Cruise
to St Kilda 5 May 2008
CCC Cruise to the Faroes 2006
Final Report
After
an outstanding cruise in company to The Faroe Islands, the crews of
"Arctic Tern", "Restless" and "Monkey Business" took various routes
home from Scalloway in Shetland, where they had been made most welcome
by the Scalloway Boating Club.
"Monkey
Business" and "Arctic Tern" sailed first to Fair Isle where their visit
coincided with the annual sheep shearing.
Some of the
crew from "Monkey Business" proved their versatility after being given
the opportunity to try shearing.
From Fair Isle
our next stop was at Pierowall on Westray in Orkney arriving late in
the evening under a stunning sunset and thinking that we were too late
for a beer in the hotel. Wrong! The Harbourmaster and a local very
kindly drove us the two miles to the hotel to ensure we sampled some
Orcadian ale.
An afternoon
anchorage at Skail Bay allowed us to visit Skara Brae and reflect on
the men who built it over five thousand years ago, wondering where they
had sailed to or from.
Later at
Stromness Marina we berthed alongside Quaila on her outbound cruise
north. The strangely titled "Shopping Week" was drawing to a close in
Stromness and from what we could detect alcohol was the most popular
purchase. Sadly low cloud and mist veiled an otherwise spectacular
fireworks display, however the all night party made up for the lack of
any visual effect.
A crew change
for "Monkey Business" here was followed by a cycling trip before an
overnight sail to Tanera Beg in the Summer Isles. While sailing south
of Cape Wrath we saw a pod of Killer Whales and watched in awe as they
thrashed and killed seals.
While The
Summer Isles were a delight our next stop at Gairloch was a
disappointment, however there we obtained much needed stores, water and
fuel before moving on.
An impromptu
lunch stop at Applecross descended into a seafood banquet and a real
sociable night at the Inn. The price paid for all this pleasure next
morning was a sobering seventy five mile motor sail to Ornsay just
north of Loch Drunbuie due to some severe weather being forecast.
A morning
shopping at Tobermory was followed by the worst weather of our entire
cruise when we had thirty five knot headwinds from Tobermory to Loch
Aline - hardly a complaint in a cruise of over twelve hundred miles to
The Faroe Islands and back.
On our final
day we had a reflective and leisurely sail from Loch Aline to Oban
where we left "Monkey Business" ready for the Loch Spelve Muster the
following weekend.
The club
cruise to the Faroe Islands was inspired by the enthusiasm of those who
had been there before.
Please allow
me to pass on that enthusiasm to anyone who may consider sailing there
in the future.
Charlie Craig
~
We left
Scalloway a day after “Restless” and had an
excellent close reach to Fair Isle, which we thoroughly
enjoyed visiting. Left Fair Isle the following day and
motored in thick fog to Pierowall in Westray, in company with "Monkey
Business", but only saw them when the fog lifted, half an hour before
arrival. MB left first thing on the following morning for
Stromness and we departed for Kirkwall on the first of the SE-going
tide later that day - again dense fog. Had two nights in
Kirkwall and then set out for Inverness. We
arrived in a thunderstorm, with heavy rain and lightning just a bit too
close for comfort, but otherwise no problem, making it onto the pontoon
shortly after midnight.
John Brown on “Arctic
Tern”
~
"Restless"
in Craighouse Bay - nearly home!
On "Restless"
we left Kirkwall and had a foggy sail to a very atmospheric Lybster
harbour - then to the Caledonian Canal where we were treated to
glorious weather - a couple of delightful stops at Port Appin and Jura
to finish with a rather uneventful motor round the Mull of Kintyre -
after 33 days though I think we were all glad to be home - what a
fabulous trip!
John McPartlin - now back at Bardowie
CCC Cruise to the Faroes 2006
Special Report (updated 21st July 2006)
All 3 Yachts arrived at Scalloway in Shetland on the morning of Tuesday
18th July having sailed within sight of each other for more than half
of the passage. We were treated to good winds 4/5 for all of the
passage although with a bit of a lumpy sea which caused some discomfort
to start.
On "Restless" we are now aiming to complete the cruise via the
Caledonian Canal and are now in Kirkwall having had an energetic but
foggy passage here over 2 days via Fair Isle.
"Arctic Tern" is following us down and "Monkey Business" is holding to
the original planned route and going back to the west coast via
Stromness and Cape Wrath.
John McPartlin on board "Restless", Kirkwall Marina
CCC Cruise to the Faroes 2006
Special Report (updated 18th July 2006)
After several adventures on the way 3 CCC Yachts set sail from
Stornoway on Tuesday 4th July 2006.
Led by Charlie Craig in "Monkey Business", Geoff Hayton's "Restless of
Largs" and John Brown's "Arctic Tern" were treated to an effortless
crossing, with virtually no wind however, so all required to motor most
of the way.
A bit of a squall, though, was waiting for us as we arrived at Sudoroy,
the most southerly of the Faroe Islands, on Thursday morning.
Our first impressions there of the Faroese were that of a very friendly
and open people - they were interested in us and were very keen to
engage in conversation. Generous too, with us being invited to use free
shower and laundry facilities.
We were not disappointed when we moved to the capital Torshavn - with
us parked up at the town quay there was a constant stream of locals
keen to eye us up and engage - always friendly.
The sail to Torshavn gave us the opportunity to test our interpretation
of the "scary" charts which depicted the ferocious tidal streams which
are a feature of the channels among these islands.
"Arctic Tern" running to Torshavn
Our weather in the Faroes was much better than we might have hoped for
with a majority of the days sunny and warm. We did have a couple of
gale days, though, which kept our head down in Torshavn for longer than
planned.
The islands are very colourful and have absolutely stunning mountain
scenery made all the better by the sunshine - a large team from the
boats had an exciting ridge hillwalk after our arrival at Fuglafjordur,
getting great views of the northern islands.
"Monkey Business" rounding up to
Klaksvik
We spent a couple of days in Klaksvik on Bordoy island waiting for a
gale to pass, and as I write this we are sailing in a fair wind to the
Shetlands having left the Faroes on Sunday afternoon 16th July.
"Restless of Largs" beating out
of the Kalsoyarfjordur
Special correspondent - John McPartlin (the Bardowie mole on board
"Restless")
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