A TASTE OF ORKNEY

Photos: Michael Kew

It was with boardbags and hooded 5-mils heralding the Hatston Ferry Terminal arrival of central California’s Josh Mulcoy, Hawaii’s Daniel Jones, and transient American Warren Smith this first night of October. For seven hours from Aberdeen the 410-foot-long MV Hrossey had steamed through a violent North Sea, at last rumbling into Kirkwall’s harbor five minutes to midnight. “That was weird,” Mulcoy said, collecting his bags. “Definitely the closest I’ve ever come to being seasick.” Smith too was nauseous. Jones just laughed as we loaded the rental car. The cold wind flung sleet around us, and it was the first time his duffel had housed so much wetsuit. “I’d love to come and freeze my ass off with you guys,” he’d told me a week prior. The humble Hawaiian was keen for something new.

– Michael Kew