Concerto
Well-known member
Last night I checked that it was only 35 miles from Westray to Stromness. The tidal advice suggested it should take about 6½ to 7 hours. That seemed reasonable, hence not too early a start today.
Before I left I checked the 2nd and 3rd battens, they have both parted from cars as the car has a metal screw that was inserted into a plastic fitting. The loading has stripped the thread, so now I will think about a good temporary repair until I can get replacements. I also checked the bolts holding the arm under the tiller for the autopilot and found they needed tightening.
After slipping out of the marina I did a number of circles to reset the autopilot. It is now working perfectly and such a joy to have again. Feeling the wind I though I could start with a single reef in both sails. So I started this trip at about 8.30. Heading north to round the top of Westray was a reach, so I then hardened up on port tack. The wind was not where it was forecast to be and when I tacked I found I was about 15 degrees too low to clear the first headland. Oh well I will have to put a tack in and then overstand a bit to ensure I clear the next headland. This tack started to change course as the wind backed by about 35 degrees, This meant I had to sail even further out to ensure I could pass Noup Head. The photo below shows the track and my course approaching Noup Head. It is a very rocky point with a lighthouse above and I passed fairly close to it, not by choice.
Looking at the chart plotter it seemed I should be able to make the next section of cliffs and then I can crack the sheets, so I countinued on. Concerto was doing a pretty good speed of around 7 knots. I sat in the lee of the sprayhood and rested my eyes, then I sensed something was wrong as the genoa started shaking. The ram had come off the tiller arm, so quickly put it on standby and by this time Concerto had passed through the wind and backed the genoa. After freeing the sheet and settling her on the new course, I went to put the ram back on the tiller arm, only to find one of the fixing bolts had sheared. Back to had steering again.
Guess what. The wind backed even futher and increased in strength. What should have been a close fetch turns out to be a double reef on both sails in a force 7 again. So the next cliffs was a series of tacks but the rough water with rollers of 6 to 8ft meant it was difficult to sail too close to the wind. My tacking angles were poor at about 130 degrees as the tide was now against me as well. Eventually I clawed enough windward distance to keep clear of the lee shore with confused water. Then strangely the the wind started to veer back and instead of staying on a close fetch, it turned out to be a reach. Concerto was now sailing at 6½ to 7¼ knots through the water. The further down the west coast I headed the easier the wind became, but still stronger. I was now always above 7 knots and getting into the low 8's. For a period of over 5 minutes the speed never dropped below 8 knots. This was enjoyable sailing despite it being cold, overcast and visibility of about 1½ miles. So being further offshore for safety I could not see the coastline.
The closer I got to Scapa Flow, the bigger the rollers became and the higher the wind rose. I kept seeing 8.3, 8.4 then 8.5 before it slackened and then it went to 8.5, 8.6 and a peak of 8.8 knots. To be honest, this was getting silly, so I decide I would have to drop the main. So on went the Tiller Clutch to hold to course near to the wind so the main would drop, whilst tying the main on the boom, the genoa backed. Went back to the cockpit and found the outer sheath of the rope for the Tiller Clutch had broken and the clutch could not grip the rope any more. Super bummer. Not really a problem as it was a genoa reach towards the entrance to Scapa Flow. To check the entrance I tied the helm and tried zooming the chart plotter, and found the screen and my fingers were too wet to do anything. Nipped below for some kitchen paper, only fo find the boat had head up to wind and backed the genoa again. Dried the chart plotter and my fingers off, and the b....... thing still would not work. Keep swear to myself as I bring the boat back on to course. Tie the helm again and went for some more kitchen paper. My fingers still did not make the zoom work, but the paper did so that was sorted.
Heading towards the entrance looks nasty on the plotter, but with very big rollers, it looked very nasty. Oh well, here we go. Edging slowly towards the shoreline until I could make it out and then continuing south until I saw the other shoreline. Then I turned roughly eastward and the rollers were either square to the transom or a 45 degree angle off the starboard quarter. When these rollers met the breaking wave was spetacular to watch but not so much fun when it happened close by. These rollers could easily shift my course by up to 50 degrees and I was constantly using full rudder. I was sitting in the cockpit and decide I would see the shoreline better if I sat on the cockpit coaming and use the tiller extension. One wave broke on the transom but luckily did not come into the cockpit, another turned the boat violently and crashed on the port side deck and some slopped into the cockpit, then another even larger wave caused me to loose my balance and slipped back into the cockpit, where I was actually in a safer place. I have never seen such massive waves that were also very close together. Even under a double reefed genoa on a run, I was still doing between 5½ and 6½ knots, but the speed over the ground was only 2 to 3 knots. I had missed the tidal gate, so I plodded on with the violent movements of rolling slightly to windward and over to 30 of 35 degrees and the course swinging by 50 degrees either way. It WAS rough.
Slowly I hauled my way towards the narrowest section and the speed over the ground dropped to 1 to 2 knots. It was going to be a long slow rough end to the trip. When I was almost through I saw a welcoming party coming towards me. Someone ashore thought I was in difficulties, so the RNLI were sent out. I gave them a wave, but could not talk to them as my hand held VHF was below and I did not want to go below in those conditions. They motored alongside and they could see I was not having any difficulties, but stayed until I cleared the narrows and gybed towards Stromness. They then headed back to their berth. Tomorrow I will try and thank them for their concern, but I was quite happy in the conditions despite my breakages.
After rolling the genoa away, I set to fitting the fenders and warps. Then I went looking for a berth at about 8pm. The only one I could see was aft of a pair of rafted 40 odd footers, but a bow line was in the way. I then spotted a young lad coming off the outer Polish boat. He was on his mobile, but I shouted for him to remove the line so I could berth, which he did, then walked off to continue on the phone. I wanted to reverse back across the wind. Not easy, but eventaully I got the stern line attached to a cleat near the middle of where I wanted to be, but the bow blew off. I tried motoring using the warp as a spring, but it did not work. So I retied the bow line so one end was cleated. The bow had moved slightly closer to the pontoon as I had left it in a fairly high revs. At the third attempt I managed to loop the cleat at the end of the pontoon and pulled the bow in. Then it was a question of pulling and adding more warps to get Concerto alongside and moved aft. This must have taken about half an hour and when the young lad had finished his phone call and he came over to see if he could help, I just ignored him.
The boat was salty inside and out. I could easily deal with the outside, so got my hose out to wash all the canvas work and the whole of the deck. Whilst doing this I saw a large washer on the coachroof close to the mast. A quick check and I found it was from the gooseneck pin. The split pin holding it in place had partly broken away letting it drop. So just another simple job to fix. Tomorrow I will be washing down plots of the interior that got wet. I must fix those halyard slots as a matter of urgency.
Shortly after leaving Westray Marina.
Follow the dotted track from the boat and see the wind direction change on the other tack.
The solid line is the course and the boat shows the approach to Noup Head.
Approaching Noup Head.
Passing Noup Head.
See the tacking angle of about 130 degrees and how the courses vary.
For anyone wanting to read the reports from the start, this is the link to first one.
Round Britian day 1
Before I left I checked the 2nd and 3rd battens, they have both parted from cars as the car has a metal screw that was inserted into a plastic fitting. The loading has stripped the thread, so now I will think about a good temporary repair until I can get replacements. I also checked the bolts holding the arm under the tiller for the autopilot and found they needed tightening.
After slipping out of the marina I did a number of circles to reset the autopilot. It is now working perfectly and such a joy to have again. Feeling the wind I though I could start with a single reef in both sails. So I started this trip at about 8.30. Heading north to round the top of Westray was a reach, so I then hardened up on port tack. The wind was not where it was forecast to be and when I tacked I found I was about 15 degrees too low to clear the first headland. Oh well I will have to put a tack in and then overstand a bit to ensure I clear the next headland. This tack started to change course as the wind backed by about 35 degrees, This meant I had to sail even further out to ensure I could pass Noup Head. The photo below shows the track and my course approaching Noup Head. It is a very rocky point with a lighthouse above and I passed fairly close to it, not by choice.
Looking at the chart plotter it seemed I should be able to make the next section of cliffs and then I can crack the sheets, so I countinued on. Concerto was doing a pretty good speed of around 7 knots. I sat in the lee of the sprayhood and rested my eyes, then I sensed something was wrong as the genoa started shaking. The ram had come off the tiller arm, so quickly put it on standby and by this time Concerto had passed through the wind and backed the genoa. After freeing the sheet and settling her on the new course, I went to put the ram back on the tiller arm, only to find one of the fixing bolts had sheared. Back to had steering again.
Guess what. The wind backed even futher and increased in strength. What should have been a close fetch turns out to be a double reef on both sails in a force 7 again. So the next cliffs was a series of tacks but the rough water with rollers of 6 to 8ft meant it was difficult to sail too close to the wind. My tacking angles were poor at about 130 degrees as the tide was now against me as well. Eventually I clawed enough windward distance to keep clear of the lee shore with confused water. Then strangely the the wind started to veer back and instead of staying on a close fetch, it turned out to be a reach. Concerto was now sailing at 6½ to 7¼ knots through the water. The further down the west coast I headed the easier the wind became, but still stronger. I was now always above 7 knots and getting into the low 8's. For a period of over 5 minutes the speed never dropped below 8 knots. This was enjoyable sailing despite it being cold, overcast and visibility of about 1½ miles. So being further offshore for safety I could not see the coastline.
The closer I got to Scapa Flow, the bigger the rollers became and the higher the wind rose. I kept seeing 8.3, 8.4 then 8.5 before it slackened and then it went to 8.5, 8.6 and a peak of 8.8 knots. To be honest, this was getting silly, so I decide I would have to drop the main. So on went the Tiller Clutch to hold to course near to the wind so the main would drop, whilst tying the main on the boom, the genoa backed. Went back to the cockpit and found the outer sheath of the rope for the Tiller Clutch had broken and the clutch could not grip the rope any more. Super bummer. Not really a problem as it was a genoa reach towards the entrance to Scapa Flow. To check the entrance I tied the helm and tried zooming the chart plotter, and found the screen and my fingers were too wet to do anything. Nipped below for some kitchen paper, only fo find the boat had head up to wind and backed the genoa again. Dried the chart plotter and my fingers off, and the b....... thing still would not work. Keep swear to myself as I bring the boat back on to course. Tie the helm again and went for some more kitchen paper. My fingers still did not make the zoom work, but the paper did so that was sorted.
Heading towards the entrance looks nasty on the plotter, but with very big rollers, it looked very nasty. Oh well, here we go. Edging slowly towards the shoreline until I could make it out and then continuing south until I saw the other shoreline. Then I turned roughly eastward and the rollers were either square to the transom or a 45 degree angle off the starboard quarter. When these rollers met the breaking wave was spetacular to watch but not so much fun when it happened close by. These rollers could easily shift my course by up to 50 degrees and I was constantly using full rudder. I was sitting in the cockpit and decide I would see the shoreline better if I sat on the cockpit coaming and use the tiller extension. One wave broke on the transom but luckily did not come into the cockpit, another turned the boat violently and crashed on the port side deck and some slopped into the cockpit, then another even larger wave caused me to loose my balance and slipped back into the cockpit, where I was actually in a safer place. I have never seen such massive waves that were also very close together. Even under a double reefed genoa on a run, I was still doing between 5½ and 6½ knots, but the speed over the ground was only 2 to 3 knots. I had missed the tidal gate, so I plodded on with the violent movements of rolling slightly to windward and over to 30 of 35 degrees and the course swinging by 50 degrees either way. It WAS rough.
Slowly I hauled my way towards the narrowest section and the speed over the ground dropped to 1 to 2 knots. It was going to be a long slow rough end to the trip. When I was almost through I saw a welcoming party coming towards me. Someone ashore thought I was in difficulties, so the RNLI were sent out. I gave them a wave, but could not talk to them as my hand held VHF was below and I did not want to go below in those conditions. They motored alongside and they could see I was not having any difficulties, but stayed until I cleared the narrows and gybed towards Stromness. They then headed back to their berth. Tomorrow I will try and thank them for their concern, but I was quite happy in the conditions despite my breakages.
After rolling the genoa away, I set to fitting the fenders and warps. Then I went looking for a berth at about 8pm. The only one I could see was aft of a pair of rafted 40 odd footers, but a bow line was in the way. I then spotted a young lad coming off the outer Polish boat. He was on his mobile, but I shouted for him to remove the line so I could berth, which he did, then walked off to continue on the phone. I wanted to reverse back across the wind. Not easy, but eventaully I got the stern line attached to a cleat near the middle of where I wanted to be, but the bow blew off. I tried motoring using the warp as a spring, but it did not work. So I retied the bow line so one end was cleated. The bow had moved slightly closer to the pontoon as I had left it in a fairly high revs. At the third attempt I managed to loop the cleat at the end of the pontoon and pulled the bow in. Then it was a question of pulling and adding more warps to get Concerto alongside and moved aft. This must have taken about half an hour and when the young lad had finished his phone call and he came over to see if he could help, I just ignored him.
The boat was salty inside and out. I could easily deal with the outside, so got my hose out to wash all the canvas work and the whole of the deck. Whilst doing this I saw a large washer on the coachroof close to the mast. A quick check and I found it was from the gooseneck pin. The split pin holding it in place had partly broken away letting it drop. So just another simple job to fix. Tomorrow I will be washing down plots of the interior that got wet. I must fix those halyard slots as a matter of urgency.
Shortly after leaving Westray Marina.
Follow the dotted track from the boat and see the wind direction change on the other tack.
The solid line is the course and the boat shows the approach to Noup Head.
Approaching Noup Head.
Passing Noup Head.
See the tacking angle of about 130 degrees and how the courses vary.
For anyone wanting to read the reports from the start, this is the link to first one.
Round Britian day 1
