Ten visiting yachts add a summer touch to harbour

As far as Lerwick harbour is concerned, summer is definitely here. Along with the usual comings and goings in the harbour this week were 10 yachts, five of which are yet to sail on to their next destinations.

The first of these arrived last Thursday and were two Dutch vessels, the Blues and Sogno D Oroy. The Swedish boat Linnea Swe also arrived, and sailed for Fair Isle.

Save one – the Dora, from France, who arrived on Tuesday – the rest of this week’s yachts were all Norwegian. On Friday the Aguas Calientes, Blue Dawn and Blue Noon arrived, followed by the Splitter Pine on Sunday, the Inoi on Tuesday, which sailed for Kirkwall and the Rainbow who arrived on Wednesday.

On the work side of things there was a steady flow throughout the week, beginning last Wednesday with the arrival of two small salmon workboats – the Island Junior and the Laika – at Holsmgarth.

The tug President Hubert, currently engaged in decommissioning work in the North West Hutton field, called in for fuel and supplies, while the Ruby May arrived from Muckle Flugga.

The regular visiting tanker Border Heather arrived at the North Ness on Thursday, as did the first of the summer’s cruise ships, the Deutschland.

On Friday the fisheries protection vessel the Minna was in, leaving after 24 hours. Saturday saw the second cruise ship of the year with the arrival of the Norwegian Fram. The President Hubert was also back in for a brief stop.

Another brief stop was made by the Norwegian salmon carrier Gripfisk on Monday, which tied up for half an hour before sailing on to Buckie.

Wednesday saw the third and smallest cruise ship of the week, with the arrival of the Quest from the Bahamas.

There were also several oil-related sailings.

The standby vessels Dea Server and the Grampian Otter called in for crew changes as did the Viking Iona, Vos Crusader and Vos Commander on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday respectively.