Eynhallow Sound to Kirkwall

If you read the pilot books for our East Coast, one would never venture into any of the Suffolk rivers. Pilot books tell the bad news so one can prepare. All the instructions for Orkney seem equally designed to dissuade anyone but the foolhardy. Our experience so far is that if you choose slack water, or the beginning or end of the favourable tide, the strong tides present no problem.

Strong over falls form in Eynhallow Sound but are worst on the ebb. One day off springs we knew we had to go in on the flood, as the ebb can run 7 knots in the wrong direction.

By the time we got to Costa Head our speed was increasing and we were reducing throttle to keep the speed down. We had favourable tide earlier than we anticipated, but then the Admiralty isn't perfect. I took the helm from Alison as we rounded into Eynhallow Sound and we turned the engine off. We were on a beam reach by now and late enough to miss the ebb. How much flood we would get from now on was how much there was; we could do little to change it.

As we came onto the beam reach everything calmed down. The waves vanished. Off the wind it was much warmer too. The small matter of the SOG hitting an unheard of 8 knots was merely interesting. Even that quickly reduced to a more reasonable 6 knots.

We steered the Clyde Cruising Club's recommended route as accurately as possible. It has a strong double dog leg around Aiker Ness which didn't seem to have any specific purpose. Before that is the Burgar Rost, which is supposed to only be a problem on the ebb. A little beyond that we did encounter some interesting eddies, one of which pushed us 40° off course, but only for a second. This photo show what might have happened if Alison's planning hadn't been so good.

From Orkney Image Library, 2007

Maintaining a steady 6 knots for an hour is not something we are used to. It eats miles. As we worked our way south the wind came on to a broad reach, a lovely point of sail and one that Robinetta loves. Steering accurately to miss all the skerries is tiring and after an hour I needed to rest and Alison took over again. Once we were past Gairsay and into Wide Firth the main things we needed to watch were ferries. Lots of ferries. None came close though.

We were both very tired. It was around 8 pm and we were up at 4 am. I went down to look at the way in to Kirkwall marina. Alison had done the passage planning and I realised I hadn't checked it at all.

As we got closer it seemed to me that Alison was steering for the wrong part of the harbour. I said "turn to port" and we had a "little discussion" about the harbour and whether we should get the main sail down outside or inside. Alison doesn't like going in to strange places with the sails up, which I understand. I don't like trying to get a sail tie on on the boom in a swell. This time we did it my way. Inside the harbour there was plenty of room to turn head to wind and drop the sails but little shelter from the north. We motored into the wind onto the visitors pontoon and made a total mess of getting the lines on. We were tired. As we sat in the cabin having our pot noodles we both decided the swell, even in the harbour, wasn't going to make a peaceful night.

After our 'meal' we wandered around the marina. The finger berths definitely had a calming effect on the swell and we picked an empty one to move to. As we were getting the lines off a local came along and asked if we were leaving. We said we wanted to move and he told us of another berth he knew had no permanent occupier and helped us with the lines both leaving and arriving at the new berth. It was much better!

People who know us may be surprised we eat pot noodles. We probably sit a long way towards foodie on the eating scale. On this trip we are both on the 5:2 diet and it is easier to have fast days on passage than in town. We have settled into a more-or-less fixed menu for fasting days. Breakfast is a small bowl of cereal or porridge - around 100 kcal. Lunch is two Ryvita with cottage cheese - around 100 kcal. Dinner is a pot noodle - 400 to 500 kcal. Pot noodles (or instant ramen) are pretty awful, but quick and filling. A fast day makes the following day into a feast, whatever it turns out to be.

Tonight is the most depressed I have felt on this trip. We haven't seen more than a few minutes of sunshine for a week or more and the NE wind is bitterly cold. The sail through Eynhallow Sound was wonderful. I need to remember that, not the cold.