Round the South end of South Ronaldsay

Widewall Bay

Our aim for today was to get round to the east side of Orkney, so we could head north. Careful examination of the tides said we would be best going round Brough Ness at about 13:45. The tide would be against us heading south, and we were 6 nm north of the Ness, so planning on 3 knots we decided to haul the  anchor up at 11:30. Big mistake.

Once out of the bay we turned south under sail, and were promptly doing 5 knots... We reefed down to the 1st hoop, and furled the jib, and were still doing 4... We got to Lothar Rock where we would turn to head east half an hour early, and were soon slowed  down by the adverse tide. We put the engine on, centred the main sail, and fought our way through the overfalls at 1.5 knots. The helm was very heavy, and we were being thrown from one side to another on our course. This was at neaps, and only 30 minutes before the tide was supposed to be in our favour. Not fun!

Old Head

 

We made Old Head, where we would turn north, and were soon sailing along with the engine off at 4.5-5 knots. The rest of the sail up to our chosen anchorage for the day at East Weddell Sound was a lovely broad reach, but the sky was overcast, and the north west wind was cold. We were glad to turn into Holm Sound and head for our anchorage. Both of us were cold, and had sailed enough for the day after the stress of getting round Brough Ness.