Raised anchor and bid farewell to Lindisfarne at 0915; an hour after low water. We'd anchored off St.Cuthbert's Islet; where he was buried. A good though choppy night at anchor, especially when wind over tide pushed the boat around over the chain. The sound of chain scraping as it rectified itself on the bow, 6 inches from my head took a lot of self- control to stay in bed. Another good learning curve.
Engine soon off and plain sailing once underway. Crossed the border with Scotland and hav'nt seen a person, lobster pot or ship yet north of the border.
On helm across the Firth of Forth I was pleased to reach 8.6 knots. I guess that the yacht's cruising speeds equate to about a tenth of those of motorway traffic. Boats vary, but for this yacht 40mph/4kts would be slow; 50mph/5kts ok; 60mph/6kts comfortable; 70mph/7kts the speed at which we plan to travel; 80mph/8kts speeding. So imagine my shout when I read 9.3kts on the speedo!
This is great going for a boat with furling sails. That means they roll up inside the mast. Not so romantic to shout unfurl the sail as traditionally it is raise or hoist the main. Many yacht, especially racers, use stiffer battoned sails which hold their aerodynamic shape better; they're the ones that drop down and are 'flaked' over the boom. But today we have reduced the size of the sails (reefing) and still have these speeds through the water. It seems that the benefits of battoned sails over furling may be reduced once we start reefing, infact I wonder if our furling main isn't actually holding a better shape. Hence, (I struggle to admit) it may well be that for cruising like this then furling sails could be the best choice.
We're headed for Peterhead but according to progress and how we are, we may well turn in to Montrose for the night. We hoped the wind would veer to Easterly and let us sail due north, but it is still NE so we find ourselves steering about 330degrees and being pushed in towards the Firth of Forth by the flood tides for at least another hour. Either be late at Montrose or later tomorrow at Peterhead.
A few pics of the crew, Mike & Jill with aka Debbie at the helm; Brian at the helm with Stella; me feeling like I'm looking out the narrow slots of a suite of armour, between my nose muff and cap peak.
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