Grey, damp and windless. Not a very appealing sailing day. Our neighbour in “Dash” a Sadler 34 left as soon as the gates opened at 7am. Some other boats left whilst we had breakfast. We left just after a very smart Dutch boat (Josephine) which was also heading for Stonehaven and followed them. We soon needed a reef in the main, but kept the genoa full. This stretch of coast is fairly straight, but we gradually moved from a reach to a close fetch and then spent the last few miles tacking, arriving at Stonehaven around low tide. The Sea Cadets were busy rowing and motorboating in the outer harbour. We avoided each other and tied up alongside a sea angling boat to look for the harbourmaster. He had already gone home but we were assured that we could stay where we were. Just as well as we were glad to be here after a very cold and continuously wet day.
 |
| Stonehaven, with us on Outer Breakwater |
This is only our second proper old-fashioned harbour, without any pontoons or other modern stuff (the other being Bridlington).
A brief look round Stonehaven showed it to be quite a prosperous place, judging by the prices in the restaurants and some of the cars. However it is also the birthplace of Robert Thomson who was an engineer and inventor and invented the pneumatic tyre, preceding Dunlop by 43 years.
445 miles done. 215 miles to go. Follow the
track on Google Maps
