Adrift in Caledonia

Returning to my Highland homeland waters for a summer cruise was challenging; both for the weather and the emotions, writes Kevin Green

- Kevin Green

Northerly winds dictated the route of our week’s cruise around the Inner Hebrides, so with full sail up on our Contessa 32 we headed south along the rock strewn coasts of Skye. Atlantic gales bring powerful seas and winds to this west facing coast of Scotland so cruising sailors have to be hardy and cautious; some reasons why there are so few. There’s many variables about west coast sailing but there is one certainty: rain. Often arriving horizontally but then again often innocuously persistent and even pleasantly warm thanks to the Gulf Stream; but frequently never ending. Our cruise had all the classic west coast weather ingredients – two gales, heavy rain, stunningly clear sunshine and thankfully only neap tides.

“You can tell its very windy because the rubber dinghy flies behind the boat,” reminisced my chum Ronan whose being flying his dinghy off the stern occasionally for the last 15 years of owning his beautiful Contessa 32. She was reputedly one of the few yachts in her division to finish the disastrous 79’ Fastnet Race. Her main features are a thick, keel-stepped mast, deep semi-long keel and near 50% ballast ratio. While not being weirdly shaped like other old IOR wannabes her designer Jeremy Rodgers instead created a simply beautiful and fast cruiser-racer. So, a well equipped vessel for the dreaded Minch, one of the stormiest waterways in Europe that lies between the Inner and Outer Hebrides. As a child I’d crossed it on family holidays and watched in amusement from the Calmac ferry as stiff breezes blew off passengers’ hats that were lost among its jagged wave crests and diving gannets.