Home / St Kilda or Bust!

Page:   Previous   1   2   3   4   5   Next

We had four options

First, continue to St Kilda, second, back the way we came to Bara but by now this would mean sailing straight into the strong south-easterly, at least 12-18 hours away. So this was not a good time to discover that we did not have the charts for options three and four, the Sound of Harris and the Butt of Lewis. Option one it was then.

By the time we felt it was reasonable to be looking for signs of St Kilda the wind had strengthened to a force six, sometimes seven and it was getting dark. Margaret and I were by now vowing to spend the rest of their lives on St Kilda and Jonathan seemed fully operational after a rest.

Eventually, out of the gloom loomed the first of the towering igneous pillars which confirmed our arrival. We decided to motor in to have a look at Village Bay. We located and followed the feint leading lights tentatively into the Bay. There was already a freighter taking shelter in the prime location so we attempted to anchor in the next best spot. Much to our relief, the anchor held. It was an uncomfortable night and we kept a continuous anchor watch while the boat rocked and rolled.

The powerful gusts straightened out the anchor chain time and time again but she never budged. In the morning, those of us who were sick the day before were still feeling the same. Just the colour of the bile had changed from yellow to green and to make matters worse, there was no chance to set foot on St Kilda in the swell. Nicola had a painful arm but was comfortable and Dave had said that she was prone to blacking out with sharp pain. There were no signs of any other injury. We decided to head back to Bara.

This took us the whole day but by lunch time it was a pleasant sail, we were all eating again and spirits rose. Isn't it amazing how one minute you want to throw yourself over the side and the next all is right with the world?

The rest of the week was fantastic. We sailed to Skye, Mallaig for provisions, Mull and Iona before heading back to Crinan after covering 500 miles.

Page:   Previous   1   2   3   4   5   Next

Home     More General Stories     Search News     Story Submissions

Comments (0)

No comments.

Add Comment