Grutness Voe excursion

 

We rarely blog about days ashore, but this was a great day, where Robinetta’s anchorage was key to the whole experience.

When we came in to Grutness Voe yesterday the dominant feature in my head was the airport, and the fact that we had nearly run out of milk. To get the bus to the nearest shop we walked along the road, and I discovered that we would be getting the bus at the entrance to Jarlshof (Julian already knew.)

We also had a book of Shetland walks with one round Sumburgh Head, that I had already said I wanted to do. That was the day sorted.

I rowed us ashore and we spent a lovely morning at Jarlshof in bright sunshine but with a noticeable South Westerly wind blowing, at least force 4. Then we had a light lunch at the Sumburgh Hotel, before walking along the coastal path to the lighthouse, with its RSPB visitor centre. 

The scenery and seabirds were stunning, with fulmers, kittiwakes, shags, razor bills, and puffins beginning to come ashore to nest. There were bonxies and black back gulls patrolling above. 

Julian walked back to the bay along the high path, while I took the road to avoid stressing my knee. Then it was a row back to Robinetta for a relaxed evening. Perfect.

Vast rollers, and helpful tides

We are getting closer to spring tides again, so I took a good look at the tidal atlas. If we left Fair Isle at seven we would have a weak tide in the wrong direction for an hour, then a reasonable tide (1-2 knts) for the next six. The unknown question was if there would be overfalls off Sumburgh Head when we got there.

Leaving North Harbour, Fair Isle

The sea state off Fair Isle at 07:00 was a bit lumpy, but we managed to get the main sail up, although we never used it. However it was very helpful to steady us in the swell, and we needed it. There was no sign of the Shetlands until Fair Isle had faded into the haze behind us, so we were steering on the compass and chart plotter. We steered due north, while the tide carried up north east where we wanted to go.

The tide was dying as we got close to Sumburgh Head, but the light wind was straight behind us as it had been all morning. Luckily there were no overfalls, just huge swells that rolled under us. One moment we could see the whole of the cliff face, and the next only half of it. This went on for half an hour with Julian helming.

past Sumburgh Head

We turned towards the anchorage of Grutness Voe at 13:30, and were anchored in 4m by 14:00. It had been a stressfull trip, with the wind behind, and no chance to use the sails, but the anchorage is calm, although every now and then we can hear and see the the planes landing in the airport just behind us.

Fairisle

 Alison had set the alarm for 6 am but we were already drinking our tea by the time it went off.

It seemed like every boat in the harbour was going at the same time. There was very little to do before leaving and we slid out of Pierowall along with the work boats.

Out in the sound, I spotted a big fish farm on the route and went north of it nearer Papa Westray. There wasn't much wind but we got the sails up anyway. The sea was calm so we let George steer and had porridge.

Alison has definitely caught my cold.

There was a fair bit of tide pushing us towards North Ronaldsay. It's recommended to give it a wide berth in all weather so I compensated for the tide. It rotates rather than ebbing and flooding on this route so it's hard to know how to steer for best efficiency.

Suddenly, George jumped off the tiller pin. We realised the wind had come up and we could sail. It was a dead run but with the preventer fitted Robinetta was doing over 3.5 knots and it was nice. It lasted about 90 minutes and then the wind died again.

We never got the calm seas that George can cope with again. Sometimes it was a lovely rolling swell and sometimes it was a confused mess that took a lot of effort and concentration to steer in. 

Sometimes the tide sped us up, sometimes it slowed us down and sometimes it pushed left or right.

As we got within 10 miles of Fairisle, a wind shift put us on fine reach! We got the jib out but it wasn't quite enough to just sail. So we motor sailed and that was very pleasant.

A couple of miles out, we got the seabirds. Gannet and fulmar to start with, and then puffins and guillemot and skuas. 

Rock white with nesting birds

With the fine weather, getting into the north haven was easy. Mooring would have been tricky if the skipper of the big Ovni already there hadn't helped us raft against his boat. The visitor area is behind a huge buoy making the approach tricky.  Our companion said he was single handed and only got in with the help of the ferry skipper.

East Weddel Sound to Pierowall

Common terns roosting on Worm

East Weddel Sound is a lovely place to anchor. The bird life is really bold, and this pair of terns roosted on Worm all night.

Robinetta sat perfectly still all night and I slept solidly and woke up late. Luckily we did not need to make an early start, but Julian was hauling up the anchor at 9a.m. as soon as I finished my bowl of porridge. Our plan was to take the the last of the adverse tide north to the Copinsay Pass, after which we should have the tide with us all the way to Pierowall. As it is neap tides the added speed was never above 2 knots, but it would have made the trip painfully slow if it were against us. The morning was overcast and cold, but the clouds lifted as the day wore on.

Rose Ness, with Copinsay beyond

 

The northerly wind was too light to use, so it was motor virtually all the way, with George on the helm from Rose Ness at the exit from Holm Sound to the overfalls by The Bow at the end of Eday. The engine did get an hour of rest between Eday and Sanday, when the light northwesterly breeze combined with the favourable tide and flat sea let us sail along at 3-4 knots.

The bird life was abundant all the way, but especially so by Grey Head, where rafts of Guillemots dived out of Robinetta's way. Close by here we saw a rather odd looking vessel heading our way Julian checked it out using AIS on his phone and it turned out to be an specially built "wet well" live fish transporter. The Marsali seems to be an amazing boat designed to service the fish farms and bring their produce to market.

There are certainly a lot of fish farms in the area. We saw at least 4 in the approaches to Pierowall, and the harbour there is now a bustling place compared to the last time we visited 11 years ago. We had assumed it would be quiet with plenty of space, and we were the only visiting yacht, but the fish farm boats are now a dominant presence.

Once moored up we walked round the bay to Jack's Fish shop. This is normally a wet fish shop, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays afternoon/evening it becomes a fish and chip shop. It will fry you anything  that has been caught, so as well as the normal haddock or cod it will also cook you fish long absent from most chippies. Rock (dog fish) used to be a staple, and you can still get it here, along with rarities like halibut. Our haddock was beautifully cooked, an we ate sitting in the sun at one of the park benches outside.

Round the South end of South Ronaldsay

Widewall Bay

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

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

Old Head

 

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

Widewall Bay

We

We hoped to go to Widewall this morning but Alison noticed the spot on her arm where she extracted a tick had swollen, with a 1cm pink aureole . Due process resulted in her getting the bus to the hospital in Kirkwall for it to be checked. Lyme Disease is serious stuff and it pays to be careful.

So I was going to have my Gaelic class in Stromness again.

I took the opportunity to find the boat builder in Stromness. I was lucky, both Ian Richardson and his grandson were there and I had a lovely chat and look around the sheds. Ian has retired. He doesn't take on work. But that doesn't stop him restoring a Harrison Butler yacht, or building one of his lovely yole-derived counter-stern dayboats. This one is the biggest yet!

Ian spent some time working at McGruers in Clyde, so he knows our home area too!

Alison got back about 1 pm, with the all clear, as the infected area had decreased with no other symptoms. However she has some hefty antibiotics to take if the redness reappears or spreads. She said we should go to Widewall after my class. That worked out a treat.

Of course, leaving at 4 pm meant dodging everything else coming in. And keeping clear of the ferry going out!

We broad-reached, gybing when needed, all the way into and across Scapa Flow with the tide under us and the sun shining. Glorious. The ferry to St. Margaret Hope came in too, but too far ahead to worry about.

We got a good view of the WW2 defences on Hoxa Head as we came past.

Widewall Bay on South Ronaldsay has two anchorages. The north one is protected from any direction except SW and the south one from south to west, probably more. The forecast is for NW to W so we are in the north anchorage. It is very sheltered from the wind but the swell is pretty uncomfortable.

Too windy and cold to want to move

We enjoy sailing, but for the last week we have been moored up in Stromness, using Robinetta as a floating home while exploring Mainland Orkney by bus with our son. He went home on Friday evening, so in theory we could have left on Saturday. In practice with a solid northerly force 6 blowing we had no desire to move. Julian has developed a horrid cold, and all the walking we did over the week has left me with a painful blister. We have mains power on the pontoon, so plugged in our electric fan heater and stayed snug and warm.

Today the wind was supposed to drop, but at 10 a.m when we could have left it was still blowing hard, and very cold.  Nothing had changed by 11:00, so we decided to nurse Julian's cold and my blister for another day. Being outside in the cold just did not appeal.

I don't think we are getting soft, just a little more attached to our home comforts!