My mission for the summer was to help an owner to sail his boat all the way from Stornaway back down south to Port Solent. It would be difficult for him to sail all that way singlehanded when quite elderly, and of course it meant more sailing for me.
I was rather looking forward to a rest day next day after the long trip up to Stornaway but the owner was quite anxious to get going. At least I was able to negotiate a late start. So that day we made our way tacking and motor-sailing against a southerly wind to reach Scalpay, which I had not been into before. We approached via the northern sound and the question was, would we get under the bridge that connects Scalpay with Harris? We slowed down rather a long way from it I thought, but when I asked, ‘Would you like to take her?’, the skipper replied with a humorous smile, ‘No, if we hit it I can blame you’! We passed under, though there did not seem that much room to spare, and made our way round to the safe, enclosed harbour where the skipper did take over. The steering position on this boat is quite low down, so it is always difficult
