Overnight, the under the stern symphony played through two movements of tinkling first, then a good deal of slapping which woke me up before 5am…. then the chorus up in the clouds joined in…. screaming banshees in the rigging. So at 6am the forecast confirmed strong winds of force 7 in our area…. this was then reaffirmed by other forecasts. No window of opportunity to get to Port Edgar for Edinburgh today.
Dawn breaking over the stern of Poli Poli in Arbroath…notice the Round Britain rowing boat…more about this later….
The day was spent doing the laundry once again, washing all the salt off the whole boat… she had been saturated and soaked by sea water coming over the bow on our journey from Peterhead yesterday. …. and other tasks…. checking over and pumping up the dinghy, walking the High Street, etc etc.
Photo of the “Crew Room” at Arbroath Marina…brilliant! Washing machine and dryer. Plus individual bathrooms with showers and loos. First class facilities. Well done Arbroath.
Looking out from the Lifeboat Station this morning…. peering south and east across the North Sea… it was the right decision. The sea looked dark and menacing…. white tops all around…. and that wind…. so so strong from the south west. Not even a fishing boat went out all morning. All flags horizontal and stiff.
Poli Poli in Arbroath Marina, a good berth with shore power and water within an arm’s length.
On a visit to the harbour master’s office… a discussion around lobster pots and leading lines took place. An informed source told me that the last count off the coast of Arbroath…. was 25,000 lobster pots…. and some as far out as 20 miles! My point was that, whilst I fully respected a fisherman’s right to earn a living from the sea…. I strongly disagreed with fisherman placing their traps and pots along a recognised official “leading line” into any port.
The issue here relates to the entry of Poli Poli into Arbroath Harbour at 6.30pm yesterday in a cross wind of up to 20 knots…. following the leading line of 299 degrees…. in twilight conditions, spray over the bow an an ebb tide. In effect we had to zig zag the line in order to avoid poorly marked lobster pots, putting us close to two sets of dangerous rocks either side of the entrance. I asked why do the fishermen do this…. the response was “they don’t care.”
The forecasts for tomorrow are promising and we plan to leave our hammer head berth here in Arbroath at 8.30am…. to first take on diesel fuel in the outer harbour…. then head south on 180 degrees towards the Firth of Forth and Port Edgar marina just outside Edinburgh.
Poli Poli again…backdrop of coloured houses along the waterfront.
Hopefully the ladies … Christine and Margaret will be arriving from “down south”. 51 n.miles will see us in Port Edgar by 5pm to meet them. We plan to spend five whole days seeing Edinburgh. This means I will have to readjust our last schedule somewhat as a consequence of the bad weather days spent twiddling thumbs in Banff, Peterhead and one day here in Arbroath. Our intention is always to be back in Eastbourne on Sunday 14th October.
Toby's sailing boat Poli Poli 