Insomnia

When we made the decision to head for Shetland we were aware of the possibility that we may get stuck here if the weather took a turn for the worse; Brae with it's breakwater was our retreat. We did not expect to get trapped here with 'good' weather. The high pressure systems continue to play around teasing us with favourable wind and then changing at the last minute or bringing fog with near zero visibility along our proposed route. The sun, despite being around for most of the day in these higher latitudes is not warming the sea which is still hovering around the 10C mark, ideal for fog banks; good vis' here often means poor vis' towards our destination. We are loathed to motor-sail all the way back to Orkney especially as it can become very unpleasant if the sea state builds; a situation better dealt with by sail. At least we have Internet access here so we can constantly monitor the weather.

The long hours of daylight up here make for a very atmospheric end to the day as the ambient light creates an ethereal mood; a film director's dream, an extended 'magic hour'. Whilst nowhere near as extreme as Alaska it reminds me of the Christopher Nolan film 'Insomnia' with Al Pacino in which he struggles to sleep in the constant daylight. We have had to add extra blackouts to the port lights to help prevent us from waking at silly-o'clock every morning; it does not always work. When we were on Fair Isle we asked one of the locals, a crofter, how they dealt with the extended darkness at the opposite end of the year and their response was to say that they looked forward to it for a rest after working such long hours during the Summer months.

We were going to make a break for it today which has now turned into tomorrow or maybe Tuesday, perhaps we shall just have to bite the bullet?