"The North Sea ¤ Circumnavigating Scotland - Part 1" Personal Page by daarth

The North Sea is a destination you will not find on VT. I guess 99,99 percent of the members visit destinations on Terra Firma. I did however visit this place July 2002.

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This is a tale of two guys with a passion for sailing. For some time, we had a dream of sailing around Scotland and the Scottish Islands. We decided to make it more than a dream, and for over half a year we planned. On July 5th 2002, we set sail for an adventure that will be hard for us to match. Our goal was to cross the North Sea from Bergen to Inverness, enter the Caledonian Canal and cross over to the west side of Scotland. We planned to sail about the Inner and Outer Hebrides and sail up to the Orkney Islands. Then we would head north to Fair Isle and the Shetland Isles and then cross back over the North Sea. On our trip we also had a goal to visit a very special Pub.

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During our trip, we wrote some great entries in the ships' logbook. I will copy some of those entries here (in green).
In the Ships' logbook:
Skipper is the skipper
1st officer is daarth
Helmut is the autopilot
For our trip, we chose to use my friends’ boat that is larger than mine. It is a 33 foot Swedish Scanmar and fully equipped with the gear necessary for a trip like this.

from the ships' log book:
(skipper)
The day has arrived at last. Waiting for the 1st officer. Time goes slowly. Breeze is from the North. My stomach is uneasy. 1st has arrived. We are now waiting for the farewell committee. 1st is checking the travel cash. Radio Sotra is playing music in the background.
17:10 We are underway. Farewells are done.
23:45 1st has gone to bed. Norway is starting to become indistinct. Can just barely see a sailboat up in the North. The sunset was very colourful.

from the ships' log book:
(1st)
04:00 The Skipper is getting a well earned sleep after being on watch till 02:00 It was great waking up to a clear horizon absolutely all the way around. The sailboat we saw earlier, tacked and went north. We have probably gone too far south as the wind has turned. We will also have to tack at some point.
09:25 We tacked. I go on watch at 10:00
20:00 We passed the Jotun oilfield.

from the ships' log book:
(1st)
04:30 We had little wind for a couple of hours. Fell asleep for a moment and woke up by Helmut (autopilot) peeping. The front sail had reversed, and we were on our way home.

(Skipper)
07:15 A couple of dolphins have played around the boat for a while. Nice to have some company. A large sail ship can be seen further south. The wind has started to increase.

from the ships' log book:
(1st)
12:50 Silk sailing! Empty horizon! The skipper is gathering wood (sleeping)

(Skipper)
15:00: We had company by 5-6 dolphins. The sun is shining and the ocean has an amazing colour. The 1st is under deck doing the dishes. We will soon be crossing the 0 meridian. This will be celebrated with coffee and a beer.

from the ships' log book:
(1st)
09:30 Gale and waves. We’re surfing! Had to take down the front sail. 2 reefs in the main sail. Both on deck.

I have several caps. In fact I have several different things I can place on my head if the need arises. But I have only one lucky cap. I don’t know how this cap became a lucky cap, but it seems lucky things always happen when I wear this cap.
We were on our third day out from Bergen, and we had already spotted land. What we didn’t know, was that we would soon have our second storm in the same day. The sun was shining and we had the current with us. The wind however was blowing against us at gale force, and this built up high waves with short distance between them. The boat took a hard beating. At the time, the skipper was under deck and I was at the helm.
One should never wear a cap at anything more than a light breeze, but for some reason I had not taken off my cap. This was my lucky cap, but sooner or later it just had to happen. I was glancing up at the sails, and the wind got hold of the cap and blew it right off. In horror I saw it fly right into the waves behind the boat. “My lucky cap!” I cried. The skipper came rushing out fearing the worst, hearing my cries. I explained the grave situation to him while I kept a finger pointing at the cap just like you do at a man-over-board. The skipper understood my loss and shouted, “Lets save it”.
While I kept pointing at the spot, he tacked and turned the boat around. As we came close, I had to take my eyes off the cap for a moment as I fetched the boat hook. When I looked back, I couldn’t see the cap again. For a moment I lost all hope, but suddenly there it was again on top of a wave just in front of us. As we passed it I tried to catch it with the hook but it fell off. In the mean time the skipper had turned on the engine as manoeuvring was becoming difficult in the high waves. Once again we turned around under full sail and good help from the engine. The boat crashed in the waves as we neared the cap again. It was becoming difficult to see it, and then only when it was at the top of the waves. The skipper suggested I crawl down on the bathing platform on the back of the boat to try to catch it with my hand. I did that, and hung on with one hand for dear life as I tried to reach out with the other hand. It was too far away. I grabbed hold of the boat hook and tried once more. The hook just pushed the cap and all hope was lost as I saw it sink downwards. I just stood on the platform dumbfounded as I looked at the spot where it disappeared. The waves were beating at me and I was wet from the waist down. In my mind I was trying to comprehend the fact that I would have to exist without that cap. In a flash I could see all the memories I had had in its company. My eyes were blurred, but that was because the waves were beating at me. I wiped my face with my free hand, and there it was. The cap had actually come up again. I cried out to the skipper and he saw it too about 30 meters behind the boat. Quickly he threw the engine in reverse and with the sails pulling one way and the engine the other, we came to a halt. He loosened the sails and we stated reversing. Now I had the waves full on and really had to hold on for dear life. Meter by meter we came closer. I was more under water than over, but suddenly there it was. I reached out and caught it. The cap was saved. The lucky cap.

Soon to continue on my Inverness page -->>

<a href="http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/28356/">http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/28356/</a>

Dep. 5pm Friday July 5, 2002 from Bjørge
Arr. Invernes 12 midnight Monday July 8.
Fort Augustus Wednesday July 10.
Fort William Thursday July 11.
Oban Friday July 12
Tobermory Saturday July 13.
Iverie Sunday July 14
Plockton Monday July 15
Portree Tuesday July 16
Stornoway Wedesday July 17 Left Friday July 19
Kirkwall Saturday July 20.
Fair Isle Monday July 22.
Lerwick Tuesday July 23. Left Friday July 26
Arr. Bergen Saturday July 27 2002