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Jan Feb March April May
01 Jan Lossiemouth. Wind W5. The traditional New Year’s Day sail. We reached back and fore for an hour on 1 mile legs with Krak-ATT regularly exceeding 8 knots. Then back to the marina for liquid sustenance in Krak-ATT, the Steamboat and my house for a BBQ (and more liquid - enough to float the new year)
14 Feb Lossiemouth to Hopeman and back. Wind W5-6. We sailed for an hour in company with Itch then motored to Hopeman. The return was under sail till the last couple of miles when the wind dropped and we had to motor.
27 Mar Lossiemouth to Portknockie in company with Itch and Moonshadow. Very little wind. Sea breeze (E) fighting the system wind (W). Returned Sunday with full sail to Buckie then motor alone to Lossie. Total 28 NM
April
04/04/04 Oh for the wings of a dove. 0830 All set to go. I went with Martine to see if Richard on Itch was ready. Not a chance “Change of plan. Not going till tomorrow. See you in Wick”. Like Aragorn I did not want to go to Helmsdale anyway. So we decided to wait till Monday too as our voltage controlled relay from Merlin arrived in Lossiemouth on Saturday morning while we were at Findhorn. Forecast looks good W 4-6 perhaps 7. A soldier’s breeze unless we get too far from the land and have to run to Norway
5 April Lossiemouth to Wick 42 miles through the Beatrice field. Wind 3-5 W to NW took 7.5 hours. Tied up in the outer harbour near the showers and toilets. £11.75 a night or two.
6 April Set off from Wick for Longhope. Wind N 5 against the tide giving a lumpy sea. Decided to return to Wick as conditions were going to deteriorate. Forecast 35 knots for tomorrow. Better forecast for Thursday SW 3-4 veering W
8 April Forecast wind SW 4-5 occasionally 6 in North veering W and decreasing. Karen replaced the fuel filter as we were having a few problems with fuel flow. We left Wick at 1200 to reach Duncansby Head at slack water. We passed Duncansby Head at 1507 and Swona at 1600 doing 11+ knots over the ground. In Switha Sound I turned on the motor and got just a click. I thought the battery was low as I had just fitted a voltage sensitive relay the day before and it might have been wrongly connected. I called Itch for a tow and pulled out the service batteries. Both did the same thing - click -. Itch towed us into Longhope and we moored alongside the Guiding Light.
9 April I took the starter motor off. It was locked solid. I called Betamarine who said they could do nothing till Tuesday. When I took it apart I found that the insulation on the rotor had melted then solidified. The trusty mole wrench released the blockage and two little bits of insulation fell out. I was able to re assemble the motor, test it, and install it. It worked fine.
10 April 1430 Longhope to Stromness in a NW 3. We sailed happily through Scapa Flow till the wind veered a little to NNW and we had to beat past Graemsay. Itch got far ahead. 1745 We decided to enter the marina though no one was about. A wee man came and told us how to get in and out. We were the first visiting boats to tie up at the marina. The pipe band with pipers strutting proudly and drummers beating time and the cheering crowds were elsewhere. The tie up cost £10.50 a night and we stayed over Easter and got a photograph in Orkney Today.
13 April Set off for Burray through Scapa Flow. Visibility about 2 miles. We sailed past the Barrel of Butter and the red can on The Grinds entering Water Sound at 1730. We moored at a large red mooring and went to the pub.
15 April Sufiana with Itch tied alongside motored to Saint Margaret’s Hope and anchored in 3.5m in the centre of the bay. As we approached the shore in the dinghy one of the oars broke and the blade floated away. We went to the pub drank well, found a plank and paddled back to Sufiana.
16 April 1430 Itch left first and by the time Sufiana was leaving the bay Itch had run aground on Skua Flaes. After waiting for the ferry and a fishing boat to pass Sufiana towed Itch off the putty. We then set off together for Kirk Sound round South Ronaldsay. With a forecast of South 10-15 knots decreasing 5-10 and gusting 18 we expected at least to be able to sail up the East coast of the island. As it was we had to motor all the way and eventually anchored in Kirk sound at 1900, lit the charcoal heater and had our first taste of Grouse Liqueur after a meal of chicken cooked in lemon, lime, garlic and ginger. Also coffee made on the heater.
18 April Weather forecast was poor for Saturday with gusts of 49 knots, so on Sunday we set off with one reef in the main and motored against the wind for half an hour till we passed Rose Head. Then it was motor off and a brisk sail West of Copinsay round Mull Head and into the String where we were doing 8 knots over the ground. Called Kirkwall Harbour and arranged to tie up in the inner harbour.
22 April S veering SW 15-20 knot increasing 20-25 gusting 20/27 increasing 27-35. Westray calls leaving at 1400 to have the tide with us all the way. ETA 1800 at Pierowall. In fact we left at 1340 and had a great sail North via Fersness Bay where we saw the Coastguard tug. We tied up at the pontoon and adjourned to the best fish and chips in the world at the Pierowall Hotel. Next morning we moved to the other end of the pontoon while the new pontoons and fingers were fitted. All done in a day with great efficiency. In the evening we all went to hear Ivan Drever in the school hall then returned to the hotel to sample Old Man of Hoy whisky.
25 April We put Sufiana on the slipway at 1330 after high water and when the water had receded we touched up the paint work. Sufiana floated off at 2350. We motored back to the pontoon
27 April 1330 Sailed out of Pierowall then put up the chute through Calf Sound across Eday Sound to look at Loth then back across to Backland on Eday where the pier was very good. Such a good place to stop that we decided to stay another night after a party at the other end of the island. Unfortunately the weather forecast for Thursday was N to NNE 20-25 knots increasing to 30 and gusting 42. We decided to press on to Stronsay.
28 April 1330 Motored out of Backland then up chute and across to Whitehall arriving at 1500 and in to the pub where we spent the rest of the evening and met Karen H. After discussion it was decided to take her to Kirkwall on Friday on Itch to catch up with laundry and revisit the Indian restaurant.
30 April 0600 Swan had arrived from Kettletoft where she had an unpleasant night breaking a head rope tossing about in an Easterly swell. We moved back along the pier so she could lay alongside it. A Tornado fly past livened the afternoon and we set off under sail at 1715. The wind fell away and our speed dropped to below 2 knots NE of Shapinsay. The motor took us past the North and West coasts of Shapinsay and we arrived in Kirkwall at 2200 an hour after ETA to tie up alongside yacht Tystie painted black and red just like the birds. A meal at the Eastern Spice and a drink in the Saint Ola finished a fine day. We remembered to say white rabbits for May 1. The May weekend was full of entertainment but we restricted ourselves to the Orkney Sailing Club bar and dancing in Fusion on Saturday, the rugby club on Sunday and the Sawdoctors concert in Fusion on Monday. Very good.
5 May Kirkwall kept us for 4 days then we got a forecast of ESE 15 knots gusting 21 so we set off for Stromness through Eynhallow (7 knots at springs) leaving at 1230 half an hour after HW Dover. Eynhallow was a pain even when the wind was with the tide there were 2m waves in the middle. We went south of the rost and though we were tossed about only a little this broke the repaired mast head wind strength and direction unit. The rest of the sail was grand reaching 8 knots through the water 9.9 over the ground down the West Coast of Mainland Orkney. On the way we started to overtake the Stromness Lifeboat towing a creel boat which had a rope round its prop. We let them proceed before us as we were an hour ahead of schedule and hung about outside Hoy Mouth till the tide went slack then motored in for Stromness. Even so the tide with us was against the wind so we got quite a chop just before we entered the channel into the harbour. We tied up in the marina at 1845.
7 May 1230 We towed Ptolomy round the marina to the slip so he could replace his prop then set off at 1340 for Scrabster. As the wind was light we had to motor all the way. When we passed the Old Man of Hoy John Thornton called from diving boat MV Karin saying he had a photograph of us. We reached Scrabster at 1920.
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