Practical Boat Owner – August 2019

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John Simpson recalls a unique Hebridean

adventure to a ‘secret’ loch

John Simpson recalls a unique Hebridean

Rough

weather uncovers

a secret loch

H

eading north up the chain of the

Outer Hebrides on our Jeanneau

Sunfast 37, Somerled, during one

August cruise, we were experiencing

strong Force 5-7 north-westerly winds.

These were set to continue and made

us all realise that although a visit to St

Kilda was possible, it would simply

amount to a rough offshore passage

with then no possibility of landing with

the dinghy to visit. In other words, a

completely pointless exercise.

Continuing past the Sound of Harris

after leaving Loch Maddy in North Uist

keeping to the east in the lee of the land,

we were lucky as a crew to have a real

West Coast expert on board. Jennifer King

knew the area very well from cruising here

for many years with her late husband,

Lloyd King.

Suddenly she had a brainwave,

mentioning an interesting place called

Loch Scadabay (Scadabhagh), which she

thought would make a perfect lunch break

from our windy and coldish trip. Jennifer

described the entrance as pretty

narrow then widening out, rather like

a keyhole and it was located not far

from Tarbert – the narrow land

bridge that joins the southern part of

Harris to the main, northern section.

As we came into shelter just before the

entrance, both jib and then mainsail were

dropped. The wind was funnelling down

through the tiny narrows, so using the iron

topsail was the safer option. Once inside

we found perfect

shelter as the

channel widened out.

Unfortunately, though, we ran aground

in soft mud at the top! After a quick scan

of the tide tables we calculated it was

almost low water.

N

Sound of Harris

Loch

Scadabay

Loch Maddy

Renish

Point

NORTH

UIST

HARRIS

nautical miles

0 5

Lochmaddy

Loch

Scadabay

HARRIS

Scadabay

Looking back at the

entrance to the loch from

the shelter inside