Spurn Head to Scarborough

Woke up at 7 and had tea in bed in a civilised fashion. I needed it as I had a head ache from not enough sleep! Robinetta was rolling again, so it was not very comfy; the other boat had upped anchor in the night!

We were under way by the top of the tide at 0810, motoring under beautiful blue sky with no wind. Once we were moving the roll was not nearly so obvious. We cut the Bink shoal as there was plenty of water, and we hooked up the Autohelm  by the time we were passing Easington.

I handed over the watch to Julian at 1030 and tried to doze. My headache was threatening to turn into a migraine, and I did not want that to happen. I felt better when I went back on watch at 1300 though. Having something to do is better than not when I'm feeling under the weather and the boat is rolling.

The wind got up enough for it to be worth raising the main and setting the jib by the time we reached Flamborough Head, but we kept the Autohelm on until we had to take avoiding action for an old wooden fishing boat that was running pots.

There were lots of birds off Flamborough Head as it is the peak of the nesting season. I saw gannets, shearwaters, guillemots, gulls, and even one puffin! I should have brought a bird ID book as I'm sure there were others I missed.

After that the wind increased gradually as we nearly Filey; we could make 3.5 knots under plain sail but kept the motor on to keep our speed up to 4.5 knots so we would not be too tired by the time we reached Scarborough. We got closer than ideal to Filey Brig and had to steer out when the seas got too big for comfort on a dead run. The Autohelm could not cope with the conditions when Julian tried to turn it back on, and he ended up using the new helping hand pulley system that we made to help me when Robinetta's a bit overpowered but we don't want to reduce sail.

We got the main down 1nm from Scarborough harbour mouth and motored the rest of the way. The entry was really easy and as it was half an hour before high water we turned to face the entrance before tying up on the empty visitor pontoon. The harbour master came down to give us a fob for getting on and off the pontoon, and  welcomed us with "What a bonny boat!"