Time to get going again

 We hired a van to fetch Worm from Rosmarkie. Neither Julian nor I felt like going back to anchor there!

We then left Robinetta and Worm in Inverness Marina for 3 days while we went to deal with our non sailing lives.

Our plans for our next trip were tide and weather dependant. The tides dictated that we should leave at 01:30 on Thursday morning to get as far as possible towards Portsoy, ready to enter the harbour there at high water on Friday for the festival there. But would the weather let us?

The answer was a resounding yes. We set off as planned, just as the tide turned in our favour under the Kessock Bridge. There was no wind, and the sea was totally calm. This was the first outing for our running lights this year, and we discovered that the port light was not working. However the starboard light, and the masthead light were fine. As Robinetta is under 7m all she legally needs to show is a masthead all round white light, but we still prefer to show the port and starboard, so Julian went forward and got the light working again. We passed 2 yachts heading towards the marina, that must have used the stand of tide at the Chanonry Narrows to sneak though at the start of the ebb. Both were much bigger than Robinetta and would be able to beat the ebb at the Kessock Bridge.

We set our tiller pilot "George" to work at 02:20, and he took all the stress out of the next 7 hours of the trip. By then we were past our first possible stopping point of Burghead. Averaging over 5 knots we would not have been able to get in there at that time, as it is tidally restricted.

Burghead Transmitter Station

The wind began to come in from behind. We raised the sail and put on a preventer. By 09:10 we were motor sailing past Halliman Skerry, just west of Lossimouth. George could no longer cope with the swell, so we went to hand steering. Our speed continued to increase, and we turned the engine off at 10:27. Our revised destination was Whitehills, 4 nautical miles further on than Portsoy. This harbour is also tidally constrained, with the entrance channel only usable 4 hours either side of high water, but at our current speed our chart plotter promised we would be there at 15:15, which gave us a comfortable 2 hours in hand.

By 11:30 the wind was getting stronger, and the waves were also building. We needed to gybe to get clear of a bay, but Julian decided that with my arm still not 100% recovered it would be easier to go the long way round and tack instead. As we went head to wind we realised how strong the wind really was, so we turned the engine on so I could hold Robinetta head to wind while Julian put in a reef. The wind speed was probably only a top end 4, but that was quite enough to let us touch 6 knots when the gusts came, even reefed. 

I phoned the harbour master at Whitehills to check our access times were right, and he agreed that as long as we were there by 17:30 we should get in without problems. As our expected arrival time was now15:00 that reassured us it would not be a problem if we slowed down. Not that we did! The harbour master phoned back a little later, and said we would have a more restful night if we went go into the inner harbour, where there was plenty of space, rather that staying on the visitor pontoon in the outer harbour. 

We tacked rather than gybed a couple more times on our way to Whitehills. I could helm without problems on the port tack, which let Julian have a rest, and gave me a chance to enjoy the sailing.

We were half a mile from the harbour entrance when we turned head to wind to get the sails down. I had been worried it would be a bit bumpy at this point, but Julian got the sail down without problems.

The problems began once we were in the inner harbour. I spotted the perfect berth and headed straight for it, but messed up and had to back out to avoid spearing the neighbouring yacht with Robinetta's bowsprit. It then took us ten minutes to sort ourselves out again. Julian took the helm (he is better at close quarters manoeuvring than me), but even he could not make Robinetta reverse in a straight line due to the wind. We had to get the bowsprit in to be safe in the close quarters of the marina, and I managed to do it without my elbow hurting. Maybe I am healing!

Julian took us back into the outer harbour and we turned round, and re-entered the inner harbour, aiming for our chosen berth again. This time it went perfectly, and we were moored up with the engine off at 15:40. It had been a long day, but we were now within 4nm of Portsoy, with no tidal gates to worry about.

We had started off the sail with partial overcast, gone though some rain, and reduced visibility, then back to partial overcast. By the time we were approaching Whitehills the sky was clearing, and the rest of the afternoon promised bright sunshine. This has been a very good day on the water.

Whitehills Inner Harbour