Thinking of Sailing on the West Coast?

We think the West Coast of Scotland has the best and most varied sailing water in the world. Our cruising grounds stretch from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to Cape Wrath in the north-east and St Kilda in the north west – this area is about 200nm north to south (about the distance from Dover to Plymouth). Club members regularly cruise to Northern Ireland, Orkney, Shetland and Norway.

The waters vary from the relatively sheltered passages around Oban and the Inner Hebrides to very remote and challenging areas like St Kilda and parts of the Outer Hebrides. There are modern full-service marinas in the busier areas, but over most of the area you must expect facilities to be few and far between and you will often be anchoring – the reward is fantastic scenery, anchorages to yourself and ‘busy’ means the next-door berth may be occupied! For a flavour, look at our Gallery »

We are not set up to give detailed individual advice, but you may find the following pointers useful:

The most useful pilot guides are published by the Clyde Cruising Club; these are available from many chandlers as well as Amazon. The bible for island hoppers is Hamish Haswell-Smith's "The Scottish Islands", which describes every island and indicates where the most useful anchorages are.

Other useful sources of information are Sail Scotland, which includes information about charter companies, and the publication Welcome Anchorages , which is focused on locations with visitor moorings & pontoons.  If you are visiting Oban, the Oban Harbour website contains much useful information, including details of the new traffic management scheme.

Finally, as well as reminding you that you will need a full set of charts, we recommend the large scale charts of the more interesting anchorages produced by Antares Charts.

If you decide to visit and find yourself moored close to one of our members (identified by the burgee above) feel free to say hello and you will undoubtedly be given local advice.