Whitehills to Lossiemouth - Days 9,10

Whitehills - Wednesday 11th May 2011 - Day 9

08.00 left Peterhead marina and by 08.15 through the piers and set sails, 2 reefs in main with preventer and No.2 jib.  The lighter winds still came from the South with a slight swell the visibility was very good.

I had been given lots of local information on how to pass Rattary Head with its unpredictable sea state as shallow patches extend far out to sea and where tidal currents meet.  By 10.00 I passed 4.6 miles miles off Rattary Head, the big ships passed inside my course while a large trawler slid close by as it worked the currents and laid it's nets.

12.15 passed 1 mile off  Frazerburgh Kinnard Lighthouse and now round the corner and following the Moray Firth coastline.  This became a very satisfying sail, past the headlands with villages either side in the bays clinging to the shore with a background of very green soft rolling hills.  The main shipping had disappeared so to the lobster pots as only a few small boats were to be seen.  This idyllic scene would be interrupted by heavy hailstone showers.

16.30 arrived at Whitehills with the Harbour Master Bertie Milne waiting on the end of the pier to guide me in and took my lines at the outer harbour pontoon.  Another 35 miles had been completed.

Ashore in both pubs 'Cutters' and 'Shieldfield' were not serving meals so went to the cafe and had a very nice fish supper.  Within the Harbour Master's building there is a visiting crew's amenities room which is very well appointed with intenet access and began trying to get to grips with my netbook.  Old photographs of Whitehills show it once as a thriving fishing port while Bertie told his tales of his many happy years as a fisherman.  It is now a very busy port for visiting yachtsmen on passage to and from the Caledonian Canal.

Lossiemouth - Thursday 12th May - Day 10

09.00 left Whitehills and set the same sail combination but as the wind veered from south to west continued with main alone and engine.  Heavy rain squalls were now affecting visibility passing 2 miles off Buckie piers at 13.00

For the next two hours within Spey Bay the heavy rain squalls and increasing wind gusts I began tacking across them to make any headway, luckily there was plenty of sea room.  I was very relieved when I entered Lossiemouth piers at low water and Selene went on the putty going into the west basin, she slide herself off with an increase in engine power.

Ashore in the 'Steamboat Inn' I was directed to the 1649 restaurant for a meal, soup was very good though the prawns cooked and presented in their shells were a bit of a challenge.