Monday 9 May. Talmine bay to Stromness 47 nm

Alarm went off at 0400 and by 5 we had successfully upped our anchor and we were away. It was raining and a bit windy even in the sheltered bay so we put one reef in the main and motored our past the Rabbit Islands. Tides are strong in this part of the country so we needed to maintain good boat speed in order to counteract them and avoid being pushed in the wrong direction. We set a course for Stromness of 050 but steered 060 for the above reason. The wind was around 20-25 knots and coming from the SE. A good direction for a beam reach but fast, more or less all the way. The sea state became worse the further we went and Julian even put R for rough in the log book! The rain was also pretty constant and the visibility was poor so we couldn’t even see our destination. All a bit yuk really ! We took turns being on watch even though most of the time the auto helm was on. Every so often the waves pushed the boat and she veered off into the wind but the auto helm did an amazing job as steering is pretty tiring for long periods of time. Especially in big waves ☹️. We averaged about 7+ knots and J was worried we may get there too soon! We needed the tide to be with us going into Hoy Sound. Eventually The Orkneys came into view out of the mist. We must have sailed past the Old man of hoy but didn’t see it due to rubbish visibility. As we approached the sound, the wind started to pick up, by the time we were in it, it had gone up to 35 knots maybe just increased or was coming off the cliffs. Anyway not much fun! I’m thinking how the …… are we going to get the main sail down in this. 😱But we did…. . I seemed surrounded by cardinals and lighthouses warning of rocks and shallow water. Once that was done and the engine on, at least some relief and next job getting onto our berth in wind like that in a marina completely unknown to us. Found the berth that had been allocated. A34! And two kind chaps helped with our lines. Phew! After sorting the boat…. Allan …. one of them, asked us over to his boat for a a very welcome cuppa and biscuits. I then got the sandwiches out that we’d made for lunch and had a celebratory gin and tonic! Then I went to bed! Julian went and did some shopping in the pouring rain and hung all of our wet stuff in the cockpit tent to get slightly less damp! I’m afraid there aren’t many pictures as the weather was so wet and conditions not conducive for photography!

What I learned today….it is a good idea not to position the “lucky heather “ where it is later going to be referred to as the “ ******* nuisance heather” 🤔