Wednesday 25 May. Whitehills to Peterhead. 40 nm

Another grey and drizzling 0400 start. However at least the wind being from the south meant we had flat water to exit the narrow passage from the harbour and we could put the sails up in relatively flat water. All was going well despite the grey and drizzle. We had one reef in the main and headsail and were going quickly 7-8 knots with the tide. Until we started to turn the corner out of the Moray Firth and started to go south. Tide with us, wind against us, we had no choice but to beat into the massive grey sea of the North Sea. Helming in those conditions is not fun . Tacking through the waves and everything flying about like in a washing machine. Horrid. At one point my phone which is in a waterproof pouch and sits in a secure place on the cockpit shelf launched itself up in the air flew against the heads door and ended up at the bottom of the stairs. Amazingly it still works! We phoned the HM so they would expect us but didn’t realise that the port authority is a separate entity. We got severely reprimanded on the radio for not asking for permission to enter the port. Which apparently we should have done when we were 2 miles away. ☹️ wouldn’t have been able to hear ourselves speak at that point! Once we arrived however all was well and The friendly HM there to meet us. Two engineers then arrived to fit our water pressure tank, which hadn’t actually arrived yet…..but Jon had picked it up and it was on its way! Fortunately they had sent a small nimble engineer who fitted into the small locker where the thing is situated. All sorted now and we have water pressure again without the dreadful noise it was making. The cockpit tent went up with its new bolts so a few things fixed! I hung up my sock drier with great excitement, with all the wet gloves and hats. The evening sun makes it all look peaceful and calm………🌅

What I learned today……..to fear port authorities 🥺

Sue x

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