Feedback

We welcome feedback from our participants and are delighted that nearly all of it is excellent. Where improvements can be made we aim to change things for the following year.

Below are a selection of comments from recent Raids along with some of our own observations. You may also be interested in these articles from previous participants.

2015 Feedback

“Sail Caledonia was again a most enjoyable event with great camaraderie between all boats, crews and support staff. Anyone who appreciates stimulating company, laughter, live music, good food, occasionally challenging sailing, interesting small boats and a memorable experience should come….read more”, Matthew Peacock.

“As a first-timer with three other folks sailing Moireach, we had a great time during the Sail Caledonia week. The opportunity to sail, row and chug up the Great Glen is stunning. Hats-off to Martin and his team for providing a safe and enjoyable environment to do that in. We enjoyed our accommodation on one of the Taransay cruisers, getting to know our fellow residents, and the opportunity to chat and mill around with all the participants and helpers was a highlight of the week. The BayRaiders all looked good, but there were also other stunning examples of hand-crafted boats; how they made it along Loch Ness still amazes me. In all this mix our schoolboy French and Italian was tested with those that had come from Europe. which added another dimension to events. The week was a challenge, but in a good way; we enjoyed the thrashing around the cans as much as we enjoyed the quieter times and meeting a great bunch of people. To next time!”, John Perry.

Previous Years’ Feedback

A very surprising event of outstanding quality in every aspect, social, nature, sailing.

The boat classes were clearly very well thought out. Whoever designed them is a credit to you.

Loved the bagpipes… more bagpipes.

Good value. Additional expenditure minimal.

Comparing to other adventure weeks it is cheap.

Much work clearly done behind the scenes. All appeared effective, friendly and appropriate.

Very impressed with the organisation, logistics and safety cover.

Staff were fantastic. We really felt they were here to make our week enjoyable and not just to get the event finished.

The safety cover was very impressive. In addition to seeing the safety cover it was very reassuring and impressive to hear on the VHF the ongoing organisation and cover being arranged.

Great breakfasts and dinners.

The races were what I was looking forward to least about Sail Caledonia because I have never raced and don't have much interest in racing, so I was more interested in cruising the Great Glen. However, the relaxed atmosphere made the racing fun and something I enjoyed.

The ceilidh was very good and a memorable night and it was always very enjoyable to hear Mark's bagpipes when we arrived each afternoon.

I thought the event was well arranged communicated and run. Food and accommodation were good, and safety was well covered too. No complaints at all.

Some starts were rushed and difficult to get to on time.

We have modified start procedures for the races in question.

A rib collision on the rowing race left us feeling a bit hard done by.

Words have been said!

Too much rowing.

The conditions this year were exceptional. Normally there is enough (or too much) wind for good sailing races.

We have no control over the weather but we do have to get to our overnight stops.

We will review options for getting to our destination and then running shorter sailing races from there, should we ever have a repeat of these conditions.

Facilities for campers were limited.

Our arrangements were based on fewer numbers than we had this year. We will look into this and will certainly provide additional facilities in future.

Accommodation on Taranay is not as comfortable as on the barge.

Unfortunately we cannot make the cabins any larger, but we have adjusted the price differential to reflect this.

We did not realise that this was a sailing and rowing event.

The event is advertised as a sailing and rowing event.

Not enough music in the evenings.

This year, because we were still finding our way round Ros Crana, Mark spent more time than usual on Loch Ness. Next year should be back to normal.

We had arranged for local musicians at Fort Augustus, but unfortunately that fell through. We will keep on trying.

We did not have information on………..

In the few cases where this was mentioned the information was in fact there in either the Notice of Race, the Sailing Instructions or the Joining Instructions.

Unfortunately, to cover everything, these documents are quite lengthy and take a while to read through thoroughly.

This year we did extract some of the more immediate information in the form of hand-outs and will do more of that in the future.

Lots of waiting around for a very short sail on the Friday.

We too were extremely disappointed by this .The completion of the journey from sea to sea is very special.

Scottish canals do a superb job in easing our passage through the canal. Unfortunately they have no control over the opening of the railway bridge and on this occasion the bridge did not open for the time slot that we had been allocated.

We have had a good and productive meeting with the canal authorities and next year we hope to have a specific timings agreed.