Blyth to the Farne Islands

After a very convivial evening at the Royal Northumbrian Yacht Club, with much consumption of alcohol, chatting with locals, and eating left over roast spuds and Yorkshire puddings with beef gravy, we slept well. Julian decided we should leave at 0800, but it was 0830 before the engine went on. He had got all the foredeck work done before we left, so there was none of our usual frantic running around getting the bowsprit out and the jib bent on as Robinetta rolled in the swell.

Not that being ready to sail meant that we did. The sea was glassy, with the only wind that of our forward motion, so we kept the main sail in its crutches to stop it moving in the swell. The peak halyard was attached so we could hoist it in a hurry if we wanted to. The auto-helm makes everything relaxed in these conditions, but the person on watch has to keep an eye out for crab pots. There are not as many as further south, but a few near Newbiggin meant some fiddling with the auto-helm.


A slight breeze began to blow at 1030 and Julian immediately set the sails. We kept the motor and auto-helm on though. We say a yacht gradually closing from astern and thought it was Sally of Hamble, but she passed us just south of Coquet Island and turned out to be Ramora. A salmon fishing boat called us up on channel 16, “Two yachts approaching Coquet Island.” I got back to him and he asked us to pass west of him as he had a net out behind. I did as asked, so we passed slightly closer to Coquet Island than originally planned. Half an hour later we heard Sally of Hamble call him up, then later we saw her turn west towards Amble, while Ramora disappeared ahead.

Yesterday we were rolling too much to want to heat pies, so had bread and cheese, but today we had much flatter seas so the Omnia came out and we ate delicious hot pies for lunch. The wind increased into a sailing breeze so we could broad reach, but when we turned the engine off we were only making 2 knots so it soon went back on.

We were close enough to the coast to get a good look at Craster and Dunstanburgh castle. We had been there on foot several years ago and I remembered there being little left of the castle, but from the sea it looked nearly as substantial as Bamburgh and makes a good land mark.

The wind came round behind us and did not have enough strength to fill the main so we centred it but soon decided to lower it completely and rolled the jib away. An hour and a half later we were at Inner Farne, motoring into the Kettle anchorage.

A tour boat lay on a mooring in the curve of the bay, so we motored over to ask where would be the best spot to anchor. They suggested that we could take the other mooring, which would not be needed until 1100 tomorrow at the earliest, so we did.