Mair bloggery
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:10 pm
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Monday 14th June 2010-06-10 (continued)
After dinner we wandered up to the pub and got talking to Justin and Gordon off Surefin, a Verl 27 they were sailing anticlockwise round the UK. Talk turned to St. Kilda and we repaired to Fairwinds foir a final beer and lent them charts of St Kilda and the Sound of Harris. At one o’clock when we went to bed it had still not really got dark.
Tuesday 15th June 2010-06-10
Got up at half past six and motorded out of Kinlochbervie in company with Feodhar, John and Sarah’s Twister. The clear bkue skies of yesterday afternoon were gone, replaced by greyness and the threat of fog patches and drizzle from the inshore forecast. There were a few knots of wind from the South, but nothing useable in the surprisingly large swell. Foehdar put her mainsail up but later droped it again when it started crashing around as she rolled. In spite o0f the swell the sea off Cape Wrath looked untroubled, and we took the inside passage inshore of the Dujislic rock just after ten o’clock. Once clear of the Duislic we took a couple of snaps of Feodhar against the cliffs then said farewell and turned onto a heading of 050 for our waypoint off Noup Head on Westray.
It was grey, bouncy and resolutely not windy enough to sail and the engine was beginning to irritiate. We passed a trawler, then nothing but grey sea and grey sky. The leak under the starboard bunk was being troublesome, water sloshing over the saloon sole, so I mopped it all up. Normally this only happens when taking water over the bow – which we weren’t - so I was surprised, particularly as I had dried it out completely the previous day. I put newspapers down on the sole to mop up the residual dampness, and was dismayed nto see themn getting soaked just an hour later. I tasted the watyer and it seemed to me to be fresh rather than salt. We mopped it up again and moved tnhe water pipe from the tank to the galley sink up out of the lowest part of the locker, but son there was water in there agqain. Even if it is only fresh water we decided it needed investigated sooner rather than later. It was juist before four o’clock and a look at the chart showed that we were currently at our CPA to Stromness o0n our present course. I checked the tiode for Hoy Sound and it looked good for an entry any time after half past seven, so after a brief discussion we altered course to 090 for Hoy Sound and the pontoons at Stromness where we would be able to investigagte the problem in comfort.
One advantage of our new course was that it brought the wind well forward of the beam and made it possible to sail a close reach with an apparent wind of ten or eleven knots. The greyness intensified and Hoy intermittently disappeared I to the mjurk. We put thermal vests on. It was all a bit reminiscent of our last trip to Orkney in 2005.
Arrived Stromness 21.30 in mist and heavy drizzle.
Monday 14th June 2010-06-10 (continued)
After dinner we wandered up to the pub and got talking to Justin and Gordon off Surefin, a Verl 27 they were sailing anticlockwise round the UK. Talk turned to St. Kilda and we repaired to Fairwinds foir a final beer and lent them charts of St Kilda and the Sound of Harris. At one o’clock when we went to bed it had still not really got dark.
Tuesday 15th June 2010-06-10
Got up at half past six and motorded out of Kinlochbervie in company with Feodhar, John and Sarah’s Twister. The clear bkue skies of yesterday afternoon were gone, replaced by greyness and the threat of fog patches and drizzle from the inshore forecast. There were a few knots of wind from the South, but nothing useable in the surprisingly large swell. Foehdar put her mainsail up but later droped it again when it started crashing around as she rolled. In spite o0f the swell the sea off Cape Wrath looked untroubled, and we took the inside passage inshore of the Dujislic rock just after ten o’clock. Once clear of the Duislic we took a couple of snaps of Feodhar against the cliffs then said farewell and turned onto a heading of 050 for our waypoint off Noup Head on Westray.
It was grey, bouncy and resolutely not windy enough to sail and the engine was beginning to irritiate. We passed a trawler, then nothing but grey sea and grey sky. The leak under the starboard bunk was being troublesome, water sloshing over the saloon sole, so I mopped it all up. Normally this only happens when taking water over the bow – which we weren’t - so I was surprised, particularly as I had dried it out completely the previous day. I put newspapers down on the sole to mop up the residual dampness, and was dismayed nto see themn getting soaked just an hour later. I tasted the watyer and it seemed to me to be fresh rather than salt. We mopped it up again and moved tnhe water pipe from the tank to the galley sink up out of the lowest part of the locker, but son there was water in there agqain. Even if it is only fresh water we decided it needed investigated sooner rather than later. It was juist before four o’clock and a look at the chart showed that we were currently at our CPA to Stromness o0n our present course. I checked the tiode for Hoy Sound and it looked good for an entry any time after half past seven, so after a brief discussion we altered course to 090 for Hoy Sound and the pontoons at Stromness where we would be able to investigagte the problem in comfort.
One advantage of our new course was that it brought the wind well forward of the beam and made it possible to sail a close reach with an apparent wind of ten or eleven knots. The greyness intensified and Hoy intermittently disappeared I to the mjurk. We put thermal vests on. It was all a bit reminiscent of our last trip to Orkney in 2005.
Arrived Stromness 21.30 in mist and heavy drizzle.