2023 May 19th, Day 35 Loch Drumbuie to Vatersay Bay.

The 20:30 download on Thursday showed reasonable conditions on Friday but on some models possibly iffy on Saturday with winds favourable in the morning but not so good in the afternoon with the possibility of higher waves due to strong winds further out in the Atlantic so Friday it was, and an 04:00 start to avoid adverse tides getting out of the Sound of Mull and past Ardnamurchan point. That meant an 03:15 alarm as my back is still playing up and I need half an hour after getting up before it eases and I can do anything useful.

I was away at 04:10 and was sailing in light winds shortly after getting out of the Loch but it was short lived and the engine went back on for short periods twice to get clear of the point and then I was sailing  in a fairly steady 8 knots of wind from the WSW.

Bad new came at about 05:30 when I found my main domestic battery bank (2 x 120 Amp Hour AGM's) was indicating only 65% charged, although later that was found to be rather pessimistic, I had a problem; especially as it was discharging at over 5 amps, more than I would expect even with low input from the solar and virtually none from the wind turbine. I switched off non essentials like the cool box and it was still going down, I started the engine and no charge!

Not an emergency as I have a separate engine battery and a third 120 amp AGM domestic battery and can start the engine from any or all of the three “banks” but concerning, and if it was the alternator I would have to go direct to “civilisation” with good communications so I could get a replacement shipped there. 

Alternator top right, water pump bottom left.

So I took a Stugeron anti seasickness pill - working on an engine at sea is a good way to get sea sick especially when there is a big sea running and the wind light so not stabilising the boat, and after a short wait started work. I was in luck, getting the alternator off took 10 minutes or so and I found that the wire to the field winding had broken off at the terminal, in another 20 minutes I had it repaired and all back together as well as tightening up the water pump belt which had stretched a bit after being put on last winter.

The engine started and thanks to the external “intelligent” regulator the 55 amp alternator was soon charging at over 40 amps to the domestic batteries with more to the engine (I don’t have an ammeter on that) and keeping the boats electrical systems working.

I don’t know when the wire broke, both domestic banks were at 100% the previous evening but with some sunshine, a rare commodity, and some wind the “renewables” could have made good usage from a failure any time after Tobermory.

The main domestic bank recovered quickly, I think it had gone down to between 70 and 75%, still a lot on 240 Amp Hours, part of this and the high discharge rate I spotted, was down to it discharging to the engine battery; because the engine had been running (ignition on) the Digital Voltage Sensitive Relay was enabled and that allowed current to flow - unlike some more expensive types it is bidirectional. I had started the engine half a dozen times and the alternator was not recharging, then there was getting the anchor up. I motor sailed for an hour or so to get charge back into the batteries and then it was back to sailing.

The sailing was cold and damp with mist patches and occasional drizzle but on the bright side the steady rain did not appear until after I had got to Vatersay Bay.

And the wildlife spotted on this leg was exceptional, not much variety in birdlife just the ubiquitous Guillemots and a few Gulls and Gannets but the marine life was like nothing I have seen before in just a few hours:

• 200+ Dolphins north of Hawes Bank (which is north west of Coll, see chart above) over many square miles, visible for well over an hour mainly as I moved west at 5.5 knots (motor sailing after the alternator problem).
• Multiple small pods of Dolphin all the way over.
• 3 individual Minke Whales - off Hawes Bank, ½ way over and a couple of hours out.
• A small(?) pod of Orcas @ 12:30 c 12 nm SW of Hyskeir Rock. c 56º 50’ N 6º 57’ W
• A basking shark ½ mile SE of Muloanich (which is just E of Vatersay).

A distant pic of the Basking Shark, when it has been raining it
takes time to get the camera up and running!

With the wind dying and heading and the tide pushing me south I put the engine on at 16:40 and motored into Vatersay bay where I was anchored by 18:30 and thinking of dinner after a long day and as the rain started.

The famous beach at Vatersay Bay, reckoned to be the finest in
the Western Isles.

Not looking its best in the mist but at least by then I could see
to the end of the bay.

58 miles in 14.5 hours.

Click here for the short leg through Fisherman's Passage to Cornaig Bay.

Stage 18, Scabster – Stromness.

I was too tired to restart the next day as the tide required either an early start or a late finish even if I anchored in the southern part of Scarpa Flow. On Monday the 3^rd, with the tide an hour later I slipped at 06:47 and went back to where I had left off on Saturday as this was the safest route to clear Dunnet Head and other hazards, the wind was light so I was under engine and making good progress until about 2 miles off Scabster when the sea got up and became surprisingly rough and uncomfortable so I slowed to between 3 and 4 knots (which the plan allowed for) and a little late turned east and even with a light following wind a seriously uncomfortable ride east with the easterly tide increasing to about 2 knots.

As I came to the “Merry Men” the tide increased to over 5 knots and the seas miraculously calmed. The pilot notes that east of the Merry Men the seas would be calm but now, with the east going tide, it calmed as I hit the western side of the charted position. It was then a quick and pleasant passage into Scarpa Flow under sail. I even had a sight of the local Killer Whale pod, of course by the time I had got the camera from below they were too far off to photograph.

It was a pleasant sail past Flotta but the wind then blew up to Force 6 and I was not going to weather a  dangerous rock formation with the intriguing name of the “Barrel of Butter” so I started to motor sail and then motor up to Stromness.

Then the next drama unfolded, manoeuvring to get onto the marina pontoon I put the engine into reverse to do what was in effect a 3 point turn, nothing happened and nothing happened when I put it back into forward. Being blown about by a brisk wind I had the anchor out in record time after missing a small moored boat by inches (It was only small so I could have fended off) and came to a halt in an indicated 2 metres of water, the boat draws 1.7, about a hundred yards from the pontoon. So with a falling tide it was another tow, this time from a local power boat owned by the duty volunteer marina “berth master”.

The gear linkage was OK and a quick look under the boat showed the propeller was missing!

Slide show all of my pictures in Stromness. Page through by clicking the arrows or click in the centre of the pic to view from Flickr in a new window or full screen:

To be continued - 

9 days in Stromness?