Two unforgettable sailing days: Kirkwall-Wick-Inverness

10 Jul

It seems that all sailors talk about the weather, and we are not different J. We had been following the wind predictions closely for a window of opportunity to cross from Orkney to the mainland and Inverness (~120M). On the 8^th of July, the wind seemed to veer just slightly to the west. We needed to grab this chance to cross from Kirkwall to Wick (58º 26’.3N 03º 05’W) before the wind got back to its southwesterly default direction. It was forecast to blow 16-24 knots. For Easy Rider this seemed to be perfect.

We set off with a reef in the mainsail as soon as it was low water. The flood tide would take us past the fearsome Pentland Skerries almost to Wick. As soon as we left, a wonderful tide started pushing us, almost ‘spitting’ us out of the sound called The String between the Orkney Mainland and the island of Shapinsay. We were doing 9kn over ground with little wind at the start.

night falling on Inverness Firth

As soon as we reached Mull Head at the northeastern tip of Deerness we came into the area of very rough waters. Big steep waves started stalling our progress. We were doing just 2.5kn through the water, but we were still doing 6kn over ground, thanks to the tidal stream! We knew (hoped…) that it was only going to last another mile or so, so we continued our course southwards.

What followed was an unforgettable sail. We hadn’t experienced this kind of sailing in the Baltic. Easy Rider was doing up to 8kn, very well balanced with a wonderful motion through the waves. It was an incredible pleasure.

The wind was blowing F6 and gusting 7, so we didn’t want to get anywhere near the Pentland Skerries. We could see the tail of the Pentland Skerries, about 2M to starboard, as we approached a wall of white breakers. We kept a safe distance and we sped past it.

We arrived at Wick towards the end of the afternoon elated by the sail.

R.L.Stevenson lighthouse, Inverness Firth

The forecast was good (not the weather but the wind direction…). We were expected to have easterly or southeasterly winds. Another perfect day lay ahead of us.

During our sail southwest into the Moray Firth the barometer fell 12 mb in 12 hours! We had again a wonderful sail close hauled for 5 hours at about 7kn average. The rain started to fall as predicted and the visibility fell to below 200m. At the same time the wind dropped. We felt grateful for the chart plotter! Some years ago we would have felt very nervous continuing our sail in such poor visibility.

In the Inverness Firth, just 10 M before arriving to Inverness (57º 29’.7N 04º 14’.1W) the clouds lifted.

We entered the narrow marina entrance with the last light at 23:00.

Today is Sunday (10.7.16) and we had a good rest preparing for the Caledonian Canal tomorrow.