Twenty of the ships from the Tall Ships Race are due in Orkney over the next few days and we saw some of them from our window as they headed past Burray towards Kirkwall.
Although they were far away on the horizon, they looked splendid with their sails fully set. Just like a scene from over 100 years ago. Very graceful and stately.
When I was out feeding the hens today, the geese took fright and went belting across the field flapping their wings as hard as they could. They very nearly got airborne so we caught them up and clipped the flight feathers off one wing from each bird. That should keep them well grounded or at least they will only be able to fly in circles.
John and Alex Bowker are due up tomorrow. we have tried to contact John but he never answers his phone or e-mails but we did manage to contact Alex so we know that he has got his dad organised and that they will both be up on time.
On Saturday Pam and i were booked in for a cruise on one of the tall ships, the Gulden Leeuw.
We were to go aboard at Kirkwall and cruise round South Ronaldsay, through the Pentland Firth and up Scapa Flow into Stromness.
There were four ships taking part in the cruise to stromness and I was hoping to get some good photos of the other ships in full sail. As it turned out, the ship that we were on was the only one to put up a full set of sails.
I get the feeling that the reason that we had all the sails up was just because the captain and crew are enthusiastic to the point of lunacy. They all really enjoyed going under sail. Even the captains introductory talk was like a comedy act with him doing an imitation of an airline stewardess, complete with "the emergency exits are here and here" with expansive hand signals indicating the sides of the ship.
The other ships kept their engines running and just had a few sails up so there were no really good photo opportunities.
The weather was a bit breezy and although the first hour and a half was OK, I did not feel to good for the next two hours. (I learned later that I was far from the only person not feeling to good) Once we got past Copinsay the sea became a bit calmer and the last two and a half hourswere very pleasant. The crew had us all hauling on ros and adjusting the sails.
The amount of different ropes and pulleys is amazing.
This photo is only the ropes in the centre by one of the masts. There were also a multitude of other ropes along the sides of the ship.
Because of the weather we were an hour and a half late into Stromness and so John and Alex were at the house before we got home. It was great to see John. He is my oldest and best friend. We have known each other since we were in our prams, we like the same things and have the same sense of humour. (Pam finds this somewhat disturbing as se was hoping that I was only one person with my sense of humour) It will be good to have him around for a week.
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