YOUR report on the unreliability of the Oban to Craignure ferry ("Islanders left high and dry as vital ferry service in crisis", The Herald, January 13) strikes a chord also with the people of Bute who also are faced with a quite appalling service provided by CalMac. Here we have two "ferries" both of which are simply unfit for purpose and unable to combat any slight south-westerly breeze on the Upper Clyde.

To rub salt into Bute's wounds, Wemyss Bay Pier has been closed for six months and sailings have been diverted to Gourock, and although CalMac promised a 60-minute crossing, the average time taken is now 75-85 minutes (and that is before docking and embarking via a death-defying gangway at Gourock Pier).

In the past month I have missed two surgery appointments at Inverclyde Royal Hospital due to ferry cancellations. At the same time small fishing boats and yachts were sailing around Toward Point accompanied by the superb small Admiralty tugs heading for Ardyne.

Martin Dorchester, the managing director of CalMac, states that his masters are all highly skilled and qualified. Well, perhaps a training course with the skippers of the Admiralty tugs would help them to deal with the waters of the Upper Clyde.

Kenneth P Colville,

Lorne Lodge, Craigmore, Isle of Bute.

WHILE Mull Islanders may have felt that their service by CalMac recently was unreliable, I would like to commend the company for its service on Hogmanay to Coll and Tiree; the day after Storm Frank.

Due to this storm, seaweed was discovered in the cooling system when the boat berthed at Tiree. This resulted in the boat having to retreat into the bay for an hour while this was removed. One of the crew remarked that this had never been known to occur in his 20 years of working for CalMac. It was uncertain whether we would be able to berth. However, the crew were good at keeping us informed of what was happening and they were neither overly optimistic or pessimistic about our chances but expressed confidence in those responsible for dealing with the situation.

We were all offered hot drinks while waiting and when we did berth, we were helped with our luggage to the top of the car ramp, the tide being too high for passengers to disembark by gangplank.

The managing director of CalMac is quite right to emphasise the skill and dedication of the crew when sailing and berthing is not straightforward due to weather and unforeseen difficulties. Not only that but the crew have to be prepared to be flexible with their working conditions and due to disruptions in other sailings that day, instead of finishing their shift mid-afternoon they were to be sailing elsewhere that day. There was no going home to their families either that day, as the crew were to see in the New Year on the boat.

While it may be baffling to those of us who have no seamanship skills to understand why sailings are cancelled at times, I am sure that sailings are not cancelled on a whim and often boats have sailed in adverse weather conditions demonstrating these skills of skippers and crew for which we are very grateful.

Irene Munro,

1 Wyvis Crescent, Conon Bridge.