Furthest North (?) 58 deg 57.876 min N, 3 deg 17.652 min W

You, the perceptive reader will notice that there has been another day without an edition of this blog. Yesterday, I feared there may not be any more. Not, I rush to assure you, because I thought I had put Vagabond and your writer in any peril * but because I thought that we would have to terminate the expedition. It was all down to tides, the weather, the dreadful North Sea and the Pentland Firth. You have to be at certain points  just as the tide changes, to catch periods of relatively still water. Rather than bore you with a detailed description ** of the geography of the are of sea between the Orkney Islands and the mainland, the differences in tidal flows between spring tides and neaps*** suffice it to say that this particular bit of water can be quite tricky to navigate through, with tidal currents that can be as much at 9 knots***** at springs.  Spring tides are rapidly approaching and I knew that as soon they were only two or three days away Vagabond would not be able to cope with the current speeds, even with Freddies noisy assistance.

The weather forecast had suggested that yesterday would be a good day to attempt the crossing. Nip up to Duncansby head, from Wick, wait for the lights to change (sorry, I meant tide), sprint across the Pentland firth and up past S Ronaldsay, into and across Scapa Flow into Hoel Sound and - hey presto - we would be at all with the help of a following tide and a SE wind. 

Well, it didn't work out like that. Tuesday dawned with lowering clouds and a light Easterly wind. We were late to leave Wick and plodded up the coast, against the tide. The wind fell away, the mist closed in and the rain became torrential. After an hour or so, it dawned on me that we wold not be at the cross roads in time to catch the lights changing. If we didn't turn back soon, our tide would change, pushing us towards the firth at a time when the tides there would take us for an unplanned ride. My dilemma was that if we turned back now, the following day would be the last day before we had to wait about a week for the tides to calm down, and, if we couldn't make the passage to Stromness due  poor weather, it would mean that I would be unable to get Vagabond back to Balvicar in time, so the whole circumnavigation would not be completed this year. I could imagine the Owners Agents trenchant remarks......

Sense prevailed and we turned back.  Wet through. The sun came out as we rentered Wick Marina

I knew I had bought a Sunday paper for some reason.

Here's a general view of Wick Marina, in the evening sun

Hence my rather black mood yesterday evening. But this morning dawned bright and sunny with the promise of a S Westerly breeze. Overnight I had checked and re checked the plans: leave at 06:30. Be at Duncasby Head by 10:15, rush across to S Ronaldsay by 12:00 and catch the tide northward all the way to Stromness. 

Well, we got here. On the way we had winds in excess of 26 knots (true), two reefs were taken in, the jib yet agains refused to roll up and had to be dumped on the deck (reminding me of the trip to the Isle of Man), the rip tides, disturbed water and overfalls were the worst I have encountered. We even encountered TRAFFIC (this was the first time since the Caledonian canal). 

I'll tell you the more detailed story of it tomorrow, if you're interested. Noting else is going to happen tomorrow, the forecast is still for 23 kno winds, and I had enough of those today!

Notes and asides:

* well, no more than usual, that is.

** imagine a cross roads in the sea between a big island (the mainland) and a groups of much smaller islands. On the West and to the north of the cross roads is a very big ocean (the Atlantic) and on the East and on the South is a much smaller sea (the North Sea). Gravity (those as yet undetected but theoretical waves) from the sun, moon and earth combine to make the sea water move in a bulge round the earth. This causes currents that are amplified when the water tries to squeeze through the cross roads. Tide heights are bigger during spring tide (which happen roughly every two weeks, so the tidal currents not only go through a rythym from high to low tide, but also go through a rythym from weaker tides at neaps (see ***) to stronger tides at springs. Ifa boat arrive at the cross roads at the wrong time, it can be whisked into next Sunday before the captain can say "Jack Sparrow".

(phew, I bet you enjoyed that).

*** nothing to do with Haggis, I can assure you.****

**** Bad in joke for readers with some knowledge of Scottish cuisine

***** 1 kn (or knot) is a speed of 1 sea mile per hour