PassageMaker - July 2018

July/August 2018 passagemaker.com 63

island has a population of only 30 residents. We were warmly
received by residents in the tiny harbor, and the respite from the
stormy seas allowed us to regroup with a hot meal.
From Fair Isle, we then headed farther south to the ultimate
testing ground, the Pentland Firth. The forecast predicted
westerly gales, which was great for lifeboat testing but bad for a
comfortable voyage. In the early light we rounded the distinctive
Old Man of Hoy, a 300-foot rock pillar just off the west coast
of the main island in the Orkney group. Then we entered the
Pentland Firth. We were fully battened down as we expected
substantial seas. I was at the helm from the boat’s low-slung
flybridge. That was a grand name for the tiny single-person helm
position located on top of the pilothouse, but it gave a great view
of the seas ahead.
A row of standing waves, known as the “Merry Men of Mey,”
extends right across the Pentland Firth. With the westerly gale
and the ebb tide, I could see these violent breaking waves in the
distance as a line of white foam along the horizon. We were in

large following seas, and the boat behaved impeccably, but as we

approached, the line of breaking waves looked enormous. This

was the ultimate test for a boat, and I began to have doubts about

the wisdom of what I was doing.

We rode the first wave but the second one caught us under a

violent cascade of white water. Up in my isolated helm position

the whole boat disappeared beneath the wave, and I felt like I

was the last person left in the world. Then slowly, ever so slowly,

the boat lifted free from the maelstrom. But there was another

wave coming. It seemed an age before we finally came clear of that

violent chain of breaking waves rearing up 40 or 50 feet above us.

I found it hard to imagine that any boat could have survived

that sort of battering, but we came out the other side without

damage—well, no damage to the boat at least. Lifeboats are

designed to operate in the roughest of seas and still have

something left over to help others. I doubt we had anything left

to help others in those waves, but at least we survived pushing

the boat to its limit. We left the Merry Men behind and headed

Opposite (top): A chance to run the boat four decades later, but this time with the fancy electronics of today. Opposite (bottom): 70-001’s
saloon didn’t look nearly this nice in 1967. Below: The handsome sweeping lines of a workboat that was carefully restored by her owner.