Into Loch Scavaig

 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.

Leaving Loch Harport

We came off the mooring buoy at quarter to ten, and headed north down Loch Harport under engine, shaking out Robinetta’s reefs and raising the main sail as we went. We left the mist behind, and headed towards a patch of blue sky but by the time we reached where the sun had been on the water it had gone again. The wind shifted a little as we headed towards Ardreck Point, just enough to let us sail close hauled, so we turned the engine off, and sailed slowly towards the open water. It took two tacks to get past Ardreck Point, and as the swell began to grow the wind became lighter. As our speed dropped to 2.5 knots I wanted the engine back on to help us through the waves.

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.