Saturday 25th July. Chris and Brian joined me yesterday afternoon and we spent the night on a mooring in Arisaig bay. It was somewhat bouncy with a fresh SW wind and mile long fetch. In the morning the wind had veered to W making a passage west toward the Outer Hebrides untenable, so instead we reached north past Mallaig and into Loch Nevis. Picking up a visitor buoy at Inverie we then ventured ashore to the Old Forge However it was so rammed with people from a couple of trip boats that it was impossible to reach the bar and be served ! Instead we retired back to the boat for a tiny with takeaway fish and chips.
Sunday, with a F4 SW we were now able to start making progress west. After initally motoring to Point of Sleat, a couple of tacks took us past Rum and on to Canna. Here we picked up a mooring just as the sky cleared and the sun came out. We had a look around the grounds of Canna House and a round of croquet before the midges drove us to take refuge in the tiny restaurant where we dined on fresh mackeral.
Monday, we left the mooring in the now familiar drizzly rain which cleared by the time we had rounded the eastern end of the island and were heading west across the Minch. The wind angle was just right for us to make a course for Loch Boisdale on South Uist, 25 nm distant. A few heavy showers blew through and occasional sunny intervals. We had a pod of dolphins pass close by and saw numerous puffins out on the water with their young, rapidly having to learn the ropes before being left to their own devices out on the north Atlantic. On arrival in the Loch we went into the small marina.
Tuesday, with a forecast of SW F5/6 the plan was to sail north up the eastern side of Uist in what should be sheltered water. We hurried off at 0900 to exit the marina before the traffic lights went red, which would indicate that the Calmac ferry is about to leave and boats must wait. The wind rapidly picked up so we stuck with flying just the genoa on a broad reach. After a couple of hours we had a F6 gusting 7 and had the genoa rolled up to 2 spots. We had a steep sea running up from astern requiring concentrated effort to maintain course. After 4 hours we had a steady F8 and at one point a gust of 40kts blew through. We were down to less than 3 spots on the genoa and still managed a record breaking 11.5 kts surfing off a wave. It was with some relief therefore when we turned into Lochmaddy and escaped the big sea but still faced a fierce wind motoring up to the pontoon behind the Calmac pier. Fortunately there was only one other boat on the outside of the hammerhead and so were able to berth head to wind without too much difficulty.
Wednesday, the wind has subsided to a F4 but the forecast does not favour a crossing to St Kilda. So instead we position ourselves nearer by sailing through the Sound of Harris and anchoring on the south side of Taransay. The wind direction of SSW meant we were able to hold on one tack through the Stanton Channel. Only a little swell is making its way into the bay this evening but enough that SO will roll in the night if broadside on, so I have laid out a kedge to keep the bow pointing out to sea.
The Adventures of Sea Orchid 