Having taken local advice on timings for entry to Scapa Flow to avoid being swept into the Pentland Firth, we left Wick in time to reach Duncansby Head at slack water.

Spot on 1100 on 3 May 2023, as the tide grew slack we encountered this notorious area of water. However, the swell and waves built instead of calming down and the sea became a maelstrom with waves from all directions. This was not planned!

Our sails, reefed for the wind conditions, did not stop us from broaching a couple of times as we ploughed our way round the head, about three miles off as advised.

Thankfully we passed the Pentland Skerries with room to spare and entered the relatively calmer waters off South Ronaldsay, picking up the north-going current as expected.

We shot up into the calm of Scapa Flow and enjoyed a cracking sail past Flotta Island into Huxa Sound avoiding the dive boats and Barrel of Butter rocks, so named after the ‘tax’ historically paid by Orphir residents to the local laird to hunt seals on the shore.

Following the buoyed channel into Stromness, we tied up at the pontoon at about 1730.

A long day. We later found out that the waters off Duncansby are often unpredictable and can provide a rather more turbulent passage than anticipated!

Outstanding Orkney

There is so much to see and do in Orkney, with its ancient and modern history, fantastic geology, people, and its influence and place in the days gone by and the innovative technologies it is developing for renewable energy. Our 17-day stay was simply not long enough to do it justice.

Orkney’s coastline is around 500 miles and it abounds with wildlife, sealife, wildflowers and grasses. We saw redshanks, oystercatchers, eider ducks, puffins, gannets, razorbill, guillemots and the Arctic skuas that menace the skies.

Arriving in the lovely safe harbour of Stromness I was conscious of the song written by Peter Maxwell Davies, Farewell to Stromness. Thankfully the uranium mine he was protesting never opened.

It is a poignant reminder that the stunning natural beauty and culture of a place can be so easily destroyed by our greed and desire for transient modern demands.

Ancient site

On the cold and windy days we spent in Stromness we walked a good few miles and visited Skarra Brae, a well-preserved and managed 5,000-year-old site, which predates Stonehenge.

All the surrounding Standing Stones, like the Ring of Brodgar, pay homage to a civilisation we can only guess at. There is no known reason why the site, which they reckon was a village for about 600 years was abandoned, just interesting theories. You cannot get inside the village and can only look from the top, but a reconstruction of a house interior gives a real sense of the type of living those ancients had.

The recently-found Ness of Brodgar was closed so we didn’t visit but on other islands, similar evidence of ancient living can be seen and touched.

The museums on all the islands tell of the history of the use of Scapa Flow as a naval base during both world wars and of the relationship between the North Sea oil discovery and the subsequent need to bring it ashore to refine and ship out.

Flotta’s oil terminal is a major crude oil reception, processing, storage and export facility in the southern part of Scapa Flow. Oil arrives by a subsea pipeline from The Piper, Claymore, Tartan and Golden Eagle platforms and associated fields.

The terminal includes facilities for exporting stabilised crude oil (and formerly liquefied petroleum gases) by tanker. Again a reminder of our ever-growing need for fuels and energy.

It provided huge employment opportunities and encouraged the growth of villages with schools, libraries and community centres. Now reduced in capacity, it still provides many jobs and keeps the ferries and communications between islands strong.

History makers

If you visit Mainland, then you must explore the delightful Stromness Museum.

A £6 ticket provides unlimited entry for up to seven days and a great introduction to Orkney’s famous sons and daughters: such as Dr John Rae (Arctic explorer who discovered the final leg of the Northwest Passage and the final resting place of Sir John Franklin’s failed Arctic Exploration); Sir John Franklin and Dr William Balfour Baikie; James Copland, prolific medical writer and doctor; Stanley Cursiter (an artist who played a key role in introducing Post-Impressionism and Futurism to Scotland).

Then there’s Isobel Gunn, the only woman to join the Hudson Bay Company, albeit disguised as a man, earning £8 per year hauling furs and provisions across the northern territories and Canada. She was rumbled when she unexpectedly gave birth in the factor’s office and was sent home in disgrace. Little is known of her final resting place or of her son’s life.

Our first visit to Stromness ended when we decided to head north to Westray, which many folk had advised us to visit.

Rough overfalls

Leaving Stromness we headed through the Sound of Hoy, and encountered our first example of the infamous Roosts.

We had planned to catch the end of the south-east going flood and the few moments of slack before catching the north-west-going ebb to enable us to catch the incoming tides past the islands of Eynhallow and Rousay, however, we missed our best position in the Sound and bobbed around on the beginnings of the rather unpleasant overfalls.

There was no wind, thankfully, so we did not suffer wind over tide. However, a good lesson was learned and in future, we listened to the advice of other yachties who knew the area well before thinking we knew better!

The fog came down and we missed the sight of Brough Head and its wildlife until well passed the northern end of Mainland and bombing through Eynhallow Sound at 10 knots. We moored off the south side of Shapinsay on a visitor mooring, a peaceful evening watching the otters and seals.

The next day took us to Kirkwall to take delivery of a computer and to meet Mike Cooper who heads up the Orkney Marinas Company. An absolute font of knowledge, we could have spent hours with him but we had to go ashore and stock up for our Westray trip on 11 May.

This began as a pleasant motor sail, then as we headed through Rapness Sound, the gap between Westray and Eday, we enjoyed a wonderful hour’s sail, with puffins and guillemots diving around us.

In Pierowall Harbour, again in Westray, we used a visitor’s mooring buoy and were the only yacht in the stunning bay, possibly due to the 8-9°C temperatures!

We took a walk up to Noltland Castle, visited the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites and hiked to Noup Head to see the large Gannet colony and other seabirds. There was a distinct tang to the air! On the clear horizon was Iceland.

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Challenging round

Westray also has a golf course – rather challenging in the windy conditions – that boasts the longest hole in UK and Ireland at 736 yards, a par 6. And Westray has the shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world at 96 seconds to Papa Westray.

After three days we returned to Stromness with a good wind. As we headed through Rapness Sound we felt privileged to share the waters with a basking shark.

After a cracking sail, we encountered a huge swell in the Sound of Westray, 8m waves and some at very short intervals plagued our first hour but thankfully no breaking overfalls as we had steered clear of the Roosts and got our tide times correct.

Rounding the headland of Mainland we witnessed the impressive rock formations previously hidden by fog.

Reaching Hoy Sound as the tide turned meant we had a fast, uneventful passage, then we turned into Stromness – just as the ferry headed out! We gave it clearance and received a friendly acknowledgement.

We stayed in Stromness for a few days, visited the Scapa Flow Museum and walked across the Churchill Barriers that link Mainland to South Ronaldsay.

The museum holds so many moving stories, such as that of HMS Vanguard, a battle cruiser moored in Scapa Flow during World War I, which exploded due to unstable cordite with the loss of 845 lives, and the Battle of Jutland which caused much loss of shipping and men (6,000 British) for the British and German fleets, who both claimed victory.

The Churchill Barriers were built after a German U-boat, U47, snuck past the block ships and torpedoed HMS Royal Oak, killing 835. We paid our respects at the beautiful memorial at Kirkwall Cathedral on our return journey.

Final spin

We had a fairly tight weather window to leave Orkney before the next set of lows and high winds. We planned our route to round Cape Wrath, checked our times, watched the weather and departed on 20 May, bound for a stop at Loch Eribol.

In fine weather, we made good time until the wind shifted. Our mainsail was used to steady our progress in growing lumpy swells and we battled rain and headwind towards Eribol at 2.5 knots.

Realising at 1900 that we could not reach this loch in daylight, we headed due south for Kyle of Tongue, our planned bolt hole. It was a wise decision.

The swell came onto the nose giving us an easier motion and rolling in the headsail gave us a good speed toward Talmine anchorage.

The rain eased and after nosing through the rocks and islands of the Kyle we dropped the hook at 2030 with relief. The holding was good, supper was served and we planned the next day’s sail to round the Cape in light winds.

At 1130 we left Talmine heading due north, before easing into the early tide to carry us west round the Cape. The swells were still big but there were no overfalls and passing only one trawler we rounded the Cape in fairly benign conditions.

Awesome rocks, thrashing seas and seabirds made for a scenic two-hour sail to Kinlochbervie.

Finding the entrance to Loch Inchard in the grey skies proved a challenge but a pointy hilltop provided a steering point.

The rocks looked impenetrable and the swell had reached 20-30ft. A yacht was following us in and several times we saw only the mast top as it slid down one swell while we rose up the next. Exhilarating.

Thrashing white water and rocks within 5m led us into Loch Inchard’s entrance and very shortly to Kinlochbervie.

It was an oasis of calm and we tied up – the first visitor on the pontoon – and turned to watch our fellow sailors come through the washing machine, with a stout glass of rum in hand to salute them!

About the authors

Nick, a retired submariner and commercial IT manager and Alison (nee McFadyen) a retired Naval Officer, lecturer and Club Secretary, are enjoying life as liveaboards on their Southerly 110, Whimbrel, as they experience the freedom of cruising to their own timeline. After 15 years of sailing at weekends and squeezing in those channel dashes whatever the weather, they now have the luxury of 6 months of the year to visit those out of the way places, remote anchorages and really enjoy the wildlife and scenery on their travels. They are currently cruising the West Coast of France. You can see their full photographic log of two years in Scotland at www.whimbrel.org.uk

Cruising Association Log Competition win

Nick and Alison Boxall have won the Cruising Association (CA) Log Competition’s PBO Award for the best photographic log of a cruise for the second year running.
They previously scooped the 2022 accolade for their account of a passage from Milford Haven via Skomer to Kilmore Quay (PBO, Summer 2023).

This time, they won the 2023 Award with their log about Whimbrel with Nick and Alison departing Ardfern via the Caledonian Canal to Orkney, then returning via the west coast to the South of England. They won a PBO annual subscription, and have opted for the digital format as they are off sailing.

PBO editor Katy Stickland, who judged the entries, said: “This beautiful photo log had it all! Evocative photos of the Scottish landscape with informative and descriptive passages that complimented the photography and really drew the reader in.”