Calm day antics

Getting close to seabirds, achieving a level horizon... and not dropping the camera

- Marsali Taylor

Boats and photography don't really mix. It's different, of course, if you have a big fancy camera, with a zoom lens for seabirds and, most importantly, someone else to do the actual sailing so that you're not simultaneously trying to zoom in on a diving tern and prevent an accidental gybe.

This particular day was practically a flat calm, and my engine was still playing up a bit. My theory was that I was shutting the fuel off because it was dripping out from somewhere, but then when I started the engine the drip had created an airlock, making it stuttery when it first ran... so, I thought, I'd give it a good run to the end of the voe, then sail back under genoa, and leave the fuel switched on, to see if that helped next time.

The engine started fine, so the battery was okay, but then it dwindled away and cut out, several times. I kept turning the key determinedly until it caught properly at last, and off we went.

I also wanted to see how the birds were doing after last year's flu epidemic, which decimated the numbers in the voe: a few eiders, no puffins, no razorbills, very few guillemots. I was hoping there would be more this summer.