Sunday 15th and Monday 16th

15th and 16th June

Katharine had reminded me that Roddy and Lucy were close to Inverness and after a bacon and egg breakfast I looked in my phone for their numbers. I had a Roddy but it wasn’t the right one and a Lucy but it looked to be Lucy Osborne so rang Katharine for their numbers. Getting no reply I tried wattsapping her and went to Lidl  for some grocery and booze topping up prior to setting off to Denmark where things are not known for being cheap. Katharine had, by this time come back with Roddy’s number and I rang him, had a chat and he said he’d come into Inverness to see the boat and for  a catch up. I wanted to empty my port water tank which I’d hyperchlorinated but to do this meant emptying both port and starboard tanks and the only way to do this, in the water, is to turn on the tap,  this pumps water into the basin which goes to the grey water tank and is then pumped over the side. I always get nervous doing this as it takes about 40 minutes of both pumps working all the time, neither have, so far, failed, but I always thing that they’re going to. Having emptied them I now had to fill them. There is water available at the pontoon but the hose only reaches about 5 metres down the pontoon and I was at the other end. I had bought an extra hose for just these occasions and fished it out unfortunately it is a lay flat hose so the end is fixed as a female hose coupling which was also what was on the marina hose. I didn’t seem to have a double male connector so, in the mean time poured my 25 litre container of water into the Stbd tank and could at least now have a cup of tea.  There was then a knock on the window and Susan and Stephen Mutch arrived along with their Poodle LLoyd. They had been in Inverness visiting a new grandchild. I’d missed them at Fort Augustus but it was good to see them and daughter, grand daughter and son in law arrived soon after and all had a quick look around before heading off for lunch. Roddy then arrived and we had a good chat and cup of tea, he invited me back for supper or the night but I wanted to get my tanks of water filled and be ready for the off in the morning so reluctantly declined.

Roddy dropped me at Lidl when he left and having topped up with wine and beer I went to BM bargains and poundland to see if I could find some hose fittings. Poundland had a set of fittings so, clutching this one pound fifty trophy I went back to the boat and joined the hoses together and re filled my tanks. It took quite a time as the hoses only stretched to the port side and the cross connector is small so I would have to keep waiting for the tanks to level off.

In the evening I went to the local weatherspoons and had fish and chips then   sausage chips and beans for pudding and an early night.

Monday morning dawned. I looked a the forecast and it seemed that there was to be a band of strong winds near Denmark on Wednesday / Thursday which was a shame as I’d hoped to make the North Sea crossing in good weather. Anyway I thought I might delay departure if required. I’d heard from a solar panel installer about a supplier in Inverness who might have appropriate panels  but  they’d been closed for the weekend. I rang them but, unfortunately, they had none of the correct size to fit on my rails.

At the marina office I arranged to take fuel after lunch having now decided to sail in the afternoon and potter to Fraserburgh to await the poor weather passing through  before heading across the North sea. It was quite windy with the wind on the starboard shoulder with me berthed port side to so I needed to be able to spring off the berth efficiently to get away without damage. I set up a spring line on  the bight so I could let it go from the cockpit and double checked that it would be free to run so as not to have worries about lines in the water close to propellers and so on.  Waiting for a relative lull in the wind I went astern, the spring set up from my port aft corner came tight, the bow moved off the berth, the stern came in, I went into neutral, let go and pulled in the spring and we were safely pointed away from the berth with enough room to move ahead and stay clear before being blown on again. Berthing at the fuel berth was relatively easy as the wind was blowing us on pretty efficiently.

I took fuel after lunch and then paid for my marina stay and fuel. Getting off the fuel berth was slightly more nervewracking as it was in the middle of two strings of pontoon berths, sometimes, under motor, Yemaya doesn’t always agree with what I want her to do, I was worried that I might end up trying to turn to get her bow pointing to the clear area but find her stern seeking the wind and not manage, my fall back option seemed to be fine, just let her fall back onto the berth and try again. Anyway, although the wind was stronger now, gusting to 28 knots, the springing off worked well again and shortly I was on my way towards the final 2 locks.

This was the first time I’d tried locks by myself but the lock keepers were there to catch my lines and I could throw them both from the cockpit so it worked fine.

The final Lock keeper took my key, one I’d taken the length of the canal and fitted all the loos, showers and so on at the various locks and stops. Once clear of the shallow water outside the canal I unrolled some of the Genoa and we had a good down wind sail down, under the bridge, along  Inverness Firth to Fort George and then, once I’d pulled over to port to allow a tanker past I gybed and made my way close past Ardersier. My first job with Coastal Launch Services had been with their first tug, the Colass, towing spoil barges out of Ardersier for a dredging project to get the Hutton TLP platform from the port once it had been built.  Now there is a huge project going on with several enormous dredgers removing sand, Ardersier is to be given a new lease of life as a wind turbine service port and possibly factory too. Interestingly, the Hutton platform was de commissioned about 15 years ago having had a full life producing oil and gas in the North Sea, I saw her last in the Cromarty Firth awaiting dismantling. I’m still working.

From Ardersier I pootled along to Nairn, dropped the anchor and had an early night with a stir fry for dinner. Fraserburgh tomorrow.