Blue Star Raffle prize winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Blue Star raffle! The winners were drawn recently and were as follows:
1st prize, the Blue Star quilt, was won by Lisa from Peggs Lane, Leicestershire (we are still trying to find out Lisa's surname!)
2nd prize, 4 Emma Bridgewater mugs in Starry Night design (ie. lots of blue stars), was won by Martin Fiddler of Wolverhampton and Staffordshire University
3rd prize, a Knot Toys Blue Star Yacht, was won by Ruth Martin of Eccleshall, Staffordshire

We are especially grateful to Susan Oakley who came up with the idea of making a quilt and to everyone who bought or sold draw tickets! Many thanks also to Emma Bridgewater and to Knot Toys for donating prizes. Thank you everyone! The raffle raised £1400 for the CF Trust, which is absolutely brilliant!

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads our blog and to everyone who is following the progress of yacht Blue Star!

Susan and I with the raffle first prize

 Joke:
A yacht skipper from Staffordshire bought a donkey from an old farmer
for £100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The
next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, but I have some bad
news. The donkey died."
"Well, then, just give me my money back."
"Can't do that. I've spent it already."
"OK, then. Just unload the donkey."
"What are you going to do with him?"
"I'm going to raffle him off."
"You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
"Oh I think I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later the farmer met up with the yacht skipper and asked, "What
happened with that dead donkey?"
"I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 each and I
made a profit of £898."
"Didn't anyone complain?"
"Oh yes, but only the person who won. So I gave him back his £2."

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas card for you!

OK, I know its not quite Christmas yet, but it is time to start thinking about it, and time to hand out cards to your friends and family etc. So here is a card for everyone who reads this blog, from and on behalf of GBchallengecrew (who, I hear you ask? You know, GBchallengecrew, the team involved with Blue Star's circumnavigation of GB and for raising funds for the CF Trust!). I hope you like it. I have been trying to find a cost effective (ie. free) way of producing an e-Christmas card, and this is it! There must be a way of animating it perhaps, and getting it to play a Christmas tune too, but I haven't figured that out yet. Do you know how?

Joke:
The Christmas marina berth
Two weary sailors (a man and a woman) who have never met before found themselves assigned to the same sleeping cabin on overnight when their yacht was berthed in a marina during the Christmas period. It was snowing outside, and rather cold inside. After finding out that no other accommodations could be made, they agreed that they were both professional and capable of getting past the man woman thing. They decided to simply go to sleep, the man in the upper berth and the woman in the lower berth. In the middle of the night the man leans over, wakes the woman and says, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm awfully cold and I was wondering if you could possibly reach over and get me another blanket?" The woman leans out and, and with a glint in her eye says, "I have a better idea. Just for tonight let's pretend that we are married." The man , more than a little surprised at the turn of events but very agreeable to the idea winks and says, "OK, that sounds great!" The woman says "Good...get your own blanket"

Blue Star Quilt and other things

The quilt made by Susan as a raffle prize to raise funds for the CF Trust is currently receiving much attention and praise whilst it is on display at Angie's in Cheadle. You can see it also at: http://www.angiequilts.blogspot.co.uk/
The draw for the raffle will be made on 19 December, so if you need to buy some more tickets you'd better get your skates on! Good luck!

We had another meeting of SCCC this week. Chris and Viv Shelley and their friend Mike gave a great talk about sailing the Beneteau Oceanis, Big Blue, around the Western Isles of Scotland, and I realised immediately that Roger and I had sailed Blue Star right past their front door earlier this year, off Bute! Tom Cunliffe also starred in their presentation! They came across Tom whilst in Lochaline and went aboard his boat Constance and discussed Antares charts. The presentation included a photo of them all aboard Constance!

Jokes:
Quilting is where you take a number of pieces of lovely fabric and then cut them into pieces, and then sew them back together again. Susan makes a marvellous job of it.

Tom Cunliffe at the Gatehouse

We had a great evening last night when Tom Cunliffe gave a presentation to Stafford Coastal Crusing Club at the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford. This must have been Tom at his best, as we heard about the sailing pilot cutters and their crew of long ago, how they sailed their boats, how they lived and how they earned their crust! We also heard about some of Tom's tales in his life of sailing. After the talk many guests bought one of Tom's books, had it signed by the man himself, and had their photograph taken with Tom! Later, Tom and his wife Ros came to stay with Diane and I before driving home this morning to the New Forest.

Joke:
From a sailing cruise ship, everyone onboard spots a long bearded old man a way away who is yelling and wildly waving his curved arms like a crazy fool. “Who is that there?” one of the passengers asks the captain. The cruise ship captain replied, “Sorry, I never figured that out. For the past 10 years when we pass that tiny island, he seems to show off more and more.”

Tom in discussion with a member of SCCC

Tom and Ros before leaving this morning

Stafford Coastal Crusing Club

SCCC are hosting a visit of Yachting Monthly columnist and TV presenter Tom Cunliffe next week on the evening of 10 November. Tom's YM column to be hugely entertaining, witty and informative, so I'm expecting his presentation to SCCC to be equally enjoyable. His talk, 'what ship, where bound?', is partly a look back at the history of sailing craft and partly a recollection by Tom of his own sailing adventures. The event is being hosted at Stafford's Gatehouse Theatre which will comfortably accommodate more guests than SCCC's usual venue at Stafford Boat Club. Tickets for the event are available to the general public from the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford at £10 each, so do buy one! You won't be disappointed!

(....and if you would like to know more about SCCC just visit our website at www.staffordcoastalcruisingclub.org)

Joke:
Why did the motor boat sink when it was moored against the pontoon?
It gave in to pier pressure!

Radio Stoke

.....so last week a reporter from Radio Stoke (Emma) called round at my house to inteview me. The radio station had also arranged that the Blue Star project was part of the quiz ('What's the answer?' or should that be 'Watt's the answer?') on James Watt's programme later in the day. So far so good. The problem was that Emma was unable to get her radio to work properly and so my interview never went out live as intended. Unfortunately the Blue Star project still featured in James's quiz later in the day, but with the interview not having been broadcast first, anyone wanting to answer the question would have had to do some serious research themselves first! But someone did! Well done that man! Anyway, here is the quiz on James's show, which was broadcast first....

Quiz

and here is the interview with me, which was broadcast later!

Mike's interview with Emma

A visit to the lakes and lochs

Diane and I recently visited the boat in Greenock - I needed to take a number of things (clothes, quilts, pillows, curatins, foodstuff etc.) off the boat before the winter, as I hadn't been able to carry them all home when I had left the boat some weeks ago. A visit by car was needed. We stopped in the Lake District en route and also during our return to make a mini holiday of the visit, and we also spent a day circumnavigating Loch Lomond by car. The secenery was very beautiful, as expected!

Lady of the Lake on Ullswater

Diane on the foredeck of Maid of the Loch, on Loch Lomond

Joke:
What is the difference between the arabs living in Dubai and those in Abu Dhabi?
Answer:
The ones in Dubai don't like the Flintstones, but those in Abu Dhabi do!

Drum

When we stopped at Greenock marina my attention was immediately drawn to another yacht, Drum, berthed on the other side of the marina. I recalled the drama of an incident that she was involved in years ago.

Drum was originally built for Simon Le Bon, the lead singer with the pop group Duran Duran. Le Bon wanted to use the yacht to enter the Whitbread Round The World yacht race in 1985/86. As part of preparations for the race, Le Bon and crew took part in the 1985 Fastnet race – a 600 mile race from Cowes to the Fastnet rock off the southern tip of Ireland and back to the finish line at Plymouth. Unfortunately due to a design fault the keel fell of the yacht during the Fastnet race and the yacht promptly inverted, trapping Le Bon and the rest of the crew inside. By good fortune the crew of another boat, Carat, noticed the drama and raised the alarm, and the crew were saved by the RNLI and the help of a helicopter crew. The yacht was repaired within a month and was ready for the start of the Whitbread. Public interest in Britain was all the more because of the media reports concerning the Fastnet race incident, and because Drum was the only British maxi entered, and 10,000 spectator boats welcomed her return on the final leg in the Whitbread as she finished third overall!

Le Bon later sold Drum to Sir Arnold Clarke, owner of the automobile group. Clarke later loaned the boat back to Le Bon and his crew to enable them to compete in the 2005 Fastnet Race and complete ‘unfinished business’ whilst raising funds for the RNLI. Today Drum is based in Scottish waters and is also available for corporate charter.

Drum in Greenock marina

Drum's stern

Baldrick's Cunning Plan

When we stopped in Port Bannatyne a few weeks back Roger spotted a yacht being stored on the hard – Baldrick’s Cunning Plan. We all started laughing hysterically as we recalled episodes of Blackadder! I could not help but wonder whether the idea of buying a yacht to sail around Britain falls into the same class of plans?

‘As cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on and is now working for the UN at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning’

Joke

Baldrick and Blackadder discussing how the war began:

Private Baldrick:’ I heard it started when some fella called Archie Duke shot an ostrich ‘cos he was hungry’.

Captain Blackadder: ‘I think you mean it started when the Arch Duke of Austro-Hungary got shot’.

Private Baldrick: ‘No, there was definitely an ostrich involved’.

Baldick's Cunning Plan, as seen in Port Bannatyne

Would you believe it!!!

Something very amusing happened when we were sailing the Caledonian canal. It concerns fenders - the inflated plastic buffers that you dangle outside your boat to protect it from the wall or pontoon you are mooring against. The ones on Blue Star have blue covers on them, but you can see them in the photo below protecting the boat hull from the pontoon. The procedure is to hang them from the guard rails before you make you final approach to an alongside mooring or marina berth.

We had been warned about the holiday hire craft that would be using the Caledonian canal as well as us. You know, the ones where the holiday makers are given 10 mins instruction on how to use the craft before being sent on their way! Yes, the ones where the crew think they are driving a car, only they realise at the last moment that they don't have a brake! We had been warned to stay well clear of such craft, for our own benefit. Well, mostly we succeeded in doing so. On one occasion however, we were moored alongside the edge of the canal soon after arriving at Fort Augustus when the skipper of one such craft was trying to moor it just behind us. He came steaming in at a high rate of knots, without fenders, and smashed his boat several times against the quayside on the edge of the canal before finally coming to a standstill and tying his boat up. Rob mentioned to him that he had forgotten to use his fenders. 'Oh, I usually put those out once I've tied up' he said casually! LOL! :-)

Joke (as if you still need another laugh!):
Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Officer asks a young engineer fresh out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "And what starting salary are you looking for?" The engineer replies, "In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package." The interviewer inquires, "Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks vacation, 14 additional standard paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every two years, say, a red Corvette?" The engineer sits up straight and says, "Wow! Are you kidding?" The interviewer replies, "Yeah, but you started it."

An old man went to the Doctor complaining that his wife could barely hear. The Doctor suggested a test to find out the extent of the problem. “Stand far behind her and ask her a question, and then slowly move up and see how far away you are when she first responds.” The old man excited to finally be working on a solution for the problem, runs home and sees his wife preparing supper. ” Honey” the man asks standing around 20 feet away “whats for supper?” After receiving no response he tried it again 15 feet away, and again no response. Then again at 10 feet away and again no response. Finally he was 5 feet away “honey whats for supper?” She replies “For the fourth time it’s lasagna!”

Read more at:

An old man went to the Doctor complaining that his wife could barely hear. The Doctor suggested a test to find out the extent of the problem. “Stand far behind her and ask her a question, and then slowly move up and see how far away you are when she first responds.” The old man excited to finally be working on a solution for the problem, runs home and sees his wife preparing supper. ” Honey” the man asks standing around 20 feet away “whats for supper?” After receiving no response he tried it again 15 feet away, and again no response. Then again at 10 feet away and again no response. Finally he was 5 feet away “honey whats for supper?” She replies “For the fourth time it’s lasagna!”

Read more at:

Lochgoilhead to Greenock

We dropped our mooring line just before 0900 and motored away from Lochgoilhead bound for Greenock. There was little wind (again) and it was ‘on the nose’ (again), so motoring was the order of the day. Once more we passed Carrick castle and the MOD establishment as we made our way towards Greenock. The patrol boat was standing just off the MOD establishment to warn boats about getting too near. We kept to the off side of the channel and were left in peace. The sun shone, the sea was flat but the wind was cold. After a few hours several more yachts appeared, out for a weekend sail.  Shortly after 1230 we entered the marina at Greenock where we swabbed Blue Star’s decks and took off the sails in readiness for winter storage ashore. We also removed the CF charity banners from the deck guard wires - the yellow banners had bleached white since leaving Hythe in May! We will replace them with new ones next year before we resume our sailing. Blue Star will be lifted out of the water in a few weeks time. We have travelled 1051 miles since departing Hythe in May!

My blog posts will be less frequent over the winter, but I will try to post perhaps at least once a week to keep you interested! I do hope you enjoy reading the blog, and thank you for following us. We expect to resume our adventure in May next year, so do please continue to follow us!

Joke:

Mr Thick walks into a shoe store and tries on a pair of shoes. "How do they feel?" asks the sales assistant. "Well, they feel a bit tight," replies Mr Thick. The assistant promptly bends down and has a look at the shoes and the man’s feet. "Try pulling the tongue out," she says. “Nath, theyth sthill feelth a bith tighth,” the man replies.

Blue Star in Greenock being readied for winter storage ashore

Port Bannatyne to Lochgoilhead (a late posting)

Last night there was no internet connection available at Lochgoilhead, hence no blog post, but here is a late post:

Blog for 18 September

Last night we dined out at the Port Inn. It just happened to be the night when some live music was provided, so we were keen to experience what might be on offer. It turned out, as far as we could gather, that it was a night when anyone who could play anything was invited to turn up to strut their stuff! The dining room was only small and was full except for one table in the corner. A sad looking chap of later middle age came and sat down with a pint, then a middle aged woman, then slowly more and more musical instruments and artists turned up and somehow were squeezed into the room. Just when we were sure it was full more musical instruments turned up – electronic kit, guitars, and more. The woman began singing, and frankly we decided that she couldn’t. The sad chap sitting next to her looked even more sad. Next some guitars joined in the entertainment, and the woman started on the next song with support from one of the chaps. We decided enough was enough and left. I must say that the people there were very friendly, and I don’t want to be unduly unkind to them; maybe their music just wasn’t our scene.

This morning was another fine summer’s day, albeit without wind so we motored into the Clyde and on into Loch Long and then into Loch Goil. We passed a government defence establishment rumoured to be where armaments are loaded onto submarines. The jetty was fenced off by a substantial wire/metal fence with several lookout towers positioned around the perimeter. Clearly outsiders were not welcome!

We motored on into Loch Goil, past Carrick castle and on to Lochgoilhead at the end of the loch, where we picked up a mooring buoy for the night (free). We pumped up the inflatable dinghy and mounted the outboard motor on it. It is a palaver but it is fun. Roger, Jean-Francois and Joan went in the first reconnaissance party and returned having had an ice-cream. I took part in the second visit ashore to the pub for a pre-dinner drink whilst Joan prepared the dinner. A lovely day.

Joke:

Nurse: "The invisible man is here for his appointment."
Doctor: "Tell him I'm sorry I can't see him right now."

Port Bannatyne

Looking out to sea from Port Bannatyne

Looking out from Lochgoilhead to where Blue Star is on a mooring

Tarbert to Port Bannatyne

Today we pottered. We left Tarbert bound for Portovadie for coffee! Portovadie is just opposite Tarbert, on the other side of Loch Fyne. There was little wind and plenty of sun so we motored. Portovadie is a basin originally carved out of the land to enable a facility to be constructed where offshore platforms would be built. Alas the construction never took place and so the basin was converted to a marina. It lies well away from any town and consists of ultra modern buildings, holiday flats, café and restaurant, gymnasium and outdoor sun terrace. It was an absolutely brilliant place to call in at for coffee, and we were not charged for our stay! Furthermore, the place was all but deserted with very few other people around! We took coffee on the terrace and marvelled at the state of the art facilities. Definitely amongst the best around. After coffee we motored out of the marina and around into West Kyle of Bute, leaving the Isle of Arran to starboard. We motored up the Kyle in the sun and picked up a mooring buoy off Kames and had a picnic lunch in the cockpit. After lunch we motored further up the Kyle and turned right into the East Kyle where we sailed for a short while until the wind gave up; the engine came back on again and we motored to Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute, a small marina behind a breakwater a few miles north of Rothesay.

Joke:

Two blokes in a pub on the Isle of Bute, one says to the other “Your round”. The other says “So are you, ya wee fat bastard”.

Early morning mist in Tarbert

Portovadie

Through the Crinan canal and on to Tarbert

A good day today started with bacon rolls outside the café at Crinan. A baker walked past with a tray of scones. I told him they looked good and he told me to take one! So then we had to buy three more for the other crew members too! Passing through the canal was interesting. It is much narrower than the Caledonian canal, much more like the Trent and Mersey! There were lots of locks all with staff to operate them, but it was still tiring for the crew of Blue Star, holding and pulling and throwing lines. We finally exited the canal and motored down Loch Fyne to Tarbert. There was not enough wind to sail, but for most of the day the rain held off and the sun showed itself frequently!

Joke:

A tramp knocks on the door of an inn known as St. George and the Dragon. The landlady answers. “Could you give a poor man something to eat?” asks the tramp.

“No!” yells the woman, slamming the door in his face. A few minutes later, he knocks again. “Now what do you want?” the woman asks.

“Could I have a few words with George?”

Passing through the canal, Roger helming.

Jean-Francois and Joan prepare lines in one of the locks

Tarbert

On to the Crinan canal

Today we continued our journey towards Greenock where Blue Star is being stored during the winter, before we continue our voyage sailing northwards ‘over the top’ of Scotland. Today started rather grey, dull and damp with a cold breeze. Long Johns were drafted into service. We motored the first few miles out of Dunstaffnage then unfurled the headsail and sailed, later with full main too. We took a route south of the island of Kerrera, past Oban and onwards through the Firth of Lorn, weaving our way through many small islands and rocky islets. The scenery was magnificent as on the previous day – rocky headlands and grassed hills, all very remote and desolate in many cases. Here and there a single remote dwelling, and then in other places a small village at the seafront. We passed through the Sound of Luing with the islands of Lunga and Scarba on our starboard before passing the Gulf of Corryvreckan, famed for its whirlpool phenomena; there seemed to be several small whirlpools as we passed through under mainsail and engine, our speed through the water being 8 knots and speed over the ground only 1.5 knots at one point! Eventually we crossed the Sound of Jura, the island of Jura to starboard, and we reached Crinan and the entrance to the Crinan canal, which is very picturesque. The staff at the canal were very kind and gave us a reduced transit fee because of our charity fund raising efforts.

Today I reflected on things that have ‘gone wrong’ during the last few weeks. We have experienced: a scratched hull incurred during berthing in high winds at Peterhead, a broken door catch in the fore-cabin, a charred cooker lid in the galley, a damaged stanchion on starboard deck incurred in a lock during our passage of the Caledonian canal, a broken cabin light bulb which we are finding it difficult to find a spare for, and yesterday we discovered that we had lost one of our fenders. Today our electronic navigation system appeared to have gone ‘on the blink’, showing our boat orientation at about 90 degrees to its actual one; eventually we tracked the cause down to my having placed my ipod player too close to our electronic compass! All part of ‘the challenge’!

Joke:
A farmer in the field with his cows counted 196 of them, but when he rounded them up he had 200.

Entering the sea lock at Crinan

Safely tied up in the canal

Loch Linnhe and Dunstaffnage

A great day of sailing: out of the Caledonian canal at Fort William and a down wind sail, under headsail alone, in Loch Linnhe as the sun rose (albeit with a cold following wind). We drank tea and coffee and ate our picnic lunch in the cockpit as we sailed down the loch through Corran Narrows and south of Lismore Island into the Lynn of Lorn amongst the mountains, forests, green hills and remote villages. We ended the day with a berth at Dunstaffnage marina to the east of, and opposite, the Isle of Mull where we were granted a reduced fee (thank you Dunstaffnage marina!) because of our work for the CF Trust.

Joke:

Two people are out sailing when suddenly a hand appears in the sea.
"What's this?" asked the skipper, "It looks as if someone is drowning!"
"No," explained his crew, "It's just a little wave."

Corpach - the end of the canal

Today we said goodbye to Diane and to Madeline and Rob. I helped Diane to take her bags to the station and waved her goodbye as she boarded the train to Glasgow with Madeline and Rob. I felt very sad to see her go, but pleased to have the company of new crewmates, Jean-Francois and Joan.

We booked our time with the lock-keeper for descending the famous ‘Neptune’s Staircase’ of eight locks that let us down almost to sea level at Corpach on the west end of the canal. The rain started as we slipped our lines at the top end of the staircase and persisted all the way down until we tied up at Corpach. There were lots of tourists watching our descent, many from America and Canada, and several asked about our boat, our charity and our project, which was gratifying.

Joke:
 A Scotsman was heading out to the pub? He turned to his wee wife before leaving and said, 'Jackie - put your hat and coat on lassie.'
She replied, 'Awe Iain that's nice - are you taking me to the pub with you?'
'Nah, I'm just switching the central heating off while I'm oot.'

Moored at Bonavie, at the top of Neptune's Staircase

Looking down the flight of locks that make up Neptune's Staircase

Diane catching the train to Glasgow with Madeline and Rob

Caledonian Canal

OK, so there haven’t been any posts recently. Sorry about that but my laptop ran out of power and we have not been able to moor anywhere where I could charge it up!

We stocked up on groceries once more then departed Inverness marina and motored round to the sea lock where we entered the Caledonian canal. All together we passed through 7 locks with Rob and Roger doing all of the mooring line work whilst I helmed the boat. Madeline and Diane monitored operations and produced food and drinks. The day culminated in a sunny afternoon as we sailed across Loch Ness to Fort Augustus where we arrived in near darkness at about 2030. The scenery we saw was very impressive.

The next few days saw us pass through canal sections linking Loch Oich and Loch Lochy and finally arriving at the top of Neptune’s Staircase. A series of eight locks that enable us to descend almost to sea level. Glorious scenery – mountains, lakes, forests, and small villages have been the ‘norm’ for the last few days.

The next few days will see us return to the sea, although bad weather is forecast.

Joke:

"How's the flat you're living in in London, Jock?" asks his mother when he calls home to Aberdeen.
"It's okay," he replies, "but the woman next door keeps screaming and crying all night and the guy on the other side keeps banging his head on the wall."
"Never you mind," says his mother, "don't you let them get to you, just ignore them."
"Aye, that I do," he says, "I just keep playing my bagpipes."

Loch Oich

On to Inverness

OK, so this is a late posting for yesterday when we left Whitehills at 0815 and motored the remaining length of the Moray Firth to reach Inverness around 0715. England v Switzerland was due to start at 0745 so that was quite convenient! The journey to Inverness revealed some of the beauty of the coastline in this part of the country – green hills, cliffs, sand coves and beaches, and lots of little villages that nestle on the coastline. The weather proved to be very variable; it started off cloudy but by lunchtime summer had arrived and we all put on sun cream and took off layers of clothing. By late afternoon the sun had gone and misty clouds replaced it so we all put on more layers of clothing once more! Diane and Madeline arrived to join the crew later in the evening.

Joke:
 At an art auction in Edinburgh, Scotland, a wealthy American lost his wallet containing £20,000 [$45,000].  He announced to the gathering that that he would give a reward of £200 to the person who found it.
From the back of the hall a Scottish voice shouted, 'I'll give £250.'

Approaching Inverness, with low clouds and mist shrouding the lovely coastline

To Whitehills

Some harbours have been brilliant in their support for our fund-raising efforts, and some not so. We had a big discount on our berthing fees at Eyemouth, and at Arbroath, and when we entered Whitehills harbour late this afternoon the harbour master said immediately that he could see we were sailing for charity and so the charge would be zero! It is so gratifying to get such support! Sadly, when we left Peterhead this morning the marina there ‘couldn’t do anything for us’. Hmmph!

We left Peterhead in a rather choppy sea as we rounded Rattray Head about 3 miles offshore to stay away from the worst of the over-falls, It was still a very uncomfortable sea though, lots of small but near vertical waves coming at all sorts of angles and the boat just wallowed along slowly inching its way around the Head. Once past Fraserborough things began to improve though and we started to enjoy more of the Moray Firth coastline which is very similar to that of North Wales – green vegetation on hilltops leading to rocky cliffs and small villages at the water’s edge. We put in to Whitehills, and very pretty harbour, at about 1800 and dined out at the local pub for a change. Tomorrow Inverness beckons.

Today's joke:

 Late one foggy night two boaters collide head on while trying to navigate a narrow inlet channel. Both their boats were damaged, disabled and slowly sinking.

As they each watched their boats slowly slip away beneath them, the first boater said " You know, this is a sign that we should never take life for granted and that we should live it to the fullest".

"You are right," said the other boater as he opened a cooler and pulled out a bottle of bourbon whisky. Let's drink to living well for the rest of our lives.

The first boater took the bottle and, after a big swig, handed it back to the other boater who in turn quickly threw it into the river.

More than a little surprised the first boater exclaimed " You didn't take a drink!?"

"Naw", said the other boater "I think I'll just wait for the Coast Guard to show up."

Rob looks on, with Moray Firth coastline in the background

Blue Star in Whitehills harbour

Another day in Peterhead

We were still waiting for some decent weather that might permit us to get around Rattray Head and on towards Inverness. It didn't happen today, but we are hopeful for tomorrow and have a planned departure time of 0900. Today we did our laundry (2 hours for the washer at the local caravan site laundry to complete its cycle, and another hour for the tumble-dryer!). We did a little more shopping, cleaned the boat, and searched the weather forecasts for hopeful signs! Rob cooked lunch (pancakes) and dinner (toad in the hole); well done Rob, it was delicious.

Today's joke:
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Clothes?
Clothes who?
Clothes the window and open this door!

Today's lunch

Today's dinner

A day in Peterhead

The weather was rubbish today, again. Jan went home and decided he’d finished with sailing. The rest of us walked into Peterhead and had a coffee before replenishing grocery supplies. We enquired about diesel – not available until Monday morning (the harbour master seemed a bit vague about whether the bank holiday on Monday would make a difference, although he said it wouldn’t. Still, we thought maybe we had enough to sail for Whitehills anyway. Then I decided to do some laundry and discovered that the laundry is closed until Monday too – again it might be Tuesday because of the bank holiday. Oh well, I’ve still got some clean clothes left. But I did want to wash my towel – the one that Jan rescued from the sea before he left, after I’d pegged it out to dry. We check the weather forecasts on various websites on a regular basis throughout the day, searching for a sign of hope! It seems to be coming, but not until Monday. Ah well, maybe I can find a laundry that is open tomorrow?

Today’s joke:

Spouse #1: Honey, this coffee tastes like dirt.

Spouse #2: That's not surprising, dear, it was just ground this morning.

The evolving weather forecast followed by the crew

Arbroath to Peterhead

We thought we might have been suff'rin' from 'arbour fever! 'arbour fever rots men and boats and we had been in Arbroath for so long, or so it seemed. And we were all a bit fed up with sharing the one (disabled) shower/toilet where the shower head won't stay up, so you have to hold it yourself or put up with it spraying just your tummy! (I must make clear at this point that we weren't sharing it at the same time!). You can bend down if you want your head showered too! So you can see it was time to move on. But was the weather suitable?

We departed Arbroath at 0730 after having to track down the harbour master to get back our deposit on our marina key fob! It was an irritating delay when we really needed to get on. We exited the marina to a reasonably flat sea and fair winds, but during the course of the day we saw large waves appear and then fade away, and winds varying from 5 knots to about 25 knots. Mostly the rain stayed away, and we made good progress motor-sailing with double reefed mainsail……until the last few hours into Peterhead, just after we passed Bram Stoker's 'castle' on the cliff. Was that symbolic? The wind whipped up, the seas built, and then wind was dead on the nose so we dropped the main and continued under engine alone. The rain blew horizontally and was painful as it hit our eyes and faces. The mist rolled in and visibility decreased to only a few hundred yards, and the large waves and wind did their best to halt our progress. Speed was down to only 3 knots despite increased engine revs, as we worked our way finally into Peterhead harbour where we were mightily relieved to enter calmer water.

During the day the catch on Rob’s door somehow got broken (HHmmm) and also the chef left the cover partly over the cooker and burnt the cover whilst cooking! (The fire alarm had gone off earlier in the day and we couldn’t work out why).

More bad weather is forecast for tomorrow!

Joke of the day:

There were three men out sailing, when it began to storm. Their boat was wrecked by the storm, and washed up on a deserted Island. They started to walk along the beach and found a bottle. They picked it up and began rubbing the sand off, when all of a sudden, a genie popped out. The Genie said "Since you have released me from the bottle, I will grant each of you one wish.” The first man said, "I really miss my wife and grandchildren. I wish I were back home." Poof! He was gone. The second man said, "This is great! I wish I were in Hawaii on the beach, with a good hot meal to eat." Poof! He was gone, too! The third man looked around and said, "You know, it's lonely around here, I really miss those guys."

Roger doing battle with the elements

Trying to find Peterhead harbour in the murk!

The door catch that 'came away' off Rob's cabin door. Hmmm. Robbb???

Who was the chef who did this? Lets see now - it wasn't me, it wasn't Roger, it wasn't Jan....that leaves....err, hhmmm, errr....

Still waiting in Arbroath

We waited again for the worst of the weather to pass, but tomorrow there appears to be a bit of a weather window, when the wind isn't quite so strong, and the sea not quite so wild. So the decision has been taken. Tomorrow at 0700 it is 'all systems go' and we shall depart Arbroath bound for Peterhead. The wind is supposed to become a westerly, so if the sea stays flatish it just might be a good sail! We are just a bit aprehensive about the sea state getting worse as we approach Peterhead just off the headland, Rattray Head. We shall see. It should take about 12-14 hours to complete the 65 miles.

Today was Merchant Navy Day and we attended the Red Ensign flag raising ceremony being held at the Bell Tower museum. Anyone who is anyone was there of course. Yes, that includes us. Then we took a short train ride to Dundee where we visited the Discovery museum. We saw several short films about Captain Scott's expeditions to Antarctica and toured his ship. We all agreed that we wouldn't have wanted to sail to Antarctica on Discovery; she seemed very basic compared to today's standards. She has an open bridge, and we definitley didn't fancy keeping watch there on a cold night! Next we took a taxi to the obervatory where we had to walk the last 10 minutes up a steep hill to find that it was closed! We walked back to the train station and returned to Blue Star.

Todays Quiz Question: The capatin of the Discovery was RF Scott, but what to do the intials R and F stand for?

Today's Joke: After announcing he's getting married, a boy from Arbroath tells his pal he'll be wearing the kilt. "And what's the tartan?" asks his mate. "Oh, she'll be wearing a white dress," he replies. 

Merchant Navy day at the Bell Tower museum

Raising the flag

Scott's ship 'Discovery'

Another day in Arbroath

The forecast was for rough seas, so we decided to stay another day in Arbroath. Tomorrow looks the same, so Jan went home (a 45 minute bus ride) and we will ring him when we decide we can sail. The rest of us went once more for a coffee in town, and had an Arbroath Smokie lunch. In the afternoon Rob and I visited the Bell Tower museum. The building was originally constructed to house lighthouse crews for the Bell Rock lighthouse, and to signal to the lighthouse. If all was well the lighthouse would raise a ball on its tower, and the land station would do similar to its ball. In the event of the lighthouse not raising its ball a boat would be sent immediately to provide help. For on-duty lighthouse men whose wives gave birth, trousers or a dress would be flown from the land station to indicate the sex of the newborn! Rob and I could just about see the Bell Rock lightnouse - a small speck on the horizon; goodness knows how they managed to identify a pair of trousers! They must have had very good telescopes!

(P.S. How do lighthouse keepers communicate? Answer: Shine language! :-?)

The Bell Tower museum

The Bell Tower museum setting - note also the leading lights for the harbour, one on a tall mast to the right, and a lower one to the left.

A day in Arbroath

We thought we might have left on the early morning high water around 0600. Bruce, the marina manager, who controls the gates that keep the water in the marina when the tide outside falls said he didn’t work that early so wouldn’t be opening the gates. That left us with the option of leaving on the afternoon high water. We thought we might comfortably make it to Stonehaven, so I telephoned ahead to Stonehaven's harbour master to make arrangements. ‘Ooohh! The water’s flat here at the moment, but a Force 6 is expected and it’ll soon pick the sea up; you won’t want to sail in that! Even if you did make it’ he continued ‘ if you were in the harbour you’d probably ground at low water with these spring tides’. ‘Great’ we thought. So with encouragement like that we decided not to sail and had a day in Arbroath. We walked into town for a coffee, we bought Arbroath Smokies for lunch, went grocery shopping, and Rob made some flapjacks. We gazed out from the marina at the flat sea and windless atmosphere and wondered why we hadn’t sailed. Roger arrived on the early evening train and we dined on Rob’s pasta bake.

Tomorrow is another day.

Jan and I eat our Arbroath Smokies

Eyemouth to Arbroath

We were a crew of three this morning – Jan and Rob joining me on board Blue Star, Roger being unable to travel north until a few days later. We were anxious to make some progress whilst the weather was good, and Diane and Madeline were hoping to meet us in Inverness by the following weekend.

Several things occupied my thoughts as I walked back from the shower block in Eyemouth this morning: 1) how best to turn the boat around ‘on a sixpence’ in the narrow confines of the upper harbour, the width made all the narrower by several ‘layers’ of boats rafted up on each side; 2) the need to leave the harbour on time, before the tide had fallen leaving only a brook which would be no use for navigating a 37ft yacht down – I couldn’t help noticing that one of the big fishing boats was already aground and leaning at an awkward angle against the harbour wall, and 3) the need to avoid the multiple rocks just outside the harbour entrance, many of them just below the water surface. Fortunately we managed to tick all three boxes and soon found ourselves with sails hoisted pointing in the direction of Arbroath. However, it soon became clear that the wind was coming from the wrong direction and we realised we had to roll away the headsail – we started to do so when the furling line jammed and we were faced with a sail that was trying to flog itself to death. Jan went forward and worked some magic and soon the sail was furled away and we were motor-sailing with just mainsail raised. Later in the day we dropped the mainsail and motored for a while before the wind returned from the east and were able to sail well at over 7 knots. By mid-afternoon however, whilst the sun had come out, the wind disappeared once more and we completed our journey to Arbroath under sail.

During the trip we had noted what looked like an iceberg over to port – it was Bass Rock, completed cover in guano! There was also Bell Tower, a lighthouse built on a rock that otherwise loomed just below the water surface in the middle of the sea some 10 miles or so offshore. Rob made bacon butties for breakfast, and a sandwich lunch, and the sun had made a good appearance during the day whilst the sea had stayed reasonable flat. An enjoyable day!

Several forecasts for the next few days are rather gloomy though, so we shall see.

Jan looks out at the 'iceberg' seen on the horizon

Arbroath seen from our marina berth