... try and find us

Two Garcias, side by side We arrived in Westray just ahead of two other yachts with Lava not far behind.  With an American yacht already in the harbour, some rearranging was necessary to ensure we all fitted - with Lava having to raft up to us. Rafting is a way of accommodating more than one boat along a pontoon or wall.  The first boat ties up to the pontoon or wall and subsequent boats tie up to the first boat, then a third boat would tie to the second, and so on.  There is etiquette regarding asking to raft, how to secure your boat the the raftee, how to then get ashore and how to exit the raft.  Spike and Annemarie were able to give us some good pointers on being the first person into the raft. Squeezed into the little harbour filled with yachts, fishing boats and boats servicing the fish farms. Those big white bags being loaded on the opposite dock - fish food! We went for a wander, enjoying the sun and the white, sandy beach.  You could have been...

Leaving Stornoway.  Thanks Toby for the great photo! After a lovely time in Stornoway, we dropped the lines close to midday and started our estimated 36-hour-trip to Stromness. Not the best weather to head into, but we have a tidal current to catch. We got soaked! Our plan to sail to Stromness was foiled as we had an extremely speedy sail across from Stornoway.  With both current and wind in our favour, we zoomed across much faster than planned.  Surely this is a good thing and why would this possibly cause troubles? The simple answer is the tides and current. Three hours on either side of high water.  The black arrows denote current direction.  Notice the direct change?  The thicker the arrow, the stronger the tidal flow. Stromness is inside the area on the image above marked "Scapa Flow."  The easiest path into the Scapa Flow from the west is through a strong tidal gate.  We were so early for the tidal gate, we almost made the previous t...