Anstruther, tue 18th July

  I'm sat on good old boat Dreamtime, moored up in Anstruther harbour with a great sun setting, reading a boatie book (about Jack de Crow). Compared to last night, sat in front of telly, i prefer this.

  I had a look up on the sea wall, It's very windy up here, the seagulls are hovering around in one spot, just playing with the air currents 'n swirls and the sea has many white horses, a small motor boat was out there ploughing through the waves, looked tough.

  There's plenty of summer left, so I reckon doing more of the coast is a grand plan. Mebbe a week at home to weed the garden and cut the grass then vamoose. I'd like to be around Devon and Cornwall, specially when the Perseid meteors are happening in August. I've got about a month's worth of dried food and so far everything has stood up well to the rigours; so my kit is all ready to go (ok,with a bit of titivation) and I haven't got anything better to do with the rest of 2017. I reckon a bit more of the wild camping on a beach or anchorage would be in order too.

Anstruther

 Wow! Everybody is so open and friendly round these parts. I went to 'The Bank' pub to pick up the washing that they very kindly did for me, watched the grand prix. Went to Mason's and had a couple of engaging conversations. Went to boat and remembered that I should have a go on the Waltzer, got talking to the guy that runs it, what a sound fella, had a short free ride,thanks Mitch, made I laugh.
   The gusts of wind are very strong now but it is very sunny.

What windy weather looks like from far away

The end

  I've decided to call a halt to my trip here at Anstruther, i don't have sufficient confidence to tackle the run up to Inverness and would be waiting a long time in harbour for favourable wind forecasts. It's a shame that the Clyde and Forth canal is shut as I could have happily carried on that way.

  I've certainly achieved the main aim of the trip which was to meet new people, see new places and do new things. No doubt my sailing skills have improved and I've learnt a lot about passage planning, allowing for forecast weather and tide. 

  It's been an interesting day for reading the runes of the weather forecasts and relating that to what has actually happened. Met. Office Inshore waters was doom, gloom, and force 6! Windguru said that the wind would pick up at 13:00. And the actuallity was that conditions were benign all day, Could  have easily sailed to my next destination, st. andrews. (but hadn't passage planned) At 6pm dark clouds came in and it all got a lot windier.

  Popped into a pub at lunchtime,  asked about laundromat and was told that there's not one, would I like my bag of washing sorted ? Thanks 'The Bank'.

  The way the tides is at the moment, i need to leave here bright and early, some of the tidal streams, on the coast north of here, run at  twelve knots. Bear in mind that I can hope to do four knots average .

 Windy weather

'Anstruther outer harbour beach

Anstruther, fri July 14th 2017

  Lobster for breakfast! Me and Kouran ate one last night and the other this morning. It was very tasty, nice juices. Btw, recipe is; put lobster in pan of water, bring to a roiling boil, time for one minute, eat.

  Today could have been good for sailing but I had run out of sailing energy, hadn't researched a passage plan, so chilled. The forecast for Saturday and Sunday is for strong wind so I might sail on Monday.

  Kouran went back to his 'real' life today. We've had a great week, did a fair bit of sailing in a range of winds, including a couple of days of sunny sky, gentle winds and calm seas. Thanks Kouran, couldn't wish for a better crew mate.

  The last week has seemed like a mini-cruise within the bigger trip. We've had reasonable weather, the many islands dotted about the Firth of Forth add to the interest and there are quite a few harbours which are mostly picturesque, all with extremely friendly locals. It would be a good area to plan week's cruising holiday.

Anstruther harbour (spot me titchy boat)

Aberdour to Anstruther, thur 13th July

  Needed to get off our drying berth near to high tide and had twenty-two mile voyage planned so needed a reasonably early start. Probably set off sailing at about 10am and had a very calm start, all sails up and wind behind. Had a great view of the Forth bridges sternward.
  About three quarters completed there were dark raining clouds coming towards us across the Firth. I got rid of the main and completed the rest of the journey under jib alone in strong wind with waves. I've now been out in worse weather so wasn't overly concerned. Kouran did  a good job as crew, moving to balance  the boat unbidden and learning the ropes.
  Having just tied up, a chap came in on his small fishing boat and said hello, we'd been moored alongside him in Dunbar. He asked if we'd like two Lobsters! Thanks Peter. It was great to be able to sample fresh unmessed-about-with lobster, yum-yum

Just fits in my pan

Garton (Leith) to Aberdour, wed 12th July

  I had just a small hop planned for today, four miles across the Firth of Forth to a titchy, drying harbour. The sun was out, the seas were calm and there was a gentle wind. Unsurprisingly, we had a very pleasant sail and took a detour to go around an island.

Old Abbey on island

  Aberdour is a very cosy harbour, well protected and, as always,very friendly and helpful people.

A change of plan ¡again!

  Had a leisurely wake-up on Thursday with the intention of having a relaxed sail to Port Edgar, last stop before the Forth and Clyde canal. So I squeezed in a bit of passage planning amongst which was phoning the sea lock at the start of the canal to find out what would be a good time to arrive on Friday.
  The canal is closed. Apparently a lock gate has failed, it'll be maybe three weeks before it's fixed. That was my plans thrown in the air, looks like i'm heading for the Caledonian Canal again, which is a shame, i was getting rather used to the idea of cutting through to Glasgow.

North Berwick to Leith, tue 11th July 2017

  Took things steady this morning, kept dry from the drizzly rain, took a walk along the beach to local shops and cafes.
  The boat was afloat at about 1pm, the sun came out as predicted at 2pm and we set off about 3pm with a gentle wind and smooth sea. It was pretty much a run all the way, starting out with all sails up and with the Kouran crew on the case, gull-winged out, we were hitting 5 knots. And I noticed that the wind had been creeping up on me, with white crested waves coming up from behind; so the main sail came down and we ran along under just the jib for the rest of the sail. Kouran had a go at the tiller for an hour or so, then i took over just as the weather picked up a gear, some of the waves that had built up where quite large and threw the boat about, i felt a bit anxious but all was good and we came to the current sheltered harbour of Granton.
  We"d travelled 22 miles and been in large seas, miles out from the sprawl of Edinburgh

Dunbar to North Berwick, monday 10th July

  Woke up this morning to lots of wind and pretty much coming from the direction we wanted to go in. I wasn't very keen to go out in the bumpy waves and damp weather but my crew was. The intention was to just make a short hop of nine miles and if need be we could use the motor. And that was what we ended up doing, making progress into the wind wasn't possible with just the jib and I was reluctant to get the main up in such blustery and bumpy conditions with  novice crew in the boat

Dreamtime in North Berwick harbour

Sunday 9th July, Dunbar 2017

  Slept well, ate well and went on a bracing walk with excellent views of Bass Rock and the expanse of the Firth of Forth.

Dreamtime moored on long lines

¡a change of plan!

  While motoring from Eyemouth to Dunbar, against the weather, i decided that instead of heading up a long way north to Inverness, on the exposed North Sea, it'd rather go through the Clyde and Forth canal, much less challenging than Rattray Head.

Eyemouth to Dunbar

  I intended for today to be a practice for sailing into the wind with a  moderate breeze forecast.

  I left at 9.30, with the tide wiv me till 12 and was beating into the wind and waves. Got two reefs in smartly and was making progress, trying to get round St. Abbs head. There were pretty big,white topped, waves (NW wind against tide) and as I got nearer the promontory they were getting steeper.
  So i started the engine to get round the head and once past the sea calmed down with only an occasional white-cap. The wind and waves were pretty much coming from the direction in which I was going and I decided that it would be convenient to carry on motoring, so I used the engine for the rest of the way. Every so often the wind and waves would pick up resulting in much hull slamming and splashing but the spray didn't get into the cockpit much,
  The entrance to Dunbar harbour is just a crack in the rocky cliff face, very difficult to spot from sea and I reckon I wouldn't have found it without GPS and charts. Met up with mate Kouran who is going to be with me for a week and we had a really fun time mixing it up with the locals in town.

Kouran and sunset

Eyemouth, Thursday 6th July 2017

  What a fun day, i didn't get any further in circumnavigating but met lots of new people and did fun things.

  I had decided not to sail today, largely because the forecast was for extremely light winds.
  Last night had a curry and the chap serving us was chatting and got very wistful and dreamy when he was talking about seeing the sailing boats from the cliff when he's out for a run, imagining what it might be like to sail. I was several sheets to the wind and rashly offered to to take him out today. Well, at 6am it was well drizzly and wet and I was regretting my impulse, thinking that it would be pretty miserable being out, wet, and having no wind. So I did some washing in the Eyemouth marina facilities and, surprisingly, by the time came for Varun to contact me (11am) things had cleared up a lot.

  Varun was like a pig in excrement, splashing his hand in the water, marvelling at the wildlife and looked so pleased when I got him to steer the boat. All the time he was astonished that you don't need any paperwork or qualification to be allowed to enjoy such simple pleasures and I really enjoyed seeing him savouring being on the sea faor the first time.

  Then got back in for 2.30 and met up with work mate Neil and his family who are holidaying very nearby, hung out for a bit in the pub, then went back to boatie and showed 'em around. Neil's  mum Anne persuasively convinced me to take 'em out for a pootle in boatie so off the four of us went, and it was infectious the enjoyment that, particularly Anne, had for messing about on the water, even though it started raining and she just had a t-shirt on.

 I've had a lot of pleasure today from sharing boatyness with other inexperienced people with boatie in their soul.

Lindisfarne to Eyemouth,Wednesday 5th july

  Set off as soon as I got lifted by the tide at 11am, motored for half an hour to get into the wind and around the rocky parts of the island. Then is was a straight line sail with very gentle winds, full sails, no stress and also no rain. Sylfrid, a bilge keel yacht left a little before me to make the same passage and I very soon was making much better progress. This might have partly been because Sylfrid was further offshore and perhaps being effected by the adverse tide more. But it certainly seems that a Wayfarer can out perform a big yacht in light winds.

Lindisfarne, tues, 4th July

Woke up and it was persistantly raining which carried on all day, so i've been sat at anchor keeping under cover and haven't poked me head out all day

Lindisfarne, 3rd july

  Dithered about this morning whether to go or stay. Decided to stay. Picked up crew of Sylfrid (whom I first met in hartlepool) with my boatie and we spent a very pleasant day ashore, bumped into some interesting, friendly, local, people, did lots of chatting, walked about a bit, drank a bit and ate out. Jolly good company and a pleasant sunny spells day with plenty of wildlife thrown in. Lucky, lucky, luck what a good thing to do with a day of my life.

Weathered stones at priory

Washed out sunset

Lindisfarne, Sunday 2nd July 2017

  Had a bit of a panic this morning. Was sat at anchor, waiting for high tide (10.20) so that I could get closer to shore, dry out, and get to land (I was getting a bit of cabin fever). Then the anchor got unstuck and I was drifting towards the other boats moored here. The dependable motor started up and I avoided any major disaster. I reckon I didn't leave a long enough line and as the tide came in boatie lifted the anchor out.
  When I finally grounded, squelched ashore and had a very enjoyable visit to Lindisfarne,  bands were playing, sun was shining and I drank and ate. All accompanied by a strong wind. A good day not to be at sea.

Lindisfarne, Saturday 1st July 2017

  Another day of nervous, on edge sailing. 23 miles to do, from Amble to Lindisfarne Started out quite peaceably, full sails and the wind behind and to starboard (a bit easterly), went along quite nicely with a few sunny spells. Pleasant coastal scenery including Dunstanburgh Castle. The wind started moving towards the west, so possible gybe time. I got rid of the main sail (up and down a couple of times) and was doing 4 knots with just the jib, perfectly good progress. I only had reefs one and two set up and would have found it difficult to engage reef 3, should really have set out with reefs 2 and 3 configured.
  The easterly got stronger and stronger but I was managing ok with just the jib on a reach but at the Farne Islands I had to turn left which put me on a beat into the weather and again it wasn't possible to sail into the wind with just the jib. So 6 miles from Lindisfarne I started the engine. The wind had picked up quite a chop, lots of white crests and the boat was slamming and splashing it's way forward. I was getting plastered in spray which was chilling me down and the whole thing felt scary. Everything was ok though, thank you Mr Honda for my reliable engine, if that had failed my options would have become more limited and sketchy.
  As I got close to Lindisfarne my phone with the nav app on got soaked with spray and settings changed and not amenable to being set back. I contemplated trying to find the haven I'm in (The Ouse on south side of island) from memory but was put off by rocks, it was 3.30pmish and low tide. So, if in doubt anchor; parked up in the lee of a sand dune, dried and configured my phone and successfully navigated into t'Ouse, all the while with a stiff breeze blowing. Struggled a bit to get my anchor to set amongst a  bunch of other boats (should probably have picked up a mooring buoy) but second time lucky and I waited till 8pm for the tide to come in so that I could get a more protected anchorage. Only worry now is whether the ground underneath me is not spiky as I will dry out, probably at about 2am.
  R & R day tomorrow.

Tech update

I've decided that my stove fire was due to user error. Having got the replacement pump unit I read the instructions and realised that I should not have been using an o-ring to seal it. I think my original pump used the o-ring So I'd assumed the previous pump unit (which was a replacement too) needed o-ring as well.