Theoretical question, Cape Wrath to Ayr

[stuartwineberg]

SWMBO is an author and one of her compatriots has asked, for the sake of literary authenticity, how long it would take to sail a 22 footer in favourable conditions from Cape Wrath to Ayr. I am sure someone here has done this and can advise.

 

[Jodel]

My routing software says 275nm if you go west of Skye, east of Coll and west of Islay. Non stop at 3kts average that would be 92hrs. At 4 kts it comes down to 69 hours. Going east of Skye and west of Mull only drops the distance by 7nm.
Going east of Skye and Mull and using the Crinan Canal brings the sea miles down to 225 (75hrs or 57) plus the canal transit time (so more than likely take longer).

 

[Black Sheep]

Oooh I love these questions! Partly as it depends on so many things (how many on board is an important question)...

You'd never start from Cape Wrath as there's no port there, so I assume the skipper has already made it to the headland in a previous chapter.

It's not far off 300 miles.

It would be theoretically possible to sail non-stop, day and night, the full distance. At 4 knots, that would take you three days and three nights. At three knots, it would be 4 days & 4 nights. This would be very unusual, particularly for a boat of this size, and would be a very demanding journey, needing round-the-clock watchkeeping in very demanding conditions. Especially tough if single-handed. This might be what the skipper does if being pursued by baddies or fighting a tight timetable.

More realistic on a small vessel (if skipper isn't sailing to a timetable) would be to do the lot in daysails. Allow a couple of weeks for it, if this is part of a cruising holdiday. Or more if that works with the plot! There is some fantastic sailing in that region, and you could spin it out for a whole season if not in a hurry.

You've said a 22-footer - my figures are for a normal 22 footer. If it's an Anderson 22 then some people would tell you that you should halve all the times!

 

[Sandy]

To enjoy the best sailing in the know universe I recommend six months, but please go via Skye not sky.

 

[Jodel]

To enjoy the best sailing in the know universe I recommend six months, but please go via Skye not sky.

Sorry! auto correct got to it.

 

[Supertramp]

The key is the favourable conditions bit! On a good (favourable) day we thought 40 or 50 miles was great (daylight sailing). But adverse wind, waves and tide plus low fuel capacity have far more impact as boat size decreases. Headlands do-able in a 30 footer become impossible in some 22 footers due to wind, tide and waves. Try exiting Sleat with a head sea and an outboard.

So I'm with the 6 months estimate, 2 weeks if you pushed it! Happy menories though as you don't half learn fast and well on the West Coast in a small boat.

 

[NormanS]

To enjoy the best sailing in the know universe I recommend six months, but please go via Skye not sky.

Just six months! Sixty years so far. ?

 

[Aja]

SWMBO is an author and one of her compatriots has asked, for the sake of literary authenticity, how long it would take to sail a 22 footer in favourable conditions from Cape Wrath to Ayr. I am sure someone here has done this and can advise.

Does the sailor have tide tables? Makes a huge difference.

 

[LittleSister]

It would be theoretically possible to sail non-stop, day and night, the full distance. At 4 knots, that would take you three days and three nights. . .

I generally agree with you, but I very much doubt that in a 22 footer (apart from the aforementioned Anderson 22, of course!) you would average 4 knots over that period of distance/time, unless the winds were freakishly fair and stayed so for the whole length of the journey. Light winds would reduce your speed, as would the waves and swell in such sized boat with (or even without) strong winds. That's before you factor in wind direction! You'd want south-easterlies to start with, then shifting NE. You're unlikely to get either! Most likely a SW headwind, and plenty of it at times.

You mention 3 days and 3 nights non-stop, but in a 22 footer you are just as likely to spend that amount of time along the way waiting for the return of the 'favourable conditions' the OP mentions - perhaps even at the departure point! (Some years ago I spent 2 weeks 'sailing' a 23 footer on the Caledonian Canal, the weather was wild most of the fortnight - rain, snow and LOTS of wind, and only in the last night and morning's gentle weather would I have ventured out to sea in a 22 footer if if I were on the exposed West Coast.

Something very sporty and close winded would, of course, give a higher average speed underway, but would also have a more tiring motion (as the Anderson 22 leapt from wave crest to wave crest ? ) and more cramped accommodation.

Many (most?) of the harbours and anchorages are some way off the most direct track, and getting in and out of harbours always takes time. Sailing long days in a 22 footer, especially single-handed, is pretty tiring, and I think unless the baddies were after you, or you were on some masochistic self-endurance test, you'd want at a non-sailing day a couple of times along the way to recover.

I think a couple of weeks would be doing very well -assuming one didn't get distracted by sightseeing/distillery visits/hunting down fuel (especially if one had a petrol outboard - which added many hours and days of delays to my (mainly single-handed) cruising in a 22 footer some years ago, and that was in more populous areas than the Scottish West Coast and when there were more petrol filling stations around than now).

Would be a great trip to do, though. It would be a fine cruise in any boat, but an adventure in a 22 footer.

(Pity Dylan Winter didn't persist that far with his 22' Hunter (I forget model name - gunter version of the Hunter Liberty hull), or better still his 19' Mirror Offshore, though he would have taken at least a whole season over it.)

 

[jamie N]

Rispond Bay to Cape Wrath is usually time enough to get rid of a hangover, and might be used as starting point for Cape Wrath.
Cape Wrath down past KLB-Lochinver all the way to Ayr is as others say SO weather dependant in that it could be a pleasurable 4 days, OR a Commando course over a month. If your author chum were to think in terms of a week, that'd be OK.
Of course, were the boat in question to be enlarged to be 'like' a classic wooden Folkboat, then it'd be 4 1/2 days, give or take an hour or two, rain or shine...... ?

 

[dunedin]

Unless in the story they have stolen the boat, most people in a 22 footer would take the most sheltered route, East of Skye, Mull and Jura. This means tides are critically important for large chunks of the route, particularly in a small & slow boat (assuming not a French Mini racer) so would need to pause / anchor every 6 hours or so to get favourable tides.
Also two major headlands that definitely need decent weather (Ardnamurchan and Mull of Kintyre) - and some of the lesser ones from Cape Wrath (as noted no harbour so not a real world starting point) to Kyle of Lochalsh can also be ”interesting” in a small boat.
Finally, unless doing around May time, likely to be prevailing SW winds, so bashing into the weather most of the way South. So assume a few days spent sheltering from wind and rain waiting for better weather to proceed.

 

[BobnLesley]

You'd never start from Cape Wrath as there's no port there...

there's an anchorage only 5-10M south of it and another <5M east of it; I can't remember their names, but we used both when we went around C Wrath. I perhaps wouldn't have fancied either in rough weather, but the OP did say it was favourable conditions.

 

[Black Sheep]

.... unless the winds were freakishly fair and stayed so for the whole length of the journey.

I don't disagree with anything you said above, but your "unless" is exactly how I interpreted "in favourable conditions". So for the non-stop version, this might be 3 or 4 days of northerly force 3-4, possibly backing in the latter part of the journey. Conditions that might result from a depression over Scotland that's slowly moving away North or Northeastwards. Unlikely enough that you would never passage plan around it. But plausible enough that our hero might just get lucky if that's crucial to the plot. And if our plucky sailor were running down the Minch, west of Skye, Tiree and Islay, standing well offshore, then the tidal gates are less critical.

The slower route... well, yeah, there's lots of scope for variation. The way I came up with 2 weeks was estimating an average 30 miles a day (6 hours, or one favourable tide per day), which comes to 10 days, plus 4 days rest. But some days will be longer, as anchorages aren't spaced at neat 30 mile intervals. And getting in & out of them will add to the mileage. So 2 weeks is probably rather optimistic. And doesn't allow for distillery tours! Which is why I commented that it could take the whole season.

Time of year matters as well. In June you'll get 18 hours daylight so you can pick your 6 hours sailing time easily, and make sure that you meet the tidal gate constraints. But out of season, then available daylight might restrict you.

Interesting answers. A lot depends on the boat, the sailor, any pressures acting on the sailor, and quite how we interpret the "favourable conditions" clause.

@steve yates has sailed these waters in an 18 footer; he may have some input.

 

[Baddox]

Several stretches of water on that route have fierce tides. A small boat has limited speed so will need to work with the tides every six hours and perhaps shelter or anchor until they are fair. Cape Wrath and the West coast of Scotland can be rocky with limited anchorages to shelter in and without the right equipment would struggle to make the journey. The real question therefore, is “what anchor would be most suitable for the trip?”

 

[jdc]

FWIW, Last summer it took us (stopping every night - we were cruising):
1. Kyle of Tongue, via cape Wrath, to Badcall
2. Badcall to Aultbea (loch Ewe)
3. Loch Ewe to Badacchro (tacking, well reefed)
4. Badacchro to Plocktion

In retrospect we shouldn't have stopped in loch Ewe so could have made it in 3.

In past years we've done
5. Plockton - Loch Hourn or Isle Ornsay
6. Loch Horn to Tobermory or an anchorage further down the sound of Mull (just E of Ardtornish pt, or Duart bay)
7. Sound of Mull to Isla or Gigha (a long day)
8. Gigha to Troon

Sure we could have done it in 3 days, sailing all night, or 8 and had an enjoyable cruise.

 

[LittleSister]

FWIW, Last summer it took us (stopping every night - we were cruising):
1. Kyle of Tongue, via cape Wrath, to Badcall
2. Badcall to Aultbea (loch Ewe)
3. Loch Ewe to Badacchro (tacking, well reefed)
4. Badacchro to Plocktion

In retrospect we shouldn't have stopped in loch Ewe so could have made it in 3.

In past years we've done
5. Plockton - Loch Hourn or Isle Ornsay
6. Loch Horn to Tobermory or an anchorage further down the sound of Mull (just E of Ardtornish pt, or Duart bay)
7. Sound of Mull to Isla or Gigha (a long day)
8. Gigha to Troon

Sure we could have done it in 3 days, sailing all night, or 8 and had an enjoyable cruise.

In what sized boat?

 

[steve yates]

I have done this in an 18ft boat from kinlochbervie, so add an extra day from cape wrath.
I went, around end of september, sailing from…
1. Klb to stornoway
2.stornoway,slept and recovered
3. stornoway to gairloch
4. gairloch to sheildaig, loch torridon.
5&6, two days partying in sheildaig in high winds
7. sheildaig to plockton.
Went back to work until mid October.
Then
1. Plockton to mallaig
2. Mallaig to glen uig, loch ailort
3. Glenuig to Tobermory
4. Tobermory to Oban
5. Oban to Crinan
6. Crinan canal
7. Ardrishaig to Tarbert
8. Tarbert to Largs
9. Largs to Girvan. The nextport past ayr.

So if sailing port to port then Id say they are looking at 2 weeks.

I did a couple of 40 and 50 mile days but most were around 25-35nm, and around 3knots average or slightly less overall.
You have tidal considerations at point of stoer, rubha huinish, kylerhea, ardnamurchan and sound of mull. In a small boat these are based around avoiding wind over tide at the headlands. Kylerhea is a definitive tidal gate where you are locked out if you time your arrival wrongly.

.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Thanks for a brilliant set of replies, these will be winging their way to the author in Canada who wanted the info. Have a great New Year all

 

[jamie N]

As an aside, a few years ago ago I did this whole area for a couple of months, based around Tarbert (Isle of Harris) when the weather was pants all of the time, maxing out at 14°C, the Hebrides ferry hit the pontoon at Lochmaddy 'just' after I'd left;

'Transocean Winner' parked itself at the Isle of Lewis;

and I had my 60th where I picked up the tab for most of my family to 'spoil themselves' at a fabulous restaurant in Stornoway. It was so good in fact that they always remind me of the 'great time' they'd had, and wonder why I can't afford a larger yacht?
If I was the character in the imagination of the OP's author friend, I'd have stayed at Cape Wrath; no radio, no mobile, safe anchorage and beautiful scenery and a full Kindle, then pleaded the weather was too shite to consider going to 'Auld Ayr'.....

 

[NormanS]

That gale when the Transocean Winner went ashore on the West of Lewis, was forecast for about a week in advance. What was the tug skipper thinking about?
We chose to anchor in one of the many hidden corners of Lochmaddy, and were safe and comfortable.