UK Circumnavigation

Ramsgate to Suffolk Yacht Harbour

2008-08-17T20:16:00.004+01:00

Thursday 7th August 2008 - The final passage home. The tides were a little odd off of North Foreland, and we left at 13:30 to collect diesel ( and a receipt for our Red Diesel just in case we went to the EU in the future ).

I chose as easy passage via North Foreland, Foulger's Gat, the wonderfully named Black Deep and sunk. Passage by GPS and buoyage. I was very conscious that we are very lucky to have so much buoyage on the East Coast because of the Thames traffic and shifting sands.
It was a lovely sail up until we sighted the cranes of Felixstowe and the black thunderclouds welcoming us home.

Lightening struck once of the cranes as we approached Harwich, and I tied the HF earth lead to the shrouds and dangled it into the sea as a basic 'best route to earth', then put the emergency GPS and handheld radio in the powered-off microwave as a precaution against lightening strike.
Jennifer and Bernie guided us to our berth as we arrived home. The pontoons on the Orwell have to the the closest packed that I have seen anywhere in the UK, but I was able to guide Serenity in with much more confidence than when I had left over two months and 1660 nm before.

We were home, and we celebrated with a glass of Champagne in the lightship clubhouse.

Shoreham to Ramsgate

2008-08-17T20:02:00.004+01:00

Wednesday 6th August - Looking at Windguru, the weather was going to close in by the weekend, and remain poor for the next week so I had to decide to either leave Serenity in Shoreham for a week or so, or to make excellent progress in the next two days. This would involve a long trip to Dover with options to stop at Eastbourne or Rye if we became tired.
We called the lock keeper to arrange to lock out at 06:00 in the morning, and sailed into adverse tide for a few miles turning just before Beachy Head.

The sun was out, a really nice change after the rain over the last few days.

Lots of chalky cliffs, smooth sea, wind 9kn on the beam, this is perfect.

Passing Dover the tide was still behind us, so we decided to move on to Ramsgate ( we could have a later start tomorrow ), I called Dover control informing them of our passage past the harbour entrances as I could see fast ferries moving about and threatening to exit. With the wind increasing we arrived at Ramsgate looking for food, but everything seemed to be shut.
We have completed 84nm and were very tired, but home was now only one easy, familiar passage away.

Portsmouth to Shoreham

2008-08-17T19:56:00.002+01:00

Tuesday 6th of August - 07:50 a relatively late start as we had an easy run to Shoreham over waters that Billy knows very well. The tide, wind speed and direction was all in our favour, it was just the grey sea and rain that put a dampener on the passage, but this soon cleared as we neared Shoreham and attempted to get through the lock. The LadyB marina was small and very welcoming. I had a very nice bath and dinner ashore as Billy lives a mile or so from the marina.

Weymouth to Portsmouth

2008-08-17T19:26:00.004+01:00

Monday 4th August - I wanted to catch a whole tide through the Solent to get as far as possible. There were many possible marinas on the Solent and I decided to choose on as the tide started to turn against us.

We left Weymouth at 05:00 very quietly so as not to disturb our neighbours. Sunrise with 6kn of wind on the stern, the autopilot was objecting to the swell on the stern again so we moved back to manual tiller.

The tide increased as we entered the Solent and really got moving past the fortification, the water around us seemed to boil.

We had accidentally hit the Solent at Cowes Week, but as the tide was with us, we did not hit the crowds until the entrance to Cowes. I had never seen to many yacht, dinghies, rhibs and ships all together often racing and sometimes pointed at me. I have to admit to having my idiots guide to the rules of the road open on my lap, and managed to evade everything on the way through. Never again.
We decided on Portsmouth, found a very nice berth next to the submarine museum which we were slightly too late to visit. The sun allowed us to get all out bedding on deck to dry out a bit, it was getting a little damp.

Torquay to Weymouth

2008-08-17T19:06:00.002+01:00

Sunday 3rd August - The almanac is again very explicit that passing Portland Head at Springs in the wrong place and the wrong tide state will be very bad. With this in mind, I follow the almanac timing exactly to take the early inner flow and avoid the movable tidal race. The was not a long passage, so we could take it easy.
Sailing downwind with little swell was easy but not fast, and the scooper failed to perform again. Rigged with main + gybe preventer, leaving a hard jib effectively to stop rolling. a few miles from Portland Head it started to rain and the visibility dropped, we retreated inside Serenity ( she has an inside wheel as well as an outside tiller ). Taking an inside route around Portland Head gave us excellent views as well as the safety and tide we were hoping for, it great when the nav works as predicted.
We passed Portland Harbour, the Southerly entrance looked tempting but had a chain or something stretched across it. Weymouth indicated that they had plenty of space if we did not mind rafting up - we had arrived on the South Coast. We arrived mid evening and found a nice couple to raft up with. I had been really nervous about rafting up at the beginning of this trip, but the people that you meet can turn this necessary evil into a real pleasure.
As it was a late arrival and an early start, we never actually got off of Serenity which was sad as I found Portland Bill very interesting from the sea and would have liked to have explored it more.

Plymouth to Torquay

2008-08-17T18:38:00.003+01:00

Thursday 31st of July - Billy has arrived but the weather does not look so good, neither wundguru nor the Inshore waters forecast - F4-6 peaking F7 with associated swell. In the true spirit of sailing, we set out towards Weymouth anyway as Plymouth Sound is sheltered and we can turn back at any time. We did not even manage to get past the breakwater before we turned back.
Friday 1st of August - Weather forecast now getting better, but feel that I'd like to try getting moving if possible. We left our berth at Plymouth Yacht Haven far too early for the tide intending to have a sail around the Naval vessels in Devonport - and very impressive they were too. We made sure to give them a wide berth. Still early for the tide, we found an unmarked set of swinging moorings just north of Drakes Island and stopped for a break. We were rather quickly moved on by the local military who at least let us finish out tea which is all very civilised and what you'd expect from our Navy. . Heading out to to sea, we made past the breakwater but turned back deciding that again the conditions were too poor. A mixture of short steep swell slowing Serenity and poor visability.
Saturday 2nd of August - As windGuru predicted there was almost no wind and the swell was gentle and long. The IWF was still saying F4-6 :-( The tide was behind us, the jib was out but the main halyard was wrapped around the radar reflector again. As wind on our stern increased, we tried the scooper but the swell corkscrewing us made it useless, I may have it badly rigged.
We ended up gybing downwind to optimise our VMG.
Again, after seeing so few yachts around the UK, it was a suprise to see so many with us or on reciprocal courses.
Passed Bolt Head, Prawle Point and decided that we were too tired to head on to Weymouth, we were making progress, but not *that* much progress, so we decided to drop into Brixham ( this was option (b) in my plan ). Brixham was full, the town quay was rafted too deep and we rafted very uncomfortably up as a temporary measure to have a cup of tea and think about our options.
A few phone calls later and we had a berth in Torquay 40 minutes across the bay and we found a very clean marina. Torquay had excellent Ice Cream and Billy confirmed that the fish was excellent.
This passage was another excellent example of leaving Plymouth for one destination - Weymouth, diverting to Brixham and ending up at Torquay. You really have to stay flexible when sailing.

Falmouth to Plymouth

2008-07-31T19:43:00.003+01:00

Monday 28/7/08
The weather was rather grey on the way out from Falmouth, slightly choppy with the wind on the beam.

I was just about to get the mainsail up when I noticed that the main halyard had wrapped itself around the radar reflector, and being single handed, I did not want to play around on the foredeck unless I really had to. So it was a motorsail to Plymouth across the bay. Again, there were quite a few other yachts around, often on reciprocal courses.
Arriving in Plymouth in the rain, I was hoping to make my way to Sutton Yacht harbour to be near to the town, and as per usual the phone numbers given in the almanac ( both landline and mobile ) were not being answered. I called on the radio once in the harbour actively dodging the dinghies, and found that Sutton was full, and so was Queen Annes Battery Marina. Luckily they had space for me at Plymouth Yacht Haven. It really is worth phoning ahead to confirm a berth.
I arrived and dried out.

St Ives to Falmouth

2008-07-31T10:18:00.003+01:00

Friday 26/07/08
I was awake at 04:00 and away before 05:00 in the dark. According to the almanac, a passage from the North to South around Lands End should use the close inshore counter-flows of tide, and this will involve running against the tide from St Ives to Lands End.
Sunrise.

We arrived outside The Brisons at about the right time, but seemed to have the tide against us all the way round.

I guess that we were not close enough to shore to catch the flow. Moving across Sennen Cove and inside Longships and outside Runnel Stone, the tide started to push us around.

At this point, we could decide to either stop at Newlyn or push on to Falmouth, and as it was still early in the morning we pushed across Mounts Bay towards Lizard Point.
The Lizard was surrounded by a thick bank of fog, but it was close inshore so we gave it some space as we rounded the Lizard.

The visibility was a couple of nm on the final run to Falmouth and as we approached we saw a huge amount of yachts and dingies - this was after seeing one or two at a time over the last week - we navigated our way through these and attempted to find a marina for a couple of days as Nick about to go home.

Padstowe to St Ives

2008-07-30T13:36:00.005+01:00

Friday 04/07/08
We planned ahead knowing that we would be either on a visitor's mooring or at anchor when we arrived at St Ives bay, so we stocked up with diesel, meths, water and pasties. I was very impressed by the practicality of pasties for sailing, there are easy to warm ( 12v microwave ), easy to eat, and the seagulls eat the leftovers. They also have an excellent veggie and vegan range here in Padstow, together with fruit pasties. Yummy.

We left to catch the start of the SW tide, again the River Camel looked very inviting on the way out, but this time at high tide.

I noticed that as we were heading out to sea, the engine speed to RPM seemed too slow, so I managed to get the boathook underwater to the propeller and snagged some orange fishing line, apparently around the prop again. Rather that get all the diving kit on, I decided to just go for swimming costume and snorkel. It was very cold. Once I got my breath back after entering the water, I dived under the boat and had to cut away the orange twine and seaweed. The engine was back to running, but I was cold for hours after.

Rather than take the direct course from Padstow to St Ives, we followed the coastline. Nick is a keen photographer being too far out to sea for decent photos is frustrating.

We arrived in St Ives bay, and looked for likely visitors moorings that stay afloat - we needed to leave at low tide on Friday. I really could not identify any moorings, they all could have easily been pot buoys. No answer again from the HM number from the almanac. So we dropped anchor in 5m ( 10kg Delta ), it took beautifully and St Ives gave us a nice selection of transits to make sure that we were not drifting.

The only other vessel in St Ives bay was a wooden square-rigger anchored. About an hour after we arrived, she raised anchor and fired a couple of small cannon whilst she circled us. This was all very surreal and entertaining.

A wonderful quiet night at anchor in St Ives Bay, only slightly clouded by the 05:00 start the next morning.

Clovelly to Padstow

2008-07-27T22:14:00.004+01:00

Thursday 24/7/08
We raised the anchor and raised the sail with one reef. The wind was ideal for a change. The route was headland to headland down the coast to Padstow, and to keep us occupied, a large group of dolphins joined us for over 15 minutes. We both took some video and tried to get photos, they were fantastic.
We arrived at Padstow too early for the lock, but we made our way to the outer harbour carefully finding the channel with the FLS and the Navman depth sounder. Neither were that good in the shallow ( where you actually need them, I might have to get a lead line ) but we moored up and used the tender to get ashore and search out Rick Stein's chip shop. The queue was long, but moving quickly. His chips were the best I've ever tasted.
We got back to the tender to find that the tide had come in quicker that I had thought, and I had to wade into the water to recover the tender.
The inner harbour was crowded, and most people seemed to be rafted one way or another.

Padstow and the River Camel in general looked like a very fine holiday destination, I'll have to visit there again by land.

Milford Haven to Clovelly

2008-07-27T21:53:00.003+01:00

Wednesday 23/7/08
Leaving Milford Haven was as complicated as our arrival, and once out to see we were visited by a very friendly Range safety boat to advise us that they were firing 'some big stuff' on the range that day and we should stay well clear. Later we felt rather than heard the gunfire.
The wind was stronger than predicted, and the tide seemed against us, together with an unpleasant choppy sea. We looked at our options. I wanted to visit Cardiff, but that was the opposite direction, we could have gone back, but we eventually decided to move on to Lundy hoping the anchorage would be ok.
As we approached Lundy, the wind had eased, but the forecast threatened F6 later and that would make the usual anchorage untenable, so we chose the west anchorage in Jenny's Bay. We anchored as close in as we could to avoid the wind, but after half an hour decided that the swell from the west was too great to stay.

Plan 'B' was Clovelly, but we would not get there until after dark. Not a good prospect, but the best option.
We crossed some passing cargo vessels, and when the AIS reported a close encounter, I called one up and he very kindly altered course to pass behind us. This helps you feel safe in the dusk.
It was difficult to find Clovelly, the lit buoy was invisible, and we used a powerful torch to search for visitors mooring buoys, but we could have mistakenly picked up a crab pot instead, so we anchored, badly, then anchored again.
The wind got up and it was quite choppy, and I got very little sleep.

Fishguard to Milford Haven

2008-07-27T21:30:00.007+01:00

Tuesday 22/7/08
The almanac was very specific about tides when rounding St David's Head. We needed to get to Ramsey Sound at slack water, and then take Jack sound as we found it. It was a quiet sunny day as we left Milford Haven, but we had to head into the 2kn tide for 10nm in order to arrive at slack water. In the end, we were about an hour after slack, but the passage through Ramsey Sound was easy with 4kn of tide behind us.

It was a quiet trip across St Brides bay where we started to see anchored tankers on AIS.
Jack sound was a little more exciting, but easy enough as long as you are able to dodge the high speed rhibs taking tourists to the caves.

On entering Milford Haven, Nick recognised the Landmark Trust property where he had stayed some time back.

We had to negotiate the busy port of Milford haven, with tankers moving in and out. The Orwell ( my home estuary ) was excellent practice for this, I stayed well out of their way, I know how fast they can be on top of you.
The gas and oil terminals were very impressive as we passed.

We arrived at Milford Haven lock about an hour early and rafted up with about 10 other boats in the lock to wait.
Milford Haven Marina was good, although the wifi was inaccessible. I found a chandler for more charts, and Nick found a Tescos for chocolate and other supplies.

Aberystwyth to Fishguard

2008-07-27T20:59:00.004+01:00

Monday 21/7/08
Nick has arrived as the new crew, and we leave Aberystwyth into some swell and wind good enough for motorsailing after a little playing about with the rigging.

Nick is impressed by the course kept by the Navman autopilot, although he does like to helm very now and again. We see a couple of dolphins pass us by, but not in time to get the camera.
I was slightly worried about the facilities that we might find at Fishguard, the Almanac the the Pilot where not very detailed so I phoned ahead the the harbour master for the lower harbour. I did not want to dry out, as we had to leave at a specific time the next day to round St David's Head.
He indicated that the yellow mooring buoys were in deep enough water and should allow us to get away at any time, and these were obvious once we got into the bay. I had previously purchased a bosco mooring hook and this failed to grab the mooring buoy again ( I must have my technique wrong ) and so we grabbed the buoy by hand. To get to shore we inflated the tender and rowed to the slipway past a huge group of Sea Cadets afloat learning new skills.
Our first stop was the very friendly Yacht Club, and then up the steep hill into town to find a great choice of restaurant.

All in all, Fishguard was idyllic, waking up to a quiet mooring is wonderful.

Pwllhelli to Aberystwyth

2008-07-22T22:20:00.002+01:00

Wednesday the 16th :
The wind was forecast F4-5 from the South, and was therefore a beat across Cardigan Bay to Aberystwyth avoiding the St Patrick's Causeway that blocks the direct route, I did ask the harbourmaster if there was a way through, but apparently the only way is around the causeway.
It was head into wind until we turned to port at the causeway cardinal ( littered with pot buoys ) and then a fast sail towards Aber. Identifying the route onto Aber harbour was difficult, and shallow at times, but we ended up verifying our route with the plotter and FLS rather than the leading lines.

The wind and swell look very unpleasant for the next few days, too poor to pass St David's Head, so Phil left on Thursday. I plan to continue sailing with Nick - my new crew when the weather improves.

Port St Mary to Port Dinorwic

2008-07-19T18:43:00.005+01:00

We planned to leave Port St Mary once the tide turned for a port on the Northern edge of Anglesey and the wind was ideal for a sail, so we made steady progress away from the Isle Of Man.

The wind lightened and we slowed, but both of us felt reluctant to start the engine, and in the end we realised that we were going to arrive at Anglesey in the dark, so we might as well head directly for the NE entrance to the Menai Straight. The wind increased, together with the swell and as the tide turned, we were bashing into the waves in the dark - all very unpleasant. Eventually we began to come into the shelter of Red Wharf Bay and dropped anchor in the dark for a couple of hours before the tide turned again into the Menai. It was now 02:00 in the morning.

After a cup of tea and some chocolate, there was a little daylight in the sky, and within 30 minutes it was a grey drizzly dawn. Yeuch.

Passage down the Menai was a mixture of challenging pilotaqe and uneventful sailing , but a terrific experience.

We caught the swellies at slack tide and so the passage was very smooth, and found our way to Port Dinorwic at high tide when the lock opens.

We locked in, rafted up next to a very noisy road bridge and got a few hours sleep.

Bangor ( NI ) to Port St Mart ( IOM )

2008-07-19T18:35:00.003+01:00

I started off with probability of a Migraine as we started out from Bangor, I just rather assumed that it would disappear as we passed islands out of Belfast Lough. We'd had a change of crew, and was now accompanied by Phil who had taught me to sail in the early 1980s when I crewed for him in his 'Hornet' dingy. The wind was ideal for sailing, although we were motorsailing under jib, and I could not quite get myself to get the mainsail up as I was not feeling too good. I decided that I really was not feeling well, and took a some migraine treatment, but too late and I spent the next few hours being seasick, or lying in my cabin. Luckily Phil is a very experienced sailor. We were heading for Port St Mary on the East side of the Island, and that would either require a route around chicken rock, or a passage through Calf Sound with the tide against us. The water was very disturbed with the swell and the tide flow, but Phil took us through, with only a couple of kn of flow against us. I missed the opportunity to photograph the route through Calf Sound as it was all a bit intense, but here is a view back onto the sunset

Phil knew Port St Mary well as he had learnt to sail here. We moored up against the seawall at a ladder leaving long mooring warps to cope with the tide drop, although the correct place for yacht mooring is towards the shore end of the seawall.

I learnt a few lessons about my ability to sail with a migraine, the effect of the swell and migraine together causing seasickness ( first time in many years ) and when to hand over command to the competent crew.

Gigha to Bangor via Glenarm

2008-07-08T16:06:00.004+01:00

We set out for Glenarm at 06:00 on Friday, with the option of continuing onto Bangor if we felt up to it. This seems to be the way of sailing, to head TOWARDS something, noting that the destination really is up to the weather.

There was a covering of low cloud as we left Gigha, but the sun soon burnt though this as we made progress towards the point of the Mull of Kintyre. The sea became choppy as we rounded the headland, and there were more outfalls as our SOG rose up past 8kn again. It was a smooth sail across the Northern Channel, avoiding the TSS ( Traffic Separation Scheme ) even if we saw absolutely no traffic in sight of us or the AIS.
The tide was with us all the way from Gigha and turned against us a couple of nm outside of Gigha, so we pulled in at lunchtime to wait for the fair tide.

We did not see very much of Glenarm as I caught up with some sleep, but we did notice a lot of Union Flags on the seafront. A great place for a stop-over.
The tide turned in our favour at around 18:00 and we progressed down the coast, but into the wind until we arrived at Bangor Marina, where I found something worth crossing the Irish Sea for - A BATH - it was wonderful. I bought some bubblebath, a magazine and my radio4 radio and had a fantastic soak. Showers are fine, but I always prefer a real bath.

Oban to Gigha

2008-07-08T13:59:00.007+01:00

After waiting out the winds for a day in Oban, Phil and I caught the tide south towards Gigha.

We had initially decided to head to Bangor, Northern Ireland via the Crinan Canal and Campbeltown, but talking to Pam and Ted the Crinan can take a while especially with only two people on board. The preferred route was therefore the Isle of Gigha and then Glenarm. This was very good advice.
The tides seem to conspire to make us leave at 05:00, so we set off south with a few other yachts. There is an area of heavy tide flow between Luing and Scarba, so we wanted to get to this point at the right state of tide.

As we passed through marked outfalls and whirlpools on the chart, our SOG ( speed over ground ) hit 11kn with a water speed of 4.5. Outfalls did not seem to be a problem, although steering through them was all over the place. The Whirlpools were worth avoiding.

I did notice that when running the engine, the speed vs engine revs seemed to have dropped, so I made a note to have a look at the prop when we arrived.
We phoned ahead to Gigha, as the almanac says that they only have 9 moorings available, and only 2 were in use as we arrived. After some enquiry at the shop and the hotel, it seems that the moorings were provided by the council and are free to use, together with the toilets and the showers at the landing point.

The water was wonderfully clear, so I decided to put on my drysuit and scuba kit to have a look at the propeller. It looked like a christmas tree made of seaweed. I removed all the fouling, inspected Serenity's hull and fittings, then went for a 15 minute swim around hoping to meet a seal.

The local restaurant provided an excellent meal, and we settled down to a very quiet and comfortable night on a mooring.

Loch Leven to Oban

2008-07-08T13:18:00.006+01:00

Tuesday morning we awoke in Loch Leven, bought some provisions from the local shop - we even found some meths for our Spirit cooker.

The forecast was strong wind from the SE F5-7 sometimes F8. We decided to have a look into Loch Linnhe to see what the swell and wind was like. We had enough plan (B), (C) and ultimately turn back options in case the wind was too bad.
We ran against the tide under the A82 to get the tide right to Oban. There were small outfalls, and we only made 1.2kn through the worst bits, even motorsailing with 6.5kn though the water. This flow only lasted a few hundred yards.

The wind was very strong on our beam as we proceeded down the south east coast of Loch Linnhe, we reefed, reefed again and still were too far heeled over. We considered turning back, but found that running under the shelter of the coastline reduced the wind to a manageable level. Surprisingly there was very little swell.
We hugged the coastine, progressing inside the islands passing anchorages, some very wild, and others calm depending on the shelter.

We were both in full sailing kit, harnessed on as necessary.

As we passed the Lynn of Lorne, the wind began to drop and the last of the journey to Oban was a really pleasant set of tacks, avoiding the Ferrys routing between the islands. Oban marina was rather windswept and our arrival on the last of the pontoon spaces was exciting. There are major advantages having a small 27' boat that can fit anywhere.
The marina is opposite Oban on the Island of Kerrera. There is an hourly water taxi to the mainland. Very good facilities including a tumble drier. We spent a day in Oban, collecting new charts from the Chandlers.

Caledonian Canal to Loch Leven

2008-07-02T21:33:00.006+01:00

Leaving Loch Oich for Loch Lochy through another swing bridge and locks onto Loch Lochy. and onto Neptune's Staircase - 7 locks downwards. We now realise that the downwards locking is much easier than upwards locking.

After completing the last of the locks, we dropped Jennifer at the local train station - she had to train to Arbroath to collect the van at 23:30, then drove back to Cambridge in time for work Tuesday afternoon.

Phil and I left the last sealock and headed for Oban into potentially unpleasant weather.

We were not sure how much shelter we would find from the sealoch, and as we made progress out to sea, the wind and waves became stronger, until our progress was very slow. Decided to pull into Lock Leven which was well sheltered against the southerly wind and found another pontoon for the night.

Caledonian Canal 2

2008-07-02T21:23:00.003+01:00

Our View back along Loch Ness from Fort Augustus

Sunday, we planned to make our way through to Fort William but we had a very relaxed start at the flight of Locks in Fort Augustus
.
This is where we really started to encounter the hire boats. Some of them were being well cared for, but a few others were definitely worth staying away from. The Lock keepers were very good, and allowed the hire boats to go in first, then the sailing yachts would go in at the back where it was safer.
In the end, we were too late to get out of Loch Oich, so we found a pontoon near to a hotel and tied up for the night.

The Caledonian Canal

2008-07-02T20:31:00.004+01:00

We entered the Caledonian Canal on Friday evening though the sea lock

Saturday morning, we entered the first four flight lock and this raised us up towards Loch Ness after a little more canal and another single lock.

There was a 14kn wind against us as we entered, and the ( fresh ) water was very choppy, to the extent that we looked for shelter in the anchorages around the shore of Loch Ness so that we could wait until the wind and waves died away.

About 2/3 on the way along Loch Ness, we found a pontoon at Foyers, and Jennifer and I wandered up the hill to see the waterfalls, and to find somewhere nice for coffee.

The depth sounders showed Loch Ness to be deep. The Navman 8084 peaked at around 233m whereas the Echopilot FLS Gold II decided it was 16m and became derranged.

We made our way to Fort Augustus, where we met Phil - our new crew.

Lossiemouth to Inverness

2008-06-27T22:47:00.003+01:00

After collecting diesel from the local garage, we set off for the Caledonian Canal on the inside of the Moray Firth. We had a slightly late start due to me waking with a migraine. The locks on the canal are only operational during office hours, to we had to make good progress towards Inverness. The swell had gone and the conditions improved as the channel narrowed towards some very interesting pilotage before Inverness. At one point, a large group of fast powerboats ( 15 - 20 ) passed in the opposite direction apparently on a UK circumnavigation too.
Pilotage was interesting up to the Sealock.

Entry into the Caledonian Canal was easy once passed the bridge with its tidal flow and outfalls. The cost was £138 for Serenity and seems to include some mooring costs. We stopped at the Seaport marina once we found wifi and headed into town for dinner.

Peterhead to Lossiemouth

2008-06-27T22:39:00.003+01:00

We were stuck in Peterhead by forecasts of 5-7, sometimes gale force 8, and after the previous day's experience with the swell, we decided to stay in port.
Talking to the harbourmaster at Peterhead, he suggested leaving at HW to hit slack around Rattray head. HW was at 06:30, so this was an early start.
The weather was perfect, 12kn of wind on the port beam and we passed Rattray Head with no problems. I had been slightly cautious about this part of the journey, hearing about the outfalls and confused seas as the turn turns this corner.
Jennifer and I discussed stopping at Whitehills, but we seemed to be making such good progress under sail that we pushed forward to Lossie. I'd heard such good things about Whitehills too.
The last part of the journey was into the wind and heavy swell, so the engine was back on and it was a real grind. Lossiemouth was a very friendly port, we met Jackie again who was awaiting crew. It is next to a very active RAF lossiemouth, so is a must for plane spotters.

Arbroath to Peterhead

2008-06-27T22:27:00.003+01:00

Jennifer and I left Hinxton at around 17:00 on Monday and headed up the A1 to Arbroath by van ( ridiculously cheaper than a train for 2 ) arriving around 03:00 Tuesday morning. A very good drive listening to an unabridged Terry Pratchett talking book.
Away from Arbroath at 08:00 past a large group of dolphins playing off of the harbour. Th plan was to set sail for Peterhead, but with a plan B of stopping at Stonehaven. Heading up the coast we needed 1 reef in the sails, but the wind was beautifully on the beam most of the way, and the sea state was slight with some slow swell from the stern. The sailing conditions on passing Stonehaven ware good, so we proceeded on towards Peterhead. We then had more swell from the NW adding to the swell from the S creating a very confused sea and it became rather unpleasant as we pitched and rolled our way to a very welcome haven of Peterhead Port. 65nm later.

Arbroath to Cambridge ?

2008-06-20T09:25:00.004+01:00

Disaster !
Thursday 18:00 - Jack phones up to say that the ceiling in the lounge has collapsed and there is water everywhere. Oops.
I'm worried about the electrics, the reason for this and the fact that Jack will be on his own with this for the next week as Jennifer is joining me for the Caledonian Canal, so I book a sleeper train home and am currently setting at Liverpool St station awaiting transport to Cambridge to assess the situation.
I hope to be back with Serenity on Sunday to continue progress.
Here is a photo of how I found it. The carpets and sofa are now on the front lawn..

Arbroath

2008-06-20T09:17:00.003+01:00

We are moored up inside the locked dock that opens around HW and office hours. We have Electricity, water and wifi at a nearby cafe/restaurant.

As you wander the streets of Arbroath, you come across lots of fish shops, arbroath smokies and a wonderful smell of smoked fish. My next port of call will be either Stonehaven or Peterhead, but I"m not going out singlehanded in the current F5-7 even if the wind is in a perfect direction. I'll wait until the wind dies down

Tayport to Arbroath

2008-06-18T13:17:00.003+01:00

We left Tayport hoping that the savage swell in the mouth of the Tay had died down, and it had. To get to Arbroath around high tide, we had to leave against the tide, 2kn at times, but we made proress into it. Heading north from the mouth of the Tay to Arbroath, we saw a dolphin again, but not as many, or as close as yesterday.

We tied up in Arbroath inner harbour, and once we had seen the harbourmaster, searched out the showers and a decent meal.

Eyemouth towards Arbroath, arriving at Tayport.

2008-06-17T20:25:00.001+01:00

We now have a light southerly wind at last, and the swell from the north is much easier. The circumnavigators are off, leaving Jackie on her own awaiting a new crew.
The first surprise was the inshore waters forecast on VHF, the coastguard announced it as usual and then said that it would not be broadcast due to 'industrial action'. This was repeated at intervals all day.
Towards the Isle of May, a warship ( 089 I think ) passed us and I noted that it was not squawking AIS. This seems a little unreasonable as they are not actually in combat here.
Sailing up past the Isle of May and then past St Andrews was perfect, but we seemed to have a little swell from both the north and the SW. My timing for Arbroath harbour was out, we had missed the lock for the inner gate, and I could not get hold of the harbourmaster to see if we could get shelter in the outer harbour.
The weather was deteriorating, so I decided that it would be safer to enter the Tay rather than Arbroath with the unpleasant swell from the SE. Turning brought us beam on to the swell, and the floor inside Serenity started to fill with plates, paper and anything that was not nailed down. We were really being thrown around.
We kept our course and were joined by a large group of dolphins who followed us down the channel and they left once the swell abated. They were fantastic, within a metre or so of Serenity, but we were so busy holding course that we could not photo them
The pilot books and Reeds Almanac show access to Tayport at HW +- 4 hours and we were dead on LW. As we only draw around 1m, I thought we might just get to a wall. We just needed to stop somewhere. We tried from one direction and hit the mud, then from another direction and hit more mud. I then noticed someone on a radio on the quay, so went to ch16 ( from the Tay harbour Ch ) and they were guiding us in. They pointed out the leading line ( the triangle about the minibus, and the tide guage ) and we ran down it.

The depth sounder said 0.8m at one point, but we scraped in and onto a pontoon birth.
It was great to be tied up. Everyone was very friendly, we were given a key and found a Chinese takeaway and a pub. I slept well.

Eyemouth to.. Eyemouth

2008-06-17T20:21:00.001+01:00

Between all the circumnavigators in Eyemouth, we now have a en excellent selection of weather forecasts.
We have the shipping forecast, but that is really for offshore stuff. More usefully there is an inshore waters forecast, that gives the marine forecast to 12 miles offshore. This is available via VHF from the coastguard broadcast, navtex which does not seem that reliable, and a web page.
There is windguru - http://www.windguru.cz/ if you can find a spot local to you. And there is http://magicseaweed.com/ for week forecasts. You have to take some of these with a pinch of salt, but when you have been stuck in port for a few days, these weather, wind and swell forecasts become fascinating.
So, windguru was projecting little wind but with 2.2m swell from the north. Tim and I decided to wander out of Eyemouth and see what it was really like. The harbour exit was exciting with large swell coming into the entrance, but I know it would get better. Out at sea, I now know what 2.2m of swell was like - fine as long as it was on the nose and consistent. Once we rounded St Abbs again, we seemed to be getting waves from two different directions and started to corkscrew. We decided 10 hours of this would not be fun, so turned back to Eyemouth. The entrance was really fun, following the leading line straight into the harbour mouth with white water on either side. I called Jackie in ch72 to say that we were returning, and they were all there to grab our ropes and help us back.
These are the tracks from our chartplotter, two attempts to pass St Abbs Head. Third time lucky.

After a strong cup of tea and a sleep, we walked towards St Abbs Head on the coastal path to see the sea from the cliffs.

Eyemouth

2008-06-15T18:11:00.005+01:00

Well, we have been in Eyemouth since arriving on Tuesday, held here by Northerly winds and swell.

Eyemouth seems a really nice place to be stuck though, having good public transport, swimming pool, supermarket, a cafe with wifi and another with excellent vegetarian food.
I've had a couple of nice trips to Edinburgh, one with Paul to visit the Museum of Scotland, and another to meet my new crew - Tim.
Paul left on Thursday, and I had a day or so on my own - with excellent company from the other sailing boats sheltering in Eyemouth. Jackie's site is at http://www.saltdeanweb.co.uk/dowding/uk.html.
The seals have been wonderfully entertaining.

I've managed to get by diving air cylinder refilled, but the same weather that is stopping me sail seems to be halting any easy dive trips.

Berwick to Eyemouth

2008-06-13T11:16:00.003+01:00

Tuesday 10th of June

Waking up in the lorry park that is Berwick's harbour, we found Serenity covered in grit, cigarette end and litter. After a short debate, we decided it was more important to move on ASAP and miss the great fortifications of Berwick.

Looking at the weather closing in, Anstruther was the ideal destination for the next few days.

The harbour exit was easy, mostly following our track in, but the sea was a little choppy and the wind was directly from ahead.

A couple of yachts passed us including Jackie and Steve, one more sheltered by the cliffs and one further out to sea.

We passed our plan B - Eyemouth under some shelter from the cliffs until we passed St Abbs Head and hit the wind and swell from the Firth of Forth. After a very short while, I decided to turn back for Eyemouth, and what a good thing we did. Eyemouth is a wonderful destination, with excellent facilities and I felt like looking for work and a house to live in.

We were welcomed by a group of tame seals who seem to think that we were going to offer them fish.

Blyth to Berwick

2008-06-10T20:51:00.004+01:00

Blyth was a very nice port to visit. We met two more couples circumnavigating the UK, its getting like the M25.

Sails up with one reef in, up to 6.5kn under sail, excellent progress but the wind in variable and the reef goes in and out and then in to stay.

The water up towards the Farne Islands gets very clear, 35m deep but you can see the sand and vegetation colours. It must be great diving area. Lots of birds are diving for fish and Paul poits out all the puffins. They just look so unwieldy trying to fly.

George ( from the Mayors office ) phones :-)

We are passed by a friends from Blyth ( Jackie and Steve ) within the Farne Islands. The pilotage seems a little daunting, but ultimately straightforward.

The wind is increasing as we head for Berwick, and the pilotage into this port is non-trivial, and the harbourmaster is not answering either the phone nor the radio.

Arriving in Berwick, the facilities are bare, the harbour is now a lorry park, and we tie up near a ladder so we can get out of the boat, preparing our mooring lines for the 4m tidal variation. Find another excellent Italian restaurant. Once we are back at the boat, she is covered with grid and rubbish from the lorry park. We plan to leave ASAP.

Hartlepool to Blyth

2008-06-10T20:29:00.002+01:00

I had a day off today, as Paul took the role as skipper. I was happy to crew for a day. We left Hartlepool at 09:45, the northerly tidal currents seem to happen about 1.5hours after HW, so our starting times are a lot more sociable. On passage, we came across what looked like a half sunken boat, and changed course to investigate - it turned out to be a very large log in the water. There was a lot of rubbish floating on our course, and the engine note chaged as we went close to some. We throttled the engine back and then forward to clear and stuff, and noticed the exhaust seemed to the dripping spots of oil - worrying. Further investigation showed this to be drips of petrol from the outboard fuel in the gas locker ( gas now all removed from the boat ). We spent a while cleaning this up, and ventilating the boat very well before proceeding.

We saw a big seal very close to Serenity.

Arriving at Blyth was nice, good facilities, but we were too late for food, and the town was a long walk. So I had a pleasant shower and made dinner of slightly burnt omlettes.

Scarborough to Hartlepool

2008-06-06T22:24:00.002+01:00

Late start as we had to wait for the chandlers to open, buying a replacement winch handle ( dropped over the side yesterday ) and a new Imray - made in St Ives, Cambs - chart beyond Whitby. I use a Navman 8084 electronic plotter with C-MAP Max UK cartridge for real time navigation, but was paper charts to plot position, just in case GPS dies. Breakfast of egg/bacon/quorn rolls made on the electric cooker now it is wired to the mains, and we have shore power.

Paul sailed us out at around the headland containing the Castle, and we headed North with little wind. Again the inshore waters forecast was incorrect. "Variable 3-4" seems to mean "we have no idea".

10:20 Paul called me on deck to see a porpoise pass within a few yards of the boat.

The weather closed in, poor visability and rain/cold. yeuch.

Busy around the Tees entrance, lots of freight and tankers anchored up. Again AIS is very helpful.

Arrive Harlepool, a big marina via lock. WiFi a stuggle. We will spend a day here to reprovision and prepare for the next leg on Sunday.

Grimsby to Bridlington, or Scarborough

2008-06-06T22:08:00.004+01:00

It was spring tide on the day we left Grimsby, and the lock is normally on freeflow from HW- 2 to HW+2, but on springs they shut the lock gates HW-1 to HW+1 to stop any flooding. We therefore left at 06:10 and motored against a foul tide for an hour or so. The Humber was very busy with many large ships, but having AIS on the plotter gave us confidence that we understood all the activity around us and that we could pilot a safe course to the mouth of the Humber.

We passed the tetney monobouy again and saw a tanker discharging crude oil into this pipe head.

We saw lots of seals, some coming very close to Serenity once the engine was off and the sail up outside the mouth of the Humber. A beautil sunny day.

As we progressed northwards towards Bridlington, we realised that we would arrive very early, so after some calculations, we decided to push on to Scarborough attracted by the facilities and the promise of WiFi.

We made good progress until the tide turned as we passed Flanborough Head. Hitting a 4kn current, we had the engine running and finally the scooper raised .

Arrived Scarborough at 19:30. initially entered incorrect dock looking for moorings - the pilot book and the almanac have not caught up with the new developments. Scarborough seemed to have a lot of tattoo shops and goth stuff, and I wish we had time to visit the castle

A day in Grimsby

2008-06-06T21:50:00.002+01:00

Bernie and I woke to a much nicer day in Grimsby. We collected provisions from the local supermarket and did some boat stuff such as filling with diesel and water. Grimsby marina has free WiFi, a great attraction..

Much of Grimsby looks run down, but there is some incredible old architecture.

Paul arrived and Bernie left, and we explored Grimsby for dinner, finding Pizza Hut in the new centre. It was very quiet.

Wells to Grimsby

2008-06-03T21:56:00.005+01:00

Starting out from Wells, we had hoped to follow a local fishing boat out, but they had all gone by the time we set off. Instead we followed the buoyed path and ploughed a few furrows through the mud as I got the hang of the route.
This was a definitely a rough passage across The Wash and into the Humber. It was a head wind that peaked around 25kn, so we sent a lot time slamming into waves. Taking advice from the harbour master in Wells, we headed north to pick up one buoy, then another and so on past the firing range, south of Spurn Point and onto Grimsby, an easy route. The rain that had been clear on the way over started as we entered the Humber and we lost sight of anything more than 1nm away, so navigation was buoy to buoy, GPS and AIS.
The club house in Grimsby was very friendly, mains, water, wifi and a nice shower. We met another couple circumnavigating the uk - http://www.freewebs.com/zoe-marie/

Bernie adds:
No seals to be seen on this leg of the journey - though perhaps that excludes the 6 hours I spent laying horizontal with my eyes shut, wishing the world would end. Beware the air vents at the pointed end of the boat during rough weather, BTW, unless you like a face full of salt water from time to time. Grimsby was fine. Nice people at the club and lots to see around the docks/marina. Plus a train service only 5 minutes away.

Wells on Sea

2008-06-02T09:36:00.003+01:00

We travelled from Lowestoft to Wells on Sea starting at 05:00 to get to Wells for high tide. It was an eventful journey, passing scroby sands and all the wind turbines off of Great Yarmouth, then a mayday from a 121MHz PLB on our route. Wells bar was exciting and choppy but we followed a local boat in and arrived safely. Wells is beautiful, with a friendly harbourmaster and good facilities. After talking to the harbourmaster, he recomended avoiding Kings Lynn due to the tidal complexities, and going straight for Grimsby on Tuesday. So we have a whole day in Wells, Jennifer will go home and Bernie will join me.

Jennifer adds:

I missed all the excitement of the distress call. It was my turn to sleep, and I was dead to the world.

But I did see a seal!

No wind still, so we did the entire journey by engine again :-(

Lowestoft

2008-05-31T13:19:00.002+01:00

After a forecast of a f3-f4, there was no wind and so we motored all the way from Felixstowe to Lowestoft. It was a little cold and foggy, but navigation was easy and Jennifer and I took hourly watches whilst the other slept.
We are now in a cafe at the historic triangle market in Lowestoft

Jennifer adds:

We left Levington at about 20:00, waved off by Nina. By the time we left the Orwell and hit the open sea the lights were coming on at Felixstowe Docks. It was just daylight as we arrived at Lowestoft at 04:00. My first ever night sail!

We collapsed in our bunks until around 10:00, wandered around Lowestoft taking it easy, went to the cinema and saw the new Indiana Jones, bed by 10:30, up at 04:00 for a 05:00 start the next morning.

Last preparations

2008-05-30T09:17:00.003+01:00

Well, its Friday morning, and looking at the wind and tides, we may, or may not make the bar at Wells for the high tide Saturday at 15:30. I have a plan (b) - continue to Kings Lynn for midnight, or (c) stop at Lowestoft at around 04:00 if it looks like we are really tired and late.

Jennifer is crewing, and seems inspired by Libby Purves's book about circumnavigating the UK with a family.

All ready to go..

Planning

2008-05-22T08:09:00.000+01:00

Waiting to get Serenity back in the water. She is antifouled, anodes changed and the cutlass bearing checked ( although it does rattle a bit ) .
The first leg will be from Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Kings Lynn - a bit of an odd route, but I want to see The Wash.