Alasdair Boden

I'm using this trip to revisit places that mean a lot to me and bury some demons at the same time.

I've split the route up into varying legs, some big, others small. Below the map is a list of places I intend to stop at, but it's hard to give exact dates of when I'll be in places because everything is dictated by the wind and tide. I'll try and update the site on my eta for ports in each leg will be.

The ETAs for the major legs are as follows:

1st June - Leave The Solent

3rd June – Arrive Ramsgate

4th June – Arrive Oswold

17th June – Arrive Edinburgh

4th July – Arrive Oban

12th July – Arrive Largs

31st July - Falmouth,

2nd August - Southampton, HOME!


My route is constantly changing and could change drastically en route, so keep checking for any changes.

FAQ

Why anticlockwise?

It is purely phycological, the prevailing South Westerly winds will mean I'll start quickly sailing with the wind behind me, eating up the miles to begin with. Then the homeward straight will be a final spinnaker run into the solent, that's the plan anyway!

Why not round John O'Groats and go throug the Pentland sound?

The problem with my anti clockwise route is I'll be against the prevailing Westerly winds of Northern scotland. The Almanac strongly suggests you don't pass through Pentland sound unless it's a following neap tide and the wind is light from behind. The chances of getting all that within a week at the end of June is very unlikely. So I'd need an Easterly wind, the one wind angle Wick (nearest safe harbour) is unsafe to enter/leave from. 

I also have some unfinished business with Loch Ness so in order to go from tip to tip I'll head upto Wick to do the entire length then head back down to Inveness before going nessy hunting.

Why such long passages?

The shortest planned day is around 42 miles. As I've said else where, I am more of an offshore/long distance sailor, I prefer to be out day and night. But I do want to stop off palces instead of doing it nonstop, so I decided when planning the route to look at routes of either 60 or 120 miles, so I always go out with the tide and come back in with iit. If I average over 5 knots, 60 miles can be done in 12 hours and 120 in 24. It also means I can get away from danger instead of hugging the coast and going close into the Bay.

What's going to be the toughest passage?

Every leg has it's dangers, from the shipping in the Dover straight to the tides round Portland and even the whirlpool off Jura in Scotland. Every passage is going to be tough, but in man ways the final homeward leg from Dartmouth to the Solent is going to be the toughest. It's not the longest leg, at 85 miles, but it does take me round Portland Bill, a headland that has very dangerous overflows, but I can't wait!

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