Igor:

We left Lerwick at 6am today towards south. With wind coming from astern at 12kts, it was time to roll out the parasailor. Alas, due to lack of practice, the preparations took too long and the plan was dropped as the wind reached 20kts.

The effect of the tides is quite prominent around the Orkneys, so last night we were still calculating our optimal route and time of arrival. The tidal information is expressed in vectors at certain time relative to high water at Dover, which itself is dependent on the current position of the moon. The table which holds this information expresses the time in GMT, so prior to use, it still needs to be converted it to the local time. All in all, many small calculations, not difficult to understand in principle, but prone to careless errors, so not recommended if you still have to keep an eye on water trafic, wind conditions, etc.

We arrived in Kirkwall at around 8pm, pretty much as calculated. Local temperature: 10°C (!), drizzle, northern winds.

Tomorrow, we'll try to rent a car in order to do some island exploring.