Off again …. After breakfast we headed south and we left in style. Despite being moored close to an Icelandic trawler in front of us, the skipper held on a spring, hoisted the mizzen, staysail and main (with the peak scandalised) and forced the staysail aback to push the bow off. With the spring released, the boat moved majestically off under full sail. The main was rapidly brought into play to give us sufficient speed and we sailed out feeling very pleased with ourselves and looking for the audience applauding us – of course there wasn’t one, but it didn’t dim the satisfaction of a manoeuvre well done.
The trip this time was a short one to the southernmost of the Faroe Islands – Suðuroy. It was mostly motor sailing but pleasant nonetheless. At Suðuroy we moored up against the main fishing jetty and, while a fairly small town, it nevertheless seemed a busy place. Some crew set off for a long hike down to the lighthouse at the end of the island while others wandered around town. In the evening there was a film show in town. Hours and hours of footage made by a local resident had been edited down by two Dutch (!) artists living on the island and the film was being shown over four nights – we were moored on the third night.
With a poor weather forecast the decision was made to stay a further day and await better weather to head across to the Shetland Islands. So, we headed off in various ways to explore the island. Suðuroy is the southernmost of the Faroe Islands and with a population of over 4,000 is still an important spot. It is well known for being subject to repeated attacks by North African pirates – referred to as Turks by the islanders. One such raid became known as the Slave raid of Suðuroy. They abducted several women and children and famine ensued on the island resulting in many inhabitants dying of starvation. We were moored in Vágur – usually best known as a fishing harbour. However, in June 2025, Vágur received a royal visit from King Frederik X, Queen Mary, and Princess Josephine of Denmark as part of their official tour of the Faroe Islands. As part of the visit they even ziplined over Múlagjógv, one of the village’s scenic natural sites, not something that we can imagine British Royals doing during their visits. In fact thinking of ziplining brings to mind a certain image of Boris Johnson – an image which, once seen, can never be unseen …..
