Portsoy Festival

The Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy had not run during COVID, and there was a mostly new team in place. We got there early as did the boats we had left Peterhead in company with. They had all reported to Peterhead that they were going to Whitehills, but changed their minds and came straight to Portsoy as we had, as did Isabella Fortuna  coming from Wick. Blackgold, a small scaffie also arrived on the Thursday.

White Wing arrived on the Friday high tide having come from Anstruther, and reported a horrible journey, and no other boat arrived, leaving the festival a little short of traditional boats.

Julian took the opportunity to give Robinetta's hull a good scrub down, so she is no longer festooned with weed, on the stern, bow, and starboard at least!

It might have been short of boats, but there was a warm welcome for the crews on Friday Night at the harbour side cafe, the Port House of Portsoy, and a young piper played a couple of tunes in the amazing accoustic of their outside courtyard.

Saturday was cold, and rather windy, but it did not matter because there was also bright sunshine. The craft stalls had some interesting things on display, the music was great, and the place was heaving with people. There was a chance to try your skills in a coracle, and a raft race that brought everyone to the old harbour. The evening ceilidh got everyone dancing, and we had a great time although Julian slipped while dancing.

Sunday however was horrid. Cold, wet, and with force 6 gusting 7 winds that sent waves crashing against the rocks. The Old Harbour proved its worth in those conditions, with no swell at all, but crossing between the two harbours was not a pleasant proposition, and there were no on the water activities. The thronging crowds of Saturday were replaced by a few cold souls wandering around, and there were plenty of places to sit in front of the harbour stage. The performers tried hard, and sounded good, and being on Robinetta we could always take shelter.

The festival closed with some "Sanky Hymns" in the Ceilidh tent, mostly attended by the festival helpers, although everyone was welcome.

All in all we had a good time. Our only concern was that the waves from Sunday's near gale would have gone down enough to let us leave first thing in the morning.