St Kilda

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dunedin

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Is the St Kilda Village Bay anchorage tenable in light to moderate (say F2-4) Easterlies to allow getting ashore safely?

Clearly light Easterlies are more attractive than SW for the voyage out, but would be immensely frustrating to get so close but be unable to stop / land.

Clearly there is also Glen Bay but not sure it has access ashore and it is a long way from the main Village
 
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It depends on the swell, you do need a few settled days for the swell not to be an issue for landing, or anchoring. I have anchored in Glen Bay, not good holding, dropped the hook where the burn runs into the bay, SEish corner. The crew got off the boat and I stayed onboard, swirling, light winds. Not sure how they faired but they walked up and over to village bay and there might have been a track IIRC.

So, it depends. If conditions are settled for a few days, then probably okay. I cant remember the depths in the bay, off the village, so you might be quite close inshore if on a lee shore.
 
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My 1928 CCC, states that if the wind has any S and E then the full Atlantic swells sets into the bay and one needs to clear out.
 
Shuggy

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We’re just on our way back now, having spent Thursday night at anchor in Village Bay. Wind was sub 10 knots from the NE and it was pretty rolly. Landing at the jetty was easy enough.
 
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Be interested to know if you made it. We came back over the Minch this morning and I’m not sure I’d have wanted to be trying to land at Village Bay if the conditions were roughly the same out there. It was blowing 15 knots from the east between Eriskay and Canna.
 
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dunedin

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Shuggy said:
Be interested to know if you made it. We came back over the Minch this morning and I’m not sure I’d have wanted to be trying to land at Village Bay if the conditions were roughly the same out there. It was blowing 15 knots from the east between Eriskay and Canna.
Click to expand...

Got up to recheck forecasts at 4am but decided that with the winds (then) forecast to be between E and SE and possibly 15+ knots that Village Bay would likely be untenable. Shame as we were already outside the Sound of Harris so as close as can be to St Kilda. But risk of this leading to wishful thinking obscuring rational thinking.
As it transpired had 12+ knots from the South overnight even in shelter close to Harris, so it was the right call as would likely have been much more out West.

A key factor was that this would have been a solo trip. So from both tiredness and insurance perspective an overnight anchorage was imperative.
Weather for trip out and back was fine so if had another experienced crew might have gone for the trip anyway, as would have options of either anchor watch or simply night sail back. But not prudent solo.
Till next opportunity, and the St Kilda chart goes back in the drawer again.

Cruising the islands West of Harris was a great alternative however. Fantastic wild cruising grounds, with so many beautiful islands, huge sandy beaches and rocky hill backdrop - and only one other boat seen briefly.
 
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Kelpie

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dunedin said:
Cruising the islands West of Harris was a great alternative however. Fantastic wild cruising grounds, with so many beautiful islands, huge sandy beaches and rocky hill backdrop - and only one other boat seen briefly.
Click to expand...

Agreed. We're just back from there, and in the right weather it's a fantastic cruising ground. We had it completely to ourselves for three days. Wouldn't want to get caught in strong westerlies, but there are totally secure anchorages in the sea lochs if you need to sit something out.
 
Shuggy

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That’s a shame but it’s not going anywhere! We went straight from Tobermory to St Kilda via the Sound of Harris and spent the night there after a walk shore in the village. The next morning we sailed around Boreray and then headed to the Monach Isles for the night. Down the west coast of the Uists and back in through the Sound of Barra. I felt a bit sorry for the children but they all agreed that it was worth it and we managed decent food ashore in Salen (Sunart) to make up for the long slogs.

dunedin said:
Got up to recheck forecasts at 4am but decided that with the winds (then) forecast to be between E and SE and possibly 15+ knots that Village Bay would likely be untenable. Shame as we were already outside the Sound of Harris so as close as can be to St Kilda. But risk of this leading to wishful thinking obscuring rational thinking.
As it transpired had 12+ knots from the South overnight even in shelter close to Harris, so it was the right call as would likely have been much more out West.

A key factor was that this would have been a solo trip. So from both tiredness and insurance perspective an overnight anchorage was imperative.
Weather for trip out and back was fine so if had another experienced crew might have gone for the trip anyway, as would have options of either anchor watch or simply night sail back. But not prudent solo.
Till next opportunity, and the St Kilda chart goes back in the drawer again.

Cruising the islands West of Harris was a great alternative however. Fantastic wild cruising grounds, with so many beautiful islands, huge sandy beaches and rocky hill backdrop - and only one other boat seen briefly.
Click to expand...
 
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