Log of Robinetta: Cape Wrath

Yesterday we ended up as planned in Loch Eriboll. Half-way through the day we thought we might go on but we were too tired.

The reason for going on was this word ‘rough’ in the weather forecast for Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath. So the first thing to do was to check the weather.

The word was still there, but it said ‘in the west’ and now I had time to check what that meant. It looks like it means outside the Outer Hebrides. The Minch forecast area is entirely within the larger Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath area and was much calmer.

The forecast for the first part of the journey hadn’t changed - East or South-East 3-5. We were unlikely to get a better forecast than that for rounding Cape Wrath. So we would go.

Next we looked at the tides. The atlas said the west going tide would start around 9 am. That gave us a nice easy start. It should then carry us round Cape Wrath and southward.

The weather was fine - a beautiful morning.

Alison wanted the No 2 jib and a reef in the main. I was happy with that - we would need it for a 5 and could change if we got a 3. So we stowed the No 1 and set the No 2. I left it 1/2 up as I needed the bobstay loose to raise the anchor.

We put the last 5 litres of diesel we had in a can into the tank and started the engine. I went forward to raise the anchor.

The wind was blowing into the anchorage and Robinetta was lying to it. Too much for me to haul against. So Alison motored forward gently to take the strain off the chain. I did it in stages, hauling until it got difficult and then making it off and stowing the chain. After some time some kelp came up and then it got really difficult. I got Alison to motor forward more quickly and that broke the anchor out of its kelp and I could finish raising it. It was hard work. I need to get fitter and stronger.

With the anchor on deck I could tension the bobstay and finish setting the jib. The bobstay tricing line had broken. It must have got chafed by the chain overnight. A good reminder to always trice the bobstay when anchoring, even in such calm conditions as we had last night.

Out of the anchorage we had room to raise the main. I had an idea to be able to set a preventer while reefed. We could tie in a sail tie and it would wind round the boom with the sail but still let us tie the boom to the shroud. We shook out yesterday’s reef and then put a small reef back in again. It looked promising,

Soon we were sailing gently out of Loch Eriboll.

Alison set a course which would take us outside all the rocks to the west of the entrance but I thought we’d try cutting through. Directly on the shortest course was a dead run so we split the difference taking a broad reach between rocks. The experiment told us the best course was now a run - the wind was more from the south-east this morning. So we headed north to be able to take a better line and stay off the run.


Sea birds flocking on the north coast

On the helm Alison was finding the swell really difficult but we persevered for about a mile and then gybed onto port tack. Suddenly everything felt right. Robinetta was riding the swell, not being thrown about by it. The balance was good and we were heading in roughly the right direction.

Looking back down the Loch, we saw Madam, a huge modern varnished wooden sloop, coming out behind us. They tacked round onto an inshore course towards Cape Wrath - the long way round compared to a gybe - and starting pulling away from us,

The wind was very variable. Occasionally it dropped enough for us to put the engine on but mostly we could sail at over 5 knots.

Then it freshened and we turned head-to-wind and reefed down more and kept the jib furled.

Then Alison suggested the balance might be better with jib and no staysail so we dropped the halyard but didn’t try tying it down. This was better for a while.

In the gusts we hit 7.3 knots and were averaging over 6.

I took over helming and after a while it got too much for me. So we went head to wind and dropped the main and then carried on with jib and staysail. That worked really well and we were still doing between 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 knots!

That got us all the way to Cape Wrath. Along the way two yachts passed heading east, both reefed down and close hauled. At least the swell on the west coast hadn’t kept them in port.

Alison was helming by the time we got to Cape Wrath. She found Robinetta’s head would not come round to port to make the turn. We turned the engine on and got her around.

The pilot mentions a back eddy in the bay south of the Cape. We didn’t need it. The tide turned the corner with us, but we eased over to port to look for it. Sure enough the speed dropped in the bay. We headed back out into the main tidal stream and motor sailed south.

Cape Wrath

But the wind which had propelled us to the Cape was now heading us and we were in the lee of the land. It got very light. It’s possible we could have headed further west and picked up more wind but it was easier to motor gently south in calm sunny weather.

The swell was coming in from the west. This should have been wind-over-tide but the wind was so slight and the swell pitch was so long that it was hardly noticeable.

The coast from Cape Wrath down to Kinlochbervie is spectacular with sea cliffs and stacks and fascinating geological features. The main island in Am Balg is particularly striking with a deep sea cave on the western side where the water is pushed high up to the ceiling by the swell.

Am Balg

The entrance to Loch Inchard is only apparent from the north once very close.

Coming into the outer loch the swell was quite steep, around a metre and causing large breakers on the rocky shore. But inside it was completely calm with a clear line. We wondered what it would feel like to cross this line. There was nothing on the charts to indicate concern so we headed in and the swell subsided gently. The hard line wasn’t really there, we had just come though a patch of overfalls.

The entrance to the narrows is perfectly hidden, only opening up once one is within a cable or two. The entrance into the harbour is straight-forward. As expected there wasn’t any room on the pontoon for us so we rafted on a large Dutch yacht.

We met Graham there too who we had chatted with in Stromness. While we were talking another two large yachts came in and there was only one way to get them in. We moved Robinetta onto Graham’s 34 ft boat leaving room for the two new boats to make a raft of three with the Dutch boat.