Portsoy to Wick

Leaving Portsoy means leaving an hour either side of high water. Isabella Fortuna started to warm up her engines before 3 a.m. and left as soon as the local boat that was acting as a tug to help her off the quay turned up. As soon as they were clear of the harbour Julian got Robinetta’s engine on and we were away from the harbour by 03:30. Both of us were short of sleep. Our guests had stayed until 22:00, and we did not get into our bunks until 23:00 as we were taking bunting down and preparing Robinetta for sea. 

The day started well enough, with bright sunshine and seas calm enough for us to try George on the helm, but the wind was dead astern, and George was not strong enough to keep us on course with the main sail working. We went to hand steering within half an hour as the waves grew steeper, then reefed the main sail only quarter of an hour later. By 04:40 we had given up on the idea of sailing our course, and dropped the main to head straight towards Wick with only the staysail flying. It was a day of taking turns to helm, or trying to sleep in a wildly moving cabin. 

The Murray Firth has two huge wind farms. We were aiming to pass between them, but they just merge together in the middle, so we had no real option but to thread through them. No one tried to stop us. A wind farm work boat passed us by as we closed with towers, and it ignored us totally. The wind from behind filled the staysail, and we managed 5 knots through parts of the wind farm while the tide was with us. The sea state was nasty, and every seventh wave rolled Robinetta violently. The towers meant we were constrained with where we could point, and our straight line course got deflected by half a mile as we tried to keep the rolling to a minimum. 

The sun went in, and we were still ten miles from Wick when it started raining. The tide was now against us, taking our average speed over the ground down to 2.5 knots. We saw a single yacht sail against the land as we cleared the wind farm, but all the other boats were working ones, trawlers and wind farm boats.

The final slog into Wick was actually enjoyable in a masochistic kind of way. The swell was going down, the wind in the staysail was not directly from behind, and I could see our track on the chart plotter from when we left Wick on Saturday 14th June. Once we joined it I no longer had any worries about the course, and even the crab pot buoys seemed to be in the same place… 

We were directed into the same spot in the marina that we had been in before, and once Julian hooked up the electric we got the heater on and began to dry everything out. Heading outside into the rain again did not appeal, once we were in dry clothes and we had enough food left over from Portsoy to make a tasty dinner. 

It was still raining when we went to bed at 22:00, after a long and tiring day.

Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival

 

There were not nearly as many boats at the festival as expected. Isabella Fortuna was the only big local boat in the old harbour, and the other boat that was open to the public was Nova Spero, a wooden hulled fishing boat built at Arbroath in the 1970s. She still looks like a deep sea fishing boat, with steel superstructure and wooden decks, but inside this shell she is now fitted out to take 12 guests around Scotland, visiting out of the way places in luxury.

Nova Spero

 

There were lots of locally built rowing boats. Banff and Cullen both have schools and it was great to see young people learning life skills by building boats.

The music and food were as good as ever, and the sun shone on both days so no one minded the strong winds on Saturday that set all the flags flying. 

Last time we went to Portsoy Robinetta behaved impeccably while lying against the harbour wall. This time she did not seem to like it much. She dried out bow down on Friday and Saturday mornings, and Sunday was even worse, as she grounded too close to the wall so we had to have help from Isabella Fortuna's crew and a couple of the security guards to tie her hard back against it to avoid her falling over into the harbour. Friday and Saturday evenings were better as we were awake and could position her as she touched the sand although the bow was still low. Our last drying out, on Sunday evening went perfectly. Not only were we on board as she grounded we had three guests in the cockpit, and their weight meant the bow stayed up beautifully. Our guests were the skipper of Salcombe Lass, who had entertained us the previous two evenings, and two young Norwegians who were over at the festival to demonstrate their boat building skills.

Robinetta was awarded the best traditional boat award, so now we have a lovely ceramic clock for the living room as well as the dining room.

Whitehills to Portsoy

Whitehills is around 4 nm from Portsoy. Richard Thorne had said we should be able to get into the Old Harbour from about 12:30.

So I suggested we leave about 11. That gave me most of the morning to work on the toilet pump.  I had taken it off and started cleaning it at Inverness but there was more to do. I just about got all the old gunk off the plastic shell but didn’t get as far as reassembling it.

Getting out of the inner harbour at Whitehills proved even more tricky than getting in had been. Robinetta would not turn at all whilst going astern. We managed to back out straight into the opposite berth and then we needed to do a 180 degree turn around the finger pontoon. We had a little help but we still got nearer than we would like to other boats.

But we got into the outer harbour with only our pride damaged. There wasn’t much wind but I think there was enough to catch the cabin sides. And the Harbour Master had said there was current in there. We got the bowsprit set in the outer harbour and headed out. The tide was low enough to show the rocks marked by the posts. There really is very little room.

Entrance to Whitehills

I shook the reef out as we raised the main and we set off with a full cutter rig but no. 2 jib. It was a lovely beam reach with the wind coming from the shore, so the sea was flat. But it was strong. I looked at the wind farm on the hill and joked “We don’t need them to generate more wind”.

Of course, we were actually in the shadow of the wind farm, and once past it, the wind got even stronger and we needed the reef back in. Then we had a pretty wild and fun sail until we got near the crab pot markers outside Portsoy. We called Portsoy on the VHF and they said there was plenty of water. Although we had been going really fast, 5 ½ knots at tímes, with the stopping to reef, and pot-dodging, it was about 12:15, bang on time.

The rib came out to say hello, and check we remembered the way in. I carried on sailing until we were reasonably close, to try to put on a show. I think we could have gone a bit closer.

It was really calm in the entrance, so we had no trouble motoring in and people standing by to take our lines and be in the right place for the berthing plan.

Once we were settled, I set to work assembling the toilet pump and refitting it and connecting it up. By then, the tide had gone back out and we were high and dry against the wall. We would need to wait until evening to see if the pump worked.

Time to get going again

 We hired a van to fetch Worm from Rosmarkie. Neither Julian nor I felt like going back to anchor there!

We then left Robinetta and Worm in Inverness Marina for 3 days while we went to deal with our non sailing lives.

Our plans for our next trip were tide and weather dependant. The tides dictated that we should leave at 01:30 on Thursday morning to get as far as possible towards Portsoy, ready to enter the harbour there at high water on Friday for the festival there. But would the weather let us?

The answer was a resounding yes. We set off as planned, just as the tide turned in our favour under the Kessock Bridge. There was no wind, and the sea was totally calm. This was the first outing for our running lights this year, and we discovered that the port light was not working. However the starboard light, and the masthead light were fine. As Robinetta is under 7m all she legally needs to show is a masthead all round white light, but we still prefer to show the port and starboard, so Julian went forward and got the light working again. We passed 2 yachts heading towards the marina, that must have used the stand of tide at the Chanonry Narrows to sneak though at the start of the ebb. Both were much bigger than Robinetta and would be able to beat the ebb at the Kessock Bridge.

We set our tiller pilot "George" to work at 02:20, and he took all the stress out of the next 7 hours of the trip. By then we were past our first possible stopping point of Burghead. Averaging over 5 knots we would not have been able to get in there at that time, as it is tidally restricted.

Burghead Transmitter Station

The wind began to come in from behind. We raised the sail and put on a preventer. By 09:10 we were motor sailing past Halliman Skerry, just west of Lossimouth. George could no longer cope with the swell, so we went to hand steering. Our speed continued to increase, and we turned the engine off at 10:27. Our revised destination was Whitehills, 4 nautical miles further on than Portsoy. This harbour is also tidally constrained, with the entrance channel only usable 4 hours either side of high water, but at our current speed our chart plotter promised we would be there at 15:15, which gave us a comfortable 2 hours in hand.

By 11:30 the wind was getting stronger, and the waves were also building. We needed to gybe to get clear of a bay, but Julian decided that with my arm still not 100% recovered it would be easier to go the long way round and tack instead. As we went head to wind we realised how strong the wind really was, so we turned the engine on so I could hold Robinetta head to wind while Julian put in a reef. The wind speed was probably only a top end 4, but that was quite enough to let us touch 6 knots when the gusts came, even reefed. 

I phoned the harbour master at Whitehills to check our access times were right, and he agreed that as long as we were there by 17:30 we should get in without problems. As our expected arrival time was now15:00 that reassured us it would not be a problem if we slowed down. Not that we did! The harbour master phoned back a little later, and said we would have a more restful night if we went go into the inner harbour, where there was plenty of space, rather that staying on the visitor pontoon in the outer harbour. 

We tacked rather than gybed a couple more times on our way to Whitehills. I could helm without problems on the port tack, which let Julian have a rest, and gave me a chance to enjoy the sailing.

We were half a mile from the harbour entrance when we turned head to wind to get the sails down. I had been worried it would be a bit bumpy at this point, but Julian got the sail down without problems.

The problems began once we were in the inner harbour. I spotted the perfect berth and headed straight for it, but messed up and had to back out to avoid spearing the neighbouring yacht with Robinetta's bowsprit. It then took us ten minutes to sort ourselves out again. Julian took the helm (he is better at close quarters manoeuvring than me), but even he could not make Robinetta reverse in a straight line due to the wind. We had to get the bowsprit in to be safe in the close quarters of the marina, and I managed to do it without my elbow hurting. Maybe I am healing!

Julian took us back into the outer harbour and we turned round, and re-entered the inner harbour, aiming for our chosen berth again. This time it went perfectly, and we were moored up with the engine off at 15:40. It had been a long day, but we were now within 4nm of Portsoy, with no tidal gates to worry about.

We had started off the sail with partial overcast, gone though some rain, and reduced visibility, then back to partial overcast. By the time we were approaching Whitehills the sky was clearing, and the rest of the afternoon promised bright sunshine. This has been a very good day on the water.

Whitehills Inner Harbour 

 

The other view point

When we go back to the beach and saw Robinetta see-sawing on her anchor my first thought was that we had to get out to her. I was cursing my elbow, as I was not at all sure that Julian's rowing was up to the task of rowing against the wind and swell. 

We carried Worm down to the water line, and Julian was all for just launching her, when I called for a plan before we tried. The only time we had launched into this sort of swell before had been at Lundy, and our normal stern first plan had seen her swamped. 

 Roddy and Suzanne, experienced sailors that we had chatted with when we arrived at Rosemarkie, helped us by holding Worm's stern while Julian and I got in, and then Julian started rowing towards Robinetta. Some water had already come in over the bow, and I tried bailing with Julian's hat, the only container like thing we had with us. Julian did well at first, but the first time he stopped for a moment I could see Robinetta getting further away again. I kept trying to help him steer for her, but  every time I did that, his concentration broke, and his rowing faltered. 

The swell got steeper and shorter, and Robinetta was actually getting further away even when Julian rowed well. The tide was pulling us south. It was obvious to me that we would not reach Robinetta unless Julian rowed strongly, and consistently straight into the waves. Unfortunately he was hampered by lack of experience, and stamina. He also could not see where he needed to go, or how the waves were setting. Eventually I insisted we headed back to the beach. Doing that was easy!

I tried to get Julian to keep rowing, to ride the waves into the beach, but he was tired, and did not realise why I wanted him to. The consequence was that a wave broke into the stern and drenched me as we reached the beach. 

 Roddy and Suzanne had stayed to watch us row out. They were glad to see us turn back and reach the beach safely, as they had been wondering about calling 999. Instead that was left for me to do. I could not be sure that Robinetta would not pull up her anchor with the way she was moving, and the main sheet had come loose, so the boom was swinging wildly. 

Calling 999 and asking for the coastguard seemed the sensible thing to do. If we had brought our hand held radio I would have called a pan pan, but there is no equivalent call for the land based emergency services.

I left Julian to take care of getting Worm higher up the beach, and walked away to make the phone call. I may have imagined the moment’s surprise on the 999’s dispatcher’s voice, and she certainly put me through to the coast guard straight away. He had problems hearing me at first, because of the wind noise, but once I pulled up my shirt collar and held the phone and my head into it’s shelter everything became easier. I assured him that there was no risk to life, just the boat, and once we had agreed where the boat was anchored he told me to hang up to save battery, and that he would ring back when he knew what he could do to help. 

 Being taken back to Suzanne and Roddy’s caravan to get warm and have a cup of tea while we waited to hear back was lovely. The phone went, but it was a false alarm, just Inverness Marina calling back to giving us a berth number for the night. The next call was the one we were waiting for. North Kessock lifeboat had been launched, and would pick us on on the sheltered, Fortrose, side of the point. Once we knew the RNLI would come and help us back on board Robinetta, the worry became what we should do about Worm? Our good Samaritans promised to keep on eye on her overnight, and we headed across to the sheltered side of the point to meet up with the RNLI. 

Being hauled and lifted into a large rib is an undignified process, but the RNLI crew were lovely about it, and got me settled onto a seat before the crew member in the water pushed the RIB deeper so the engines could be lowered again. 

Once their own crew member back on board the rib set off round Chanonry Point towards Robinetta. The contrast in the swell once we came out of shelter was huge, and I hung on with my good arm as we bounced across the waves towards Robinetta, which looked tiny in the distance. Once we got closer we could see that she was still rolling and pitching wildly, with the boom swinging from one side of the cockpit to the other, bouncing off the backstays. One of the lifeboat crew went on board first, his helmet offering him protection if he got hit, and once the boom was secured the RIB approached again and Julian scrambled across. 

It took me two approaches before I could join them in the cockpit, but once I was there the motion did not seem too bad. It is amazing the difference being back in familiar surroundings made! Julian went across the cabin roof to the foredeck to begin hauling up the anchor, and I put some revs on the engine and motored forward to help. 

It was only when the anchor was secured on deck that I realised a couple of things. I was cold, and soaked through, and the instruments were still turned off. I had been so focused on getting Robinetta under way that I had failed to think about these things. As soon as Julian was back in the cockpit I sent him below to turn on the instruments and get a layer, and then he took the helm while I did the same. The RNLI man, on his first shout, stayed on the foredeck until we were out of the worst of the waves. 

The RIB escorted us to Chanonry Point, where the sea was as flat as a pancake and the dolphins were chasing fish, and then they took their crew member back and set off back to their base as North Kessock. 

Once we were alone I went below, and stripped off to get dry clothes on, then Julian did the same. The swell came back as we headed towards Kessock Bridge, but nothing Robinetta and her crew could not handle. The adrenalin was still running even after we were securely moored up in the marina, so although we had food on board we headed into Inverness for dinner. We needed a change of scene.

A Challenging Day

 We got off the anchor just before 6 am and headed round Tarbat Ness.

It was a fine, windless morning. The morning Inshore Waters suggested wind would come in from the south-east overnight, so we decided to make Rosmarkie a lunch stop, and carry on to Inverness in the afternoon. Cape Wrath to Rattray Head, including the Isles of Orkney, is a sea area so vast and complex to be almost useless. I don't trust it at all for the inner Moray Firth. I'm using Windy a lot these days as its visualisations are excellent. Windy agreed the wind would come in later but said north-east.

We agreed we would be away from Rosmarkie before the wind came in.

We had a lovely motor around Tarbat Ness, George doing all the work, and down the Dornoch peninsula to Cromarty Firth. We saw an oil platform being towed into Nigg from a distance and we could see it in there as we passed.

A cormorant circled Robinetta about 10 times near Cromarty.

An early start meant we were both ready for an early lunch, so we had cheese rolls and crisps before noon.

We dropped anchor at about 1 pm and rowed ashore. It was flat calm and hazy. We met and chatted with several people as we headed into the village.

My target for the day was the Groam Museum, another place famous for it's Pictish symbol stones and cross slabs. When we got there it was unexpectedly closed due to staffing issues.

So we went for a walk up the Fairy Glenn to a nice waterfall.

On the way back, we had a drink in the Plough and then wandered back down to the beach, noticing that there was now wind in the tallest trees.

When we saw the sea there were white horses! That was really unexpected. Once we could see Robinetta we started to get worried, she was bucking around.

We knew it would be a difficult launch into the surf and a stiff row. It would also be quite hard getting aboard. But we tried. On the beach, a couple we had met earlier, Roddy and Suzanne, helped us launch.

We got off OK and I was making good progress until we were half way there. We both knew that Alison would be making a much better job of it if her elbow wasn't still healing from the break it suffered in Shetland.

Then I started getting tired and I think the wind got even stronger. I could not see how we were doing, but Alison said we were going backwards and getting pushed south towards Chanonry Point. Eventually we gave up and went back to shore. On the beach, Roddy and Suzanne were standing by to help. Alison got soaked by a big wave as we landed.

Robinetta was bouncing all over the place and we were worried she would drag her anchor. Alison called 999 to talk to the Coastguard. She made sure they knew there were no people in danger. Roddy and I got Worm further up the beach.

They took the details and said they would call back. They asked for our position using "what three words". We said "can't we give you a lat/long?". We gave them a lat/long. Roddy and Suzanne took us up to their caravan to get warm and dry and gave us tea.

The Coastguard phoned back. The North Kessock ILB would pick us up from the west side of Chanonry Point, where it was calm, and take us to Robinetta.

Suzanne came with us to show us the way across the golf course to the shingle beach. I watched the ILB on Marinetraffic. I got pulled aboard the ILB OK, but it was hard to get Alison on with her injury. The ILB had to lift it's engines and be walked into the shallows.

Getting to Robinetta was a bumpy ride. The wind was extreme. They put one crew member on board Robinetta. Then we heard an alarm. The crew couldn't find anything wrong on the ILB. I went on board and worked out it was our engine! The key had got knocked when the RNLI crew member got on. I started the engine to warm up and we secured the lines that had got shaken lose. Getting Alison on board was only slightly more complicated.

Then I went forward to haul the anchor. It came up OK but I was happy to accept help from the crew member who was still aboard.

Once we were off, we motored to Chanonry Point, and once in the lee of the sand, the crew member transferred back to the ILB and we parted ways. At least the lifeboat crew got to watch the dolphins at the Point.

We got the staysail up and motor-sailed at 6 knots towards the Kessock bridge. Wind and tide were pushing us hard and I had to make sure we weren't pushed onto the sandbanks.

It was still quite extreme, getting into the river, and then into our berth, but it all worked.

We won't trust the wind not to come in early again!

Now we just have to get Worm back.

No-one who's had dealings with lifeboat crews, or watched Saving Lives at sea, will be surprised to hear what a lovely, capable crew came to our aid. It was great to see a mixed crew with some highly experienced and some really new members, all wonderful. They didn't need to come and help, we didn't need saving. I know that if someone else had needed us more, they would have abandoned us somewhere safe and went to save lives. But they did turn a minor crisis into something we could deal with.

We learned a lesson today. In future, we will have a risk assessment before rowing ashore. If we'd done that, we might have gone round the Point to Fortrose to anchor.

Portmahomac

We had a sail! I was expecting to motor all the way today but we managed to sail a good part of the 18 nm from Helmsdale to Portmahomac.

High water was 6 am this morning. We put the No jib on last night, checking first that it was rolled up the same way as the No 2, which we'd used last. Hopefully no more surprises.

We got away as planned at 7 and motored out. The breeze in the harbour wasn't replicated outside and the sea was flat. We got George out but he resolutely refused to power on. The noise from the engine made working near the engine bay horrid, so Alison helmed with the engine off, making  .8 of a knot in the right direction. Luckily the tide was with us.

By the time I had completed removed all the wiring and the new bulkhead socket, and buzzed everything with the multimeter, it looked like the neutral inline plug was faulty. I pulled it apart and the crimp looked good. Once out of its shell, it buzzed OK too. So I put everything back and it all worked. Grr. Once my head was out of the engine bay the noise of the engine began again.

George did sterling work across the Dornoch Firth. The wind came in gently from the south-east and let us sail. For once we kept George in place even after turning the engine off, and put the solar panel on to help power him. Eventually the battery voltage started to drop and we went to hand steering.

It wasn't very sunny, but there was lots of blue sky and it's a very pretty Firth. It was a lovely morning. the first truly relaxing day on the water since we sailed around Bressay.

We  dropped anchor as planned at dead low water with 2 m under the keel, and rowed ashore. For once, I got to row! We planned to go to the beach, but Alison spotted that there seemed to be enough water to get to the pontoon in the harbour. This was into the wind, and a test of my rowing, but it all worked.

We had a chat with a friendly local and then walked to the Tarbat Ness Discovery Centre. In the 1990s, archaeologists discovered a major Pictish monastery here. The most remarkable feature was a vellum factory, the only one yet found in the Pictish area of Scotland. There is evidence that the vellum made here could have been used in the famous Book of Kells. If so, the book might have been written here, which would mean we DO have Pictish writings! That would be a major development.

 It's a diet day. So no afternoon tea and no ice cream. So we rowed straight back to Robinetta.

 

 We are expecting a calm night at anchor, but the wind direction is variable, so some of the time we will get some fetch to the little swell there will be.  

Riviera Embroidery Designs

59 Primley

Bottling out

The problems I had in getting the preventor rigged on on Saturday made me a lot less certain about my capability.The nurse in Shetland told me 3-6 weeks for full recovery, and I was beginning to believe 3. Now I am not so sure.  We stayed in Helmsdale on Sunday, and thought about leaving on the early tide on Monday, but a look at the forecast made us hesitate. It was not the wind speed, 4-5 knots is a good sailing breeze for Robinetta, it was the wind direction. Our tiller pilot can not cope with much in the way of swell, and with the wind from the west or south west Julian would have to helm all the way. With a minimum of 6 hours to the next safe port/anchorage this did not seem reasonable or safe.

So we are staying in Helmsdale for a while, probably not leaving until Thursday when the wind is so light we will have to motor. This is the time when my elbow injury is really annoying me. I feel fine, can move it, and carry light objects. However it will not take my weight, and is not up to prolonged use or any twisting action.

I need patience! Helmsdale has everything we need, and some very attractive walks in the area.

Heading for Helmsdale

We spent 3 nights in Wick, going to visit Lybster by bus on Thursday, then having a lazy Friday 13th in Wick while the sun shone warmly and the swell decreased. In the evening we looked at the forecast and decided we should be fine to head south towards Helmsdale. Knowing this has a bar across the entrance that constrains entry to 3 hours either side of high water we decided to get up early to make sure we could get in. With high water at 14:43, and 28nm to travel we decided that leaving at 05:00 should give us plenty of time. We could have left later, but all the forecasts were telling us that the morning would be sunny, but to expect rain in the afternoon. “Windy” also showed a westerly kicking in, which would let us sail. The Met Office and XCWeather had cyclonic, going northerly for a time… We prepared Robinetta before heading to bed, bending on the no2 jib and taking off the sail covers, then set our alarm for 04:15.

There was no sign of the sun as we left Wick, heading out into swell that made me very glad we had not tried to leave yesterday when it would have been higher. Julian got the main sail up, but we kept it centred as we turned onto our course along the coast. The wind was from behind, and too gentle to use.

The sun never appeared, and visibility was poor. I had laid in a course last night that kept us within .5nm of the shore, but even then the cliffs were too indistinct for photography. After an hour Julian was dozing off and I suggested he go below for some sleep, which he did. It began to rain, and the swell was rolling Robinetta relentlessly. We were travelling across it, which helped make the wavelength seem longer, but it was no fun.

After an hour Julian stirred, and when I told him it was raining he put his salopettes on. I had been wearing mine from the start, knowing I would struggle to get them on in a moving boat. By the time he came up he looked a little pale, and said he needed to go on the tiller as he felt nauseous. I was glad to hand it over.

The rain came and went, but the visibility got no better, and the engine stayed on

We took turn about on the helm until about 10:30, when the wind from astern became a sailing breeze. Julian sent me forward with the preventer line in case of gybing. This was my first bit of rope handling out of the cockpit since I damaged my elbow 17 days ago, and it showed that I was not really ready for the job at hand. I did manage it, but had to take an extra dose of painkillers straight after.

Once we turned the engine off the day became more enjoyable, although it got no brighter or dryer. Julian had to stay on the helm as the mainsail was out to port, but we were making good time, with the chart plotter suggesting we would arrive at noon. That was within the three hours either side of high water, but I was slightly concerned that the swell height would increase our risk of grounding.

Taking the preventer off was much easier than putting it on, and Julian made sure he tacked, rather than gybing to give us space to put the engine on and get the sail down. Once we were head to wind I took the helm, and Julian did all the rope work.

In the event we entered harbour at 12:15, using the leading lights to keep us straight. The right turn into the harbour itself was not a problem, but the remnants of swell that followed us into the narrow entrance meant I needed more revs on the engine than I prefer to keep us heading straight through the rather narrow gap.

Once inside the harbour I could see that there was no one on the visitor berth, which was a relief. Slowing down to get ropes and fenders out to go alongside was not so easy, but turning Robinetta round to go alongside slowed us enough that we could get the ropes onto the pontoon, which has a nice thick rubber fender of its own.

I shut the engine off at 12:25, glad we had been in this harbour before (back in 2014) so I had known what to expect.

When we moored 1m showed beneath the keel, by 19:12 it was much less, although we were still just about afloat.

Lybster by Bus

We had wanted to sail to Lybster, but the weather conditions made us decide to visit the harbour using the bus from Wick. When we got there we knew we had made the correct decision, as the swell approaching the narrow entrance to the harbour (2m) and the wind blowing into it (f6-7) made it a difficult place to approach safely.

The shelter inside was good, but we would have been lying against steel pilings, or rafted on a fishing boat, with a walk up the hill to a shop

Entrance to Lybster harbour

 

. Wick Marina is a much more comfortable place to sit out a blow!

Kirkwall to Wick

I spent yesterday replacing the bolts that hold the toilet to its wooden base. I got replacement bolts and washers in William Shearer. We first went there in 2014 and it hasn't changed. It's a narrow but really long shop with 'departments'. It feels like walking deeper and deeper into a treasure cave. Unfortunately, the hardware department is just pre-packed cheap Chinese stuff these days, but they did have the right dimensions. I should look for stainless at some point.

 Now sitting on the toilet isn't a balancing act.

 We think we will head to mainland Scotland for a week and explore the north east. The weather is changeable. We had thought to go to Lybster tomorrow. We haven't been. We could drop down to the Churchill barriers again today and have two easy days. But last night, the forecast for Thursday didn't look good.

 So we planned the trip to do Kirkwall to Wick in one hit. That's a long way, 55 nm, with Alison's arm still mostly out of commission.

 A 5 am start looked like it would give us the best tides but with a south easterly wind, I was worried the fetch would lead to difficult sea states. Myweather2 is good for that, but only has a few data points in the area. It suggested waves and swells of less than 1/2 m and pitches of 3.5 s. That would be fine. Windy was less optimistic and was showing faster waves around 7s.

 We woke to a fine calm morning and got off bang on 5 am. The weather stayed nice until about 7 am and then clouded over and the visibility was only a couple of miles.

leaving Copinsay to port

 

 We had 15 minutes of weak foul tide through the String south of Shapinsay and then a strong favourable push round to Copinsay. The sea was calm with no overfalls so we went less far off Mull Head and Copinsay than planned and George was at the helm. After that the wind came in and we could motor sail with hand steering.

We tried to keep the cross track error down but at that angle the waves, although not big, were making Robinetta pitch violently and stop dead. Steering a few degrees to port filled the sails better and prevented the resonance. So we put up with the risk of getting nearer the Skerries. We had left enough margin. It wasn't a problem.

Once we were far enough south to make a straight line for Wick south of the Skerries we turned the engine off. But after 30 minutes the wind dropped and we were wallowing in the swell so we motor sailed again the rest of the way. The tide helped Alison hit 6 knots a few times on this leg. It was pushing us west a bit as well. But we were careful near the Skerries. The last hour was foul but only a knot.

Three yachts came into Wick from Kirkwall within 30 minutes. Of course the other two ha
d left much later and probably sailed more of the route while we motor sailed. But we are now within a day sail of Inverness and Portsoy and we can have a holiday.

A day in Kirkwall

 We have been in Kirkwall several times before, and did not feel like doing the tourist thing, so today was spent on boat and person maintenance. I finally got round to getting a hair cut!

We had been asked to move Robinetta to a finger berth if we decided to stay another day, and as we wanted to go to the fuel berth anyway this was hardly a problem. We ended up taking 45 litres of diesel (of which 15 went into our spare fuel cans). This meant there had only been about 10 litres left in our fuel tanks when we reached Kirkwall, not enough for a full day's motoring. Once we were in our new berth we hooked up our water hose to replenish the other liquid essential for ship board life. 

Just before we launched Tim Loftus had to cut away some of the wood he had used to strengthen the hole through the bulwarks for the bowsprit. He had not realised that we needed to be able to reeve the bowsprit on a regular basis, so the tolerances for getting it in and out were too tight. This happened just before the launch and today Julian reminded me I needed to paint the bare wood there, and on the piece he had cut to stop the staysail car from pulling off its track. This was a very minor bit of painting, and easy to do.

Meanwhile Julian had the much more complicated job of bolting the toilet bowl securely onto its base. Luckily he was able to buy all the bits he needed to do the job. I was annoyed with myself when I saw how corroded the bolts that had failed where. The toilet assembly had been out of Robinetta all winter, and we had even painted the wooden base. I really should have checked the bolts at that point.

I had a look at the weather, and alerted Julian to the fact that Thursday looked rather too windy for our current levels of sailing fitness, so that evening we did some detailed planning for tomorrow's trip south.

Mainland Scotland here we come. 

Kirkwall

A cold day on the helm

 

 We thought about leaving yesterday afternoon but it was still a bit blowy. So we sat down and did a good old-fashioned passage plan for today, focussing on the changes in the tidal streams, using both the atlas and the point data on the plotter.

We decided we would get a favourable tide into Eday sound from around 9:45 and then carry the tide down Stronsay Sound most of the way, and get slack water south of Scalpay and then a favourable tide into Kirkwall.

So we left at 9 am and were in Kirkwall at 2 pm. We got a little less tide and a little less wind than we hoped for, and had to use the engine a bit to keep to time. We still aren't reading the atlas perfectly, we probably should be treating each page as what will be happening 30 minutes either side of the nominal time. But we did get pretty much what we expected.

The tide pushed us a bit further east a couple of times than would have been perfect. But we got to turn the engine off here and there and have a fine sail.

Alison's arm is still fragile, so it's only safe for her to helm when motoring, or on starboard tack. But we had some of both.

There is one other visiting wooden yacht here in Kirkwall. The owner is from Broughty Ferry.

Leaving Shetland

 

It would have been nice to stay another day at Fair Isle, but Julian took a look at the weather and said that if we did not go today we would be here until Tuesday. It seemed sensible to take the weather window we had, so our friendly American neighbour helped us cast off, and we left at 09:10.

Julian raised the main sail as we left harbour, not waiting to go head to wind as there was so little of it. As soon as we turned to head down the east side of Fair Isle we were heading virtually into the wind, getting only a little lift from the main sail which was pulled right in.

There is a notorious rost off the south end of Fair Isle, and we did go a little too close in, so experienced the edge of the Rost of Keels. We were at neaps, with very little wind, but the seas were confused enough to be unpleasant, although never dangerous. There was no chance of George being able to cope, even after we were clear of the rost, so we were hand steering, with Julian helming 2 hours for every hour I managed.

Rather than returning via Pierwall we had decided to go to the east of Orkney, aiming for an anchorage on Sanday. This was 40nm from Fair Isle, so 5 nm closer than Pierwall. We had never been to Sanday, so it was a chance to visit a new island. We were 18 nm from our destination, and sheltered from the Atlantic swell by North Ronaldsay when we realised the sea was calm enough to put George on duty. No sooner was he set up and working than the wind shifted enough for us to sail. Julian got the jib out, and turned the engine off, and we had blessed peace for an hour before the wind faded away again.

With George back on duty I finally got round to asking about the bad weather expected tomorrow. Westerly 22-30 knots, from 7am.

Julian had planned for us to be in a sheltered anchorage, that also had a visitor mooring, but I was not sure I would be able to get into Worm with my damaged elbow if there was any sort of sea. We started to look for alternatives, and settled on Whitehall Bay, on Stronsay. This has a pier we could moor against so I could get ashore, and it was hardly any further. We called the harbour master to check we would be okay, and once he heard Robinetta's draft he was happy to accommodate us.

The wind began to get up a bit as we approach the entrance channel, and we got another 20 minutes of pure sailing before the engine went back on to get the sails down.

There were no yachts against the pier, although there are supposedly berths for 6. We were looking to be blown off in the strong winds tomorrow, so went on the east side of the pier. It took us a while to get settled on a berth by a ladder, and Robinetta's stern did get a little damage from the rough pier before we got the lines set properly.

We setted down in the cabin to relax, but suddenly there was a bump on the stern. We were against the pier again. We gave up on berthing alongside, and put the engine on to head for a visitor buoy. We will deal with how to get safely ashore tomorrow. We are better off on the buoy for the night.

Getting further than planned.

We have been settled down in Vidlin sitting out the strong winds. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were horrible, with force 5-7 winds every day and heavy rain. We hired a car and explored Shetland by road. The car also made it easier to go to a couple of traditional music evenings, and to get to the hospital for my stitches to be taken out. Thursday was calmer, as predicted. We returned the car on Thursday afternoon and got the last bus back to Vidlin.

Lots of boats have been sheltering in Lerwick, including Fleur de Lampoul, a lovely gaff ketch. We saw her raising sail from the bus.

Friday was due to be calm again!

We are booked into the traditional sail festival at Portsoy on the Moray Firth coast for the last weekend in June, and given my broken elbow we wanted to head south in easy stages, so we decided to start south now. We wanted the tide with us as we passed inside Whalsay, and when Julian checked the times they were favourable between 4 a.m and 10 a.m. I did not want to miss this favourable window, so we set the alarm for 4 a.m, and were away from Vidlin by 04:50.

We raised sail as we headed out of Vidlin Voe, but there was no wind, and very little swell. We stayed close inshore, and passed Whalsay through Lunning Sound. We were through it before 6, with minimal overfalls at the south end between Bruse Hold and Hunder Holm. George went on duty while Julian cooked breakfast and we headed for Noss Head. This route was only 1 nm longer than going through Bressay Sound, and avoided all the ferry, fishing, and leisure boats coming out of Lerwick. It also had the advantage of letting us admire the sea bird filled cliffs of Noss Head.

We were intending to anchor at Grutness Voe, and Julian had put in a course to there, but we were making an easy 5 knots under engine with some sail assist, and keeping up with the tide, making it favourable all the way to Sumburgh Head. We would be at Grutness by lunch time, and with George on the helm neither of us was having to work hard. We were making such good progress that we decided to go all the way to Fairisle.

Once we were past Sumburgh Head, giving it an offing of about 4 nm, the swell got up and George had to be replaced by a human. Then the tide assist became a cross tide and we slowed down. The 20 miles between Sumburgh and Fair Isle were much slower and harder work, but we were moored up in the harbour by 19:20. The harbour already had 3 yachts in it, and we were aiming for the boat with no one outside it, but people appeared on the 2 rafted together, ready to take our lines so we took up their offer.

Finding better shelter

 We spent an uneasy night against the pier, worrying about the way Robinetta was rolling despite the shelter. When I woke at 05:30 to bright sunshine and a still boat, Julian was already awake, and checking the weather on his phone.

There were south or south west force7-8 winds in the forecast for Shetland, with a period of South East 4-5 this morning. We decided to take advantage of the short lull to head for a more sheltered refuge, and got up immediately. By 06:00 we had the engine on to warm up and were preparing to head out.

We raised sail, reefed right down, in the sheltered water of the harbour then headed out through the North East Channel, the same way we had come in. Our chosen port of refuge was Vidlin marina, on Mainland, just 14nm away.

At first we were sheltered by Out Skerries, and Julian cooked porridge for breakfast which we ate in shifts.

Sailing past Muckle Skerry

The sea state, moderate in the forecast, was luckily on the low side of possible wave height, and although we were bashing away on best course to windward we made good time motor sailing. It really helped that we were on port tack, so I could helm with my good arm and give Julian some time to relax. The wind direction did not give much time for the wave height to build and Robinetta could power through the occasional bigger wave.

Once we got in the lee of Whalsey we were able to turn the engine off for a bit and just sail. I went below and had a little doze, then made us some hot chocolate; the wind was cold and we had got up early, and tea just did not have enough calories to keep us going!

By 11 am we were in Vidlin Marina, trying to moor up. The water was flat, but the wind was fierce, and my normal slow approach to a berth failed to work. Robinetta ended up spinning round, and I had to back off in a hurry to avoid hitting a motor cruiser on the other side of the visitor berth. Controlling the helm and the engine controls with only one hand proved impossible in the conditions.

Julian took over and brought us in against the pontoon before stepping ashore with both lines. I had to motor forward to stop us being blown in reverse. Docking was not easy!

By 11:12 the engine was off, and we were safely moored up, and very glad to be so. We will probably be here until Friday, as we would be foolish to head out with the forecast weather conditions until then.

In Vidlin Marina