25/07/2011
We were slowly motoring out of Loch a Chadh-fi whilst Colin got the anchor stowed and deck washed of the good, think mud that had held us securely when we heard a bell, looked up and there was John and Marie-Christine waving tea-towels in farewell. With that lovely send off we set out into the grey morning.

A slight swell was rolling down Loch Laxford making us hopeful that the wind direction would be in our favour, but as we turned north out of the loch we found we wouldn't be able to sail as the direction was just too close to our intended track.

The CCC Pilot Guide says 'if at Eilean an Roin Berg there is a large, irregular sea, then it will get much worse approaching and rounding Cape Wrath'. Well it wasn't a great sea state but we didn't think it too large, or irregular, so set a course for about 2 miles off the Cape. The seas got no worse than when we rounded Land's End, although we could see occasional white spurts in the distance as the swell was sent skywards as it hit Duslic Rock. Best to keep away from there!

Cap Wrath gets its name from the Norse word 'hvarf' meaning 'turning point' rather than anything to do with doom and anger, but it wasn't particularly pleasant when we were there and we were pleased to finally turn east, heading for Loch Eriboll. The swell was now on the beam making us roll a fair bit. I'd forgotten to take any seasick pills so the queasiness set in. We plugged on through the grey day and 2 hours later turned into the loch. The swell was now on the stern, causing Emerald to slew about and I kept a watch for any bigger ones that might swamp us. We were soon in calmer water and once round the south tip of Ard Neakie, halfway down the loch we were completely sheltered from any swell. Got the anchor down and began working out what time to leave to get to Stromness. We had been toying with the idea of going first to Scrabster and then on to Stromness in order to be able to better time our entry to Hoy Sound at slack water, through which tides can get up to 7kts with turbulent water (I've see standing waves there when I was in Scapa on a dive trip). But looking through the various pilot guides and almanacs we had, I reckoned that as we were only just past neaps we wouldn't have to be exactly on slack.

So, with a plan to be at Hoy Sound at 7pm and if necessary wait 30 minutes if the water looked turbulent, we needed to be off at 8am prompt the next morning. Looking at our current position we realised we were only about 5nm from where we'd set off this morning - not much distance made good for all those hours out there!