Banff to Lossiemouth

Was woken at 0130 and 0430 by the Aberdeen Coastguard on the radio. We'd forgotten to turn off. It made dragging myself out of bed to get out of the harbour by 0630 very difficult! We did it though, and Robinetta was out with 10' of water under the keel. Before long we were met by about four dolphins who said good morning and left.

Visibility was poor, there was no wind, the swell made the boom swing and grate against the horse until we tied it down really tightly. The auto-helm repairs that Julian had made last night did not hold...  it was a morning when staying in bed would have been wonderful. Only if we had we would not have been able to get out of Banff until the afternoon, which meant rather late arriving in Lossiemouth.

By ten nearly everything had changed. The swell had lessoned, and the sun was out, giving us amazing views of a wonderful coastline. We went close in to Cullen, and saw birds sitting on the water, so Julian tried fishing. No luck, but it was fun to try. The one thing that was still bad was the wind. There was none. We took the main sail down to protect it against UV, but left the stay sail up. There's always a chance it will draw....

We  motored close to the shore, taking pictures of the rock formations between Cullen and Portknockie. Amazing looking places; they made us want to come back with a twin keeled boat that could lay up in the harbours there.

The sun shine stayed with us all the way to Lossiemouth. When I called up the harbour master he asked how much Robinetta drew. Lossiemouth is listed as an all states of the tide harbour, and it was half tide, but it seems there have been problems. He was happy to let Robinetta in though, and she was soon tied up along side the visitor pontoon.

We got Worm out straight away. We wanted to scrape off the barnacles and put on another layer of Woodskin, and the ply would need time to dry out after it was washed. Julian did the cleaning, then I gave him the tin of Woodskin. Whoops, “Not for use below the water line”. We had to put something on though, and all we had available was the masonry paint Robinetta gets on her decks. Worm now has a white bottom...  I fully expect the masonry paint to peel off, but it will offer some protection in the meantime.

Gloria came in just before 5pm and moored up behind us. We last saw them rounding Rattray Head out of Peterhead. We moved Robinetta so there was space between us. The wind got up in the afternoon, and a Westerly called Carpe Diem came in at 1700. They had come down fron Wick, after a visit to the Orkneys. It was good to chat to them.


A Beneteau came in at 1880 seeking shelter. The wind has really got up!