Ten days on Zuza to St Kilda - 10th June - Lochmaddy to St Kilda

It was going to be another long day's sail to get to St Kilda. Neil, probably not wanting to get us up too early again, made a 7.00am start. As we're going to be crossing more open water and as I am not a particularly good sailor I did take drugs that morning. They didn't quite work but staved off the worst. The only problem was the side effect of sleepiness and, while we were motoring along, various bodies could be seen lying on the deck snoozing in the sunshine.

We had a stowaway on board who stayed with us for a while. Caroline and Grosia attempted to feed him, which he appreciated.

We turned west into the Sound of Harris which was an almost mystical channel in the soft light. We saw more dolphin which I ignominiously failed to photograph. There were some cormorants on a rocky outcrop and a strange buoy which was being swept by the current.

Once we were clear of the channel and heading west I was excited to see that the chart told me we were in the North Atlantic Ocean. The wind got up and the sea became choppier so it was all hands on deck to pull up the sails, with Neil steering and Erin managing the sails. The lesser minions helped by pulling ropes to get the main up and tidying up. The jib which was roller reefed and so a lot easier to manage was a lovely yellow colour.

As you can see Alan took the opportunity to use his eBay purchased yachting gear.

But not too far out into the ocean things started to get dull. I saw some skeins of gannet and a common tern but then the wind dropped and we had to take the sails down, the water became glassy and I started to appreciate the plight of the Ancient Mariner. For miles we passed nothing, not a bird or a boat and the sky was covered in a thin cloud. But after about 3 hours we could just discern St Kilda peering through the mist. Everyone's interest peaked as we stared at the islands coming closer to us. We were tremendously lucky to have got there as only about a third of sail boats actually make it because of the weather. 

The main island Hirta which has the only anchorage, is on the left hand side of the picture and the island of Borerey and its sea stacks are on the right. Neil rightly thought that we should motor round Borerey and look at the cliffs before we anchored up on Hirta. It was a great idea and I will cover this in the next blog.

Neil's plan for the day