The weather seems much better than predicted a couple of days ago. Leaving the harbour we saw about 10 oil/gas support ships in the harbour. They seem to come and go quite frequently. We have been advised to pass 5 miles off Rattray Head as the sea can be disturbed there. Conditions seemed ideal and the 5 mile limit seemed unnecessary, but we followed it anyway, finding that 2 fishing boats and 2 support ships passed the same way, so maybe it's not a bad idea.
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| Rattray Head - not impressive |
As we came to the headland the wind slowly changed direction at the same time, so we slowly turned through more than 90 degrees but remained comfortably on port tack. As major coastal turning points go, Rattray head is a bit of a disappointment. It seems just a low sandy shore, with low land behind, much less impressive than the cliffs of North Foreland or the shingle banks of Orford Ness or Dungeness. The wind went light and we had to motor for a while on the way round Rattray Head and towards Whitehills. In between we had some reasonable sailing and put up the cruising chute for a while in an attempt to keep up an acceptable speed. We passed Troup Head and took a look at the Gannet colony there, unusual in not being on an island.
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| Troup Head - more like a proper headland, complete with gannets |
I phoned Whitehills harbour to ask about berthing. The HM asked me to phone 15 minutes before arrival and he would come down and meet us, which he did around 9pm - what service! We were berthed in the outer harbour - fortunately as the boats are really packed in the inner harbour with little space to turn.
528 miles done. 146 miles to go. Follow the
track on Google Maps
