Loch Clash 58:27.76N 05:03.42W
6 August
The wind dropped over night and we woke to a still, clear
morning (well night actually as it was only 3.45 am) and got the boat ready to
depart. We were off the dock by 0420 and motored with the tide for the
first couple of hours, making very good time, until we came out of Eynhallow
Sound into the Atlantic and set a course for Cape Wrath. It was full moon
and we watched it set as we motored along in the early morning light, just
before sunrise.
Early morning off Gairsay
Once clear of Orkney we manged to sail a lot of the time on
a comfortable close reach with little swell, supplemented by the engine every
so often when boat speed dropped too much. The tides did as they were
supposed to and we benefited by up to 2 kts for much of the first couple
of hours. We weren't entirely alone, as a Canadian boat (Milvina) that I
had been talking to, went for the same tidal boost and left Kirkwall a few
minutes after us. They had an AIS receiver and so were monitoring our
position, speed and course throughout - and we had several long VHF exchanges
with them - on the merit of various anchorages in Loch Inchard and tidal
patterns round Cape Wrath.
As the day went on, the sea became even calmer and
eventually the wind died away, leaving us to motor the last couple of hours
to Cape Wrath and then onto Loch Inchard. The benefit was great
conditions for spotting whales etc and we had brilliant sighting of a minke
with a full breach quite close to Swallow. We also had several sightings
of dolphins and Clare saw her puffins just of the Cape.
First views of Cape Wrath
Cape Wrath Lighthouse
With some latest weather input from Milvina, we were
comfortable that it was going to be a very quiet night and headed for Loch
Clash, a small loch near the entrance to Loch Inchard. The "good holding
in mud just off the pier" turned out to be a little optimistic and we
found the holding poor with a lot of kelp - so we tried a third drop in the NE
corner in 10m which was fine. A little exposed to the west and swell for
complete comfort, but a pretty spot and well secure.
We were anchored by 8pm with 98 miles logged in a little
under 16 hours.
Coming into Loch Clash
