The Top of the Course
26 June 2013 | Stromness
Rod
Well here we are in Stromness. On Sunday in Stornoway it blew a bit so we hired a car and explored Lewis. Well, the outside of all the buildings and the countryside. Because on Sundays Lewis is closed, completely closed, even Tesco. We managed a few rolls from a petrol station in town and a cup of tea in a hotel on the far side of the island (with fruit cake that looked like the slices they leave in the hotel rooms). Religion has the island firmly in its grip, the car parks of the many churches were packed with vehicles. On Monday the weather looked fair, with a forecast North Westerly and light seas, so we fuelled up and bade farewell to the Hebrides. After a great sail, with Paul and Steve competing for the best photos of the puffins, we tied up in Kinlochbervie, a small fishing harbour which now boasts a pontoon for yachts and is well placed, just thirty miles South of Cape Wrath. Tuesday was the top of spring tides so we had to be extra cautious in our rounding of the Cape. Slack water fell at seven in the morning so at first light (three thirty in these parts), we cast off to punch the ebb up to the Cape rounding it on time at seven. Even though the sea were forecast as slight, the confusion caused by two massive heads of current was exciting to say the least. But we were round. The original passage plan was to head for Scrabster but I calculated if we arrived at Hoy Sound at six in the evening we could avoid the seven knot current and overalls. And so it was. We enjoyed a very leisurely reach, then run under jib, were startled by a minky whale surfacing alongside and crept past the Old Man of Hoy to enter the harbour at seven, after a long but enjoyable passage. We ate on board, celebrated and fell into deep sleep.