Sailing Aphrodite

Eyemouth

Wednesday

It is always a thill to be back in Scotland and this was a first as I had never arrived by sea.

On arrival in Eyemouth it was quite busy, I am sure a few boats chose to remain in harbour while the dredger was about its work in the entrance, but there was space on the visitors pontoon and the three men in the next boat took my lines.

I met the assistant harbour master and asked about shore power and where to get the tokens. He kindly suggested that I 'just plug in' and see how much was on the electric point and followed his suggestion and there was a lot of unused electricity.

I chatted on the pontoon with the three men in the next boat and as we discussed where we had been and where we had been. They were going south to Holy Island and I north. They advised my that my next port of call Arbroath had not one, but two dredgers working the harbour!

The entrance to Eyemouth Harbour

Sat having something to eat in the cockpit I was surprised to see a seal pop its head up by the boat; gosh that is tame! I learnt why as over the next few hours a number of boats would bang fish against their hulls and the seals would come and eat from the hand. I'm not that brave.

A quiet night followed and I had a relaxing breakfast the following morning.

After popping into the harbour office and advising them that I'd be there for two nights I had a wander into the town and south along the headlands to stretch my legs in the August sunshine.

Aphrodite on the pontoon at Eyemouth

With working the boat I was beginning to find a few niggles and one is the length of the spinnaker halyard, a couple of meters too short for my liking and I replaced it with the spair, but that was the same length! It felt like a wasted hour, but it's now on my list of winter jobs to do.

The first thing that struck about Scotland was the very different attitude to wearing masks and COVID regulations. Mask wearing was the norm and you were expected to wear one.

I decided that I best had a 'fish supper' as I was back in Scotland and was really,really disappointed in the meal.

As I was just about to turn in for the night a Dutch boat arrived, the first foreign boat of the whole trip. I helped him with his lines and bade good night at I was planning a 0330 departure.

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.