Leg 40

Scrabster to Tingwall. Sat 11th September

We were keen to get going, and so set off out of the harbour as soon as the boat was floating off the slip! A great big tanker had come in to fuel up and I thought we might not get past her stern, but we snook past and were away by about 9.00am. The plan is to go to Stromness. We should just catch slack water in Hoy Sound before it starts ebbing, if we aren't delayed on the way, and so we get the sails up as soon as we can. The tide is strong on our port beam as we go across the firth towards Hoy, and not only slows us down but takes us quite east of our course. By the time we are alongside the Old Man of Hoy, we are running a bit late for slack in the Sound, but we press on. The cliffs are amazing on this West side of Hoy, and as we tuck in close we get a real sense of how high they are. Fantastic. When you go past on the ferry you never really get that close or have time to really look at them.

We speed round the corner of Hoy into the Sound at about 5-6 knots, and so think we might have just made it before the ebb. But as I look across into mid channel I can see some white water on top of some waves - maybe not? We press on, keeping close to the shore of Hoy. Its not looking good though, as we slow down considerably. A sight to behold is that there are literally hundreds and hundreds of cormorants sitting on the water, waiting to dive in and feed. Perhaps that is a sign that the ebb has started! Before we know it we are in mid channel, and the sea is enormous. The ebb definitely has started, almost suddenly, and we are having difficulty controlling our direction of travel. Before we know it we are at full engine revs (testing all the repairs to the full!!!!) pointing in the direction we want to go, but actually travelling backwards at 2 knots!! Time for plan B. Ivan skillfully turns her to port and in a flash we are going back the way we came at almost 11 knots!

Phew.....that was a lucky escape.....Plan B is to keep going up the coast and go through Eynhallow Sound and head for Tingwall harbour, a little ferry pier and fishing harbour just a few miles from Kirkwall. We definitely missed the tide in Hoy Sound, if we don't hurry, we should catch it right to go with the tide through Eynhallow Sound.

It was a pleasant motor up the coast, round the Brough of Birsay, and past the giant cliffs and caves of Costa Head. We saw a few basking sharks too. We glided along Eynhallow Sound, with the tide, and got into Tingwall's little harbour just as the light faded. You would have thought we planned it that way!!!!