Sailing around the world on the traditional gaff rigged schooner Windjammer

Off the beaten track & other interesting places

Vessel Name: Schooner Windjammer
Vessel Make/Model: Pete Culler - Integrity Schooner
Hailing Port: Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia
Crew: Ashley & Cathie Kerr
About: We set off in December 2010 to continue our cruising adventures around the world after 25 years owning and operating a yacht charter company in the Whitsunday Islands - Australia
Extra:
Our voyage to date has taken across the Pacific to New Zealand, French Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands and on to the San Juan Islands where we spent the winter of 2011/2012. We then headed north through British Columbia to South East Alaska and down the west coast of the US to Mexico and central [...]
Social:
Recent Blog Posts
15 June 2017

Scottish Isles

We anchored off Islenorsay and after a quick scout ashore continued north to Broadford via Kyle Rhia narrows. Motoring at first in light winds we set sails as it increased and even the balloon jib, whoops wind increased to over 25 knots, big trouble getting it back down again with just the two of us. [...]

23 May 2017

London to Caledonian Canal and Isle of Skye

We spent 5 days in London at Limehouse Basin near Canary Wharf, originally built for the canal barges transporting lime and other products via inland canals to the Thames. We had to lock into the basin and only just managed the tide before they closed the gate. Not much under the keel in the lock! This [...]

Scottish Isles

15 June 2017
Cathie Kerr
We anchored off Islenorsay and after a quick scout ashore continued north to Broadford via Kyle Rhia narrows. Motoring at first in light winds we set sails as it increased and even the balloon jib, whoops wind increased to over 25 knots, big trouble getting it back down again with just the two of us. Lots of rain and wind in the afternoon. Went ashore in Bradford and had our first mussels of the season at a little traditional Spanish restaurant owned by a young couple from the Balearics accompanied of course by a lovely Rioja. Got chatting to a very interesting English gentleman who was on a hiking trip in the highlands.

Woke up the next morning to no wind and no clouds - sunshine at last, its been such a long time. Sailed over to Rhona Island and anchored in Big Harbour. Very pretty spot. There was a little farmhouse ashore where we bought some local island venison and fresh eggs. A great hike to the highest point on the island yielded great views over the islands and the presence of a Scottish naval submarine, surfaced and slowly making its way south.

We then headed further north to Loch Torridon and Sheildag to the town of Shieldag anchoring in front of the town we went ashore and feasted on the local langoustine sandwiches at Nancys cafe. Very fresh and tasty. These lochs are surrounded by numerous mountains and is a particularly stunning area. We spent a few days here catching up on our varnishing in the unusually warm weather.


Set sail for Staffin Bay in the north east side of the Isle of Skye. We entered looking for somewhere to anchor but no apparent places to take the dinghy ashore so continued around the top and ended up at Ardmore Bay on the western side. A small cove with a few farm houses and people scouring the shallows for sea snails, apparently worth a lot of money in France according to the Polish guy collecting them. We collected a bunch and cooked them up, not my cup of tea though, ended up tossing most of therm over the side. We continued on to Loch Dunvegan where there was another huge and famous castle (one of many we saw during our time in Scotland). There was a very active seal colony close by with some very entertaining characters. The town itself was somewhat run down, nowhere to tie up the dinghy so didn't hang around for too long.

Motored across to North Uist in the Outer Hebrides and anchored in Bagh Bhorain. Rainy grey day. Tried our hand at fishing but nothing to be had. Wind was increasing and swinging and not much room so headed south for Loch Boisdale. We had been recommended this spot but we didn't find much interesting here at all, so following day set sail for Barra Island. Decided to stop in to Eriksay Island on the way. We docked freely on the fishing pontoon and were helped in by some very friendly local fisherman who gave us a few tips on walks and places to eat on the island. This was a beautiful island with friendly people, nice beaches on the western side and a fabulous cafe "The Politician" where we stopped for lunch. Later that afternoon we left for Barra Island anchoring in the north east side next to the fish coop and decided to take a walk to the "beach airport". This is an airstrip that is only open at low tide where planes land on the hard sand. Not having a GPS with us we underestimated the distance to the airport, so after about 2 1/2 hrs walking there and 1/2 hr back it was getting dark so decided to try and hitch a ride back. We were picked up by a lady who was visiting her sister on the island for the funeral of her 14yr old daughter, she had just been killed in the mass shooting at the rock concert in Manchester. She had been given the concert ticket for her 14th birthday. We drove past the cemetery and could see the men digging the grave - so tragic.The Outer Hebrides is a very small and close knit community and the death of the young girl was felt by all.




1st June
We moved further south to the bottom of the island and anchored just off the Castle in Castle Bay. This is the capital of Barra Island and it has the most gorgeous anchorage.
We spent the evening ashore listening to some local folk music. Next day we moved on to Vattersay Island and anchored off its beautiful white sandy beach. Another stunning anchorage with clear water, white sand albeit too cold to swim. We met some keen kayakers we had previously seen on Eriksay Island.


Next day we sailed across to Canna Island and anchored in the main harbour for a few days. This was a great island for walking with some interesting old churches and buildings. There is a great cafe ashore run by a a lovely local couple where we had the local lobster speciality.

We had a friend to meet in Maillag so sailed across and took a berth in the marina to do some provisioning and laundry.

Our friend Rudi arrived on the train from Glasgow. This train trip I am told is one of the most scenic in Scotland. Wasting no time we sailed that afternoon for Rum Island to check out the Kinloch Castle. Unlike the grand castle at Loch Dunvegan this was in rather a sorry state. There are so many of these castles and unfortunately visitor numbers do not generate enough revenue to maintain all of them. There was not much else on the island and as the wind was due to get up up decided to head up to Loch Brittle on the south east side of Isle. This anchorage puts you directly under the Cuillin mountain range, a draw card for international climbers. We didn't go ashore here but there were lots of vans and campers on the beach. Our next anchorage was Loch Scavaig, which we had read, Eric Hiscock rated as his favourite anchorage in the world. Definitely worth a visit. It is only a small anchorage with room for no more than 2 boats and very much subject to good weather conditions. We had tried entering the day before but conditions didn't allow so went around to Loch Brittle instead. However today was a great day and we managed to do a 2 1/2 hour hike around the lake. A popular place for day trip boats. I'm not sure about most favourite in the world (mine would be Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian Island Kauai or the anchorage at Pio Sena off the Beagle Channel in Patagonia) but one of the nicer and most scenic anchorages we encountered in Scotland.

We decided to revisit Canna Island as we really enjoyed our previous visit there and took Rudi to the quaint little cafe. Rudi ordered the lobster for dinner and as there weren't any left in the kitchen, the owner promptly hopped into his boat, made a trip to his lobster pots and brought back a fresh one - great service! Great place.

We sailed to and spent the night at Lunga Island in the Tresnish Isles which is part of the Inner Hebrides. This was a lovely quiet and remote anchorage. The next morning we headed for Staffa one of the more famous of the Treshnish Isles. With its sheer basalt columns rising out of the sea is was indeed impressive. The Vikings gave it the name Pillar Island as its columnar base reminded them of their houses which were built from vertically placed tree logs. Fingal Cave is a feature on the island. The cave is formed from hexagonally jointed basalt columns and is renowned for its acoustics. We anchored off the island, very deep and usually a lot of swell and took the dinghy in for a quick look into the cave. It was a bit dicey but managed to get in and out unharmed! afterwards we hiked around the island which had a huge puffin colony. We were so close to some that you could see the ticks infested under their feathers. To date we have seen literally thousands of puffins in Newfoundland, Iceland and Scandavia. They are such interesting little characters. I could sit and watch them for hours. A tourist boat arrived from the mainland breaking the spell so upped cameras and returned to the boat. We then had a short stopover on the Island of Ioana with its abbey dominating the skyline, chic craft shops and lots of tourists. Up anchored and headed to the Island of Jura and the entrance to the infamous Corryrrecken narrows also known as the "Speckled Couldron". The Gulf of Corryvrecken lies between the islands of Jura and Scarba, the underwater topography and tidal race creates the third largest whirlpool in the world so we had to be sure to time our transit right. We anchored in Bagh Gleann Nam Muc, a bay on the northwestern side of Jura and the entrance to Corryvrecken narrows, and would await the early morning slack tide.

This proved quite a challenge. Whilst this was a protected anchorage once you were inside, getting in proved quite hectic as we had miscalculated the timing of slack tide! not thinking it would have such an impact this far out from the narrows. The overflow from the tidal race pushed us around like a tiny cork particularly as we made our entry into the small bay, white knuckle stuff! Apparently George Orwell almost lost his life here in 1949 whilst circumnavigating the Jura. We transited the narrows the next morning dead on slack tide going as fast as we could but even then there were waves starting to break by the time we made our exit from the narrows.


Our friend Rudi was due to fly out of Glasgow in a couple of days so we decided to transit through the Crinan Canal and drop him at Ardrossan with easy access to the airpot. This canal transits from the Inner Hebrides into the Clyde and avoids having to round the Mull of Kintyre which we were told can be quite a challenge. Anchored off the entrance to the canal the wind was once again howling. We approached the canal staff with the boat details to transit. All the literature we had read indicated that the canal could take the size and depth of Windjammer without a problem, however upon checking in we were told they would need to pump an extra 100mm of water into the canal to accommodate our draft. The canal supervisor payed us a visit and was sceptical as to whether our length including bowsprit was in fact going to be a problem. The last lock with its exit gate opening inward was potentially going to be a problem with only centimetres to spare. We were however committed and decided to risk it. There was no turning back once in. So next morning we locked in. The canal is only 9 miles long but It has 15 locks, 7 bridges, 6 swing bridges and a retractable bridge so it was going to take some time. The entrance was very narrow and windy but opened up the further we got. We stopped at one of the small towns along the way for a short walk and lunch as we needed to get to the exit by 4 in the afternoon to lock out.

We decide to continue on to Portavardie, a marina - residential complex another 12 miles southwest that would provide better shelter. This marina had a ridiculously narrow entrance and once in, no where to turn around.

The complex was not overly interesting for us and required a tactical effort in turning Windjammer around the next morning to actually get out again. This required some serious planning as we had rocks 5 meters abeam of us. We swung around on single bow line in a tight tactical manoeuvre. After all the years sailing with Ashley these manoeuvres still continue to impress me.

The wind was now blowing at 25 knots with gusts of up to 50 and we were flying on the flat seas. It was wet, cold and windy again. We saw a lot of this during our time in Scotland. Poor old Rudi was pretty sea sick, finally arrived in Ardrossan. Unfortunately we did not have much pre information on the marina or where we were to berth so once we cleared the gate we found that we were in for another exciting ride. With winds of 35knots we had to negotiate a number of tight turns and manoeuvre or way into a tight berth. Once again Ashley's skills kept us out of trouble and we eventually tied up safely with out damage. Rudi left us the next day and we spent the next few days cleaning up and repairing the anchor windlass.

London to Caledonian Canal and Isle of Skye

23 May 2017
Cathie Kerr
We spent 5 days in London at Limehouse Basin near Canary Wharf, originally built for the canal barges transporting lime and other products via inland canals to the Thames. We had to lock into the basin and only just managed the tide before they closed the gate. Not much under the keel in the lock! This is the home of the Cruising Yacht Club and were very fortunate to get a berth here. There were lots of traditional canal boats with liveaboards. There was only one other cruising yacht came whilst we were there. Unfortunately I spent most of the time in bed due to a bout of chronic bronchitis, so, Ashley visited the maritime museum at Greenwich and cycled his way around the Canary Wharf district visiting the local pubs discovering his favourite ,"The Grape". We met up with an old friend Bex who had worked for us in our previous life chartering in the Queensland's Whitsunday Islands. It was great to catch up and reminisce. It is always good to go back to London, which we had visited many times over a period of 20 years marketing our sailing holidays in the Whitsundays to all the Brits who wanted to escape the bitter winter weather. We had also both worked and lived there in our younger days.

After getting the obligatory photograph under the Tower Bridge (the main reason we went to London, yes really!) we then headed back out the Thames ready for our cruise around Britain.

As the wind was coming from the north we anchored near the Thames entrance at Queensborough for a couple of nights. The east coast of England is fairly shallow with few anchorages and harbours to to take refuge in. We then had nice sail with fisherman up all the way to Felixstowe where we took a berth at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, just making it over the bar on a falling tide. This is a wonderful facility and a beautiful building. This obviously marked a period of prosperity as the town itself is now very run down with lots of empty houses and old warehouses. Seems there is a lot of welfare and unemployment in the town with every other shop in the high street being a charity shop of some description.

After two days we again headed north with favourable winds for an overnight sail to Whitby. We arrived late afternoon ready for the bridge opening to take us in to the marina but alas the bridge control had blown a hydraulic hose and could not open so we spent the night tied up to a small floating pontoon in the outer harbour. Whitby is best known for being the town where Captain Cook grew up. It is a thriving tourist destination with fish and chip and ice cream shops on every corner and every child is fishing for crabs. We met an interesting guy maned Dave who had taken his self built "Whitby Coble", (a traditional north east coast fishing trawler) to the Brisbane World Expo in 1988. He also did a lot of voluntary work for the unemployed youth and had been invited to attend the annual Queens Garden Party! We spent a fabulous day with Dave driving us to surrounding villages and quaint fishing harbours. He also introduced us to the best haddock and chips ever!

After four days in Whitby it was time to get moving again and we continued our journey visiting the town of Blythe and the Northumberland Yacht Club. There were some strong northerlies on the way and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne offered the best shelter. After coming through a winding tricky channel we anchored in front of the Lindisfarne Castle. Lindisfarne was the base for Christian evangelism in Northern England. The island is linked by a causeway which can only be crossed at low tide. The tides in these areas move extremely quickly and there has been many an unsuspecting tourist either stranded on the island or in fact left floating halfway having to sit on the roof of their car. It was cold and windy so we didn't do much ashore except a couple of times to the pub for a pint and bite as we were limited with tide as to when we could even get ashore.

After the weather settled we headed north again to the town of Arbroath, home of the "Smokey (hot smoked haddock - mmmm delicious)". We really enjoyed the town and we met "Jake" the singing Jack Russel who was apparently a TV celebrity. There is a tidal gate into the harbour which opens and closes according to the tide and in our case it was mid morning, we had to scamper to make it as we needed to get to Peter Head by nightfall.

Peter Head is a large commercial port just north of Aberdeen and was a bit daunting when we arrived at 20.30. We needed to get into the "yacht harbour" which was very small and required a tight turning and small entrance. After tying up on the large wooden pier awaiting instructions from the Harbour Master, Ashley did a quick reccy of the harbour, this was just as well as he found a small sandy knoll in the middle of the entrance which we didn't and wouldn't have known was there. It was tight but once again we managed to tie up without incident. We departed early the next morning with the tide and rounded Rattray Head en route to inverness. With a stiff 25 knot breeze on the beam and heading for Inverness to transit the Caledonian Canal, George (our usually trusty auto pilot) groaned and then gave up! We decided to make for MacDuff Harbour to see if we could get the hydraulics fixed. Another small tricky entrance with a hard left turn into a very tidal harbour. Most of the large fishing boats were sitting on in the mud at low tide. We had the pick of the spots with water under the keel in front of the fishing coop. This was one of the more interesting stops on our cruise around Britain. MacDuff is a shipbuilding town and the townspeople were ever so friendly and accommodating. We were given hydraulic oil by a local fisherman who helped us tie up but lack of oil proved not to be the problem and we needed to order spare parts for George which we did and arranged to collect at the end of the Caledonian Canal.

We spent the next week traversing the Caledonian Canal which is 60 miles long and comprises of 29 lochs. Entering at Inverness we crossed Lochness to the pretty town of Fort Augustus which sits under the watchful eye of Ben Nevis and then through Britain's' longest staircase lock, "Neptune's Staircase" at Banavie. This is a series of eight lochs which can lift a boat 20 metres. We had lots of keen onlookers who helped with the locking process moving us from one lock to the next, which was both helpful and entertaining.

Our package of "O" rings arrived while we were in Corpach at the end of the canal and we overhauled the autopilot steering ram. Great to have our extra "crew member" back in action again. We exited the canal and made our way to the anchorage in Loch Aline for the evening. The following morning, we set sail fro Tobermory, a lovely traditional fishing village with coloured houses along the waterfront and of course its famous single malt distillery. We met up with an interesting couple on board the pilot cutter "Annabel J" who were on their way to Iceland. We had experienced lots of muddy anchorages however this was SERIOUS mud and a deep anchorage. Our engine driven deck wash pump for the anchor was of course not working so it took us nearly 2 hours to clean the 70 metres of chain we had out! A smelly morning.

A gentle sail then to Muck Island where we went ashore for their famous crab sandwiches and a walk around the island before heading off to southern end of the Isle of Skye in the afternoon. You can see why the Scottish love to walk so much, these islands offer great walking with miles and miles of open moors, albeit a little windy and wet at times.



.
Windjammers route
Schooner Windjammer's Photos - Main
45 Photos
Created 18 April 2022
28 Photos
Created 11 November 2021
99 Photos
Created 26 August 2020
45 Photos
Created 11 May 2020
14 Photos
Created 11 May 2020
104 Photos
Created 5 April 2020
65 Photos
Created 3 May 2018
6 Photos
Created 2 March 2017
3 Photos
Created 5 May 2016
1 Photo
Created 1 December 2015
36 Photos
Created 28 May 2015
31 Photos
Created 25 May 2015
Port de Vita and the SW Coast
28 Photos
Created 20 May 2015
February - May 2015
49 Photos
Created 10 May 2015
Carnival 2015
24 Photos
Created 18 February 2015
12 Photos
Created 2 April 2014
15 Photos
Created 10 February 2014
60 Photos
Created 13 January 2014
Sailing from Easter Island to Chile
26 Photos
Created 3 September 2013
Pacific Adventure
30 Photos
Created 20 August 2013
21 Photos
Created 18 July 2013
On the way to the Galapagos Island
23 Photos
Created 23 June 2013
12 Photos
Created 17 June 2013
San Juan Islands
57 Photos
Created 7 February 2012
Marlborough Sounds NZ
11 Photos
Created 7 February 2012
Lord Howe Island midway between Australia and New Zealand
22 Photos
Created 7 February 2011