Gales delayed her on Thursday 9^th December and she did not leave Uig on the 0940 Lochmaddy sailing until 1125. She arrived at Lochmaddy at 1320 then remained stormbound for the rest of the day. To make up for the lost sailings her timetable was changed on Friday 10^th and she began at 0520 with a sailing from Lochmaddy to Tarbert then Uig. The normal Friday sailing from Uig at 0940 was diverted to call at Tarbert between 1125 and 1135 before carrying on to Lochmaddy where she arrived at 1320. At 1345 she returned direct to Uig then finished her day with the scheduled 1500 sailing to Lochmaddy, delayed in leaving until 1545. More gales on Tuesday 14^th delayed her and she did not leave Lochmaddy until 0835. Thereafter she sailed from Uig at 1055 to Lochmaddy and Tarbert, leaving the latter at 1455. She finished the day with the scheduled 1530 sailing to Tarbert leaving Uig at 1655.

 

On Fridays 24^th and 31^st December she operated as per normal until arriving at Uig at 1430. She left again at 1500 and sailed first to Tarbert and then Lochmaddy. For the first time in the history of the route Christmas and New Year’s Days were spent at Lochmaddy: this allowed her to be in position to provide the normal Sunday scheduled sailing.

 

Because of gales she turned back to Tarbert on the 0730 sailing on Wednesday 5^th January and remained there for the rest of the day. She started at Tarbert the next morning then picked up her normal roster on arrival at Uig. She sailed ahead of herself due to rapidly worsening sea conditions and arrived at Tarbert for the night at 1625, 15 minutes ahead of schedule. She sailed normally on Friday 7^th but on Saturday 8^th she found it impossible to get alongside at Uig at 1510 and, to the undoubted delight of her passengers, turned around and headed through the gale back to Tarbert.

 

With a moderation in the weather on Sunday 9^th she left Tarbert at 0730 and crossed to Uig for 0920. She then made for Lochmaddy to carry out the normal Sunday scheduled crossing to Uig and back then extended the sailing for traffic back to Tarbert, arriving at 1750. The calm conditions were but a mirage and next day the gales returned, worse than ever. On the morning of Monday 10^th she was unable to leave Tarbert at the scheduled time of 0730. Instead she left at 1005 and made for Lochmaddy then crossed to Uig. After a quick exchange of traffic she was off again at 1435 (25 minutes before schedule) and made for Lochmaddy. Next day the islands were hit by storm force winds which eventually overnight rose to hurricane force and caused much devastation both to buildings and the island infrastructure. Conditions on that day, Tuesday 11^th, precluded any attempt to sail and she remained at Lochmaddy until the following day when she finally got away at 1400 to sail to Uig and back.