Stornoway to Stromness, Orkney

Well, I always knew these adventures were going to have their ups and downs!  

After a lovely couple of days catching up with boat jobs (fixing chain plate seals, preparing the jack stays), doing general boat prep (making a few meals with shore power that we can heat up in the microwave later), meeting more new friends who we will no doubt see again in future somewhere and doing a little bit of local exploring, we set sail yesterday to round Cape Wrath and cross to the Orkney Islands.

Stornoway Marina

We set off shortly after 0930 and started with a close haul on a starboard tack as we cleared the headland and then eased into more of a downwind sail as we started crossing the Minch to Cape Wrath.  Whilst it was beautiful being out and great to be on the move again, unfortunately, over the course of the day I steadily became more and more uncomfortable with the movement of the boat and eventually, at about 1700 after not being able to stomach anything to eat for dinner, I took myself downstairs, with Stuart kindly reassuring me all was under control and he would be able to manage.

Throughout the passage I kept one ear open and could tell when conditions were changing and Stuart sweetly popped down every so often to check on me but I would be kidding myself that I would have been of any help at all except in an emergency!

I do get sea-sick every so often and I am reassured by the countless other sailors with far more experience than I have that they can still experience it also. This has been the longest crossing I have done on a sail boat and with that comes a degree of apprehension that will invariably be a catalyst for sea-sickness.  Having also been extremely comfortable on Evolene the past few weeks I naively thought I would be fully accustomed to the movement of sailing so had omitted to take any anti-sickness medication in advance - something I will definitely not do again!

On the plus side we have worked our way further north and just in time before a week of northerlies is forecasted to set in.  I have never visited Orkney before and am really looking forward to the week ahead to explore and learn much more about these islands.  

For the more detailed sailing account of our passage, here is the following from Stuart:

The forecast was for a pretty steady south or south-westerly 15-25kts which we had pretty much all of the way to Cape Wrath.  Unfortunately, it tended to be a little more south-westerly than south meaning it was directly behind us. This might sound ideal for a sailing boat but results in the mainsail blocking the wind getting to the genoa which causes it to flog (flap) in a very inefficient manner.  The boat also rolls more in these conditions rather than being steady when the wind is on the beam.  This rolling, combined with a long 3-4m Atlantic swell from the west once we cleared the Butt of Lewis made for the uncomfortable conditions.  

Cape Wrath astern

Once past Cape Wrath we had the wind on the beam for a while and flew along at over 10kts thanks to a favourable tide.  This didn't last long and the engine was required for around 5hrs from 2100.  I was quite content keeping a watch from the pilot house and enjoying the antics of two warships keeping their aviators busy by conducting helicopter flying operations on a Saturday night.  

Nightwatch


We picked up a favourable wind again about 0200 which shot us towards the Sound of Hoy where we arrived at slack water and were anchored with a cuppa off Stromness by 0500.  120 miles in 20hrs, a respectable 6kt average despite some motoring.

Stromness Sunrise


 


Location: Stromness KW16, UK

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