After 4 days visiting the surroundings of the capital of the Faroe Islands, in the gloom, Friday, October 4, we continue south towards Vagur on the island of Suduroy, the southernmost of the archipelago. The sailing is rough, the strong currents and the local water eddies are not kind to Perrine's stomach! We arrive in Vagur in the rain but are warmly welcomed by the locals. We spend 3 days in this small fishing village exploring the surroundings.
On Monday, we leave in the early afternoon for the South. The weather window is narrow, but the wind has been from the South sector for a week. A depression passes just to the East of the Faroe Islands and we leave with a North-East wind, to the North-West of the center. The night is quiet even though the residual swell is significant. In the early morning, we are forced to use the engine for 3 hours while the center moves away. Then the West wind rises quickly and the files we take as we go testify to a strengthening wind, a consequence of a high pressure to the West, which severely accentuates the pressure gradient. In the afternoon, Libertaire speeds along reaching under 3 reefs - staysail and we pass the "Butt of Lewis", the northern tip of the island of Lewis (Outer-Hebrides), just as the Stornoway coastguard announces on the VHF "Severe gale Force 9 expected soon" for our area... On Wednesday around 6 am, the wind forces us to lower the mainsail and Libertaire continues under staysail alone at 6 knots. In these conditions, we cannot reach Stornoway, it would have required sailing more than 10 miles against the wind, a very complicated task. Fortunately, the island of Lewis reduces the fetch to about ten miles but the sea raised by the wind and current is still significant... We then continue heading South, on a beam reach. We enter the Inner Sound, heading Kyle of Lochalsh, and the wind turns to the North-West, allowing us to sail on a broad reach still under staysail alone. As soon as the Skye bridge is passed, the terrain protects us from the wind and mooring calmly at Kyle of Lochalsh is simple. Except for the fact that we initially moored on a Ministry of Defense base and had to move quickly!
A magnificent sun wakes us up on Thursday morning and after some shopping in town, we set sail with the current of the Kyle of Rhea to reach the small anchorage of Sandaig, 10 miles further South. What a joy to find an anchorage after this month of ports. Perrine enjoys these miles gained towards the South and the "warmth" to rediscover the joy of sea baths!
The next morning, we hike under a beautiful blue sky in the Scottish moorland. We rediscover temperate vegetation with longing after 3 months of moss and a few blades of grass... This anticyclonic weather gives us a feeling of spring, especially since the Scots are on vacation.
Tonight we are in Inverie, at the cozy pub "The Old Forge" where we took advantage of the excuse of a Wi-Fi connection to sip a good pint!
