Soyea Island

EU123 - NC02

24th - 26th August 2001

 

 

The plans for Soyea began early in 2001 in the usual manner with permission seeking and finding a suitable boatman. I wanted to do an Island that had never been 'done' before and Soyea seemed the most suitable candidate for our second expedition. My choice of companion was again Scott MM5FWD - ex MM1BKK - who accompanied me to Oldany last year as 'technical advisor' and is a good friend, but now having passed his CW, was looking forward to operating on HF/p.

We set off from Keig at 9am after collecting the hired 2.2Kva generator from the garage. 4 hours saw us in Ullapool, just in time for lunch and a quick dash round the outdoor shops and local stores for last minute provisions before setting off again for Lochinver. I had 'booked' a good, reliable boatman by the name of Jimmy and we had arranged to meet at his house at 3pm. He wasn't there when we arrived but his wife told us he was down at the yard and would return shortly. We used the time to have a last coffee in relative luxury, and as 3 pm came, Jimmy shot round the corner in his Toyota Hi Lux. Quick introductions and we were off to the harbour.

I have never been a good 'sailor' - and I must admit to a certain degree of trepidation as we loaded the equipment onto Jimmy's landing craft but, well, if you want to do an Island, basically you have to go on a boat!

We set off from Lochinver headed for Soyea, some 3 miles out from the harbour. The first 15 minutes for me were a mixture of shaking legs and sweaty palms as the wee craft met every wave with a downward lurch and my stomach met every wave with an upward one! However suddenly everything seemed to 'click' and I began to actually enjoy it! Jimmy stopped the boat at various points to show us the wildlife/sealife including skewers and seals and kept us entertained with stories of minke whales and basking sharks (stories of sharks - even plankton eating ones - didnt help!).

The landing was a bit tricky due to low tide and a huge swell but after circumnavigating the island Jimmy found a landing spot. I use the term 'landing spot' loosely......very loosely. A 6ft tidal platform with a 30ft rockface in front of us. He handed Scott a three pronged anchor type thing and told him 'when I drive the boat at the rocks...JUMP!' meaning just that and anchor the boat by means of this hook onto the rocks. The sound of fibreglass grating against rock was not something I really wanted to hear in my nervous state but it worked, another anchor from the other end and we were secured side-on to Soyea!

Hauling the gear up the rockface was not a pleasant experience, but a necessary one and an hour later we had everything at the camp site. By this time I realised we were past the 5.30pm sked previously arranged with Andre GM3VLB so I phoned him and told him it would be about 8pm (to give us time for supper and to get everything hooked up). We had decided to use exactly the same set up as last year as we had allegedly put out a very good signal........so the full size G5RV was strung up at about 25 feet from a knoll on the Island to a fibreglass portable mast and attached via the tuner to the IC706 MkI.

 

 

Tents up, antennas up, gennie fired up - I arrived on 80m at 8pm exactly.

 

I had a wee natter with Andre who had been holding a frequency for us and then put out my first CQ call................

 

The pile up that hit us was something I hadn't really expected. Oldany Island the year before had been surprise enough but for a while I struggled to pick even one letter out of the masses. I hadn't been on HF for some months and it was quite hard to get back into the swing of things but after a few minutes my 'dx and contest' head came back and we were off! After 90 minutes I stopped for a coffee and Scott took over. Without meaning to sound patronising, he did fantastically well for his first pile up especially as I sat the other side of the tent chirping it "oh thats Christine" or "oh thats so and so"......he did amazingly well not to forcibly eject me from the premises! I took over again after about an hour and worked more stations until around 11.30pm when we QSY'd to 20m. We had noticed the bands hadn't been exactly great while /m on the way up but I have to say 20m that evening was unfortunately DX free! I worked a handful of European stations before giving up around half past midnight.

Not a good night's sleep.........with the sound of every seabird for miles squawking and trawlers chugging round the Island.

 

Up again at 5.30 am......and after coffee, back onto 20m. Still no DX, plenty of European stations but I was seriously worried as I knew a lot of Stateside, Canadian, VK, JA and ZL etc stations were waiting to work us. I periodically stopped the huge European pile up to listen for anything 'outside Europe' but to no avail...so at 10am we went back to 40m. Another huge pile up kept us busy until just after 12 noon, then on to 14, 18, 21 and 28mhz. We eventually worked a handful of DX stations but conditions were not with us.

I have to add at this point we were continually dogged by generator problems. We had tested it before we left and had been assured by the garage owner that it was working fine. Hmmmmmmmm...............every hour or so it would grind to a halt and refuse to start again usually in the middle of a contact! It wasnt until some hours after starting that Scott figured out what it was. I am not technically minded when it comes to gennies but it was along the lines of "bloody thing, its bloody got worn rings, *!@£!@* bloody oil guzzling peice of ****".........it sounded bad! Something to do with oil sensors ...............Luckily Scott is technically minded and resolved it by alomst permanantly topping it up with oil. We realised at this point that our expedition would be cut short due to us not having an inexhaustable supply of oil.

Our expedition ended a day early on Sunday. We phoned Jimmy to come and pick us up early and he arrived late afternoon. The boat trip back began by the front 'flap' of the landing craft being ripped off by the rocks.............it was repaired mid ocean by Scott and Jimmy who hung over the front of the boat and rigged a pulley system up to keep it attached. I played with the dog .....not being up to dangling by my legs over the ocean quite yet. The trip back was fantastic....the highlight undoubtedly being Jimmy's impression of Guillemots swimming underwater.

 

We landed back at Lochinver and after goodbyes, set off for home.....slightly weary but very happy.

There were plans to do another Island but with the gennie problems, this was ruled out.........for the moment!

 

I'd like to say thanks to the 600+ stations who called in. I'm sorry we couldn't work everyone who wanted the island but it will be 'done' again. I'd also like to thank Andre GM3VLB for his help and support and to Jimmy Crooks, possibly the best boatman ever!

And to Scott MM5FWD - co-operator, driver, generator technician, supplier of constant coffee and friend! - My sincere thanks - Cheers!