Thursday 18 July 2013 – Talmine to Kinlochbervie

Another early start – this time 5:30 (was supposed to be 5:00).  However we soon caught up with the schedule as the wind was SW so we could head along the coast without tacking.  However the wind was about F5 so it was hard going but with reasonable sea state.  Approaching Cape Wrath we put in the third reef as the wind was about F6. We were surprised to find a small ship passing between us and the shore and postponed the reefing operation until it had passed.  Whilst reefing I was disturbed to see daylight through the leech of the sail, about 1 panel from the top.  However it did not get any worse, so we carried on more comfortably.

By this time we had approached Cape Wrath about 1 mile off to the north and sea conditions seemed OK, but I thought we would wait till 3 miles off to the west before turning south.  The visibility had been getting steadily worse as we went west, so we could not see the cape itself until we were well past, which is rather disappointing for a major headland.  The sea state once round the corner remained OK – I had expected it to be worse as we moved out of the shelter of the land, so I presume the F6 wind had not been blowing for long but had been served up specially for us.  After a slow beat against the tide we reached Kinlochbervie.  Later we fixed the sail with sticky sail-mending tape. I think it was more of a wear and fatigue problem rather than the result of extreme stress.

Follow the track of this day

Dawn over the Rabbit Islands, Kyle of Tongue

Leaving Talmine, looking back into the bay