Position: Sovereign Harbor, Eastbourne.
Well, we've made it to the south coast, after a few stops along the way (Amble, Newcastle, Lowestoft, Harwich, Ramsgate & Boulogne).
Lots of long passages, mostly with what wind there's been on the nose of course! It seemed that we were always fighting the tide too, as a result of all the head winds which slowed us down, so there was plenty of frustrating times on board, not least the crossing from Boulogne, which tipped Iain over the edge!
We had time in Ramsgate to get the new switch panel and the radar fitted, in time for crossing the busy Dover Strait, the busiest shipping lane in the world, though again we didn't have much of a problem with ships. the only occasion being a collision course with a cross channel ferry. Hardly exciting.
We've been holed up in Eastbourne for a couple of days trying to fix a minor issue with thep engine, which we think we haven't sorted, but should be manageable until we find the cause of it.
Were off to the Solent later today, aiming to arrive in the morning, to give the guys a taste of busy waters. And being a bank holiday weekend it'll certainly be busy.
Well be there for a few days, concentrating on skills and drills, getting the guys used to what's expected of the in the exam.
The unfortunate bit is the wind, W/SW 5-7 ovvasionally 8, which could mean a long beat in family rough conditions. Oh well.
Eastbourne's a nice place, typical waterfront developments around a large marina, but I'm not sure why they have boat trips around the marina. Its only a marina after all.
It'll be nice to get back to some scenery, the east coast (and much of the south too) doesn't really offer much to look at. Unless you count powerstations among your favorite things to look at.
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Thursday, 27 August 2009
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Favorable winds at last!
It was a great run down from Wick, with the wind behind us all the way, even managed to get the spinnaker up for the first time. Getting it down when the wind picked up to F5was fun!
Last night was incredibly clear, almost no cloud cover, so we got an excellent view of the build up to the Persidic meteor shower, which peaks over the next few nights. Forecast says rain, so we may not see any more, typically.
Stocked up on food and fuel and we're off to Amble next, an overnight passage of 130M. With favorable winds forecast again, we should make excellent time (could be very wet though!).
That will leave us with a short sail on Thursday, to get to Newcastle for a long weekend not sailing!
Oh, and the other picture is how not to moor a boat! You've got tp feel sorry for them.
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Monday, 10 August 2009
And south we go...
Position: 55•26.39N 003•05'.05W, Wick, Highland.
Dylan brought us down to Wick yesterday, our first leg of the southward journey. Very light winds as we kept Whitehall, which died away completely by the time we'd got clear of the islands. Typical.
We timed the tides perfectly for leaving and heading south, but that meant we'd be passing close to the Pentland Firth as it was building up to it's strongest tidal flow (10-12kn) which could have sucked us in and cause some serious problems!
Dylans courses to street came good though, as we managed to stay out of danger.
Everyone was quite amazed at long the trip was, but its always the same when you have ro motor.
Iain's taking us down to Peterhead today, about 75M, with a W-NW wind forecast we should have a cracking sail.
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Dylan brought us down to Wick yesterday, our first leg of the southward journey. Very light winds as we kept Whitehall, which died away completely by the time we'd got clear of the islands. Typical.
We timed the tides perfectly for leaving and heading south, but that meant we'd be passing close to the Pentland Firth as it was building up to it's strongest tidal flow (10-12kn) which could have sucked us in and cause some serious problems!
Dylans courses to street came good though, as we managed to stay out of danger.
Everyone was quite amazed at long the trip was, but its always the same when you have ro motor.
Iain's taking us down to Peterhead today, about 75M, with a W-NW wind forecast we should have a cracking sail.
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And a little further north...
Position: 59•08'.55N 002•36'.04W, Whitehall, Stronsay, Orkney.
Quite a picturesque little place, with about 10 houses, a small shop and a pub. What more could you want.
Nice little sail up between the islands, managing around 8kn for most of it, though the fog bank was threatening to close in on us, which would've been interesting!
Casey used los of back bearings and clearing bearings to get us through the rocks, which it would appear worked, seeing as were still alive!
We've got southerly winds forecast, so it looks like a visit to Wick is in order. At least that'll only be a beat for 50M.
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Quite a picturesque little place, with about 10 houses, a small shop and a pub. What more could you want.
Nice little sail up between the islands, managing around 8kn for most of it, though the fog bank was threatening to close in on us, which would've been interesting!
Casey used los of back bearings and clearing bearings to get us through the rocks, which it would appear worked, seeing as were still alive!
We've got southerly winds forecast, so it looks like a visit to Wick is in order. At least that'll only be a beat for 50M.
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To the capital...
Position: 58•59'.20N 002•57'.46W, Kirkwall, Mainland, Orkney.
Phil brought us through some fairly tricky pilotage, en route to Kirkwall, on the other side of Mainland. I think he was a little surprised by the tides as we left How Sound, where we had a good 6kn tide behind us, which was causing some fairly serious standing waves, even in a very gentle W wind.
With that in mind for the next section, phil decided to take us by (what he thought was) an easier and more open route. Wrong!
How we managed not to hit the rocks is beyond me! Good job we didn't though I guess!
Stopping here for the night, with a view to heading a little further north tomorrow, before the big push south.
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Phil brought us through some fairly tricky pilotage, en route to Kirkwall, on the other side of Mainland. I think he was a little surprised by the tides as we left How Sound, where we had a good 6kn tide behind us, which was causing some fairly serious standing waves, even in a very gentle W wind.
With that in mind for the next section, phil decided to take us by (what he thought was) an easier and more open route. Wrong!
How we managed not to hit the rocks is beyond me! Good job we didn't though I guess!
Stopping here for the night, with a view to heading a little further north tomorrow, before the big push south.
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Thursday, 6 August 2009
and a little further north...
Position: 58•57'.86N 003•17'.66W Stromness, Mainland,Orkney.
Iain had what I thought was a fantastic passage last night.
130M, withought using any electronic instruments, and we arrived on time with the Ornery Islands appearing bang on the nose, just where we left them!
Pods of Dolphin came to play with us yesterday, such amazing animals.
As we approached the Orkney Islands we had a little detour to see the old man.
The Old Man of Hoy is an incredible piece of rock, why it hasn't fallen over is beyond me.
Think we may be having a relaxing day(not necessarily in the pub), doing the odd job on the boat.
Iain had what I thought was a fantastic passage last night.
130M, withought using any electronic instruments, and we arrived on time with the Ornery Islands appearing bang on the nose, just where we left them!
Pods of Dolphin came to play with us yesterday, such amazing animals.
As we approached the Orkney Islands we had a little detour to see the old man.
The Old Man of Hoy is an incredible piece of rock, why it hasn't fallen over is beyond me.
Think we may be having a relaxing day(not necessarily in the pub), doing the odd job on the boat.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Further north we go
We found an absolutely gorgeous place to moor last night, at had of Loch Dunvegan, surrounded by hills and mountains. And the odd sheep.
We went ashore for a beer and watched a beautiful sunset to round of the day perfectly.
Dylans now in charge of getting us to the next place, Stornoway, up on Lewis, which will give us another qualifying passage for the exam.
Forecast is perfect, SE-SW 5-7, so we should be flying downwind all day, exciting stuff!
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Sunday, 2 August 2009
More gales!
It was a fantastic sail across to Skye, via Tobermory. On the way up the Sound of Mull we were hitting 10kn+, surfing down the waves, with only a third of the genoa out.
We had similar on the 50M or so over to Skye. Exciting stuff. The only draw back was the fact it hasn't stopped raining.
Got onto the mooring buoy last night, and within minutes we had fresh mackerel straight into the frying pan. Lovely.
The results of the lobster pot is yet to be announced!
We're not sure where we'll end up later, got to start by beating into a W5-6 to get anywhere, and on top of that, they've issued a new gale warning, SE6-8, for tomorrow. So we've got to find somewhere that'll give us some options.
Casey's skipper today, so we can all shout at him if we get a pounding!
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