Sailing Aphrodite

Amble to Eyemouth

Tuesday

0645 hrs.

Another early start so that I would have the tide with me most of the way. I slipped the mooring in a deserted marina. Then motored out passed the fishing boats still tied up at the pier. A lone angler was fishing at the pierhead, a wave and we were off out to sea for the final hop to Scotland.

1200 hrs.

Light winds all morning and another motor, but what stunning scenery, I took the passage between the coast and The Farne Islands with lots of boats taking visitors out for the day.

After passing The Farne Islands, Lindisfarne off the port side. The scenery was changing, getting more rugged and more to my liking.

Farne Islands

1430 hrs.

Off the entrance to Eyemouth lots of RIBs and fishing boats milling around waiting to get permission from the dredger to enter harbour. The dredger skipper sounded a bit frustrated as clearly he could not get on with the task in hand.

1600 hrs.

Tied up on the pontoon. Not many boats in and had a chat with the guys on the next boat who were heading down to Holy Isle for a few days.

Eyemouth Harbour

Amble

A rest day and a walk round the marina and into the delightful town.

The afternoon spent chatting with the guy, a retired GP in the next boat. He had spent a few weeks in the Orkney's and we discussed plans and how he tackled the Pentland Firth.

Hartlepool to Amble

Hartlepool's marina sits behind a lock so there is much radio traffic arranging boats to be locked in/out and I managed to get out on the first lock of the day at 0700.

Motoring into the Tees Bay I was confronted with a flat calm, a hint of wind, a minefield of pots and dense fog. Clearly today was going to be a motor rather than a sail. And I thought it was the 'Fog on the Tyne' that was famous!

1000 hrs
The fog was beginning to lift, but still a flat calm.

The concentration in fog is intense. The big ships you can see on AIS or as dark shadows in the mirk, but the small wind farm off Blyth took some spotting!

As I was motoring along I spotted a comment in the pilot book, you had to book the marina at Amble! A hasty call about noon asking for a berth for the night was greeted with a cheery of course we have space and I relaxed.

1500 hrs
I rounded Coquet Island with its small lighthouse and lots of seabirds.

As ever I was early for the tide and had an hour ahull in the bay eating a late lunch and listening to the radio and the events in the wider world, Afghanistan in particular.

1730 hrs
I had enough water to enter the harbour and set off with instructions that the 'Welcome Pack' would be on B pontoon and after edging my way up the river, it was shallower that charted I found the entrance to the marina, B Pontoon and a lady enjoying the evening sunshine and a glass of wine as her husband cooked supper.

Finding my berth I squeezed in as there was not a lot of room and no gelcoat was damaged. Looks like my berthing is improving.

I am beginning to take the weather forecasts with a large pinch of salt. More wind than forecast one day not as much the next!

Crew: Sandy Garrity

Trip Stats: Distance: 50 nm, Average speed: 4.50 knots, Maximum speed: 5.00 knots, Under way: 11 h 10 m

Weather: Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 01:00 (UTC+1) on Sun 15 Aug 2021 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Mon 16 Aug 2021

Berwick upon Tweed to Whitby - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: West or southwest, becoming variable 2 to 4, then northwest 4 to 6 later. Smooth or slight, becoming slight or moderate later. Rain at first in south then showers later. Good, occasionally moderate at first in south.

Hartlepool

To say I slept well was an understatement! It was beginning to be clear to me I needed more time to rest between passages.

I popped over to the marina office and paid for two nights and decided to take it easy. While I was getting a lot of miles under the keel I was pretty tired and still had a long way to go!

I spent a lazy day checking the boat after the 'excitement' of yesterday's passage. A few issues were found, there was a tare in the leech that was pretty cosmetic, but would need to be checked daily and a slide needed its stitching re-enforced. I removed the starboard lazy jack and stitched it back together, just the matter of going up the mast. Something I hate doing.

A visit to Asda for provisions then again for fuel and the chores were done. The afternoon was spent looking at the charts and planning the next few passages, the east coast was proving a challenge as there are few places to hide if the weather turns.

Scarborough to Hartlepool

0600 hrs
Departure from Scarborough to get the best of the tide and with a good forecast I was looking to an enjoyable sail. Everybody was saying a F5 from the SW, even the Met Office was giving a F4 - F6, but the sea was slight.

Heading out of the harbour, no groundings this time, I headed round to the next bay and raised the sails and settled down for more coffee and an brisk sail up to Amble.

Well, the wind built and built and I reefed down to the second reef as by noon I had 35 knots over the deck and this was no fun at all. With waves crashing over the boat and me pretty exhausted I felt the better course of action was to head for Hartlepool Marina where I knew I would be 'locked in' and I could recover at a smooth berth.

As I had arrived 'early' as it was low water, I and the other boats wanting to go in needed to wait in the bay. By now the wind had subsided to 20/25 knots and I lay ahull in the bay for a couple of hours - very comfortable and quite relaxing.

On entering the lock I drew alongside a boat called Gem with a Royal Western Yacht Club marking on the transom and Plymouth as port of registration. I commented that it was quite far to come to meet a boat from your home port. They kindly transferred one to their crew to act as guide to my allocated berth. It did feel some distance from the entrance and I successfully backed into the berth - not a manoeuvre I do that often. Exhausted I had a light meal and got my head down.

On inspecting the boat the following morning I found that the starboard lazyjack was damaged! The lead rope that goes thought the block on the mast had managed to destroy the stitching that held it to the rest of the setup and had become free. I removed the whole thing and when I can find some time will set about a repair.

Crew: Sandy Garrity

Trip Stats: Distance: 50 nm, Avg speed: 4.40 knots, Max speed: 9.00 knots, Under way: 11h 20m,

Weather:Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 01:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 13 Aug 2021 to 01:00 (UTC+1) on Sat 14 Aug 2021

Berwick upon Tweed to Whitby - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Southwest 4 to 6. Smooth or slight, becoming slight later. Showers for a time. Good.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Southwest, veering west, 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first. Smooth or slight, becoming moderate for a time near berwick-upon-tweed. Showers then fair. Good.