Orkney Harbour Authority
August 20, 2020
20 Aug 2020 and we head due north to Orkney (or The Orkney Islands - but never "The Orkneys"!) There is one main Harbour Master who looks after the whole of Orkney, but there is so much to write about this beautiful archipelago, it deserves several posts.
We had perfect sailing conditions to cross the famous Pentland Firth where tides run at speeds of up to 16 knots. Oil tankers coming out of Scapa Flow can be stopped dead in the water by the strength of the tide! Orkney is low lying and the layout of its 70 islands take a little bit of "getting your head around" as there are so many ways to navigate from A to B.
Orcadians are very proud, their red flag is prominent and the islands have a distinctive Scandinavian feel about them. They can trace habitation back 8,500 years and the more recent Norse influence is very apparent. Unlike the western isles, Gaelic has never been their natural language. They say the people of Orkney are "farmers who do a bit of fishing", whereas the people of Sheltand, 75 miles to the north, are more "fishermen who do a bit of farming".
Our first passage took us past some beautiful Red Sandstone cliffs, including The Old Man of Hoy and led us to Stromness - known to the Vikings as "Peaceful Harbour". Good Dog's crew was enchanted by the place and I can see why it was chosen by @Seafarers_UK as their Christmas card photo! Further north we passed the Kitchener Memorial marking the spot offshore where Lord Kitchener died when HMS Hampshire struck a mine on its passage to Russia in 1916. There are many conspiracy stories about this - look it up!
The weather was set fair and we were about to spend two weeks exploring all of Orkney, Fair Isle and Shetland, before returning safely to the mainland. @rnlistromnesslifeboat
We had perfect sailing conditions to cross the famous Pentland Firth where tides run at speeds of up to 16 knots. Oil tankers coming out of Scapa Flow can be stopped dead in the water by the strength of the tide! Orkney is low lying and the layout of its 70 islands take a little bit of "getting your head around" as there are so many ways to navigate from A to B.
Orcadians are very proud, their red flag is prominent and the islands have a distinctive Scandinavian feel about them. They can trace habitation back 8,500 years and the more recent Norse influence is very apparent. Unlike the western isles, Gaelic has never been their natural language. They say the people of Orkney are "farmers who do a bit of fishing", whereas the people of Sheltand, 75 miles to the north, are more "fishermen who do a bit of farming".
Our first passage took us past some beautiful Red Sandstone cliffs, including The Old Man of Hoy and led us to Stromness - known to the Vikings as "Peaceful Harbour". Good Dog's crew was enchanted by the place and I can see why it was chosen by @Seafarers_UK as their Christmas card photo! Further north we passed the Kitchener Memorial marking the spot offshore where Lord Kitchener died when HMS Hampshire struck a mine on its passage to Russia in 1916. There are many conspiracy stories about this - look it up!
The weather was set fair and we were about to spend two weeks exploring all of Orkney, Fair Isle and Shetland, before returning safely to the mainland. @rnlistromnesslifeboat