Whales, otters and Vikings

Greg Manning sails his Fairey Atalanta from Arisaig in the West Highlands to the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides

- 

There are many different reasons for wanting to sail, own a boat or be on the water. For some, boating is a social activity to visit hostelries in different locations, while others like the freedom of being away from terra firma or to be at one with nature. Me - I like exploring and if I can find an anchorage that even those with a chart plotter are reluctant to enter, I want to be there. Oh, and I love maintaining my Fairey Atalanta A142, Sugar Plum.

By chance, I saw a program on BBC Scotland about an inland Loch on Skye that archaeologists had identified as having been used by the Vikings, as a haven for their long ships. That definitely had to be visited.

My wife had a friend with a cottage near the Kyle of Loch Alsh and they had taken a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) trip to the Island of Soay, and although they had not entered the north harbour, that got on my wishlist too.

The adventure started in July 2022, and I decided to expand my solo sailing with a trip of 20 or so miles to Soay and in particular the north harbour.

Whaling history

Soay is where Gavin Maxwell, who wrote Ring of Bright Water about his life in a remote house in coastal Scotland, had a whaling factory.

Between 1945 and 1948, he was catching and processing basking sharks which must have been more abundant then than now as I've only seen them a couple of times in the 20 years I have sailed on the west coast of Scotland.

The voyage was a mix of light airs and with a reef in the main,I motored away from Sugar Plum’s summer mooring at Arisaig. I arrived at Soay earlier than expected and the bar was above water.

For those used to soft sand or mud bars in the south, this bar was rock and another boat was mooring in the bay, apparently also waiting to enter.