Practical Boat Owner – May 2018

88 Practical Boat Owner • http://www.pbo.co.uk

H

aving spent several months
bringing my friend Clive’s new
Ovni 435, Tintin, slowly north to
Arisaig from the River Hamble, he just
wanted to go cruising.
Crew Stuart and I joined him for eight
days, bringing a detailed chart of the
Sound of Harris with half an idea of visiting
St Kilda. Perhaps we’d be lucky to find a
weather window to land there during a
changeable July...
On our first day we were blessed with a

Growing up in

Leigh-on-sea John

Simpson learned to

sail with his father on

a Lowestoft smack.

As a teenager he

raced dinghies

and bigger boats

offshore, then moved

on to professional

delivering, racing and

RYA coaching and

examining.

Readers’ cruising destinations, near and far

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

fast 60-mile reach across the Minch to

Lochboisdale, South Uist, in a Force 4-5

southerly, mostly lee-bowing a south-

going tide which speeded up the passage

immensely. Although we arrived with cool

drizzle and poor visibility, we’d enjoyed

the company of a small pod of dolphins

and spotted a basking shark on the

passage. The next day was a gentle,

sunny afternoon sail to Lochmaddy on

North Uist, sighting two Minke whales

en-route. Both of these Uist island

harbours have recently built small marina

berths, leading to improved visitor

numbers from cruising yachtsmen.

The next day’s forecast looked perfect to

head out to St Kilda. We left about 0830 to

catch the tide through the southern part of

the Sound of Harris via the Cope Passage.

Weather must be settled to attempt this

shallow transit: the route out into the ocean

swell has shifting sands with a bar that

can occasionally dry at its western

extremity; tidal overfalls with dangerous

The bird islands

of St Kilda

John Simpson grabs a weather

window to cross the Sound of

Harris and on to St Kilda

Approaching the island group

Rock stacks at the

northern end of

Boreray are home to

seabird colonies