Bell Rock towards...

An hour after we left the Bell Rock behind Julian suggested that we should not go to Arbroath. We could not be sure we would be able to get out first thing tomorrow morning and the harbour master was not answering his phone to ask. With settled weather and no swell we decided to make straight for Peterhead. The engine revs were increased, so we were making 5 knots and our predicted arrival time was 2am. Our fuel tanks were over ¾ full.

The decision was taken at 11:00 and since we would now need to operate watches for the 90 mile passage I went below and had an hours sleep before lunch. Julian got the main up while I was down below, but the wind was very gentle and we motor sailed. The tide turned against us after lunch, so we only made 3½ knots, and our arrival time crashed to 5-6-7 am. Not to worry though as it would be helping us again in 6 hours. We set watches at three hours each, its less exhausting than four, but still gives the watch below time to sleep.

The decision to go straight to Peterhead was not as sudden as it seems. Friends of ours, in the yacht Witch, had gone straight there from Eyemouth a few days ago, and we knew the advantages. Arbroath and Stonehaven the best intermediate ports are both constrained by entry +/- 3hrs of high water, and at inconvenient distances for our cruising speed. Only having two crew makes stopping overnight more attractive, but add in the auto-pilot and standing watch becomes much easier. At this time this far north there are less than 4 hours of darkness, and the weather forecast of variable, mostly north or north west 3 or 4 for the next 48 hours also made it sound reasonable.

We trundled gently north through the gentle swell, passing Arbroath and Stonehaven. A yacht hurried up behind us, and turned towards Stonehaven. I was pretty sure we would not have made the tidal gate s we tried to follow him in. We got rare flashes of sun, but mostly it was overcast, but dry which made a huge difference to our enjoyments! I did some mandolin practice on my watch, but mostly I watched the sea, the bird life, and the occasional rig support vessel passing by.

We got the main sail down as it was not doing anything, and it was easier to do before we got too tired. I checked the fuel level in the tanks as we approached Aberdeen, but the tanks were still half full, so there was no need to try to refuel. Running the engine at high revs made as much steam as water come out of the water cooled exhaust, so I tried to keep the revs a bit lower.

Passing Aberdeen near sunset we got the best weather of the day, with some amazing light effects on the sea. Julian wanted to be on deck when we passed Aberdeen, and I called him up to work out if we needed to call Aberdeen VTF. We only needed to call if we were going within 2nm of the harbour entrance, but we needed to call when 3nm from the Fairway Buoy... not the easiest calculation! 

Julian came on watch at 22:00, and I went down to sleep, but got called back up almost immediately. The peg that the auto-pilot fits over on the tiller had come off its mounting. It should be easy enough to mend, but not in the twilight in a rolling sea! We would be hand steering the rest of the way. I told Julian to call me early if he got tired, but it was ten to one before he did.

The tide was strongly against us at that time, and running the engine at lower revs meant we ere making 1½ knots towards our destination. I knew it would get better as the tide changed though, and I had good lights to aim at Peterhead.

I stayed on deck after I called Julian on watch at 4. We were only 2 miles from the harbour, and I did not think it worth while going down. I got on the VHF when we were five minutes from the entrance and called up Peterhead Harbour. He was happy to let us enter, and gave instructions on how to find the marina and where to moor. He then asked where we were, since he could not see us on the radar...

We were tied on an an empty finger berth by 05:30, almost exactly 24 hours after leaving Anstruther. We had not hurried in the morning, keeping deliberately slow at first, so 90 miles in 24 hours seemed reasonable. It was our first Yachtmaster qualifying passage in Robinetta, and our first night passage in her too. We made sure she was securely tied, and Worm would behave, and crashed out until 10:00.