Scrabster to Stromness

The route into Stromness from Scrabster leads through the Sound of Hoy, and the tides there have to be treated with extreme caution, especially as we were just a couple of days off spring tides. The wind was expected to be favourable, but changeable, and they might be against us when the tides were with us through the sound. That meant we should plan to get to the entrance of the Sound of Hoy at slack water. Trying to find out exactly when that was proved difficult. Our initial calculations from the Clyde Cruising Club suggested 16:30, but the tidal stream diamonds on the Navionics charts leant to up to 40 minutes earlier.

We set off from Scrabster at 09:00, having planned our passage on 3 knots. The tide would be trying to push us into the Pentland Firth as we crossed it, so we took that into account. Unfortunately everything went too well... We had a lovely sailing breeze for the first three hours, which bowled us along at 4.5 knots, and even when the wind went lighter we were still doing 3.5. That light wind was a problem, as the swell pushed us around uncomfortably, and Alex, not as used to sailing as Julian and me, was sick. We had to put the engine on to help keep Robinetta steady, so we kept getting ahead of our schedule.

The Northlink ferry passed us on its way south, then on its return trip north. Julian checked, and its next departure from Stromness would be at 16:00, so we might well meet it in the Sound of Hoy. The wind came back again from a good direction, at a perfect strength for Robinetta to sail at her best; we had to put a reef in to slow us down.

We started off in bright sunshine with great visibility, but this dropped when the wind did, and the cliffs of Hoy were too hazy for photography as we passed them, although Julian did get a good picture of a fulmer in flight, with the Old Man of Hoy lurking only just visible in the background.

Our attempts to slow down were partially successful, and we entered Hoy Sound at 16:05. The swell was rolling into the Sound, but the tide was still slightly against us, meaning that the seas were quite confused. Luckily the wind had died totally at this point, so with our main sail centred we did not need to worry about it. Robinetta dealt with the overfalls in her normal calm fashion: rocking and rolling, but never feeling out of control even when our speed dropped to 1.5 knots. We kept expecting the ferry to appear round the corner from Stromness, but luckily it did not make an appearance until we were in calm water again, and could easily turn to avoid it into the shallows on the Mainland side.

It began to rain as we followed the coast round into the harbour approaches, and by the time we were tying up it was pouring down. I dug out the main sail cover, and once that was on the cockpit cover went over the top for the first time this season.

When we were moving Worm to a safe berth I noticed a worrying line on the floor plank. It looked horribly like we had a hole. This was quite close to the bow, and as we had been towing Worm bow up with our speed most of the day the sea had not found its way in, but inspection revealed that we have indeed holed Worm for the second season in a row. It might have happened on the beach at Skullomie Harbour, but there is no way to know as no damage was visible then. Julian pulled Worm up onto the pontoon, and placed her upside down to stop her filling with rain.

We stripped off our sodden outer layers, and headed off to the Ferry Inn for a much needed dinner. We will deal with Worm's damage another day.