Whitehills to Portsoy

Whitehills is around 4 nm from Portsoy. Richard Thorne had said we should be able to get into the Old Harbour from about 12:30.

So I suggested we leave about 11. That gave me most of the morning to work on the toilet pump. I had taken it off and started cleaning it at Inverness but there was more to do. I just about got all the old gunk off the plastic shell but didn’t get as far as reassembling it.

Getting out of the inner harbour at Whitehills proved even more tricky than getting in had been. Robinetta would not turn at all whilst going astern. We managed to back out straight into the opposite berth and then we needed to do a 180 degree turn around the finger pontoon. We had a little help but we still got nearer than we would like to other boats.

But we got into the outer harbour with only our pride damaged. There wasn’t much wind but I think there was enough to catch the cabin sides. And the Harbour Master had said there was current in there. We got the bowsprit set in the outer harbour and headed out. The tide was low enough to show the rocks marked by the posts. There really is very little room.

Entrance to Whitehills

 

I shook the reef out as we raised the main and we set off with a full cutter rig but no. 2 jib. It was a lovely beam reach with the wind coming from the shore, so the sea was flat. But it was strong. I looked at the wind farm on the hill and joked “We don’t need them to generate more wind”.

Of course, we were actually in the shadow of the wind farm, and once past it, the wind got even stronger and we needed the reef back in. Then we had a pretty wild and fun sail until we got near the crab pot markers outside Portsoy. We called Portsoy on the VHF and they said there was plenty of water. Although we had been going really fast, 5 ½ knots at tímes, with the stopping to reef, and pot-dodging, it was about 12:15, bang on time.

The rib came out to say hello, and check we remembered the way in. I carried on sailing until we were reasonably close, to try to put on a show. I think we could have gone a bit closer.

It was really calm in the entrance, so we had no trouble motoring in and people standing by to take our lines and be in the right place for the berthing plan.

Once we were settled, I set to work assembling the toilet pump and refitting it and connecting it up. By then, the tide had gone back out and we were high and dry against the wall. We would need to wait until evening to see if the pump worked.