Who's doing all this sailing?

It's Vince and Malcolm

Why?

For charity of course

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 Peterhead to Whitehills-9th June 2007

I Make ready for sea, put the engine on and depart Peterhead at 12.00hrs. The wind is still F4 from the north so I raise the main and motor sail. I am heading for Rattray Head in hazy sunshine and should be able to sail once past the head. At 13.30hrs I am approaching Rattray Head and the wind is backing, which is typical. I pray I will have some decent wind at some stage on this voyage. I will  be expecting the prevailing South Westerly wind to cause me to beat down the west coast depending on which route I take.

Further north from Rattray Head I pass close to The Hawes and Cairnbulg Briggs where a fishing trawler has run aground on the reef between the mainland and the light. I wonder what happened there?

  By 15.00hrs the mist closes down reducing visibility, and the wind has backed, so I leave the engine on. I also turned the duel log and depth on just to check if it was working again, the log was now working but still no depth. I also have another problem, the tiller pilot keeps getting lost, I wasn't aware that fog caused them to loose their way! I will be passing the Rosehearty Firing and Bombing Range soon, it's not active so I will be able to pass through without any problem. I will also be passing Fraserburgh, with no chance to check my position. The chimney and arial masts are not visible in the dense mist/fog. By 18.00hrs I am hungry and decide to cook dinner, Pasta is the order of the day, quick and easy and only one pan. I add some ham to the mixture to add some more flavour, and follow with rice pudding, cold and straight from the tin. All the time I am looking and listening through the fog for any sounds that might be another vessel. By 19.00hrs I decide to close the land to see if I can see where I am. The GPS indicates that I am near to the waypoint off Knock Head. There are pot buoys around so I will have to keep a sharp lookout. I make out Banff as the coast comes into view and proceed along the coast towards my destination. By 20.30hrs and a lot of pot dodging I am approaching Whitehills. I and make my way through the outer harbour where Golden Otter is tied up and into the inner Harbour/Marina where I berth on a pontoon finger. With the boat made secure I chat to the owner of a Hallberg Rassay 34 moored opposite. David Finley the harbour master comes down to the pontoon to his own boat and greets me when he is told I had just arrived. I didn't see you arrive he said but welcome anyway and you are OK to stay where you are. I said I couldn't see any thing from near the waypoint so I came in very slow, that's when David told me that the waypoint is about two miles off so its no wonder I was confused. I get the gate and shower codes from him, and head off to the facilities block across the road for a shower and shave. There is a place to dry out at Whitehills, so I will take the opportunity to inspect the depth transducer, just in case I epoxy coated or antifouled the face when I was doing the hull. There was nothing on the face so I guess there is another fault somewhere.

I was three days in Whitehills, and enjoyed the break, the locals are very friendly and I found them very generous too. I was given donations for the hospice amounting to £81. 00. £2.00 of which came from Cathy who was parked in the middle of the road by the shop, when I said its not often you can park in the middle of the road she said she wasn't a very good driver, and asked what I was doing in Whitehills. When I told her about the charity sail around the UK she said what a good cause opened her purse and gave me the two pounds. I was so touched by her gesture I walked back to the harbour with tears in my eyes. Who said the Scots were mean. 

Vince.

Links www.whitehillsharbour.co.uk