Yachting_Monthly_2016-01

HEIMAEY

(Vestmannaeyjar)WestmanIslands

VestmannaeyjarEldfell

Elliðaey

HeimaeyHarbour Bjarnarey

Faxasker

Smáeyjar

Álfsey
Brandur Suðurey

Isafjordur ReykjavikICELAND

Heimaey Westman Is.

Arctic Circle

KeflavicHarbourReykanes

See main chart

0 1,000m

Chart: Maxine heath

Photos: Brian BlaCk

A lone puffin looks towards Smaeyjar, one of the offlying islands

The author’s yacht powering on towards the Séafra

Westman Islands

Photo: sarah BroWn

64 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com JANUARY 2016

ARCTIC pIloTAge

I

t might even have been one of my Celtic ancestors who first took shelter on the cluster of volcanic islands

Irish slaves rose up against their masters on the mainland then sought refuge on the off Iceland’s south-west corner. According to the sagas, a bunch of

uninhabited island of Heimaey. Not a good plan. They were hunted down and killed, thus entering posterity as the ‘Westmen’, hence Vestmannaeyjar.

time later, British privateers used the islands as their base in the North Atlantic, until in the mid-1500s when the Danes That was in the 9th century AD. Some

kicked them out. After that, the

Barbary pirates came calling and took away more than 200 people, some to be sold as slaves, others as concubines. The

point behind this potted history is that the Vestmannaeyjar (63°26’N 20°16’W) occupy a strategic location on the sea route to Iceland and onwards to Greenland.

This held good throughout history and they are particularly relevant to small-boat seafarers today. I have made landfall on the Vestmannaeyjar for each voyage

north over the past years because they are the nearest point of land between Ireland or Scotland and Iceland. As a result they

reduce exposure to the fitful and frequently violent winds of the North Atlantic. conditions in late June or early July. If My point of departure depends on local

the weather is unsettled I would head up through the Scottish Outer Hebrides or sail islands to Barra in the

calm conditions prevail I leave stocked supermarkets. If welcoming marina and well into Stornoway with its

the tides up the North Channel my home port of Strangford, work and keep going for the voyage of 670 miles on a course of north

distance as it is from the Scottish points of departure but not including the time and mileage getting to them.by north-west, roughly the same

and various weather websites will give a reasonable prediction over the six or seven days you should allow for the passage. Either way, careful study of GRIB files

However, I need to strike a cautionary

The Westman Islands make an ideal stop for a yacht cruising Iceland and then

onwards to Greenland, says Brian Black

A perfect

landfall

in Iceland