Fulmar Concerto Sail Round Britain part 7 Orkneys to the southern end of the Outer Hebrides
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- Опубліковано 29 лис 2024
- This is the seventh part of my singlehanded Round Britain trip in my 32ft Westerly Fulmar "Concerto" that was built in 1980. This part starts at Stromness and leaving Scapa Flow. The trip to Kinlochbervie was a very long day, make much longer as the wind was not as predicted and resulted in a beat which meant I missed the tidal gate at Cape Wrath. So instead of sailing 82 miles, I sailed about 120 miles. Instead of arriving at about 10pm, I arrived at 3.30am, just before dawn.
Sailing from Loch Inver to Stornoway was for most people the hottest day of the year, but the air temperature over the water was only about 12C. It was pretty cold, so my selfie has been included showing my attire. Later, when I was sailing to close to Stornoway, I saw hundreds of puffins. They were everywhere, but unfortunately not close enough to film. I just hope sufficient puffins survive the bird flu epidemic to ensure their survival.
I had a magical day a few days later was when I had dolphins sailing on the bow for the firt time ever. In total I had 3 pods visit that day and took about 2 hours of video. There is about half a minute on this video, but there is a nearly 10 minute video already loaded on my UA-cam channel for you to enjoy.
Visiting Scalpay was interesting as I had to pass under the bridge to get there with limited clearance. The harbour has an interesting concrete barge that was launched in 1919, which is one of the oldest in the world. Dotted round the edge of the waterside are several old boilers that are all that remain from some old wooden fishing boats.
The final surprise was when I entered the marina at Lochboisdale, someone shouted across whilst motoring to my berth, "Hello Roger." I did not recognise the man or his boat. He came over after I had moored and explained that he had come aboard Concerto at the Southampton Boat Show the previous year. He asked about changing his boat and I had given him some advice on what boat he should buy. He said it was some of the clearest and most important information he had received whilst at the show. It was so nice to get thanks in person for a conversation I hardly remembered as I had spoken to about 800 people at the show. What made it very special was that I was hundreds of miles away from where it had been given.
For more detailed information on this section of the trip can be read in the yachting forum posts made at the time. These are the links.
forums.ybw.com... forums.ybw.com... forums.ybw.com... forums.ybw.com... forums.ybw.com... forums.ybw.com...
The trip has been completed and the next part will cover some more of the Scottish Western Isles. If you have enjoyed this video and some of my other videos, then subscribe to my channel you will be immediately notified when the next videos are loaded.
The photos and videos on this trip were taken on an iPhone SE 2020 and the aerial photos and videos on a DJI Mini 2 drone. The editing was completed using OpenShot Video Editor.
Thank you for sharing. Good impression of the northerly UK seaways
The waves off Shetland and Orkneys can be a lot bigger than those in this video as there is nothing to break them up after crossing the Atlantic. The further north in the UK, the stronger the winds and cooler temperatures.
The only thing I failed to mention is I had not one midge on the whole trip, which is definitely a rare event for the western isles in summer.
I'm 65 and thinking about doing the Atlantic run in a Westerly Berwick. What do you think?
I was 68 and fairly fit and well when I did this trip. So, age alone should not stop you.
Coastal sailing experience is different from open water sailing, so I have to ask have you sailed in open water and can you cope with extreme high winds. Once out, you are on your own with no port to run to for shelter. I sail singlehanded with a forecast of up to force 7, but 4 days the wind reached force 8 and one day it hit force 9. My sailing skills are fairly high, and I have in the past raced in a force 12, which I quite enjoyed as I like rough weather sailing.
Sailing the Atlantic is quite possible in a Berwick, even a Westerly 22 sailed across the pond many decades ago. My advice would be to try some long distance sailing to check you are ready for such a major crossing. Sail to Shetland or Portugal as a trial. Remember sailing across to the West Indies is relatively easy, the problem is sailing back to the UK. So many people arrive westward and then cannot face the return journey and virtually abandon their boats over there.
Preparation for any major trip involves testing the boat and crew out to find any problems that should be fixed before any departure. Concerto had been tested over a number of years and many improvements were made to make being on board better. The latest imrovements, fitting pressurised hot and cold water system with shower, converting the cool box to a fridge and installing a new electrical panel all took longer than planned to complete. It was not until I started sailing did I find my battery charging was not adequate to cope with the extra load of the fridge and meant I needed shore power every 3 to 4 days to keep the new batteries charged. This winter I am adding extra solar panels and a wind generator.
I cannot stress enough that preparation is the key to any successful voyage.
@@FulmarConcerto thanks for the reply. I have only sailed coastal from port to port. Big winds scare me. But I will try a longer trip this summer. Maybe not ready for the Atlantic just yet.
Extending your sailing experience will help you decide exactly what you want to do. When I was in my 20's I wanted to sail round the world, but work got in the way. Later I considered an Atlantic crossing, but decided it was more an endurance test than a sailing experience. The full round Britain is still completed by very few sailors on fully crewed boats, but I did it singlehanded in a fast time in a year with generally stronger winds than normal.
If you put your mind to do something, plan for things that can go wrong and take steps to ensure they never happen. During my years racing yachts, I have had a few breakages and mishaps that most sailors fear. Notably, loosing a mast, breaking a rudder, running aground, spinnaker broaches and even standing on the keel of a small day sailor to stop it sinking by righting it again. Sailing in heavy weather was fun and in 1971 was the first time we planed a 30ft yacht, repeated in 1972. That was highly unusual, but far more common now with modern light weight wide stern yachts. All of this means I have little fear of problems, just appreciating that I need a quick solution to any problem. For example my rigging has the split pins slightly opened and not taped so if the mast breaks I can ditch it quickly with a pair of pliers.
I mentioned distance sailing in my previous answer. To date I have sailed up to 120 miles singlehanded, but anything over 80 miles can get very tiring. To ensure I shorten my sailing day I try to sail to 90 to 95% of the potential speed achieved by a full racing crew. By setting the sails to set correctly and continually adjust them ensure I achieve this. It can cut hours off some days sailing. Frequently I have been told I have a quick boat as I frequently sail with 35 or 36ft yachts, but they have poorly set sails. On this trip a Westerly Storm left Lowestoft about half an hour before me and they arrived in Wells-next-the sea about 1½ hours after me, but they should be a much faster boat than my Fulmar.
Have you read the daily reports I wrote up on the ybw Yachting Monthly forum. There are links for this trip in the video details and every report has a link to the start of the trip. It might take a while to read them all, but they were all written a few hours after each trip and describe many things not captured on video.
Hi Tama, do it. You only live once. It is a bad rememberence when you are 95, wetting you selves and thing I could have done an Atlantic run.
Hi, how long did it took you to circumnavigate the UK?
I started on 25 May and arrived back on 28 Sept. However I spent 14 days in the Solent as I was working on the Westerly Owners Association stand every day of the Southampton Boat Show. I had originally planned to leave before the end of April but some boat improvements took far longer to complete than I planned. Even so, I would have just visited a few more places and still returned by the end of Sept.
@@FulmarConcerto Hi…If you look back on you trip, is there something you would do different? As I am planning to do the same trip, also anti clockwise, just curious. Because I think it quiet fast four months. Myself have stayed for holidays at the west coast of Scotland for nearly 20 years 4/5 weeks a year and I think I need more time to discover more places there.
To be honest I do not think I would change anything except stop at a few additional places. I had intended going to Hull, Newcastle on Tyne, Whitby, Dundee, St Kilda, lots of places in the western isles, Londonderry, Ardglass, Aberystwyth, Liverpool, Fishguard, Milford Haven, Swansea, Cardiff, Ilfracombe, the Isles of Scilly, Plymouth and Portland. Time and weather constraints meant some places were left off from this trip, but I expect I will visit them at some time in the future.
The main thing is to have a few critical places that you want to visit and be flexible on the rest. There were a few places I visited that were recommendations from talking with other sailors on the trip, Vidlin and Scalpay were some of them.
This year I am off for a few weeks to go to the Channel Islands and St Malo. In the not to distant future I shall be moving to Cheshire and then I expect to base Concerto in SW Scotland. Then I plan a trip round Ireland followed by one through the Caledonian Canal to return to the Orkneys, Shetland and the Western Isles. So many of the ports I missed on this trip will be visited in the future.
@@FulmarConcerto Thanks for your answer, I. Will try to have St. Kilda in my rout, but is depending on the weather. I will try sea more places at the Orkney’s, Shetland and the west of Scotland.