There was virtually no wind all afternoon and George steered us to Mallaig. On the way, a family of common dolphins joined us and played around. Young dolphins jumped right out of the water and the adults spent some time bow-riding.
Archeologists have found that part of the stream is canalised with stone walls and there are mechanisms for keeping the water in the loch, making a wet dock. It is generally reckoned that these date from around 1000 CE but continued in use for a long time.
When Alison dropped me off I clambered over the rocks to the stream and got across near the outlet and explored.
It takes a good eye to spot anything man-made. But it's easy to spot good places to use as quays and dry-docks and 'nousts' winter storage haul-out places.
We had not explored ashore yesterday evening, so we got into Worm straight after breakfast and rowed off to look for a landing place. The only spot we could find that did not require us to wade through seaweed was the trip boat landing ladder, so after a good look at other options we headed there. One of the other yacht's crew had just landed there using their tender, and tied their dinghy out of the way round the corner. We copied them, and set off for a walk. Clouds still wreathed the Cuillins, but visibility was good at sea level. The sun was well hidden, and the midges were out, but we had prepared ourselves with “Smidge” and they left us alone.
The bothy hut was locked up tight. There were a variety of routes to take up to Loch Coruisk, some on rock and some across boggy ground. One was obviously the “proper” path as attempts had been made to keep it dry, but it was often easier to leave it and take to the smooth rocks. |
| Loch Coruisk |
The first of the trip boats arrived when we did, so we waited for them to disgorge their passengers before bringing Worm round. Once we were in Worm I began to row us back to Robinetta, when Julian suddenly realised he had left his camera on the rock were we had sat to wait for the trip boat.
I dropped Julian off, then rowed clear of the landing steps to let the trip boat passengers ashore.
We were back on Robinetta by quarter to eleven, and we got the engine on and pulled up the anchor. The boat with all the children showed no signs of heading out; they were busy exploring the anchorage on paddle boards…
We tried sailing west through the Sound of Soay, but after 5 minutes the wind went too light to give us steerage, so we continued under engine towards the anchorage by Sgeir Mor. There was a yacht already there, a Nautical ketch, but there was still room for us to anchor, so we did so and had lunch before trying to get ashore.
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| The best place to land a passenger |
There were no handy trip boat steps here, and the shore was very rocky, with no passes for dinghies. The Nauticat had put people ashore but their dinghy was back on the boat, and after rowing all along the shore I decided we would need to do the same. I put Julian ashore, very carefully, then rowed clear of the rocks to spend a lovely half hour or so admiring the star fish and jelly fish visible in the clear water. Having a camera capable of underwater photography is a boom, even if I rarely use it.
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| My first successful underwater photos |
The winds had died down, so it was time to move on. The weather seemed the same, with mist that hid the hills and made everything damp, then moments of bright sunshine; tens of minutes before the clouds covered the sky and the blue sea became grey again.
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| Leaving Loch Harport |
Julian felt pretty depressed by the weather, so he went below, and tried to cheer himself up by making drop scones for elevenses. They came out amazingly well, especially since he had no recipe, and was cooking them on a frying pan on a boat that was rolling quite a bit.
The wind came back in again, and we sailed for ten minutes before it faded away. An hour later the wind was back again, and this time it stayed. We reached Sgier Mhor at 14:40, and sailed past it into the Sound of Soay.
Hiding behind Sgeir Mhor is a small bay that can be used as an occasional anchorage. We were thinking of going in there, because it is the site of the “Viking canal”, a narrow channel that leads into a brackish lake that the Vikings used as a place to maintain their boats. We wanted to see how easy it would be to get a boat up it, and how much it had been altered for the purpose. However the weather was too grey for photographs, and the sea too rolly to encourage us to stop and explore.
We sailed past it, and headed into the Sound of Soay on a dead run. I did not feel comfortable on that point of sail, and visibility was dropping as mist came sweeping down from the hills. We had sunshine and a beam reach if we went south of Soay instead, so that is what we did.
By the time we were at the south end of Soay the wind had gone very light, and as we gybed round to head towards Loch Scavaig the engine went back on.
Two other boats were making for Loch Scavaig, coming from the east. They were under sail, and although the first of them went ahead of us we felt the we would reach the anchorage before the second. We were certainly ahead of them on entering the loch, but they came charging past us under engine, and anchored closer to the recommended spot that we could. We were left to anchor in 5.4m beneath the keel with a 3.5m rise of tide to go. That meant we needed to lay out 30m of chain…
Once we were anchored we were able to hear the thunder of the water fall coming down from the cliffs. With no sun, and mist drifting round the crags it was certainly a dramatic place. The yacht that had snuck ahead of us suddenly produced 6 children, who had a great time swimming and jumping off their yacht. They provided a much needed dose of cheer.
Despite being outside the recommended anchorage we spent a peaceful evening, with minimal movement.
The weather had brightened up a bit, and the forecast winds on XCweather and Windy were not too strong, so we decided to sail round to Loch Bracadale. 30 nm on the water, but only 5 miles from Dunvegan by car. Conditions were perfect for raising sail on the mooring, which we did, but we also wanted to charge my laptop and Julian’s phone, so we put the engine on anyway.
As we came off the mooring at 10:25 there was a bit of a miscommunication. I saw the pickup buoy running down Robinetta’s port side, with no sign of the mooring buoy itself. Knowing that meant we were about to run over the mooring line I turned the engine revs to neutral. We sailed handily over the line, and Worm did not hit the mooring buoy either (although it was a close thing).
Julian set the jib, and we sailed past Dunvegan pier, and all the way out past the castle and round the dogleg into the main Loch.
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| Dunvegan Head |
We had a lovely sail towards Dunvegan Head, although the wind was getting stronger, and we had to reef down twice. By 11:40 we were reefed all the way down, but the sea was still flat and the sun was shining. We expected that the wind would strengthen once we were out ot the shelter of the headland, but instead it went lighter, and we ended up shaking out most of the reef. The waves did get bigger though, and with the lighter winds we could not power through them, so the engine went back on at 13:30.
The wind did come back up, but the sea state got steadily higher. Poor Robinetta was battering into the waves by the time we were approaching Niest Point, and we reefed down again as she was burying her bowsprit on a regular basis.
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| Neist Point |
The next couple of hours were no fun. We were making good progress, at 5 knots on reefed main, staysail, and engine, but the seas were horrible. We had no choice but to press on; our nearest shelter was our destination, but helming was very tiring. Julian went below and brought up the life jackets. Wearing them was common sense at this point. Our ensign vanished from its housing on the rudder, but we don’t know when. Meanwhile Worm followed along faithfully. I had bailed her dry from the rain before leaving Dunvegan, and she skipped and bounced across the waves without taking any water.
By 15:45 we were able to see An Dubh Sgeir at the entrance to Loch Bracadale, but turning towards it too soon would have put the waves directly on our beam and rolled Robinetta even more. We held our course for another 15 minutes, until the waves would have been more on our stern. That would also have put us at risk of a gybe, so we decided to get the main down before heading into the Loch.
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| MacCloud's Daughters |
We had not picked an anchorage in Loch Bracadale, preferring to check the wind direction once we were actually there. Even with the waves theoretically from astern there were still some coming in at a different angle; A wave suddenly dumped itself into the cockpit without warning, and I immediately went below to manually start the bilge pump. Water might be swirling in the cockpit, but it would soon find its way down into the bilges. Luckily this happened only once.
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| Oronsay |
We turned towards Loch Bracadale once we had passed Idrigill Point, and headed for the north end of Wlay. We wanted to check out the north anchorage of Oronsay, and this felt like the best route to it. We also hoped Wlay would give us shelter from the waves. It did, which was lovely for a few minutes, but the Oronsay anchorage did not feel very sheltered, so we decided to head up Loch Harport instead. This is the only place that offered shelter in all wind directions.
Going back out into the waves to round Oronsay was a reminder of how horrible most of the afternoon had been.
As we made for Ardreck Point a large American flagged yacht appeared behind us, sailing with reefed main and genoa. They soon overtook us, and headed round the point. We followed them for a little, but Julian could see gannets diving, and decided that five minutes spent fishing would be a welcome change. I did not argue. The waves were finally slight enough to be ignored, and with the engine in neutral we were sailing along on the staysail at a perfect fishing speed.
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| Ardreck Point |
I had put the kettle to boil as we approached Ardreck Point, but it had not boiled by the time Julian hauled in the line again with 6 lovely mackerel on it. That was dinner sorted..The kettle whistled as Julian manoeuvred the last fish into the bucket, and I went below to wet the tea. Our first hot drink since 11;30 this morning.
The motor up Loch Harport with no waves and the wind almost on the nose gave us both a chance to unwind, and we picked up a mooring buoy off the Talisker distillery at 19:35. It had been a long and tiring day, and we were glad we did not need to anchor. The bright sun as we came into Loch Bracadale had not lasted, and it was beginning to drizzle, so once Robinetta and Worm were safely put to bed we headed below for a feast of mackerel.
At the start of the day I stated what XCweather and Windy forecast, but did not mention the Inshore Water's forecast. Today's included a force 4-6 in the Minch. We ignored it, in the belief that the strong winds would not reach our intended stretch of water. Despite having to reef all the way down at a couple of points I do not think we ever had anything above force5. What we did get was the wave heights raised by a force6. We will not go out again in this stretch of water with that forecast.
We had a quiet night until 04:00 when the swell reappeared. Something
in the bow began grumbling and complaining. It was not the anchor
chain, or the bobstay which we had triced up, but it kept us mostly
awake until 06:30 when we decided there was no reason to try to stay
asleep.
Visibility was very poor, and we could not see the top of the cliff we were moored beneath on Garhn Eilean. However the mist lifted slightly by the time we had had porridge and a second cup of tea, so we decided to row to the landing spot and set foot on the island before leaving. This would not be like our visit ten years ago, when we just sailed though the anchorage.
We exchanged friendly greetings with the French yacht as we rowed past them on the way back to Robinetta. We were heading in different directions, but I suspect they were not as worried about getting help from the tide as we were.
Julian managed to haul 50m of chain up in the same time he previously needed to haul 20m. His week on the tech team at HebCelt has definitely made him fitter!
We were away from the anchorage exactly on time, and got the main sail up as we headed south past the cliffs of Eilean an Tighe. We were uncertain if there would be enough wind to sail, but as soon as we were clear of the cliffs we got a fine sailing breeze, and the engine went off.
We would have the tide with us for 4 hours, but the wind would not let us sail the course I had laid in. However we could sail to go east of the Eugenie cardinal, rather than stay west of it, so that is what we did. The wind went light as we finally caught sight of the cardinal, less than ½ nm from it, and we had to put the engine back on.
There was a line of turbulence between Eugenie and Sgeir nam Maol, but nothing to cause us problems so Robinetta went straight through it, heading for Waternich Point. Not that we could see it. We saw nothing of the coast of Skye unless we were less than 1 nm from it.
The wind came back about noon, and we managed an hour of pure sailing before it went too light to keep us moving in the waves and we needed the engine to help. It was all a bit depressing. Nothing to see, or to aim at. I welcomed the sight of a cruise ship heading in the other direction, especially as we were well clear. Then there was a yacht, with its cruising chute deployed. Both were closer to the coast of Skye than I expected, so I had to check the chart plotter to see if I had laid in the correct course. I had.
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| Waternish Point lighthouse just visible |
By three in the afternoon we were sailing south east along the Waternish peninsula, towards Loch Dunveggan. The wind was now on the stern quarter, and too light to move us along, so the engine went on and stayed on. I am sure we were sailing through some lovely scenery, we just could not see any of it.
We had a lovely surprise when a pod of dolphins came to play alongside at 16:45. Photographing them was impossible, but Julian saw a calf leaping clear of the water. This was a great welcome to Loch Dunveggan.
We checked the CA’s Captain’s Mate for up to date information about the moorings at Dunveggan, and a post from 6 weeks ago reported them as good, so we headed past the anchorage and took one of the moorings rather than spending another night at anchor.
Once we had tidied Robinetta up, we got into Worm and rowed ashore to the pontoon. There are plenty of places to eat in Dunveggan, and 2 shops, as well as the castle to visit. We expect to spend at least 2 nights here. Our plan is to stay here until we can enjoy the scenery on our way out of the loch. We have plenty of time (5 weeks) before we need to be in Oban, so are slowing right down.
Our starboard backstay rope snapped a couple of weeks ago, and we replaced it with some braid rope we had on hand. There is a good fisherman's chandlers in Stornoway, so we bought 12m of 8mm 3 strand rope. Julian has now replaced both backstays with this thicker gauge, so hopefully it will last longer this time.
I got back to Robinetta on Monday evening, after visiting the Tall Ships in Aberdeen at the weekend. Julian told me all about his lovely day on the water, which surprised me as the weather had been wet all the way to Ullapool.
We paid, filled up the water tanks and the food supplies, and cast off from the pontoon in Stornoway marina just after noon. We were heading for the fuel berth to complete our reprovisioning. As we approached we could see a yacht already moored up there, but it came away before Robinetta reached them, leaving the fuel attendant on the pier, all ready to catch our lines. We were not quite as ready as that, as we needed ten metre lines to throw, but Julian got them ready quickly, and we were soon tied up against the pier. This is set on wooden pilings, spaced quite far apart, but at low water there is a wooden cross bar at just below pontoon height, which our fenders found very convenient.
The hose had a wide nozzle, but the fuel is not at high pressure. Unfortunately the wide nozzle totally blocked the fillers, so we could not see when to stop pumping. After a bit of experimentation, and the loan of a funnel, we took 30 litres of fuel into our cans and tanks.
Once we were clear of the harbour we went head to wind to raise sail, and after half an hour of motor sailing we stopped the engine and had a happy half hour under full main and no 1 jib. It was all a bit exciting for me, and I felt slightly sick, but once we reefed down, and changed to the no 2 jib the sail became much more fun.
By 15:30 we had shaken out the reef (although we left the no 2 jib in place), and half an hour later the engine went back on as the wind died completely. Visibility was very poor, and the Shiants were invisible from 5nm away. The wind did come back, and we motor sailed for a while, then as we approached the Shiants, and were able to see them, it got strong enough to turn the engine off again for another 20 minutes. We could have sailed longer, but we could not make the course to sail though the north entrance into the Shiant anchorage, so the engine went back on.
There was a French yacht at anchor, rolling slightly in the swell, but plenty of space to drop our own hook, and after a stooge around looking for a place with as little swell as possible we followed the Antaries chart suggestion, and anchored in 15.5m. This is way deeper than we usually choose, but there is little option as the cliffs are very steep too. We were at the top of the tide, so did not need to make allowances for that, but we decided that 40m of chain would be a good idea.
Julian laid it out, and dropped it, then decided to bring some more on deck in case the anchor did not hold. There was only another 10 or so metres left in the chain locker, so we had actually put down 50m of chain. That should hold us!
It looked as though we were under a puffin motorway, with the occasional cormorant, guillemot and razorbill HGV in the mix. We had read up on the anchorage, and expected a messy deck in the morning but this evening it did not seem too bad. The swell flattened out at 22:00, about 2 hours before high water, and we settled down to sleep in peace.
The OGA has one member in Lewis. Richard doesn't sail a gaffer, yet. He is busy restoring Puffin, built in the Clyde in 1894. He came down to see Robinetta the other day and expressed an interest in coming for a sail.
Ghislain and Emma, the two youngest members of the HebCelt setup/tech team of volunteers also were keen.
So we met about 11 this morning and got Robinetta ready. We got the bunting down and the covers off and did the engine checks. We made sure everyone had a lifejacket.
I started the engine to warm up and we hoisted the large jib and got the peak halyard attached. I took off the springs and turned the bow and stern lines into returns.
I took the helm and we started moving backwards, the crew retrieved the lines perfectly but then we started drifting over towards the boat on the next pontoon and stopped. It took a moment to spot the problem. I had forgotten to untie Worm’s painter from the shroud and Worm was also still tied to the pontoon!
No harm done. Ghislain untied the rope and threw it onboard Worm and we got out safely.
It was really sunny and there was more wind than forecast and we got the sails up in the outer harbour and headed out.
Richard spotted a feeding frenzy of seabirds in the distance so we headed towards it. By the time we got there it had dispersed but it wasn't long before we saw harbour porpoises hunting around us.
There were also a good selection of awks and great northern divers.
The wind died and we just sat there enjoying the sea life and a light lunch.
Then Richard spotted something bigger. A Minke whale. Over the next hour we saw several.
A lovely gentle day on the water with lovely people and spectacular sea life.
Very light winds were forecast for today, so we had no great expectations. We expected the 36nm from Loch Roe to Stornoway to be done under motor, hopefully with George on the helm.
After a very peaceful night Julian began hauling up the anchor at 06:50. This meant we would be leaving at the same state of the tide as when we came into Loch Roe, so no problems getting over any shallow patches. The anchor chain came up muddy, so Julian began to rinse it off with a bucket of sea water as I motored gently forward. For the first time ever Worm did not just fall into line behind. Her tow line was caught around something at the stern.
I called Julian back, and he turned the engine off immediately. There was plenty of water around us, and Robinetta carried her way so I could hold a safe course while Julian checked the rope was no where near the prop. It turned out to be wrapped wound our stern mounted depth gauge sensor, and once it was pulled free I got the engine back on and in gear to head slowly over the shallow patch and out.
We had stowed the jib in its bag last night, so protect it from the bright sunshine, and we still had that sunshine today. It took Julian a little longer than normal to set the jib, and it got tangled with the staysail halyard, but everything was ready by the time we were clear of the entrance to Loch Roe. The sea was as flat as expected, but I could feel a breeze, and once the stay sail was up it filled beautifully. Once the main sail went up and we turned on course I immediately throttled back on the engine. We had a good sailing wind, although as a pure easterly we might gybe if I headed on our direct course to Stornoway. Julian rigged the preventer on the main sail, and flew the jib, and we were suddenly sailing at over 5 knots, only 10 degrees off our slight line course.
For an exhilarating 15 minutes I was helming us on a very broad reach, touching 6 knots at times, and verging on the edge of control. I thought about reefing, but this was a land breeze, and would fade with distance, so I just set the helping hands to work, and revelled in it. I did offer Julian the helm, but he wanted a rest after doing all the hard work of raising the anchor, sorting the foredeck, and raising the mainsail. By the time he was ready to take the helm the wind had abated slightly, but we were still doing nearly 5 knots.
By 09:30 we were far enough away from the land for the lovely wind to have died away, so after a few minutes of fruitless fishing we furled the jib and got the engine back on, before setting George to work. We expected it to stay that way for the rest of the day. Small waves had kicked up from astern while we had the wind, but the sea was now almost oily calm, with a very gentle underlying swell.
Bird life was plentiful. Flocks of guillemots rested on the water, diving out of the way as soon as we came close. Razorbills did the same. The more solitary puffins tended to take off, with ungainly flapping and bumping off the top of the wavelets until they were far enough away to feel safe. Gannets were much more elegant, lifting off the water with apparently effortless grace. With so much bird life sitting on the water there must have been fish there earlier, despite us catching none.
The dolphins were obviously still hunting for food. Three separate groups came past us in the morning, heading across our bows and not stopping to play. It was lovely to see them though.
I lowered the engine revs at lunch time, just for some peace, and realised that we could make 2 knots under sail. We had made good time so far, and sailing slowly for a while would not make us too late at our destination. We left George on the helm, and got the solar panel on to keep the battery charge up as much as possible. It turned out that on this bright and cloudless day the panel was enough to keep George working as long as we wanted.
By 15:00 we had seen another 2 lots of dolphins, one set of which came close and played around us for a couple of minutes. That made me hyper aware of them, and when I heard the unmistakable sound of a blow I turned my head immediately. Crossing our track, just behind Worm, was the small fin, and long black back that had to belong to a Minke whale. By the time I called Julian it had dived again, but I can now state with certainty that I have seen one.
The wind increased in the afternoon, and as our speed got up to 3-4 knots and the wavelets grew larger Julian took over the steering. Then, 6nm short of Stornoway, as we came under the wind shadow of the peninsula east of there, the wind failed us and the engine had to go back on.
By 17:45 we were securely moored up in Stornoway old marina.We had radioed for a berth on our approach, and there were two harbour workers ready to direct us to the berth and take our lines. This had been a nearly perfect day on the water Nearly? Longer periods with a sailing breeze would have made it absolutely perfect.
Getting from Stromness to Stornoway in a week had been possible despite the weather, and now we were here Robinetta would be going nowhere for another week. Julian would be working as a volunteer at the HebCelt music festival, and I was heading south again on the ferry for family commitments.
We wanted a shorter day today, so decided to make for Loch Roe, and anchor overnight before heading to Stornaway. After a trip to the shop for milk, bread, and fruit, we headed out, clearing the harbour by 09:45.
There was enough wind in the stay sail for Julian to want to get the main sail up as soon as possible, so we went head to wind before reaching the North Cardinal in the centre of the entrance to Loch Inchard. This was an excellent decision as it let us turn the engine off and sail immediately.
We decided to take the passage inside the Duhn Sgeirean reefs, and had a lovely sail until the wind began to die just after we cleared them. Julian took the chance to put out the fishing line again, but unfortunately we caught nothing except a jelly fish, on the weight on the end of the line, which slid off easily.
With engine on at11:27, and George on the helm for the first time in days, there was little to do except admire the scenery, and revel in the hot sunny weather. We even needed suntan lotion! Luckily the wind came back within the hour, and we got another hour and a half under sail. Julian tried fishing again during the lulls, but caught nothing. He also decided to try to fly his drone again, to get shots of Robinetta under sail. This turned out to be a bit of a disaster. First it took off and flew right into his neck and chin, drawing blood. Then when he had just got it clear of the cockpit it hit the sail, stalled, and drowned. We no longer have a drone.
A yacht came past, motor sailing, and we wondered why he had his engine on, but then the wind died completely and the engine went on again.
I tried to charge my laptop battery at this point, but the fuse in accessories blew again. It turned out that we had a short in the inverter 12v power connector. Julian fixed it, and I gave my laptop a full charge.
Once we were past the Point of Stour we began to see people on the beaches at the campsites. There were people out on the water as well, first a paddleboarder, then two kayaks. I think I caught a brief glimpse of a minke whale, and there were certainly dolphins and harbour porpoise about, but none came close. There were also young guillemots about, swimming next to a single parent. The first one I saw came up alongside Robinetta, peeping madly as it tried to locate its caretaker. I am pretty sure they did reunite within a couple of minutes.
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| bird life off Handa |
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We lowered the main sail at 15:45. There was absolutely no wind, and the burning sunshine promised UV damage.
We followed a small French yacht into Loch Roe, and he anchored in Pool Bay, leaving very little room for us, so we went through the shallows and into the upper loch where we found plenty of space off the south shore. The engine went off at 17:45
It is very sheltered here, and hot. For the first time this year I wish I was further north.
Careful weather watching told us not to leave the Kyle of Tongue until Friday lunchtime, but by 11:00 we were already to go, so I began hauling up the anchor. This was my first go since breaking my arm, which still has muscle aches when in use. I need to start using it so I do not loose two much muscle mass, so I hauled in about half of the 25m of chain we had out, then handed over to Julian to finish the job.
Once we were clear of the harbour, in flat seas, Julian went forward to rearrange the blocks on the forward horse to stop the roller reefing line catching on the shackles of other lines on the horse. By the time he got everything arranged to both our satisfactions we were out of the shelter of the Rabbit Islands, and rolling slightly in the swell. We were also sailing, for a lovely half hour before the wind died.
After that we were motor sailing in ever increasing swell as we headed straight for Cape Wrath. The swell was not a problem, steady with a long wavelength, although this got shorter as we closed with the Cape.
Once round the Cape, at 17:03 we at first thought the swell was no worse than the other side, but within half an hour we had to drop main sail and lash it down. Our direction of travel was now across the swell and we were rolling horribly.
We decided to head inside Am Balg to get its protection from the swell, and as we approached we could see hundreds of seabirds diving. This is normally our signal to drop our speed, and get out the fishing line. After a little hesitation we did the same this time, and drifted slowly into the shelter of Am Balg.
When Julian hauled in the line we had a fine mackerel on the hook; big enough for the two of us for breakfast.
With the engine back on high revs we carried on towards Kinlochbervie, and were soon rolling uncomfortably in the swell again. It was only after we turned towards Loch Inchard and the swell came behind us that we becan to enjoy ourselves again.
There were only two yachts on the visitor pontoon when we got into the harbour, and there was plenty of room behind them for Robinetta. We moored up, tying Worm to the end of the pontoon behind us, and turned the engine off at 21:11. Julian cleaned the mackerel while I took our accumulated rubbish to the bins. It was good to get ashore again, so we had a walk to check out the shop opening time for the morning, before heading back to Robinetta to sleep.
A ten hour passage, of 39nm is good going for us. We had the tide with us the whole way along the north coast, and less about half a knot against once we passed Cape Wrath I think our tidal planning went well this time
Got the drone in the air from Robinetta for the first time. It didn't want to get airborne because the boat was moving on her anchor. But I found out how to force it and after a test flight of 30 cm in the cabin I got her aloft. The camera was fogged again but it cleared. I'm not sure the video quality is as good as when it was new. The lense may have got some dirt in it and the gimbal sometimes lets the top of the drone get in shot.
The wind was quite strong. The drone was coping but as I brought it in to land, it was getting buffeted, or it didn't cope with the shelter from Robinetta. Landing without hitting the boom took concentration.
I need to learn to pan more smoothly too.
When leaving Stromness we noticed something wrong with the jib halyard. With the No. 1 jib, the purchase was block-a-block without tightening the rig. Something had happened to the block at the top of the mast. I had a look and it didn’t look right but I couldn’t see what was wrong. We made do for the trip to Tongue.
Today Alison took a good look with the binoculars and saw that the strop had fallen off the little hound it sits on. It must have happened in Portsoy. It looked OK other than that. It was a calm enough day, so at low water, when we would have maximum shelter from the rocks around the anchorage, Alison agreed to go up the mast.
When Alison has to go up the mast, we usually use the jib halyard, as that has the most purchase. But of course we couldn’t use that to fix this problem! In Portsoy, friends had used the peak halyard. But there were two of them and both likely stronger than I.
We don’t have enough rigid mast hoops at the moment to try climbing the mast with the mainsail up. And the shrouds don’t go nearly high enough up the mast to make fitting rat lines useful.
So it was going to be the peak halyard.
I had wondered how far I could raise Alison using the peak hardener, which has a 4:1 purchase. The answer was ‘not far enough to be useful’. I also tried using the jib sheet winch to haul, but that wasn’t effective either.
Using the main fall of peak halyard, and with Alison climbing and me pushing against the cabin with my foot, I managed to get her up most of the way. Then she asked for the boat hook and I sent that up on a spare halyard. That was enough for her to get the strop back into place.
As usual, we used the topsail halyard as a safety line. It’s its only function at the moment as we don’t have a topsail. Maybe one day. I had to walk back and forward between the cockpit and the fore-deck to keep adjusting it to minimise how far Alison would fall if I lost control of the peak halyard. But it felt really important, as I was pulling that line with nothing to lock it off and if I’d fumbled Alison would have fallen. Luckily, I didn’t fumble. Letting Alison down was much less fraught, as I could use the pin-rail as a turning point. I still had to adjust the safety line a few times, but it was stress-free, at least for the person down below.
Once that important job was done we had a few other things to look at.
We fitted the plastic mats we had bought in Inverness. We’ve put them on the foredeck where the paint has been most scratched by the anchor chain. Hopefully, that will protect the deck from the chain.
We would like to fit something to keep the anchor in place better. We had a think about what and where we might do that. But while anchored isn’t the best time, as we don’t have an anchor to play with!
When the starboard backstay broke yesterday, we fitted a temporary using a new piece of buff braid-on-braid. We aren’t sure what we bought that for, perhaps the bobstay tensioner. It wasn’t finished off very well but it does feel nice and doesn’t stretch, so it’s a good fit for the job, except that being braid, it is hard to splice a thimble in the end. But I couldn’t find any suitable stranded rope on-board so it’s going to stay in use for now. I served the end that I’d just put tape on yesterday and removed the old thimble. Instead of an eye at the end, there is just a bowline round the stainless steel shackle. The crush load will be higher that way. I’ll have a think.
We’ve had problems again this year with the gaff saddle getting stuck on the jib halyard when dropping the main. I’ve tightened the parrel line and replaced the string I’d tied from the parrel line to the gaff to act as a guard. It had worked last year but it wasn’t working and it was very tatty. I used a simple whipping with 6 mm rope as the twine to fill-in the gap between the last parrel bead and the saddle. It looks like it should stop the saddle snagging on the wire rope of the jib halyard and it’s much tidier than what we had before.
I got back to Stromness on Monday night after a couple of days at home. Julian had stayed with Robinetta, going to a concert on the Saturday night, and a guided wildflower walk round the Ring of Brodgar on Sunday afternoon. I had kept an eye on the weather while I was away, and slightly regreted going. The promised strong winds that would have stopped us sailing did not appear, and we could have made progress on our journey to Stornaway.
Tuesday promised little wind, which was a good thing in theory as it would be on the nose. We are still in avoiding sailing in strong winds mode because of my arm, so motoring makes sense. Julian and I spent Monday evening planning for the trip through Hoy Sound. We decided to leave on the last of the foul tide, as that would avoid any chance of wind over tide, and we could carry the tide for the next 6 or more hours as we headed for the Kyle of Tongue.
As we were preparing Robinetta to leave we discovered something odd. We have not bent on the no 1 jib since leaving Shetland, and now that we did so the jib halyard block, which should have been about 30cm above the deck when the jib was raised, was touching the deck, and we did not have tension on the jib luff rope. We fiddled around as much as we could to make things better, but the no 1 jib will not set properly. It looks as though a trip up the mast is in order at some point.
After filling our diesel cans and paying our mooring fees we got the engine on to warm up at 09:10, and backed out of the berth.
Our timing and routing all came together well, and by hugging the Orkney Mainland coast we escaped the last of the foul tide, and did not encoutner any overfalls. The swell did get up though, and stayed pretty high all day. Julian put his lifejacket on, and used a strop to tie himself onto Robinetta, just to go half way over the cabin top to take off the sail ties. We raised the mainsail, reefed, just to help steady Robinetta in the swell, and continued under motor.
The visibility was too bad to see where we were aiming, so we were steering by the compass. It was a relief when I spotted a tanker heading towards us out of the Pentland Firth. I knew it was not going to come near us, but it was something to look at! There were birds of course, Fulmers, guillemots, razor bills, puffins, skuas, gannets, and common gulls were out in force, mostly resting on the water, but some in flight.
By 13:30 the wind was so light that we decided to shake out some of the reef, and shortly after doing that the starboard backstay rope parted. Luckily we had a good replacement rope available, but Julian did need to go forward again to retrieve the backstay block as it was hanging loose by the mast. The visibility came and went, but glimpses of the coast were as rare as the odd patch of blue sky and sunshine
We got the jib out to help the main and staysail for an hour, but by 14:30 it was furled away, and we lowered the main sail at 17:15 and lashed it down to stop it rolling in the swell. We got a little rain, but more drizzle, and with that and the swell we were not feeling too cheerful. Our arrival time at the Kyle of Tongue was promising to be after half eight, and we were both feeling hungry. Hot baked beans and a buttered roll made a decent light dinner, that was easy to prepare and eat under way. There was no change of eating at the same time; this was not a day George could be given the helm.
When I took the helm at 19:30 Julian could stop looking forward at the mist covered land ahead, and suddenly announced "I can see colours! The clouds are purple and the hills are green."
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| Approaching Skullomie Harbour |
We were glad to get shelter from the swell as we entered the Kyle, and Julian laid out 20m of chain on deck as we prepared to enter Skullomie Harbour. This was not as easy to get into as it had been in April. Our friendly local fisherman had now laid out his crab pots all over the harbour, and we had to steer between them carefully to reach the anchorage.
We dropped anchor in 4.3m beneath the keel at 21:00, and were glad to have reached a protected harbour. I expect us to be here for two nights, waiting for the right time to head round Cape Wrath.
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| Swona and South Ronaldsay |
We both felt refreshed this morning and a 1 pm departure felt good. Yesterday, I had put some putty and paint on Worm where some water still seemed to be getting in under the patch I had fitted in Scrabster.
We had all morning. It was time to work out why the starboard fuel tank wasn't being used. I tried loosening the pipe fitting by the tap but it was twisting the tap and I didn't want to break the tap joint to the tank so I left it alone. The next place to look was the T-piece joining the pipes from the two fuel tanks and feeding the fuel filter.
I turned both taps off and started to undo the nut on the starboard side. It came lose almost immediately. That was wrong! No fuel came out. I undid the other two nuts. They needed lots of turns.
Getting the T-piece free took a bit of pulling and pushing but I got it out.
The starboard side was dirty almost to the end of the thread. Looking more closely, the end of that thread was broken. I thought I had found the problem.
It can't have been put on correctly. Then air could get in and cause an air-lock, stopping the fuel flowing and the tanks equalising.
I held a carton under the pipe and Alison briefly turned on the tap. Diesel flowed!
I cleaned of the swarf where it must have been cross-threaded, and the grime in the threads and re-fitted the T-piece. I got all three nuts to turn the same amount. It looked good.
I turned on the port tank and started the engine. No leaks at the T-piece and the engine was running fine. I opened the starboard tap. OK so far. Now for the moment of truth. I closed the port tap.
The engine kept running! I left it that way for 5 minutes and there was no trouble. So I opened the port tap and left both tanks working and turned off the engine. With luck, we are back to normal.
There was one more thing before we left. I went to launch Worm and noticed the painter was almost worn through where it was tied to the transom.
I cut the bad bit off and sealed the end and put two bowlines on, if it wears again and breaks it should be caught by the second loop.
We had a lovely trip. There was only enough wind to purely sail now and then. Mostly it was motor sailing. But the weather was nice. There was enough shipping to make it a little stressful but we managed to keep out of the way of the big stuff.
We got into Stromness about 11 pm.
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