, importantly, when it does go right, BE SUPER HAPPY:

That one, is perhaps a given. But it’s still worth mentioning.

So there you go – another project done and its nearly summer. I can’t believe how much more I know technically than I did at the beginning of the year; and I’m hoping these skills will just improve more and more as I move further up the year groups.

Meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy the last few weeks of Second Year.

Ellis Cameron, Young in Argyll correspondent

The photographs accompanying this article are by Ellis Cameron.

Ellis Cameron lives in Benderloch and is a second year student in Jewellery and Silversmithing at Glasgow School of Art.

The government statement is as follows:

Commenting on what we now regard to be reliable information confirming the death of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, First Minister Alex Salmond said:

‘Our first thoughts are with the families of the Lockerbie atrocity, whose pain and suffering has been ongoing now for over 23 years.

‘Today’s news was not unexpected – Mr Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, which was the basis on which he was released.  His death does, however, put to rest some of the conspiracy theories which have attempted to suggest that his illness was somehow manufactured – today’s news confirms what we have always said about his medical condition.

‘The Lockerbie case remains a live investigation, and Scotland’s criminal justice authorities have made clear that they will rigorously pursue any new lines of inquiry.  Scotland’s senior law officer the Lord Advocate recently visited Libya, and we have been offered the co-operation of the new Libyan authorities.  It has always been the Crown’s position that Mr Megrahi did not act alone but with others.

‘It is open for relatives of Mr Megrahi to apply to the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission to seek a further appeal.  And the best, indeed the only, place for guilt or innocence to be determined is in a court of law.

‘Mr Megrahi’s death ends one chapter of the Lockerbie case, but it does not close the book.  However, all information which comes forward will confirm that the decisions of this administration have been in accordance with the due process of law.

‘Extensive scrutiny under three jurisdictions supported the position that the Justice Secretary released Mr Megrahi on compassionate grounds and compassionate grounds alone, based on the rules and regulations of Scots Law and the reports of the Parole Board for Scotland, the Prison Governor, and the Scottish Prison Service Director of Health & Care, Dr Andrew Fraser – all of which have been published.

‘The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee examined the matter in full, and concluded that the Justice Secretary’s decision was taken ‘in good faith’ – this was also borne out by the UK Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell’s Review, and the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

‘Indeed, what emerged is that the Scottish Government were the only ones playing with a straight bat – in contrast to the last UK Government which was revealed by Sir Gus O’Donnell’s Review as doing ‘all it could’ to facilitate Megrahi’s release, either under the PTA or compassionate release.

‘Substantial opinion at home and abroad supported the decision, and we entirely respect the views of those who opposed it, but regardless of people’s views they can have complete confidence that it was taken on the basis of the due process of Scots Law;  Today’s news provides further confirmation of that fact.’

Ardfern’s fire engine and crew spent over five hours assisting the other engines – mainly ferrying water to the site.

The job was described as ‘Very Smelly’.

Paddy Shaw and his 15 piece swing band will crank up the pace with Spotlight, Ballet West, Sequence Choir, Zumba Dance demos  and a special Jubilee supper.

This seems like a definite ‘must do; start to the Jubilee weekend -  at the Argyllshire Gathering Halls , with doors opening at 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start.. Tickets £8 from Alba in Oban.

This event neatly draws early attention to the Winter Festival designed to develop the tourism market at the quieter time of the year.

The mighty challenge of the Scottish Islands’ Peaks Race was all over Oban on Friday (18th May).

The moorings at Oban Sailing Club were swollen by just short of 50 boats in a huge fleet for the 2012 epic. Then at least two runners per boat took to the roads for a run up around McCaig’s Tower and back.

This is only the starter for a race that sees the combined skills and strength of road runners and yacht race tested to the limit in a unique challenge involving three islands, three mountain races, heading five peaks and a last sprint for the finish at Troon.

Nothing ever stops. When the crew aren’t sailing the runners are on the hills. If the weather turns wholly nasty – which it often does, if may need all hands on deck. Most of the rest of us, like two of the board of the hugely useful Cardingmill Pontoons and Moorings here, Adrian Lauder and Professor Duncan, enjoy contemplating the effort.

Food and sleep and grabbed equally hungrily in the down time of each contributor.

In Oban the returning runners are rowed back by dinghy to their boat by one member of the crew, heaved onboard along with said dinghy while the sails go up for a no holds barred race first to Salen on the Isle of Mull.

There the runners are rowed ashore to, well – run up Ben More, Mull’s only Munro. Just like that.

Then they’re rowed back for the yacht race to start again – this time back east through the Sound of Mull, south into the Sound of Lorne, through the Dorus Mhor, past the Grey Dogs and the Corryvreckan and into Craighouse on the isle of Jura. This is sailing that ticks an awful lot of boxes in the legendary west coast waters.

Splash goes the dinghy with the crew oarsman to set the runners ashore – to run all three Paps of Jura.

The crew get their heads down for four hours or so while the runners are murdering the Paps and the Paps are sapping their strength.

Another mad row back for the boat and it’s off out of Craighouse to round the Mull of Kintyre, past Sanda Island and the South of the isle of Arran to head up round its east coast to the Holy Isle and into Lamlash Bay.

Here the runners, who’ve been in their bunks since Craighouse, head for the top of Goat Fell, while the crew sleep.

Rowed out again more dead than alive they get food and this time the chance to collapse into their pits without having to face another mountain.

Now it’s all down to the crew in the last yacht race to Troon in Ayr, first negotiating the notoriously fluky winds off Holy isle.

As we write this, they’re on that last leg already. And the runners did the Paps of Jura (dawn)and Goat Fell (midnight) in the dark.

The start at Oban

Several in the large fleet couldn’t get a mooring, some using the Cardingmill Bay pontoons as a staging post until they had to go off and tootle around in the moorings until pick up time.

Pick up time is, of course, preceded by effort of a different kind. The starter run up to McCaig’s Tower.

In the hour before the start at 12.00 noon, runners are walking around, limbering up, going off on short runs to loosen up. There are serious  runners here from all over the UK, dauntingly fit.

The best of them seem to semi-levitate, moving in an even glide that barely touches the ground, upper body held independently off the lower body. They look as if they could run for ever and many probably do.

We meet the runners from the dark blue-hulled yacht, Riva and some determined  Norwegians from one of the boats briefly alongside at the  Cardingmill pontoons.

There’s  a Swiss boat too – on a mooring.

Just off Cardingmill Bay and at the edge of the moorings is Pole Star, one of the Northern Lighthouse Board’s two heavy duty work boats that maintain buoys around the west coast and islands.

Then there’s a team from Fettes College ashore from the yacht Lydia, with enough runners to have one set do the starter run around McCaig’s Tower while others wait to face the challenge on Ben More.

A red helicopter comes in over the Isle of Kerrera and vanishes, dropping down to land. It looks like it’s headed for the Manor House Hotel – but is there landing room there? This aircraft will reappear in the not too distant future and all will be known.

The gathering at the Sailing Club, with runners galore, yellow-jacketed Bruichladdich Race Control organisers, photographers and the frankly amazed gets bigger by the minute. The narrow road has been full of parked cars all along. it appears that this is not down to the race but is mainly the cars of CalMac staff down at the harbour who park up here.

The start is awesome. We almost forget to get out of the way. And the road falls silent as all that energy vanishes elsewhere.

This whole area is one Oban needs to address seriously  and coherently – and why this was not part of the failed CHORD project is hard to tell. The shoreside area is ill maintained by the council and undeveloped. The slipway is overgrown and less than it might be, Access to the shore is otherwise left to nature and the risk of broken ankles, There is no rational use of space.

There’s an odd, quite narrow fenced off strip of overgrown land just shoreside of the wall at the edge of the footpath. What’s supposed to happen here? There’s recently cut grass running down from the charming little Temple of Seafood stone building beside the Sailing Club and tumbling, literally, onto the boat park at outdoor adventure Stramash’s wooden hut.

This area has all the ability to develop into an ad hoc shanty town if heads are not banged into stopping down all additions until there is a rational plan for the the strip from, say, the Sailing Club north to the end of Cardingmill Bay. This could be a designed area, built for a future with watersports, leisure sailing and support ervices, with some aesthetic and created with a considered and enabling functional relationship between its elements.

What are the odds? The track record suggests that ‘shanty town’ may well win out.

The first runners appear from this 30 to 45 minute warm up run and the different tactics become evident. The shore is spattered with waiting dinghys and rowers looking at their watches.

Based at the vantage point above the Cardingmill pontoons, we see some runners come down the grass and then take a short cut down the steep and uneven earth bank before hitting the stony and slippery shore to head for the dinghy on the waterline.

The smart ones run further but, to our eyes, gain time – heading to the slipway where they can carry on running to their dinghy. The bank descenders have had to walk, break rhythm and cannot risk even a trot across the shore.

The major competitors on the moorings already have their sail covers off and their sails hooked on ready to hoist. Some more leisurely – or supercool -  boats haven’t even got their mainsail covers off yet.

Somewhere in the bedlam on the moorings is Bequia, skippered by Colin Craig of West Coast Motors, with his brother Ian, MD of Lothian Buses, John Grant of Owen Sails and runners Stuart Malcolm and newbie to the team, Gordon Lennox.

Bequia is tweeting its race – as they have done for the last two – and you can read all three race accounts.

One of the multihulls, a big cat, Sail number GBR 715M, is first out of the moorings followed in close company by a monohuller. They tack off fast, past Pole Star, down the east side of Kerrera heading for the exit from Oban Bay.

Soon there are two more, already racing out of the moorings, well heeled over. We think the first of these might be Bequia. (Note: It wasn’t – but Bequia was 8th out of the bay.)

On the moorings local legend, Tangle o’ the Isles (second shot from the top) – with some unbelievable passages behind her and more to come, waits for her runners. The Norwegian boat (the dark blue hull in the shot below) jills around and the Swiss mark time.

Then it’s all activity, little dinghy’s bundling out from the shore, bodies climbing and being hauled on board, dinghys hoisted in and secured, sails up and flapping, waiting to be sheeted in and power the boat away. There are some close calls between urgent crews fighting for space – but that’s racing. Others take a chance and go inside the yellow buoyed reef known locally as ‘the Scrat’. We’re told that there are two types of sailor in Oban – those that have hit the Scrat and those that haven’t – yet.

As the moorings clear, it becomes even more obvious just what a visually stunning place to sail this is – and if you read the tweets from Bequia, they testify to the role the place plays in doing this race. Ian Craig – who we think was doing most of the tweeting, constantly catches his breath in mid-tweet at the seascapes and landscapes unfolding as Bequia moves purposefully on.

With most of the fleet on the move, the big cat is clear of the fleet, still with her shadow though, both tacking across the head of the bay from under Dunollie Castle and over towards the little island of Rudha Cruaidh off Kerrera, where they will vanish off to Salen.

In the middle of it all emerges a very large, sleek black shark – Pharos, the Northern Lighthouse Board’s main workhorse of the seas, chooses to leave her berth right now and drives forcefully toward the entrance to the bay, on her foredeck the punctuation mark of the red helicopter that flew in earlier.

Within minutes she’s mixing it with the full fleet under Dunollie, She gives five loud hoots – code for ‘Get out of my way’. Not a chance. Doesn’t she know these guys are racing? ‘Steam gives way to sail’ and, mad as it seems from the shore, this is ‘not an inch’ time afloat, The yachts sail on. Almost none deviate. The skipper on Pharos abandons the code of hoots and just keeps his thumb on the horn. The angry sound echoes far and brings not one jot of change to the fleet.

Later the Calmac ferry from the outer isles comes in through the tailenders. She hoots as well – but not the full high five. she has less need now and ploughs steadily in to her berth.

With Bequia

Online, Bequia reports getting into Salen at 15.05 with their runners are away by 15.15. Neat. The crew expect them to do the Ben More run in 4.45 hours and to be away again by 20.00.

Hotntot33′s Robbie Simpson, does it in 3 hours 11-59, taking almost 14 minutes off the record. Bequia’s Malcolm and Lennox do it in 4 hours 11, seriously under expectations – and the boat’s out of Salen ‘like a shotgun’ and away for Craighouse, marveling that at this time it’s still daylight as they come under Duart Castle.

Bequia’s in Class 2 where the racing seems to be tight at the top, with Dorothea who beat Bequia into second place last year, a contender to be respected along with Clockwork and Sea Fever. The arrival order in Jura at 4.40am (Saturday) was Dorothea, Bequia, Sea Fever.

By 9.15 the runners are back on board [ having done an anticipated 5 hour run across the three Paps in 4 hours 18. A massive achievement.

With Clockwork and Sea Fever ahead, Bequia is on a spinnaker reach until the wind steadying east ahead of the beam allows a fast reach south. They say they’re ‘smokin’ at 8 knots. Light winds and a few predictable problems with the spinnaker behind them and a quick photo of the glen through from Machrihanish to Campbeltown ‘for the Kintyre brigade’  they round the Mull of Kintyre around 5.30.

Colin Craig sees his own Stormforce ferry, Kintyre Express 111, headed into the North Channel en route for Ballycastle to pick up passengers from the North West 200 bike race before Bequia leaves the Pladda Light south of Arran abeam, with Clockwork, now the class leader, ahead. Kintyre Express III appears later, for a ‘fly by’ on the return trip from Ballycastle.

Bequia is 4th boat in to Lamlash at 23.45, having improved four places since leaving Oban eighth in the fleet.

Clockwork gets away at 03.35 and Dorothea at 03.45, with John Grant of Bequia ashore waiting to retrieve their runners. They were back aboard by 04.05, leaving the crew to deal with the frustration of the fluky winds around Holy Isle and settle down for ‘the straight drag’ east to Troon. They were predicting: ‘ a grandstand finish between Bequia, Moby J, Sea Fever & Dorothea’. Racing all the way in to the inner harbour.

And now they’re in: 08.48 Sunday morning, 20th May – provisionally finishing second in their class and 4th overall – a mighty performance.

Now for next year.

Postscript: Other boats have been complimenting Bequia on its tweeting – with good reason. They took us with them, through the dawns, the pasta, the sunsets, the places they love, the strategies, the frustrations, the great blokey banter, the camaraderie with the other competing boats and that edgy competitive spirit that saw them race to the last into Troon’s inner harbour. Thanks guys, This is your story.

The 2012 Festival of the Sea, run by the Scottish Marine Institute (aka SAMS) for Oban, Lorn and the Isles got off to a running start yesterday, 18th May,

The bore is that we have a problem with the newsroom’s online operation at the moment and cannot use the photographs we took – but will upload them as soon as the problem has been resolved.

This festival has always been an inspired idea. This part of the world has physically and historically been shaped by the sea, which governs our key internal movements today.

The revered Scottish Marine Institute, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands is headquartered here in Argyll, at Dunstaffnage, must north of Oban.

This institution is making headlines for the quality of its degree teaching, its research and its managed knowledge transfer to commercial implementation,

This has most recently borne fruit in major business developments at one of the companies involved in this partnership, Aquapharm, developing marine material into products combating digestive disorders.

There is a strong logic in developing a recruitment base for study and research in marine sciences amongst young people in the area where SAMS/SMI is based.

There is an equally strong logic in developing a relationship of ownership with the area n which SMI exists.

The sea is of course the link between the two. We all exist with the sea here and SAMS is a specialist research and teaching institute on marine sciences.

SAMS has realised that it is the interface in developing the relationships described above and has been imaginatively proactive in a host of initiatives to move this forwards.

The Festival programme

The Festival of the Sea is one of these initiatives – a major one – and is designed to activate interest and engagement from the youngest local school pupils to SAMS peers in the academic world.

So the programme for the Festival of the Sea runs the gamut from storyteller Patsy Dyer researching a wide spectrum of cultures to find myths and legends based on seaweed – and she did it; to a three day academic conference on Scottish Sea Lochs and Adjacent Waters, run by the Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association.

In between these polarities are a host of events of all kinds for all audiences and involving partner organisations from Oban’s richly fascinating Dunollie way out to Lochmaddy in North Uist and an exhibition called the Secret Sea – Cuan Uibhist at the arts centre there, Tigh Chearsabhiagh.

You can find all of the programme information online here (www.obanseafestival.org) but i a way the hard copy of the pull-out leaflet wIth the programme rams home most powerfully just how huge and varied – AND ACTIVE – the Festival of the Sea programme is.

SAMS, the new Guide badge and the Tobermory connection

It’s far too glorious a set of opportunities even to attempt to summarise – but even the programme is something to immerse yourself in – fast. You can get to see places you’d never otherwise get near, to learn about fascinating subjects you’ve not even thought of and to do coasteering, family canoeing and RIB trips to all sorts of the amazing coastal and island nooks and crannies in Argyll.

Yesterday we learned about an innovative link between SAMs and the Scottish Guides Association, developing a special Ocean Challenge badge – and running a competition for the design of the badge.

The idea for the Guide badge came form Anuschka Miller, who leads the communications team at SAMS/SMI and is herself a marine scientist by training.

This has been won by Asha Nelson of 1st Tobermory Guides – and you can see Asha’s design for it above

The World of Algae

Yesterday, at the Argyllshire Gathering Halls in Oban, this theme included information on algae – with the glow-in-the-dark algae that are plankton and whose effect we call phosphorescence; and with an ingenious experiential display where the scientists enabled visitors to see this effect in action. Try it.

There was a competitive exhibition of art work produced in 2009 around the theme of algae, with a stunning spectrum of shapes and colours, hung by Helen McNeill from the SAMS communications team.

The winner was Mariano Sironi with Green Tide in Patagonia. (left) While it showed a 14 metre long (43 ft) Southern Right Whale mother with her calf, swimming along the shore of the Peninsula Valdes in Argentina, you wouldn’t have realised that they were the subject. Why? Because what yo see is not the whales but their impact on the glow-in-the-dark algae. As they move their tails stir up a green tide of planktonic algae behind them – and this is what the aerial photograph records. Spectacular.

A shortlisted piece of magic was by Galice Horeau, called Enchanted Cavern (top photograph). This shows the view looking out of an underwater cave off the coast of Brittany, at Roscoff, three metres down and looking into a forest of giant algae.

The storytelling

We’ve mentioned above the challenge faced by storyteller, Patsy Dyer from Ardfern in having to find a find of stories based on seaweed, one of the algaes.

She found Japan and Hawaii fabulously fruitfully cultures for such material and ended up with some compelling insights.

Britain, Ireland – and Russia – are the most romantic. And the Lofoten Islands are the most terrifying.

Patsy was merciful to her young audience on Friday and did not include Lofoten material amongst her repertoire for the day. So it was all Oohs, Aahs and smiles.

Virtual Landscapes and Future Seascapes

This touring experience from the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen – a year-old marriage of two existing academic institutions, one in Dundee, one in Aberdeen – was on show yesterday.

Professor David Miller, with an assistant on the remote controls, guided young audiences – with some hands on navigation – around the landscapes of Oban and its surrounding areas. looking at hew perspective is affected by specific standpoints and marveling at how others see us.

Professor Miller had the enviable ability to engage easily with young people and to enter in to their ready excitement and curiosity.

And the unique CD?

Called Essence of the Sea, this is a compilation of music by musicians from Oban, Lorn and the Isles, agreed and put together by Finlay Wells, whose abilities are breathtaking.

The idea came from former councillor Neil Mackay who can take well deserved pleasure in seeing it come to fruition so well.

The CD is there to help to make money towards the cost of the event and the generous contribution to it by the musicians involved is very much a spirit of the times in Argyll and the Isles, with which Neil Mackay was also involved from the outset.

You can buy it for £10 and having listened to ours in the car on the way home, you won’t be disappointed. You’ll find Skerryvore, Angus MacColl, Gunna Sound, Mary catherine MacNeil, Skipinnish Ceilidh House Band, Joy Dunlop, Angus Smith, Macadam, Achnaba, Oban High School Pipe Band and Finlay Wells with Sileas Sinclair.

So…

Get the CD, get hold of the programmne and dive in. The Festival of the Sea is a once-a-year pleasurefest of information, conundrums and experiences of the marine world and the coastal environment.

The problem is one of choice and available time. It could not be more rewarding and it demonstrates that the best of the academic world can make itself fully accessible, enthralling and welcoming.

(Updated: photographs) First of all – this wasn’t a serious fire. An extractor fan in the hotel kitchen – against the outside wall – went on fire at lunchtine yesterday (18th May).

Oban Fire Brigade were quick off the mark and everything was sorted out in short order.

Lunchtime guests – around 30 of them, were evacuated for the time being – although whether they eventually got lunch is another matter

The MoD are known and serial polluters.

Some of this is inevitable in the nature of the work, equipment and stores at various bases.

However, what is fully culpable is the MoD’s total lack of interest in cleaning up after itself.

SEPA becomes again a pivotal failure in this situation.

If we accept that the MoD will pollute and walk away, SEPA is the agency we imagine will protect our environment and will enforce cleaning operations.

This is a foolish notion belied by the facts.

We contacted SEPA directly over RAF Machrihanish at the time of forcing the admission on non-screening from the MoD.

SEPA expressed shock and gratitude for the information but appear to have done absolutely nothing about it – as, despite brave words on what they might do, they have done at Dalgety Bay in Fife.

Of remaining concern is that there are three MoD sites in Scotland where SEPA admits to knowing of radium contamination and will not identify their locations.

This is a serious matter of serious public concern since, in regard to the admitted known contamination at RAF Kinloss, the MoD will not say whether or not the contamination affects adjoining land.

For Argyll has now lodged a Freedom of Information request with SEPA, to see all their communications with the MoD on issues relating to radioactive contamination at RAF Machrihanish.

Speaking in the debate Jamie said:

“ James Graham stands out as one of Scotland’s famous heroes, part heroic and part notorious. But in my view, more the hero.

“ As well as being a military genius, he was an inspired poet and his finest poem, an allegory of Scotland, contains the lines:

“ He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small.
That dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all.’

These are immortal words and I wonder if they inspired Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” in which the first two lines of the 3rd verse illustrate what I mean:

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss.”

“ Graham demonstrated promise and indeed notoriety at an early age. He was the only boy amongst six girls, his mother having apparently consulted witches to get a male heir. He swallowed a toad whole and a neighbour told his father that “this child would trouble all Scotland.” He spent part of his childhood at Rossdhu on Loch Lomond, his sister Lilias having married into the Colquoun family, where he became very fit climbing the hills to hunt red deer. And while living at the Graham family seat of Mugdock Castle in Milngavie he would ride to Glasgow University on his white pony. While studying Greek at St Salvator’s College at St Andrews he won the silver medal for archery.

“ He defeated six armies of Covenanters but for those who want to know more I can only recommend the forthcoming thrilling account by my friend Murdo Fraser. He was an unconventional commander, invading Argyll in winter when traditionally the fighting season was closed due to bad weather. But he took the advice of an Irish priest in his army in December 1645 who pointed out that as the wind was from the East, the weather in Argyll would be good. For this assault Montrose was joined by Irish troops under the leadership of Alastair MacColla MacDonald, son of the legendary Collkitto and often called Colkitto himself. Colkitto means ambidextrous. He was a giant of a man and wielded a sword with a sliding ball weight of 10 lbs. On their way to Inveraray he got the MacNabs of Barachastlain to sharpen this great weapon and those of his men. Then he and Montrose made a 3 pronged attack on Inveraray and roundly defeated the Campbells with Argyll himself only escaping on a boat over Loch Fyne because of the East wind which blew him up the loch.

“ At the battle of Inverlochy he led his men from the front in one of the greatest flanking marches in British military history and surprised the Campbells by coming from the back of Ben Nevis. The ambidextrous Colkitto reputedly beheaded Campbell of Auchinbreck with one blow of his mighty sword- whether it was a left handed forward drive or a right handed haymaker history does not relate!

“ The combination of the brain of Montrose and the brawn of MacColla was unstoppable. When MacColla left to continue his personal vendetta against the Campbells in Argyll- which is in itself another story- Montrose greatly missed him and, caught unprepared at Philiphaugh, he was defeated with dreadful losses and, despite his protests, forced to leave the field by friends who insisted as long as he lived the King’s cause might survive. After exile in Holland in 1650 he bravely returned to Scotland at his own risk and crossed the Pentland Firth to Sutherland where he was betrayed at Ardvreck Castle by MacLeod of Assynt. Sentenced to death in Edinburgh, he was refused a nobleman’s execution and was hanged and quartered like a common criminal and his head put on a spike. I am told that the present Duke of Montrose has many of his personal effects including his crimson silk stockings which were preserved by the person who quartered his body after his execution as the stockings were simply too fine to cut through. It was poetic justice perhaps that 10 years later the head of his main rival the Marquis of Argyll replaced his on the same spike. The final words of this loyal and highly-principled man were “God have mercy on this afflicted land”, his beloved Scotland.”

Only two Scottish schools are in the last 16. The other is in Shetland and is a high school. The competition is for 10.15 year olds so the St Columba’s team really are cooking with gas.

‘Cook for the Queen’ was the challenge issued by the Duchess of Cornwall – or Rothesay, depending which side of the border she was on when she issued the invitation.

The challenge was to create a menu fit for the Queen using locally sourced ingredients. (Argyll and the Isles Tourism, will be pleased with this endorsement). the kids tracked down a fabulous selection of the ingredients for their eye opener of a menu from local suppliers.

These included products from Inverawe Smokehouse, Isle of Mull cheese, Argyll ham, edible lavender from the Kitchen Garden and the Oban Chocolate Company.

They researched the food served to royals down the centuries. They thought about the food they liked, about their home town of Oban – and about the Queen, for whose delight the best of the delicious food devised by the last 16 finalists is designed.

Assisted by a pretty nifty pair of wizards, teacher Imogen McKenna and classroom assistant Pamela Lockhart, one of the imaginative and hard working spirits behind last year’s inaugural Oban Winter Festival, St Columba’s cooked their socks off.

Salivate over this.

Starters
• Carrot and Orange Soup
• Figs with Argyll Ham and Isle of Mull Blue Cheese
• Mackerel Pate with Scottish Porridge Oatcakes

Main Courses

• Salmon Fishcakes
• Smoked Duck Pancakes
• Leek Asparagus and Brie Filos with Caramelised Red Onion Chutney
• Haggis, Beetroot and Red Onion Parcels

Desserts

• McCaigs Tower Tablet Cheesecake (which is decorated to look like McCaig’s Tower)
• Lavender Shortbread with Cream and Blaeberries

After Dinner Treats
• Cream Scones
• Gaelic Coffee with Oban Chocolate Shop Chocolates

All of this has been tested beforehand on some folk who were in P7 at the time of the Queen’s Coronation.

They hosted a Diamond Jubilee Tea Party for these guest guinea pigs, one of whom, Lord Kilbrandon, reported that what he ate was ‘better than any restaurant’.

There is a story we’re not supposed to tell – but it’s too good not to share.

Most honest eaters would admit to a light in the eye at the sight of ; Tower Tablet Cheesecake on the St Columba pudding menu.

One had been made ready for the official tasting and was being kept safe by the aforementioned wizards in the fridge – in the staff room.

Yo can guess the rest,. They did ask if they might taste it but it proved hard to stop…

The children have been invited to Edinburgh Castle on 28th May where they will also be seen and heard on STV’s Daybreak television programme.

Next week they will learn if they are one of the four winning teams to go to Buckingham Palace where the Queen’s chef, Martin Flanders, will cook their recipes for Her Majesty.

The food will be served at a reception at the palace where the children will meet the Queen.

They must triumph. We all need to know how the McCaig’s Tower Tablet Cheesecake goes down with HM.

Argyll will be rooting for St Columba’s – for the kids with the sensitivity to choose to make lavender shortbread because they think the Queen looks pretty in that colour.

The Purbeck Isle was reported missing last night, triggering a major search involving the Royal navy, SAR, and two lifeboats, including the Lyme Regis lifeboat, named Spirit of Loch Fyne.

Earlier today, the sonar on a survey ship showed a wreck similar in size to the Purbeck Isle, some ten miles south of Portland Bill.

We cannot fool ourselves that we are not approaching the onset of a European if not a global financial crisis whose shape and nature cannot be predicted but whose depth and duration will be significant.

Yesterday the credit agency Fitch downgraded Greece’s credit rating to a Triple C as its fellow agency, Moody’s downgraded the ratings of 16 Spanish banks – and of four of Spain’s regions. The market response to these moves and to the continued slide of the euro against the US dollar was a drop in share values in Europe and the USA.

Theoretically there are two possible outcomes to the situation:

• The euro, the eurozone and the EU will progressively fail, in that order.
• All three will survive but only through the adoption of central control from Brussels of a common and stern fiscal policy – which is effectively the ceding of sovereignty.

That’s the theory.

The reality is the former because the  latter is not politically achievable and certainly not in the timescale available. Eurozone member states will also be weighing up the fact that, whichever way things go, they are going to be horrifically expensive – and there is greater certainty in a retreat to the familiar than in ceding authority in a step into the political unknown.

The First Minister would be seriously advised to consider calling off the independence referendum now, in the Scottish and the national interest – and in the interest of an eventual independence.

The financial maelstrom that is coming is not one that Scotland could conceivably survive on its own – or find its way. The crisis will also be long lasting – we are looking at what is already being called ‘a lost decade’.

This situation will also have become an actuality before the 2014 referendum. In these circumstances the substantial majority will rightly vote for safety in numbers and the degree of shelter offered effectively by the powerhouse of London and the south east.

It would be statesmanlike and politically intelligent to postpone and to do it early so that efforts can be focused in preparations for dealing with the reshaping of our political and trading worlds and our financial systems.

Not to take this action would be proof of hardened political arteries and poor judgment.

Mr Salmond has already dropped the ball in failing to see the need for similar action when the banks collapsed in the Autumn of 2008. Not making that move then ended with an enforced retreat from the referendum. A swift and proactive decision at that stage to postpone in the national interest would have gained high ground that would have stood his cause in very good stead.

A major problem here is that the ambition of one man is blinding both himself and his party to the Scottish interest.

Mr Salmond, not unreasonably, wants to  be the first First Minister of an independent Scotland.

The trouble is that personally he has little time to achieve this where Scotland has all the time in the world to wait for the right moment. The drivers are out of synchronisation and that is dangerously destabilising.

It is Mr Salmond’s and his party’s remarkable achievement that Scotland is now at a point where, as a nation not as a faction, it is prepared to consider independence without fear and as a rational achievable option – when the time is right.

It would be unutterably damaging and frankly, selfish beyond forgiving, to continue to pursue an independence referendum in the current circumstances – and it could only fail.

A genuinely wise man – and Mr Salmond has that capacity if he steps back and looks objectively at the situation, would see that there is only one thing to be done and that there is political advantage in doing it before the choice is taken from him.

As in Robert Frost’s poem, After Apple Picking, Mr Salmond may personally miss the last couple of apples on the bough but his achievement in the journey on which he has conducted Scotland is one that will never be forgotten, unless he persists in what is now the wrong time.

If he takes the right decision now, there will be no doubt that Scotland will become independent. If he doesn’t, he will make the coming crisis even worse and that may damage the ultimate success of his lifelong cause.

Burcote – which says it has around 800MW capacity in wind farm applications for installation at ten locations across Scotland. One – at Creggan – is in Argyll.

The agreement is that Burcote will provide the opportunity for Wind Towers to provide the towers for its Scottish sites (a rather carefully worded commitment); and in exchange Wind Towers will support Burcote’s initiatives with technical, commercial and operational expertise.

The agreement is being touted as capable of leading to the generation of 600 jobs in construction and maintenance.

We can but hope. There is something about the matter that seems more connected to appearance than reality – one could say there is the scent of flummery about it. If this proves to be the case it will be a cruel deceit for Campbeltown and Kintyre, which has seen Wind Towers as the third generation of employers in this same industrial activity at the same plant at Machrihanish.

Commenting on the announcement, South Kintyre Councillor, John Semple, who is widely tipped to become the new Council Spokesperson for Renewable Energy, says:

‘This agreement signifies an important milestone in the development of renewables manufacturing in Argyll and Bute.

‘It is important not only for the employment and training opportunities it brings but also for the message it sends to the renewables industry – that the Windtowers Ltd. manufacturing facility at Machrihanish is on-course for steady, sustainable growth.

‘I look forward to seeing more developers and manufacturers recognise the advantages of the investments in infrastructure, location and skills-base that exists in Kintyre as off-shore opportunities open up.’

Councillor Donald Kelly, who has not been involved in the process leading to the agreement, has welcomed it, saying:

‘The agreement reached by Burcote Wind and the Windtowers can only be beneficial for future employment prospects at the Campbeltown plant.

‘If the proposal to establish a modern apprentice scheme is implemented this is a welcome step in the right direction.

‘It is very important that the skills currently present at the factory are not lost and are passed down to future generations.

‘This announcement can only help to maintain pressure on the Scottish government to resolve the issues currently associated with the A83 especially the trunking of the road between Kennacraig and Campbeltown.’

We agree that the adequacy of the A83 is critical, and that skills retention is an imperative. We also agree with John Semple that there is real potential capacity at this plant and at Campbeltown in its ability – or coming ability – to ship out turbine towers by sea.

Somehow, both previous businesses  – Vestas and Skykon – have not succeeded or have not been managed for success.

It is worth noting that the estimable and experienced David Steel is still there, having played many roles in the various incarnations of wind tower manufacture at Machrihanish under a succession of owners. This time he is in charge of business development. His fidelity to the operation and the area deserves a ‘third time lucky’ result.

The article is the third part of a series and is entitled ‘The expert view is wrong. These deaths could have been prevented.’

Mr Roy picks out some key pieces of evidence from the Sherrif’s report to show how he has reached this view. He has been struck sharply by the same bizarre fact we had found painfully telling: that Naimh Laffery (and, as it turns out, also Georgia Rowe) had absconded from the Open Unit at the Good Shepherd Home at Erskine – not to run away but to break IN to the Secure Unit where she had previously been placed.

He also homes in on the indefensibly irresponsible actions and decision by social workers at management level from Argyll and Bute Council and, more mercifully than we felt compelled to be, omits much of it.

At the end of his article, in a section he has entitled ‘Epitaph’  – Roy asks a question that is the heart of the matter. Will it ever be answered – and if it is – what will be the proof of veracity of that answer? Read it. And ask that question.

The five month long trial period of the device – over the most difficult weather period of the year – has been targeted on enabling the planned timetable for the Islay installation  to stay on schedule.

This array is now said to be on target for implementation between 2013 and 2015.