Yachting Monthly — November 2017

60 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com november 2017

ANCHORAGE

Oyster

Scap

310° 260°

Old

Law

Black

Law

The

Ooze

HOLY ISLAND

000°

Belfry

Bn.

Bns.

Cas.

Long

Batt

Castle Pt

?

0 500m

North Sea

NORTHUMBERLAND

Farne Is.

Bamburgh

Castle

Lindisfarne

Castle

Holy Island

Newcastle

upon Tyne

Goswick

Holy Island

Old Law and Black Law, with a

submerged ridge between them,

give this anchorage protection

from the North Sea

Old Law, Holy Island

A little endeavour

and ingenuity will

reward you with

seals, shoals and shelter,

says Ken Endean

O

n England’s north-east

coast, the inlet at Holy

Island (Lindisfarne) is one

of the few natural havens

to provide good protection

from Arctic winds and northerly swell.

The conventional anchoring position is

in deep water close to the island shore

and this may also be viable shelter in

strong westerlies, although a wind off

the mainland can scream unimpeded

across the wide drying bay, and good

anchors are essential. Alternatively,

boats with twin keels or beaching

legs often find enhanced shelter in

the Ooze, the island’s small harbour,

which belies its name by having a bed

of firm sand.

Unfortunately, these popular spots

are very exposed to the east and south-

east, particularly when the tide covers

the off-lying reefs and the wave fetch

is all the way from Denmark. When

we sailed in from the south-east with

a following wind and sea, a Dutch yacht

ahead of us had already tried the deep

anchorage, given it up as a bad job, and

was heading north again. We decided

to search for a channel through the

sand banks that leads further south

but is completely unmarked. Old

charts and maps show it as a persistent

feature, although it may move around

from time to time.

The initial approach is guided by

a transit on the two high, tapering

Old Law beacons. A second transit,

of a triangular beacon in line with

Lindisfarne’s church belfry, leads close

past a drying wreck and into the usual

anchorage. We continued west until

the belfry was bearing due north, then

ferry-glided south across the flood

tide while maintaining that bearing.

The echo sounder reading dropped

as we crossed Long Batt sand, then

increased before starting to reduce

again as we reached Oyster Scap bank.

Backtracking by about 100m put us in

the middle of the channel, where we

anchored on flat water. A gravel spit

between Old Law and the small island

of Black Law was covered at high tide

but sufficiently close to the surface

to act as an effective breakwater.

According to the tidal predictions and

our depth readings, we crossed Long

Batt at a point where it dried by 1.6m

and anchored where the channel bed

was 1.4m below chart datum.

Our overnight stop was slightly

noisy, but I’m not going to complain.

Black Law and Old Law provide a

land base for hundreds of seals and

their semi-musical songs entertained

us for most of the evening. On our

arrival, half a dozen had swum out

to investigate our boat and when we

departed in the early morning, at least

70 black heads came to see us off,

bobbing around London Apprentice

while we weighed anchor. As the tide

flowed across the submerged banks,

wave patterns indicated the ridges and

we steered out on a heading mid-way

between Lindisfarne Castle and Castle

Point, while watching the echo sounder

carefully. If we visit this wonderfully

wild place again, we’ll know a bit more

about finding our way around. W

‘On arriving at our overnight stop, half a

dozen seals swum out to investigate our boat’

PHOTO: KEN ENDEAN GRAPHIC: MAXINE HEATH