Category: UK

I had planned to leave around 2300 at high tide. Since the entire area around the harbor was full of lobster pots (lobster traps anchored to the seabed that are marked by buoys attached to lines, which in turn wrap themselves wonderfully around a boat’s propeller, keel, or rudder), I thought it might perhaps be better to still have some daylight for the first hour. The harbor master grinned and said that the buoys get pulled underwater by the current anyway and are barely visible. Besides, other than what I’d assumed, there’s no slack water here at high tide. So it didn’t really matter either way, but I set off at 2200 anyway, just to have a bit of twilight as a sort of alibi to put my mind at ease.

Continue reading “Isles of Scilly”

The Mull of Kintyre doesn’t have a very good reputation. There’s even a canal to avoid having to sail along its outer edge. We’d had enough of canals and locks, and since the weather didn’t look like it would cause any serious problems, we set off toward Belfast, sailing right past the Mull.
The plan was to time the tide and our journey so that we’d arrive at slack tide, and then ride with the current south through the North Channel.

Continue reading “Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland”

We weighed anchor under sail and sped through the southern Sound of Jura toward Islay, carried by the tide and a strong wind. Off Port Ellen, the tide had turned and the wind was coming straight from the front, so we were hardly making any progress over the last few miles to the harbor. As always docking was an adventure in the strong wind, and it didn’t work out until the third try and while backing off another berth—even though we were trying to steer straight astern—Amy decided to make a large circle right onto our assigned finger dock. How nice.

Continue reading “Port Ellen, Islay”

I haven’t written in a long time. We’ve been sailing a lot; I’ve been worrying a lot about the weather and other things, planning our routes based on the weather and tides, and besides, Zissi and I also wanted to spend some time together and go on shore excursions. So the blog had to wait, but here it is:

Continue reading “Jura”

The next day, cast off with the tide and sailed the 30 nautical miles to Oban. I hadn’t expected it, but we were able to sail the entire way beautifully. The Corran rapids were relatively unspectacular thanks to the wind direction, and we flew through them without the nasty waves. We even passed another sailboat—something that almost never happens. Just before Oban, a small dolphin came for a brief visit, but then changed its mind.

Continue reading “Oban”

We’re sailing on Loch Ness toward Fort Augustus. The sunshine is beautiful. I just cut my hair on the foredeck, and I still have a little time to write a blog post before we get ready to dock. Yesterday we set out early from Inverness.

Continue reading “Caledonian Canal”

The wind just wouldn’t shift, and after a storm in Peterhead—during which one pontoon (of he one where Amy was moored of course) had started to break off and could only be saved with chains, winches, and a combined effort (in the end, even the welders from the big harbor showed up), it was clear to me that if I had to sail, motor, or do whatever to propel ourselves against the wind, I wanted to wait for a period of light winds. It finally arrived on Tuesday evening. Until then, it had basically been raining nonstop. I went into town a few more times, made some errands, and set sail around 8 p.m.—in the rain and, as it turned out, thick fog. Not very pleasant, but what can you do. Overnight, the weather cleared up a bit and it stopped raining.

Continue reading “Inverness”

Since then, I’ve met some nice new people here, removed the window, resealed it, and reinstalled it; dismantled the pulpit and patched up all the holes; and completely caulked the vent so that, while it no longer provides ventilation, at least it doesn’t leave a hole in the deck. Sealing the hatch turned out to be easy. The seal had only slipped out of place, and once I put it back, it was watertight again. Now I’m just waiting for the right weather to continue my journey, so I can hopefully meet Zissi in Inverness soon.

Continue reading “Peterhead”