The Classic Yacht Overlord
Here is a selection of sailing and yachting videos filmed in the Hebrides West Coast of Scotland, North Wales, on the River Hamble, the North Atlantic, and southern Brittany. They may be useful to support the RYA Day Skipper, RYA Coastal Skipper, or the RYA Yachtmaster courses.
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
Approaching Scaloway two days out of Torshaven, Faroe Islands.
Twitter video via @newsverify
Land fall at #Scoloway #Shetland after sailing across the North #Atlantic #Ocean from the #Faroe Islands. from Eddy Jackson on Vimeo.
@newsverify Vimeo Sailing Album
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
Here is a spoken narrative via SoundCloud about voyaging the North Atlantic Ocean. The trip involved a small sailing yachting.
At 62°00’N, the Faroe Islands lie midway between Norway and Iceland, about 4° south of the official boundary of the Arctic Circle.
There is an ongoing discussion about defining the boundaries of the Arctic — highly relevant for these islands, whose government just released an Arctic policy entitled: The Faroe Islands – a Nation in the Arctic. This self-governing region is part of the Nordic family of nations, but are these remote islands Arctic?
The islands are found at the heart of the Gulf Stream, delivering a cold oceanic climate, which means that the islands do not experience a long-lasting accumulation of snow.
The average temperature in July is an important environmental and biological indicator of ‘northernness’. An average temperature of 10º C closely corresponds to the treeline. If we use this indicator, large terrestrial areas of the Faroese archipelago mountains are indeed Arctic.
The harsh climatic conditions and the expected consequences of Arctic industrial development here lead me to conclude that the Faroe Islands will indeed be an important stakeholder in the Arctic’s future.
The latitude of the Arctic Circle is 66 degrees, 32 minutes. This is the latitude above which the sun never sets during the summer and never rises during the winter. North of this imaginary line, six months of daylight follow six months of night each year.
A nautical mile is a unit of measurement used on water by sailors and/or navigators in shipping and aviation. It is the average length of one minute of one degree along a great circle of the Earth. One nautical mile corresponds to one minute of latitude. Thus, degrees of latitude are 60 nautical miles apart.
Tórshavn is about 240 miles south of the Artic Circle.
The climate is classed as subpolar oceanic climate with areas having a tundra climate, especially in the mountains, although some coastal or low-lying areas can have very mild-winter versions of a tundra climate. The overall character of the islands' climate is influenced by the strong warming influence of the Atlantic Ocean, which produces the North Atlantic Current. This, together with the remoteness of any source of warm airflows, ensures that winters are mild (mean temperature 3.0 to 4.0 °C or 37 to 39 °F) while summers are cool (mean temperature 9.5 to 10.5 °C or 49 to 51 °F).
The islands are windy, cloudy, and cool throughout the year with an average of 210 rainy or snowy days per year. The islands lie in the path of depressions moving northeast, making high winds and heavy rain possible throughout the year. Sunny days are rare and overcast days are standard.
The climate varies over small distances, due to the altitude, ocean currents, topography, and winds. Precipitation varies throughout the archipelago. In some highland areas, snow cover can last for months with snowfalls possible for the greater part of the year (on the highest peaks, summer snowfall is by no means rare), while in some sheltered coastal locations, several years pass without any snowfall whatsoever. Tórshavn receives frosts more often than other areas just a short distance to the south. Snow is also seen at a much higher frequency than on outlying islands nearby.
Be prepared psychologically, mentally, and physically for the impact and effects of cold northerly winds. This sap and drain energy and life from your body. Together with driving rain, ocean spray, and the regular northerly swell, this is a hostile environment.
Wearing specialist protective clothing, with layers of breathable vests, Mariano wool long-johns, and Polartec mid-layers helped counter hyperthermia.
The weather and environment affected on all the crew. We quickly adapted two hours on, four hours off watch system.
For me, a highlight of the voyage and a personal saviour was lying in a four-season sleeping bag in the forepeak berth while hell and the maelstrom battered the boat.
The proud, stoical Faroese character has been forged from Viking blood, Christian piety, Scandinavian openness, and awe for the humbling nature that is all around. So even if the weather proves uncooperative, these islands are likely to surprise and delight even the most cynical traveller.
There are 18 islands in the Faroes group, and they all stand fully exposed to the fury of the North Atlantic. It is a windswept place, and not a destination your average yachts person cruises, so you need a bit of a pioneering spirit for these voyages, like ocean crossings. Stopping on the Faroe Islands is always special. At least two or three islands will be visited, depending on wind and weather.
Situated in the far north Atlantic, 200 miles north of Scotland, these wild and windswept volcanic islands are one of Europe’s best-kept secrets.
Like Iceland, the Faroes are unspoilt and untamed. The weather is a significant feature for visitors.
The weather and tides dictated where we sailed exploring the islands. Natural erosion has created deep sounds between the islands, many providing shelters from the rolling Atlantic swell and severe weather.
As they are located so far north, the Faroe Islands experience very few ‘dark’ hours, in the summer.
During the last few decades, the Faroese have built a system of tunnels through the mountains and under the ocean passages between islands to accommodate a system of roads that connect all the towns and even the small villages. Children will speak of how many “tunnels away” they live. One of the highlights of our stay in the Faroes was a four-tunnel bus ride.
For the cruising sailor, of course, the first issue is getting there. From Cape Wrath on the northwest tip of the Scottish mainland to the southernmost Faroe Island of Suduroy is about 180 nm. The passage from Shetland is only slightly shorter. The passage from the east coast of Iceland is about 230 miles.
Another issue is the tidal currents in the Faroes. Although the rise and fall is only a meter or less, the currents generated through the many narrow passages can be fierce, and the overfalls (breaking standing waves) near the entrances to these passages can be frightening and may be dangerous. A local publication with hourly diagrams called Tidal Current Around the Faroe Islands created by Fischer Heinesen is worth having aboard — but is presumably only available after you get there and is useless unless you have local knowledge of when high water occurs.
Then there is the weather. The Faroes lie right in the track of the North Atlantic lows that march across from Labrador, skirting the southern tip of Greenland and southern Iceland before slamming into Scotland and southern Norway. So, one can expect wind and rain in the Faroes from time to time throughout the sailing season. However, there are plenty of places to seek shelter once arrived in this island group.
The adventuresome sailor should not be deterred, for the Faroe Islands are truly spectacular. The people are very friendly, and all of them speak good English. Most of the fjords and inlets have towns with fabricated harbours in which it is usually possible to tie up, although Torshavn has a marina with pontoons large enough to accommodate a yacht of 40 feet or more.
We sailed from Kirkwall in the Orkneys to the southern Faroe Island of Suduroy in less than 48 hours.
Until recently, all we knew of the Faroe Islands, were a craggy cluster of Volcanic islands somewhere between Iceland and Scotland.
In many ways, arriving with little to no knowledge of Faroese land or culture was brilliant, because it allowed us to see everything with fresh, unprejudiced eyes.
In summary, there's one thing that will underpin your entire trip right from the very start: the only thing predictable about the Faroe Islands’ weather patterns is that they are wildly unpredictable. In fact, there's a saying in the Faroe Islands that if you do not like the weather, wait five minutes - something we came to understand within the first few minutes of being there.
The reason for this huge weather variation is the Faroes position in the middle of the North Atlantic. Here, the warm waters of the Gulf Stream swirl around with the icy waters of the Arctic, creating the perfect melting pot for some pretty crazy weather concoctions.
You'll never really know what's in store for you each day - though grey skies, cloud, and wind are a pretty safe base level to work off - but once you've accepted that fact, the islands become a fascinating adventure through the weather. It does pay to have some flexibility in your planning, as ferries are cancelled in poor weather conditions and your plans may shuffle around.
In winter, temperatures average about 2-6° (not much cooler than London!), while summers are cool and breezy with an average temperature of 9°. It is not the destination to come if you are looking to work on that summer tan, but we promise the epic, rugged views make having to pack a few extra layers worthwhile!
It seems insane that such a windswept, isolated and seemingly harsh landscape could have been happily inhabited for thousands of years, and yet, since the sixth century the Faroe islands have been home to Irish hermit monks, Norwegian Viking settlers, and of course, lots of sheep. Much of their language, culture, and food evolve from old Norse traditions.
Today, the Faroese population numbers about 50,000, and the islands are home to a pretty diverse range of nationalities.
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
Moody 31 West Coast of Scotland
Helming a Moody 31 across the Minch
Piloting a sailing yacht on the West Coast of Scotland
Anchored in Loch Aline on a May morning
On the jetty with the Moody 31 on a buoy at Arinagour Coll
Photographing sailing in the Sound of Mull
Crew in good spirits sailing on the West Coast of Scotland
Shore leave walking to the shop at Loch Aline
Exploring Coll
Helming the Moody 31 in strong winds on the Sound of Mull Scotland
On the way to the Hotel at Arinnagour for a double gin and tonic
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
RYA Yachtmaster Navigation & Pilotage
Here is groundwork planning and preparation for the summer's sailing voyage from Kirkwall in the Orkneys to the Faroe Islands. The return trip is via the Shetland Islands.
Here are some useful links from the previous season on the high seas:
Vimeo Sailing Album
What is your compass bearing?
Davits a metaphor for life
Sailing Blog
RYA Yachtmaster Skipper On Watch Piloting
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
Exploring the upper pool at Loch Tarbert
Here is a live recording made early in the morning on the 7 April at dawn.
The Kyle Rhea is a classic tidal gate with strong, fast-flowing tides that prevent vessels from sailing between mainland Scotland and the Isle of Skye.
Boats must use their yachting almanacs and tide tables to plan the best time for a successful transit.
The video is part of a sailing series film over three months of sailing along the West Coast of Scotland, in Normandy, the Channel Islands, the Solent, IOW, the South Coast of England and in Devon and Cornwall.
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
Davit a device for suspending or lowering a yacht tender
Piloting the hidden pools in the upper lochs in the islands and the West Coast of Scotland is great fun.
Davits are about easy handling and launching of a boat’s tender for enhancing a greater range of sailing adventures.
Using davits as a metaphor for life, can you think of other activities, apps or devices that may make your work and habitual routines a lot easier?
Getting to your destination is dependent on well-maintained equipment and skilled seamanship. Submerged rocks, swirling currents, wind, and waves will influence progress.
What factors may impact upon the delivery of your plans?
How do you reach your goals and destiny?
Covering three hundred and eighty miles the yacht, White Eagle, called into:
Loch Spelve, Tarbet and the Pool, Port Ellen, Tinker's Hole, Bunessan, Iona, Fingal’s Cave Staffa, Tobermory, Muck, Loch Moidart, Plockton, Mallaig, Canna, Soay, Loch Scavaig, Rum, Eigg, Tobermory, Loch Aline and Oban.
The Hallberg-Rassy 36 used its tender to explore these scenic jewels in blistering hot weather. The dinghy allowed the crew to have great fun.
Accessing and reaching the most incredible places was easy. By enhancing the voyage through the use of the tender, we experienced a much wider range of exciting opportunities.
Without the highly functional davits, it would be hard work launching and retrieving the tender. Un-tie two lines to lower or raise. Easy. The process is quick compared to the labour-intensive alternatives.
You see the amazing shimmering Moidart castle at the head of the loch. In a locker, tied on deck, the tender is a burden. It has to be inflated, laboriously launched over the side and kitted out.
How does it feel?
What makes repetitive activities easier?
Do you waste your time and efforts on faffing?
What aides, devices, modifications, changes in routine or habits will make your life and work easier?
Davits or laborious struggles?
I am part of the anti-faffing, can-do crew.
And you?
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
The position of Polaris, or the North Star, is an important marker for celestial navigation.
What is your compass bearing?
Old Harry From Studland Bay
INTRODUCTION
In committing yourself to act, what informed and guided your decision? How did you reach your destination? Do other factors influence the direction of travel?
Using a compass and its application to navigation as metaphors, I’ll pilot you, and guide you like the position of Polaris, or the North Star is to celestial navigation.
For a successful personal agency to make positive things happen, we need a guiding beacon. What’s yours?
One of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, the granite-faced, chain-smoking, W. H. Auden in his powerful, selfish tribute and immortalised poem by the film industry, painfully gasped:
“He was my North, South, my East and West.”
Wow. Beat that as a metaphor of a compass rose. Who guides you?
MAIN PART
WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT IS YOUR DIRECTION OF TRAVEL? WHAT INFORMS YOU?
Let me tell you a true story and a nautical incident that I was involved in last month. The grounding and capsizing of the 42’ luxury yacht was due to a lack of diligence, poor seamanship, and as referenced by the title of this article, not using a compass or applying the basic principles of navigation despite having mountains of reference points, and explicit aides to prevent this incident.
On the 7 May, the Irish yacht, Dawn Glory, started a seven-day cruise around the Isle of Skye northwards through the Kyle Rhea tidal gate and fast flowing narrow tidal channel that separates mainland Scotland from the Island.
The cruise plan took a small fleet of the Howth Yacht Club to the Crowlin Islands, Rona, across the Minch to the Shiant Islands, along the east coast of the Outer Hebrides, and the back to Skye.
The crew and I were having a late supper after a long passage.
As darkness and the cold night enveloped the anchorage in the loch, sudden crunching noises and the boat rapidly tilting, capsizing from the vertical to a ninety-degree horizontal position, indicated that Dawn Gory had run aground and was falling onto a rocky outcrop.
The is the important issue and the key point, despite having detailed charts, the latest navigation devices, GPS chart plotters, and iPads with the best digital charts, this incident happened. It may have had very serious consequences.
Good seamanship, navigation, and the successful use of a compass in piloting a boat require expert insights with constant reference to guiding beacons, lights, and charts mapping out the course.
The causes of this yacht going aground incident were:
The skipper and first mate did not accurately know their position.
They did not use their compass to fix the boat’s position and did not respond, and ignored feedback.
My hypothesis in using this analogy to the personal agency in our, your lives, is that we need to be informed by a sound compass bearing to make well-informed decisions.
In reality, some constraints from the dynamics of family life, the communities expectations, and societies cultural expectations may inhibit this. Other obvious factors such as our finances, economic well-being, and personal health may impinge on our ability for personal agency.
However, by positively and successfully using our agency, it may be possible to overcome the negative influences.
What I am suggesting is that having clarity of thought, the ability to have informed insights and deliver solutions will impact upon our, your direction of travel and prevent catastrophes such as hitting the rocks and going aground.
Despite being told by the alert crew, the skipper and mate did not listen or react to informed insights.
SUMMARY
LEARNING POINTS
In summary, I have used the metaphor of a compass, a compass bearing, and navigation regarding your direction of travel.
The true story of Dawn Glory going aground on a moonless night in a remote loch could have been catastrophic.
What do you use to guide, lead, and inform your life?
Are you well informed?
What is your compass bearing?
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video
SAILING WEST COAST OF SCOTLAND | YACHTING SKYE | CRUISING SHIANT ISLANDS & OUTER HEBRIDES | SAILING THE MINCH
Sailing Shiant Isles Minch Outer Hebrides Scotland from Eddy Jackson on Vimeo.
Introduction
An early April cruise on the West Coast of Scotland covered two hundred and fifty miles from Armadale, Skye through Kyle Rhea to the Crowlin Islands, Rona, the Shiant Islands, the new Isle of Harris, North Harbour, Scalpay, and Loch Harport, had calm settled weather. A small fleet of three yachts from the Penguin Crusing Club sailed in company. The video was filmed aboard the Dutch yacht Ab Fab on charter from Armadale.
The Penguins at Scalpay North Harris from Eddy Jackson on Vimeo.
Ab Fab was the first yacht to use the new Isle of Harris Marina pontoons in north harbour on Scalpay. The Penguin fleet sailed across the Minch from Rona via the Shiant Islands.
Kyle Rhea | Penguins Crusing Club | Outer Hebrides Voyage from Eddy Jackson on Vimeo.
Thought of the Day
In terms of individuals, boat crews, and the larger flotilla, what is going on here?
What are their narratives and story?
How do they make things happen?
You can apply this problem-management approach in many contrasting situations and organisations.
Main Part
How does it feel being surrounded by rainbows plunging into the swirling lochs at dawn on a murky Spring day? Even at neap tides, the currents and eddies buffet vessels as they transit this narrow passage between mainland Scotland and the Isle of Skye.
Kyle Rhea is a classic pilotage and great care must be taken due to strong tidal streams. Eight knots are the norm in this tidal gate. However, with good timing and seamanship skills, the Kyle Rhea is a must-do and terrific transit to complete.
Once through, new scenery, adventures, and challenges begin.
Kyle Rhea 360 Video Yacht Transit from Eddy Jackson on Vimeo.
THE ABOVE 360 VIDEO REQUIRES CHROME OR A 360 FRIENDLY BROWSER
Travelling north on neap tides, a yacht records a 360 video of the passage between the mainland of Scotland and the Isle of Skye.
Sailing from Rona to the Outer Hebrides - Crew Feedback from Eddy Jackson on Vimeo.
The crew let down their hair and have fun on Rona. When sailing in fair winds in the Minch travelling south along the coast of the Outer Hebrides they burst into song.
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video