Trilleen is finally free from Stornoway, and as I write this I’m waiting in Westray, the westernmost island in the northern group of the Orkney Islands. I’m loving being back on the water and I think the boat is loving it too. The sailing has been amazing, even if I’m still debugging some of the inevitable gremlins post an engine rebuild.
I’m currently waiting in Westray, where there is a delightful seasonal marina at Gill Pier, becuase the United Kingdom currently lies under a persistent northerly air stream, and Shetland – any bit of Shetland, lies directly upwind. I’m also waiting for a part which we hope will fix or help with the engine using, leaking, or vapourising more hot oil than is reasonable. Royal Mail are being totally awesome and the first bit of kit I needed ended up being delivered directly to me on the pier ‘because they could see that’s where I was’ which was awesome.
It may be that I have to accept an upwind passage to Shetland – its possible, and I’ve been studying the GRIBS on a six hourly basis since I came into Westray to see if it might be possible. There are some waves in the northerly stream which tantalise me with the suggestion that it might be possible on a single tack which would be fine. I have no objection to sailing upwind and Trilleen tolerates it pretty well, but when the destination lies directly upwind its a very very slow way of getting anywhere becuase the speed of advance towards the goal drops well below walking speed.
Westray is an amazing place where history and stories are scattered across the land with apparently reckless abandon. Perhaps first among them is a diminutive sculpture of a human form. Despite its tiny size at 41mm high it has a softly captivating power, reaching back 5000, or perhaps more years to when a neolithic community carved it, and left It in at Noltland. The figurine is carved from soft, fine grained pink sandstone and is unmistakably a human representation with an elipitical head on a widening trapezoidal torso which some experts believe references the female pelvis and hence the nickname the “Westray Wifey”.
Westray is also, for such a tiny island, well supplied with two shops and a hotel. The shops have a remarkable range, reflecting the active agricultural and crab fishing and salmon farming industries on the island. Live crab from Westray are harvested, packed – still living – into tanks than then delivered to Heathrow for onward passage to China. This remarkable trade is one of the main sustainers of community here in Westray.