115 ml and 12 Islands in a sib

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 09:15

Myself and three friends set off last Sunday in two 4m boats from the Isle of Skye on a 4 day trip to visit a few of the small Islands off the north coast of Skye hopefully reaching the Shiants and the Outer Hebrides.
Sunday : 10 am launched from the ferry slip at Sconser on Skye forecast not good North westerly 4 or 5 backing 6 to 7 and heavy rain showers

decided to head for Staffin Isle about 26m north, up the Sound of Raasay where we encouted a 4m swell, interesting journey. Landed on Staffin put up tents and got drunk

Monday : 6am woke up tent flapping pissing down rain

all day Monday tent flapped and the rain didn't stop, luckily for us there was an old fishing hut on the Island so we sat in there listening to radio and got drunk again

Tuesday : 6am woke up no flapping

no rain

, wind changed direction now coming from south about 3 or 4

we loaded up the boats with patches of blue above our heads and decided to head for Fladda Chuain and the surrounding isles about 12m north. Got there, but there was nowhere to land so we explored the numerous small islands surrounding it. We decided the weather was good enough to cross the notorious Minch and head up to the Shiants http://www.shiantisles.net/. The weather improved and we did the 11m crossing in an hour slowing only to watch the dolphins and a minke whale

The Shiants comprise of three uninhabited islands, absolutely beautiful. we got ashore and had a wonder round but decided it would be to risky to camp overnight, if the weather changed we could be stuck on there for weeks ( a great place to be, but we had not enough beer ) We decided to head 21m SE to the Island of Rona where we new there was a Bothy and a floating pontoon

Landed on Rona got a shower and got the beer out again
Wednesday : Rona http://www.isleofrona.com/is a great little island and has a beautiful natural harbour, the Bothy is a welcome haven when you want to dry off and get warm, it sleeps 4 and is £60 for the night. After spending the day on Rona we packed up the boats and headed south to the isle of Raasay. Landing on a beach we unloaded the boats and dragged them up to high water line. Just over the beach there is a great flat grassy area with a small stream for the tents so we pitched up and got the whisky out (no beer left) then went collecting firewood, when we got back we noticed the steam had turned into an estuary and the camp had shrunk somewhat, so the debate started "what time is high water?" "its a spring" "dont think it'll get to the tents" "SH*T" frantic running around collecting gear and pulling down tents and off to higher ground. Pitch up again build a fire and get drunk
Thursday : Awoke to drizzle and no wind, in Scotland that is what you do not need when camping. soon as you get out of your tent its hell MIDGES!!! so its another frantic running round packing up and on to the sea for a flat calm trip back to Sconser get the boats out drive to Sligachan campsite tent up and into the Sligachan Hotel for well earned refreshments and haggis and mash

Pictures to follow

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 09:38

Heading to Staffin, Camp on Staffin, Fishermans hut, weather

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 09:51

Isle of Trodday, Fladda Chuain, Lord Macdonalds table & Gaeilavore Island

JSP · 25 July 2009, 09:55

Sounds like a grand time !

Poly · 25 July 2009, 10:18

How much fuel did you carry (and how much did you use?).

How much beer can you fit in a 4m SIB?

JSP · 25 July 2009, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

How much beer can you fit in a 4m SIB?

In the bow, 24. In the belly about 48

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

How much fuel did you carry (and how much did you use?).

How much beer can you fit in a 4m SIB?

I took 90lts fuel and used about 70lts. with the big swell i was WOT loaded up so it used more fuel on the first leg
2x30lt plastic + 2x20lt jerry cans

60cans beer
1ttr whiskey
1ltr gin

JSP · 25 July 2009, 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by zodiacman

I took 90lts fuel and used about 70lts. with the big swell i was WOT loaded up so it used more fuel on the first leg
2x30lt plastic + 2x20lt jerry cans

60cans beer
1ttr whiskey
1ltr gin

After that amount I'm surprised you didn't end up drinking the 2 stroke

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 10:55

Shiants in the distance, getting there , landed

only 4 mile off Lewis, the star of The Sea Room

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSP

After that amount I'm surprised you didn't end up drinking the 2 stroke

no when the beer runs out its the whisky, when that runs out its sea water, only when thats drunk dry I start on the 2 stroke

JSP · 25 July 2009, 11:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by zodiacman

no when the beer runs out its the whisky, when that runs out its sea water, only when thats drunk dry I start on the 2 stroke

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 11:22

topping up on the pontoon on Rona, 5 star bothy, the harbour

zodiacman · 25 July 2009, 21:26

high tide on the campsite, relocated, time to get the whisky out, calm

spartacus · 25 July 2009, 22:43

Fantastic. Great pictures. Love to do a similar adventure, but with a RIB I'd have to anchor in shallow water. Still have a Zodiac Mk2 CGT but the seam gave way. Did repair it, but lost faith in it. Sold the engine for it - so no going back now!

Fishery Pokery · 26 July 2009, 10:35

That sounds amazing! All you needed was a fishing rod to keep you occupied and for the barbeque!
Was the fishermans hut occupied, or is it just left for visitors?
I would love to do something like that, it must involve a lot of planning though, and as you alluded to, a close eye on conditions, even when ashore and a a little tipsy.

zodiacman · 27 July 2009, 20:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff_Jubb

That sounds amazing! All you needed was a fishing rod to keep you occupied and for the barbeque!
Was the fishermans hut occupied, or is it just left for visitors?
I would love to do something like that, it must involve a lot of planning though, and as you alluded to, a close eye on conditions, even when ashore and a a little tipsy.

The hut was not occupied I think its just a shelter for people working on or around the Island
It does take quite a bit of planning but it is worth it If you can get out on the boat, The north west coast of Scotland has some crazy weather and its a 800mile round trip just to get there, I planned a 7 day trip 2 month ago drove all the way up and didn't get the boat off the trailer, so getting to the Shiants is a fantastic achievement for me, its the third time ive tried.

If you would like to join us on a trip like that PM me.

prairie tuber · 28 July 2009, 05:30

Nice write up and pictures. The route map is also greatly helps. Sounds like you pack along roughly 1 beer per liter of fuel carried. Sounds like a proper ratio. Actually the rate of fuel consumption sounds close to what I would expect with my set up. Something I would highly recommend when carrying multiple tanks wortht of fuel would be either hypalon fuel bladders or the NATO Military Fuel Canisters (MFCs) from Scepter. These are both safer and more space efficient.

on a side note, I took my GF and her 2 boys (7yrs & 3 yrs old) out for a day trip along a local river yesterday. It was their 2nd time out in my boat, and figured we'd go a bit further than the previous time. I told them to just let me know when they figured we should turn around and head back. We did a round trip of about 40 miles and they both had a great time throughout. They now want to go for a longer trip.

Clipper · 08 August 2009, 14:38

amazing guys! a real feat! what cant these little rubber boats do with a bit of planning and some reasonable weather.

thornbackflound · 08 August 2009, 16:16

awsome place there ,you had fun by the looks of it ,nice one ,quality pics there

Bigmuz7 · 08 August 2009, 18:39

Good man .. you made the Shiants

Well done .. looks like a great trip .. BTW take more whisky next time