Badachro - Dunvegan Castle Bay
We dropped the mooring ball before 6am in order to catch the wind shift brought by a frontal passage. Then sails up and towards The Minch. Suski was feeling a bit under the weather, and so most of today was a solo affair.
We let the windvane steer as we headed west. This made catching the wind shift almost automatic, as the windvane would slowly pick more and more northerly course. The anticipated frontal passage came, bringing a lot of rain and the wind shift just as we were getting to the north corner of Skye. At this point two dolphins decided to delight us by playing for a half hour in our bow wave.
![Image](../2024/0bd460225a9ca9a48ada4d29f68e4fb7.jpg)
Once the wind had shifted to WNW, we did what had been planned as the only tack of the day. And then the wind died. This wasn’t in the forecast!
We were left fighting the choppy conditions of The Minch, and a current against us in quite challenging sailing conditions. With the staysail we were underpowered to punch through the waves, but every time we rolled out the genoa, a big gust came, and so it was again time for staysail. Rinse and repeat.
As the ETA to our planned anchorage started slipping to after sunset, we did a rerouting to Loch Dunvegan. This allowed us to spend at least the last hours of today’s sail on a swift broad reach, surfing down those same waves that had tormented us earlier.
![Image](../2024/a5a9d7ceefa005a1cdd8f65d54f2c6b8.jpg)
Now we’re anchored at the extremely pretty bay in the end of the Loch. 17 seals stared at us coming in, and the Dunvegan Castle sitting right next to where we dropped the hook.
- Distance today: 51.8NM
- Total distance: 1942NM
- Lunch: sandwiches
- Dinner: spaghetti with avocado sauce
- Engine hours: 0.7
Time |
Position |
Course |
Speed |
Log |
Weather |
Remarks |
01.07. 4:52 Z |
57°42'10"N
5°43'14"W
|
228°
|
0kt
|
5129.7NM
|
wind
15.3kt
176°
baro 1011 hPa
|
Started main engine
|
01.07. 4:56 Z |
57°42'15"N
5°43'21"W
|
334°
|
4.1kt
|
5129.7NM
|
wind
17.8kt
193°
baro 1011 hPa
|
Motoring
|
01.07. 5:00 Z |
57°42'24"N
5°43'32"W
|
312°
|
4.6kt
|
5129.9NM
|
wind
14.2kt
176°
baro 1011 hPa
|
Motor stopped, sailing with Main, Staysail
|
01.07. 5:05 Z |
57°42'34"N
5°44'16"W
|
292°
|
5.4kt
|
5130.3NM
|
wind
12.2kt
167°
baro 1011 hPa
|
Autopilot activated
|
01.07. 6:00 Z |
57°42'47"N
5°54'8"W
|
268°
|
5.7kt
|
5135.6NM
|
wind
17.4kt
181°
baro 1012 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 6:07 Z |
57°42'50"N
5°55'18"W
|
287°
|
5.4kt
|
5136.3NM
|
wind
16.2kt
204°
sea state 3/10
clouds 8/8
visibility 6/10
baro 1012 hPa
|
Autopilot deactivated, windvane steering
|
01.07. 6:23 Z |
57°43'13"N
5°57'42"W
|
280°
|
4.6kt
|
5137.6NM
|
wind
11.8kt
229°
baro 1013 hPa
|
Dolphins! Played in our bow wave for a long while
|
01.07. 6:42 Z |
57°43'45"N
5°59'46"W
|
292°
|
3.8kt
|
5138.8NM
|
wind
11.3kt
258°
baro 1013 hPa
|
Started watermaker, 177ppm
|
01.07. 7:00 Z |
57°44'21"N
6°1'40"W
|
319°
|
4.3kt
|
5140NM
|
wind
14.5kt
264°
baro 1013 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 8:00 Z |
57°47'12"N
6°6'42"W
|
323°
|
4.3kt
|
5144NM
|
wind
14.1kt
292°
baro 1013 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 8:26 Z |
57°48'14"N
6°7'52"W
|
217°
|
2.7kt
|
5145.5NM
|
wind
8kt
291°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Autopilot activated
|
01.07. 8:27 Z |
57°48'13"N
6°7'55"W
|
219°
|
2.2kt
|
5145.5NM
|
wind
7.9kt
295°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
|
01.07. 8:33 Z |
57°48'3"N
6°8'14"W
|
185°
|
1.2kt
|
5145.8NM
|
wind
6.8kt
308°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Autopilot deactivated
|
01.07. 8:39 Z |
57°47'57"N
6°8'11"W
|
178°
|
1.3kt
|
5145.9NM
|
wind
8.3kt
304°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Stopped watermaker, 154ppm
|
01.07. 8:48 Z |
57°47'43"N
6°8'25"W
|
217°
|
3.2kt
|
5146.2NM
|
wind
10.7kt
290°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Autopilot activated
|
01.07. 9:00 Z |
57°47'14"N
6°9'30"W
|
238°
|
4.9kt
|
5146.9NM
|
wind
12.5kt
290°
baro 1014 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 9:21 Z |
57°46'34"N
6°11'29"W
|
276°
|
3.6kt
|
5148.2NM
|
wind
12.6kt
297°
sea state 3/10
clouds 8/8
visibility 8/10
baro 1014 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Staysail
|
01.07. 9:42 Z |
57°45'59"N
6°12'52"W
|
208°
|
3.6kt
|
5149.2NM
|
wind
10.1kt
284°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Autopilot deactivated, windvane steering
|
01.07. 9:51 Z |
57°45'42"N
6°13'20"W
|
220°
|
2.6kt
|
5149.6NM
|
wind
11.8kt
295°
sea state 3/10
clouds 8/8
visibility 7/10
baro 1015 hPa
|
Very difficult to make progress against the swell
|
01.07. 10:00 Z |
57°45'31"N
6°13'39"W
|
326°
|
2.8kt
|
5149.9NM
|
wind
10.6kt
292°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 10:39 Z |
57°46'35"N
6°14'42"W
|
239°
|
3.1kt
|
5151.6NM
|
wind
12.3kt
278°
baro 1015 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
|
01.07. 10:56 Z |
57°46'35"N
6°15'8"W
|
346°
|
4.1kt
|
5152.3NM
|
wind
17.9kt
289°
baro 1016 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Staysail
|
01.07. 11:00 Z |
57°46'31"N
6°15'26"W
|
211°
|
4kt
|
5152.5NM
|
wind
16.7kt
284°
baro 1016 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 12:00 Z |
57°45'0"N
6°17'55"W
|
180°
|
1.2kt
|
5154.6NM
|
wind
7.9kt
284°
baro 1016 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 12:09 Z |
57°44'45"N
6°18'15"W
|
211°
|
2.8kt
|
5155NM
|
wind
9.9kt
268°
baro 1017 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Genoa 1
|
01.07. 12:34 Z |
57°44'14"N
6°19'44"W
|
238°
|
3.7kt
|
5156NM
|
wind
13.2kt
298°
baro 1017 hPa
|
Going is much easier in lee of Fladda Chuain. But 2.3kt tide against us
|
01.07. 13:00 Z |
57°43'23"N
6°21'28"W
|
229°
|
3.3kt
|
5157.2NM
|
wind
10.8kt
278°
baro 1017 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 14:00 Z |
57°41'32"N
6°26'56"W
|
251°
|
3.5kt
|
5160.7NM
|
wind
13.6kt
289°
baro 1018 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 15:00 Z |
57°39'20"N
6°32'14"W
|
227°
|
3.4kt
|
5164.3NM
|
wind
16.1kt
283°
baro 1018 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 15:57 Z |
57°37'31"N
6°36'36"W
|
360°
|
3.7kt
|
5167.8NM
|
wind
15.3kt
298°
baro 1019 hPa
|
Sails set: Main, Staysail
|
01.07. 16:00 Z |
57°37'40"N
6°36'39"W
|
348°
|
3.2kt
|
5167.9NM
|
wind
15.4kt
292°
baro 1019 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 16:22 Z |
57°37'18"N
6°38'27"W
|
255°
|
4.3kt
|
5169.2NM
|
wind
15.5kt
294°
sea state 4/10
clouds 6/8
visibility 6/10
baro 1019 hPa
|
Passing Waternish Point light
|
01.07. 16:46 Z |
57°35'57"N
6°40'26"W
|
200°
|
6.4kt
|
5171.1NM
|
wind
21.3kt
286°
baro 1019 hPa
|
Autopilot activated
|
01.07. 17:00 Z |
57°34'34"N
6°40'21"W
|
177°
|
6.8kt
|
5172.5NM
|
wind
20.1kt
272°
baro 1019 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 18:00 Z |
57°29'41"N
6°39'18"W
|
159°
|
3.9kt
|
5177.5NM
|
wind
13.8kt
288°
baro 1020 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 18:29 Z |
57°27'53"N
6°37'53"W
|
156°
|
3.1kt
|
5179.5NM
|
wind
11.7kt
293°
baro 1020 hPa
|
Autopilot deactivated
|
01.07. 18:43 Z |
57°27'10"N
6°36'58"W
|
127°
|
3.7kt
|
5180.3NM
|
wind
10.1kt
290°
baro 1020 hPa
|
Sails down, motoring
|
01.07. 19:00 Z |
57°27'6"N
6°35'58"W
|
328°
|
2.4kt
|
5181.3NM
|
wind
7.9kt
301°
baro 1020 hPa
|
Hourly position log
|
01.07. 19:05 Z |
57°27'10"N
6°35'53"W
|
318°
|
0.4kt
|
5181.5NM
|
wind
5.4kt
287°
baro 1020 hPa
|
Anchored
|
01.07. 19:11 Z |
57°27'10"N
6°35'54"W
|
31°
|
0.6kt
|
5181.5NM
|
wind
9.4kt
271°
baro 1020 hPa
|
Stopped main engine
|