Helmsdale to Tarbatness

Woke up with a headache. (Cider then bed is not a good idea). We'd hoped to be away by 9, but I did not manage to crawl out of bed until 0945. Plans were revised to leave at 1200, but we learnt from the harbour master that we needed to be away by 11, or we would be stuck for 2 hours either side of low water. When the tide gauge on the harbour wall reads 10' there is only 5'6" in the entrance channel!

We got away just in time and had our (late) breakfast/early lunch sailing slowly out to sea. At the speed we were doing we would not reach Inverness until 0800 tomorrow, so the engine went back on for another day of motor sailing.

Bright sun with wind. Bright sun without wind. Rain, with and without wind. Winds shifting from SE to SW and force varying from 1-4. Wonderful scenery glittering in the sunshine, then veiled with rain and mist. A big flock of fulmers sat on the water, then lifted off en-masse before splitting into two groups. Razorbills can be difficult to tell from guillemots and puffins, but it was definitely a razorbill that I saw going an extremely ungraceful belly-flop landing on the sea just before the wind got up and veered to a South Westerly that had me turn the engine off to broad reach at 5 knots on a good heading to clear Tarbatness.

Helmsdale

We didn't set an alarm. It was gone eight before we woke. Alison's 1/2 pint of Strongbow had given her a thumping hangover and she didn't want to move. That will teach her to drink better quality cider!
I left her to surface and ready the boat for departure and went to 'fetch the messages' as I learned to say as a child in Glasgow. Today's messages were cranberry juice and morning rolls. Proper morning rolls seem unobtainable outside Scotland (Orkey seems to be outside Scotland). Leaving the harbour I couldn't resist walking over the A9 bridge to view the harbour from above and see what the flag poles behind the road were about.
The poles were part of a monument to the Highland Clearances. They were flying the flags of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. There was an empty pole. Interesting. In the car park was a very elegant tea room. Closed and up for sale.

The monument itself is a fine piece of modern sculpture in what might be "post socialist realism" style.

The old harbour is ridiculously photogenic but I wouldn't want to try and get a boat into it.

I usually wish boats were kept for going on the water but this flower bed is beautiful.

I got back to the new harbour (with messages) to find Alison up and the boat ready. We finally got to meet the harbour master and pay. Helmsdale has great toilets and showers for visiting boats and is a really beautiful and friendly spot.

East Weddell Sound to Helmsdale

The alarm went at 4, and we were up at 0410, and had the anchor up and were motoring by 0435. Efficient stuff, but we had a long way to go. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, bright sun, blue sea, and plenty to look at as we motored away from our anchorage past Burray Broch.

Once away from the shelter of Holm Bay there was some swell, but nothing the autohelm could not cope with when we put it on duty at 6. Julian went down to make porridge while I stayed on watch, and a couple of minutes later I noticed a rope in the water just off the port side. Our reaching sail out-haul had come off. It vanished before I could reach out with a boat hook and catch it, luckily without fouling the prop. I had forgotten to secure it when I tightened the bobstay after hauling up the anchor. I used to tie that line in a loop so it can't escape, but Julian does not necessarily keep it that way, so bye-bye rope!

Julian had to hold the porridge pan on the stove the whole time due to the swell, and it was very slow too. We needed to put more spirit in the burner. We did so before making tea, and it was the last of the 10 litres I bought at the start of the trip. We still have a 1 litre bottle we bought in Wick, but we need to buy more. Preferably in bulk as its cheaper. 

Wind speed increased slowly, until by 0900, when we had the Pentland Firth open to starboard we had all sail up and were motorsailing. By 1240 the engine was off, and the main reefed slightly, then we rolled some more main away and changed down to the no 2 jib at 1330. By 1410 the wind had gone again and we furled the jib away as the heavens opened with a rain squall. That usually means more wind, not less, but the main kept flogging so we dropped it and ited the boom to the backstay to stop it swinging in the swell.

We did not have enough wind to sail again until 1700. We saw the stay sail was drawing, so raised the main, but we were too slow without the engine so only turned it off for five minutes before starting to motor sail again. An hour and a half later we gave up on sailing and took the main down and motored the rest of the way to Helmsdale, stowing the bowsprit on the way.

We were tied up on the pontoon at 2047, 2 hours after high water, feeling exhausted. We had given the Pentland Firth a good offing and not felt any tide problems, but there had been some nasty swells making steering too difficult for the auto-helm when the sails were drawing, and the cross swells off Clythness had been really uncomfortable.

Helmsdale is a lovely place this Sunday evening. Warm and sunny, with a shop open to buy milk for the morning tea (we'd just run out) and a Pub for a drink. Bed by 10 though, as I nearly fell asleep over my cider!

East Weddell Sound

In the Great War many ships were deliberately sunk between the southern Orkney islands to stop U boats entering the anchorage at Scapa Flow. This is the remains of the Reginald, an iron schooner built in 1878. By the Second World War many of these were collapsed and gaps had opened. The Navy sunk more ships and thought they had done enough but Churchill insisted on building permanent rock and concrete causeways to completely block the gaps.

The Churchill Barriers now form the main road from Kirkwall to the islands, making them islands no-longer and forcing a huge detour for any boats, including Robinetta, wishing to visit both Scapa Flow and the northern isles. The barriers have changed lots of things, No 3 between Glims Holm and Burray is responsible for the two fine sandy beaches on the north and south sides of the East Weddell Sound. This is the north beach. Large seas have washed cars off the Churchill Barriers and improvements are wanted by the locals. The Orkney Island Council want to invest in tidal power as part of the scheme, which of course will delay any safety improvements.

Farewell Westray

We left Pierowall Harbour at 0845, having prepared everything in port (bowsprit out, jib bent on e.t.c). We had an interested audience in Jelle and Hidije from Gaia, who took pictures, "A lot of preparation," said Jelle!

There was hardly any wind, but we raised the staysail as we went through the entrance, and we had the main up 5 minutes later to motor over a glassy sea. We tried turning the engine off and sailing as we left the bay, but were only making one and a half knots, and that was mostly tide, so the engine went back on and the autohelm took over.

We motored slowly along the coast, admiring the bird life, as Red Holm, Red Head, and Grey Head passed slowly by. We got a call from Gaia asking if the tide was against us in the Lashy Sound, but had to reply that we had not got there yet!

Within half and hour we could see them astern. They had been meaning to leave at 11, so as to know they would have no tide against them, but decided that if Robinetta could get past Sanday against the tide then so could they! They were intending to go all the way to Wick in one shot, so leaving earlier made more sense too.

Sanday is known for its high tech cottage industry, so Julian turned the wi-fi dongle on. Sure enough, we had excellent connection; the best speed for weeks! I sent some e-mails then came back up on deck to find we were well over on the Sanday side of the channel with no tide against us.

Gaia stayed mid channel in the Eday Sound, then turned to follow our track. We did not know why until Hijide came forward carrying a white plastic bag all tied up, and as Gaia came along side she handed it over.

Pancakes! 2 cheese, and 2 plain with honey, apricot jam, and icing sugar to finish them off. Ready to eat on plastic plates and still hot from the pan. A wonderful farewell gift from lovely people. We had the jib out and were (motor) sailing so hopefully they got some good pictures of us. We just tucked gratefully into our unexpected lunch!

As we passed Linga Holm we started to get swell, and by the time we were off Millgrip there were cross seas. We came off autohelm and I hand steered. As soon as we were clear of Rothiesholm Head and on course for Copinsay the cross seas were gone and we were just in swell.

We carried the tide (or it carried us) down the Stronsay Firth at 5-6 knots. We could see Kirkwall up the Firth, and Gaia ahead of us, but both disappeared into the distance as we closed with Deerness to head through the Copinsay Pass.


The swell disappeared as we got into the shelter of the Copinsay Horse, then Copinsay and we motored through in totally flat seas. There was a strong line on the water ahead, and as soon as we were through the shallows we were in disturbed water as a tidal eddy came out of Newark Bay. Lots of little waves, nothing more than 1' high and occasional proto-whirlpool swirls on the water. Fun to watch.

We turned west into Holm Sound and motored up to see Churchill Barrier no 1 and get a glimpse of the Italian Chapel before heading for Churchill barrier no 3 and the sheltered anchorage between Glimps Holm and Burray. A lovely spot! We anchored in 12' of water and rowed ashore to a sandy beach for a walk. Just perfect.

Rainy Friday

We hatched a cunning plan last night to take the world's shortest scheduled flight to Papay (2 min). It's only £15 return and uses an old Britten Norman Islander. The booking line opens at 8 am, enough time to walk to the airport if there was room on the plane.

In the end it was raining so hard we couldn't face it.

After a fine cooked breakfast of egg, square sausage, haggis, black pudding and what might have been spam we headed off to the Heritage Centre.

We watched a short video about the Links of Noltland dig, presented by Peter Yeoman who gave us the tour around the dig itself on Wednesday. It really is a significant site. We got to see the tiny Westray Woman, one of the oldest representations of a human to be found in the British Isles. The Westray Stone was found in a nearby quarry and was the lintel for a chambered cairn. The carving is at least as good as that at the world famous Newgrange in Ireland.

We had a lazy afternoon reading and writing as the weather gently improved. In the evening I watched three skiffs racing in the bay.

Later a truck came past the harbour full of locals chanting, drumming and singing the Johnny Cash song 'The Gambler'. We think it was part of a wedding celebration.

Another day on Westray

Knowing that the weather will be keeping us here until Saturday we decided we would have a “working” day today. I would get the blog up to date and start work on Eastcoaster, and Julian would do some Open University course work. By half eleven Julian was ready to send a draft to his tutor, so we walked up to the Haf Yok Cafe to use the internet there. They have their own wi-fi which you can use free for half an hour, but we can log on to BT wifi  for free there too, which is useful. I got the blog up to date, and read my e-mail. Julian was a bit quicker, and when Jelle and Hidije, the Dutch couple from Gaia came in for coffee he went over to chat.

They had hired a car for the day, and we spent the rest of the afternoon with them, driving towards Noup Head, then walking up to the lighthouse and round the cliffs to look at the birds and the spray breaking on the rocks. A wonderful place, and just too far from Pierowall to walk the whole way.

We invited them back to Robinetta to eat dinner with us, and cooked properly for what feels like the first time this voyage. The Origo stove with the Omnia oven, plus the electric toaster oven, let us serve a delicious steak dinner as we exchanged sailing stories and pictures,  and had a great evening.