Concerto
Well-known member
What a day. I doubt I will ever forget this one.
Alarm set for 5.30 and when I looked outsidein Whitehills, the large boats on each end of the pontoon had already left. This made my leaving a much easier job. Slipped from the berth at 6.30 and headed out to clear the land and rocks. After putting away all the fenders and ropes, with the shipping forecast saying S going W 5 to 7 and the breeze felt quite strong, I decided to start with a reef in both sails. I was quite happy with 5.3 knots and hoped as I left the shore I would get a little more wind. It was a dreary grey day and seemed little chance of the sun breaking through
Just over half an hour later the wind dropped and I was doing 3.5 knots, so shook out both reefs. For the next couple of hours it was sail reasonably well, wind drops and engine goes on for 10 minutes, and repeat and repeat. By 9am the wind had risen further and I had to reef the mainsail and I was making close to 7 knots on a beam reach. Later I had to shake the reef out as the wind eased. By 11 the wind had not only eased but radically changed direction to N from SW. Where did that come from? I was about 15 miles from the nearest land. This made my course impossible to keep on 330, so on went the engine yet again, so I furled the genoa away.
15 minutes later the wind returned from the original direction, so off went the engine and I was sailing at 7½ knots. By 12.15 I had to make a course change as I had passed south of a very large windfarm and now heading due north for Wick. Now the fun started. Progressively the wind increased, so a reef in the main, then a reef in the genoa. As it got stronger there were big rollers coming from the Inverness direction. And it got more windy, so reefed the genoa again. Then I tried turning onto a broad reach and the speed kept increasing I started seeing numbers in the high 7's and shortly the low 8's. This is getting silly, so decided to reef the main again. This rig is fine for a force 7. Others in Wick later confirmed they saw windspeeds for a force 8.
Those rollers were getting bigger with white caps almost on every wave and the peak to trough was about 1½ metres, but some were about 2 metres. Some of the rollers were breaking and one big one broke on to the side deck. The autopilot was beginning to struggle so I put a 3rd reef in the genoa, never done that before. It was now about a third of it full area. This did not make any real difference as I was still overcanvased. The only thing left was to drop the mainsail.
This still proved to be too much for the autopilot and she kept turning into wind and kept going on to the other tack, the genoa backed and she became stable. This made the main easy to drop but the autopilot was beeping madly. It showed the course had changed by over 51 degrees which was outside its control range. I grabbed the tiller and disengaged the autopilot and continued to turn and gybe the bit of genoa back to catch the wind. From now for the next 4 hours I had to hand steer as the conditions were getting worse. So, no lunch today. I headed towards the cliff lined shore hoping to get a little respite, but even a mile from the cliffs gave little change. It was a very rough ride. I was still doing between 5 and 6 knots with such a small piece of sail out.
As I closed the shore the water was teeming with sea birds, thousands and thousands. Some gulls were gliding on the wind and spotting food in the water and grabbing it, other gulls were just sitting in the water, but the guillemots were the most amusing. Groups would be close to my course, so some decided to just dive under the surface but others would take off. They tried flying into wind and stayed static or went backwards. I was a bit naughty as I tried closing in on groups of guillemots to see them struggle to fly.
Eventually I closed to about a quarter of a mile from the cliffs and things did get a little easier. Then I started seeing some fishing floats and had to dodge several. When I was about a mile from Wick, I started the engine but left it out of gear. Great, I can finally engage the autopilot again, but somehow it had lost its compass sense and was reading 180 degrees out and would not hold a course. So using my TillerMate corded system I kept the boat roughly on course. After furling the last of the genoa away, the boat seemed quite stable. Entering a strange harbour in strong winds is not fun, but to try it singlehanded can be a nightmare. So I rigged fenders and warps on both sides to be able just pull into any berth.
As I approached the harbour entrance I called up the harbour on VHF, but they failed to respond, this happened 4 times. In I go with my Cruising Association advice of where visitors should berth and pick a finger berth almost head into wind. I was going to moor port side to as there was a large boat that should shelter me from some wind. Just as I was going to moor to the pontoon, the bow blew off. Eak. Dash back to the cockpit and steer to port and a burst of power. I was blown sideways to moor on the starboard side. Being prepared saved the day as no damage done thankfully or so I thought. Then someone on the boat on the otherside of the finger came on deck. So had a chat, then stripped off my oilskins and went to find the harbour office. Get in there at 10 to 5 and told they were just going to close. With the forecast nasty for the weekend I paid up until Monday.
I was shown where the shower block was and I asked where the chandlers was. It was just around the corner, but she did not know if it opened on a Saturday. I need a new inlet pipe for the toilet as it has a small hole that is dripping. Today I noticed both of my boots were showing signs of perishing, one has a short split. In the window it says they are open in the morning till 1, phew.
After checking out the shower block, I went back to the boat. I noticed the port side mooring line was in the water. Went to retrieve it and up came a bunch of tight curls in the rope and a severed untwisting end. Oh sh*t, the mooring rope I had dropped had caught the propeller. The other end seemed to be stuck fast on the propeller, but the genoa winch soon pulled it free. So I now need an extra 30m mooring line, and need to trim and bind the ends of the good bits of cut rope. On the plus side, the rope cutter worked.
So, now you know why it will be a day to remember. The distance is about 50 miles and it took 9½ hours from berth to berth.
A grey day at 7.30
The sun is trying to burn through the grey at 8.
Interesting cloud formation and lighting as the sun was behind me at 8.55.
Concerto and another Fulmar making the Sigma the filling in a Fulmar sandwich in Wick.
The dog leg was to avoid sailing through a large windfarm.
For those reading this post and would like to read from the start, this is the first report of this trip.
Round Britian day 1
Alarm set for 5.30 and when I looked outsidein Whitehills, the large boats on each end of the pontoon had already left. This made my leaving a much easier job. Slipped from the berth at 6.30 and headed out to clear the land and rocks. After putting away all the fenders and ropes, with the shipping forecast saying S going W 5 to 7 and the breeze felt quite strong, I decided to start with a reef in both sails. I was quite happy with 5.3 knots and hoped as I left the shore I would get a little more wind. It was a dreary grey day and seemed little chance of the sun breaking through
Just over half an hour later the wind dropped and I was doing 3.5 knots, so shook out both reefs. For the next couple of hours it was sail reasonably well, wind drops and engine goes on for 10 minutes, and repeat and repeat. By 9am the wind had risen further and I had to reef the mainsail and I was making close to 7 knots on a beam reach. Later I had to shake the reef out as the wind eased. By 11 the wind had not only eased but radically changed direction to N from SW. Where did that come from? I was about 15 miles from the nearest land. This made my course impossible to keep on 330, so on went the engine yet again, so I furled the genoa away.
15 minutes later the wind returned from the original direction, so off went the engine and I was sailing at 7½ knots. By 12.15 I had to make a course change as I had passed south of a very large windfarm and now heading due north for Wick. Now the fun started. Progressively the wind increased, so a reef in the main, then a reef in the genoa. As it got stronger there were big rollers coming from the Inverness direction. And it got more windy, so reefed the genoa again. Then I tried turning onto a broad reach and the speed kept increasing I started seeing numbers in the high 7's and shortly the low 8's. This is getting silly, so decided to reef the main again. This rig is fine for a force 7. Others in Wick later confirmed they saw windspeeds for a force 8.
Those rollers were getting bigger with white caps almost on every wave and the peak to trough was about 1½ metres, but some were about 2 metres. Some of the rollers were breaking and one big one broke on to the side deck. The autopilot was beginning to struggle so I put a 3rd reef in the genoa, never done that before. It was now about a third of it full area. This did not make any real difference as I was still overcanvased. The only thing left was to drop the mainsail.
This still proved to be too much for the autopilot and she kept turning into wind and kept going on to the other tack, the genoa backed and she became stable. This made the main easy to drop but the autopilot was beeping madly. It showed the course had changed by over 51 degrees which was outside its control range. I grabbed the tiller and disengaged the autopilot and continued to turn and gybe the bit of genoa back to catch the wind. From now for the next 4 hours I had to hand steer as the conditions were getting worse. So, no lunch today. I headed towards the cliff lined shore hoping to get a little respite, but even a mile from the cliffs gave little change. It was a very rough ride. I was still doing between 5 and 6 knots with such a small piece of sail out.
As I closed the shore the water was teeming with sea birds, thousands and thousands. Some gulls were gliding on the wind and spotting food in the water and grabbing it, other gulls were just sitting in the water, but the guillemots were the most amusing. Groups would be close to my course, so some decided to just dive under the surface but others would take off. They tried flying into wind and stayed static or went backwards. I was a bit naughty as I tried closing in on groups of guillemots to see them struggle to fly.
Eventually I closed to about a quarter of a mile from the cliffs and things did get a little easier. Then I started seeing some fishing floats and had to dodge several. When I was about a mile from Wick, I started the engine but left it out of gear. Great, I can finally engage the autopilot again, but somehow it had lost its compass sense and was reading 180 degrees out and would not hold a course. So using my TillerMate corded system I kept the boat roughly on course. After furling the last of the genoa away, the boat seemed quite stable. Entering a strange harbour in strong winds is not fun, but to try it singlehanded can be a nightmare. So I rigged fenders and warps on both sides to be able just pull into any berth.
As I approached the harbour entrance I called up the harbour on VHF, but they failed to respond, this happened 4 times. In I go with my Cruising Association advice of where visitors should berth and pick a finger berth almost head into wind. I was going to moor port side to as there was a large boat that should shelter me from some wind. Just as I was going to moor to the pontoon, the bow blew off. Eak. Dash back to the cockpit and steer to port and a burst of power. I was blown sideways to moor on the starboard side. Being prepared saved the day as no damage done thankfully or so I thought. Then someone on the boat on the otherside of the finger came on deck. So had a chat, then stripped off my oilskins and went to find the harbour office. Get in there at 10 to 5 and told they were just going to close. With the forecast nasty for the weekend I paid up until Monday.
I was shown where the shower block was and I asked where the chandlers was. It was just around the corner, but she did not know if it opened on a Saturday. I need a new inlet pipe for the toilet as it has a small hole that is dripping. Today I noticed both of my boots were showing signs of perishing, one has a short split. In the window it says they are open in the morning till 1, phew.
After checking out the shower block, I went back to the boat. I noticed the port side mooring line was in the water. Went to retrieve it and up came a bunch of tight curls in the rope and a severed untwisting end. Oh sh*t, the mooring rope I had dropped had caught the propeller. The other end seemed to be stuck fast on the propeller, but the genoa winch soon pulled it free. So I now need an extra 30m mooring line, and need to trim and bind the ends of the good bits of cut rope. On the plus side, the rope cutter worked.
So, now you know why it will be a day to remember. The distance is about 50 miles and it took 9½ hours from berth to berth.
A grey day at 7.30
The sun is trying to burn through the grey at 8.
Interesting cloud formation and lighting as the sun was behind me at 8.55.
Concerto and another Fulmar making the Sigma the filling in a Fulmar sandwich in Wick.
The dog leg was to avoid sailing through a large windfarm.
For those reading this post and would like to read from the start, this is the first report of this trip.
Round Britian day 1
