03:30 is the new normal

Another early start, with the alarm at 03:30 and us coming off the mooring at 04:30. Visibility was poor, and the drizzle did not help us feel enthusiastic for the trip, but by 05:00 we turned the engine off and with the full main, no 1 jib and staysail were sailing happily at 4-5 knots towards the East side of Holy Isle. Of course some of that speed came from the tide, but the wind was in our favour for the moment, and the rain had stopped.

We cleared Holy Isle and headed towards Ailsa Craig, with increasing swell making helming more difficult. When I took the helm at 07:00 I felt distinctly overpowered. I asked for a reef and we turned the engine on to help hold Robinetta head to wind. It fired up as usual, but when Julian put it straight into gear it faltered, then died. Julian put the reef in, without needing the engine, and when we pressed the starter again to check it came on without problems so we did not know what the problem had been. We still had the no1 jib, but rather than changing jibs we lowered and lashed down the staysail to balance the sail plan, which worked beautifully.

Holding the track to leave Ailsa Craig to port was impossible, and soon we were heading well east of it, but at least we were sailing. When Julian came back up at 08:30 he wanted the reef out, so I did that, and unlashed the staysail before going below for a sleep.

It is amazing what half an hour of shut eye can do for alertness levels and an hour is even better. When I came back on deck at 09:45 we were sailing happily along at 3 knots, making 4 in gusts. We were well off our straight line to Corsewall point (the northern tip of the Mull of Galloway) but it did not really matter.

The weather was still pretty gray, only one other yacht was visible, coming up relatively fast behind us, but it was not too bad a sailing day. I went below to write up the log, and before I came up a call came for us on channel 16. Styanna, the yacht behind us, wanted a chat, and when we went onto channel 72 we discovered that one of the crew was the skipper of Hanako, whose mooring lay north of ours at Clynder. He took pictures of us, and I took pictures of them, then we parted company since Styanna is considerably faster than Robinetta.

By 10:45 we were 5nm east of out best track, so we put in a tack before I took the helm. We were virtually going back on our track as the wind had gone very light, so I turned the engine on at 10:55. It then stayed on all day, but we were motor sailing, not just motoring.

Ailsa Craig remained stubbornly visible, and it still felt as though it were ahead of us at 14:00. A coaster carrying unknown cargo came round the south end, and it seemed as though it had seen us. At any rate they were a long way away. The next thing we knew they had turned, and their bow now pointed straight at us. We tacked away, grumbling about inconsiderate commercial vessels.

I don’t know if it was because the incident threw me, but when I glanced down through a slot in Robinetta’s floorboards it seemed as though there was water sloshing around in the bilges just below the floor level. I pressed the bilge pump button and nothing happened, so I went on deck and opened the locker to use the manual bilge bump. No water came out. Julian went below to check m if the water really was there, and the bilges were practically dry. The adrenalin hit left me shattered, but there was a more important issue to address, Why had the automatic bilge pump not responded when I pressed it? The fuse was the first thing to check, and it had blown, but replacing it did not make the pump work.

Bilge pumps do not last forever, and when we left Liverpool for Peel back in 2017 we had had the same situation. Using the manual bilge pump every hour when under way kept us safe then, and would do the same for us now, but Julian immediately went on the internet and ordered a new pump to be delivered to Peel Harbour Office. We expected that the chandlers in Peel would have one we could buy, but having a spare felt like a good idea.

We reached Corsewall Point an hour after the tide turned in our favour. This was just as well as the wind was now on the nose, and the sails could not help us. Progress down the coast was rapid, and on reading up the pilot book we learnt that the tide set fast across Portpatrick harbour entrance. That meant we would need to be close in on our approach.

Julian got the main sail down in some very lumpy seas so we would not have to worry about the wind direction as we headed into the harbour, then we closed with the coast. I had a very clear memory of the surrounding reefs, but Julian kept urging me to head in even closer. In the end I screamed at him to be quiet and let me concentrate. (I did apologise later). We entered harbour with no other drama, at 20:20, and found an empty berth against the wall which we tied up to as quickly as we could. Then we stripped off our sodden outer layers, and headed up the harbour ladder towards the Crown Inn. Would they still be serving dinner?

When asked the bar man smiled, and said last orders for food was 20:45, but since it was only 20:44 we were in luck. A fine seafood dinner made a great end to a long day. Julian checked the weather, and it looked as though Tuesday would be a good day to head south, so maybe we could have a day in Portpatrick to recover from 2 early starts.