Yachting Monthly – September 2019

How do you measure
sailing experience?
For most of us it will be
harbours visited and miles
logged. But there’s more
to it than just numbers;
certain stretches of water
pose unique challenges and
their reputations hold a
strange power in the minds of all who set sail.
Completing one of these passages is an initiation,
a rite of passage, that engenders the respect of
others and a new self-confi dence. With a nod to the
1980s YM book, Classic Passages, the Royal
Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation and Imray have
collated some of the milestone passages through
and around British waters that should be on every
cruising sailor’s to-do list. So how many have you
done? This article is from the series Rites of
Passage, commissioned by Yachting Monthly, the
Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation and
Imray, which will be available as a book in 2020.

AROUND

CA PE WRATH

The risk of strong tides, savage overfalls and gale force winds means

timing is essential when sailing from Stromness to Tarbert

Words Hugh Stewart

RITES

OF PASSAGE

DG

B^

/^ A

lam

y^ S

to

ck

P

ho

to

RITES OF PASSAGE

Loch Inver is a good

port of refuge, if needed