Thursday 19 September 2013

Sailing, Saturday 14th September


I've not really had much of a sailing season this year, family commitments, weather and tide all seem to have conspired against me. With only a few weeks until it's time to put the boats back onto the hard-standing I grabbed the chance of a fishing trip in Saturday's sunshine.


There was hardly any wind so we all motored out from Dunbar, across Belhaven Bay and on towards the wildfire rocks. 


Stuart and Ross were on the Seline, I was on the Heron, and Davie on the Wee Beastie. They are all smaller yachts around 20ft. They might be limited for longer cruising but they are ideal for slipping the moorings for an afternoon on the water.


The tide was falling and there was a wee chop, but nothing to worry about.



Clouds slowly moved across the sky and gave us amazing views back to land. We had started out with the idea of a wee wager on the biggest fish of the day. I was using mackeral feathers with a jelly eel, and so it turned out was everyone else! Slow drifts on an ebbing tide and we were soon into some cod and the ubiquitous mackeral.


I took a decent cod but put the mackeral back as they were never going to win. Davie and Stuart were soon hauling some good fish so I gave up and put out the little sea anchor.


 Then went below to put the kettle on for lunch.


Aye it's hard life kicking back, listening to the radio and bobbing along in the sunshine.




As the afternoon went on, we rafted up the three boats, which looks a lot more stable in the photo than it was in reality, and a few cold beers were passed round.


A bit of sail in the lightest of winds on the way back.



Back to the harbour mouth and the tide was getting low but it was enough for us to sneak back in. A great day out in good company and cracking weather.

4 comments:

  1. The photos tell a story of a great time.

    The tidal variation on the Texas Gulf coast is small, and I know that yours is much greater. How much is it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I HAVE to get out for a sail with you Ped! looks lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great day, just hope we can sneak another one in before winter sets in.
    Some cracking pictures there ped.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the comments;
    Pondero, this weekend the variation was 5m(16.5ft) but by next weekend it will only be 1.5m(5ft). Life would be a lot simpler with small tides!
    CK, I think you've missed out this season, definitely next year.
    CWL, yeah, I really enjoyed the day.

    ReplyDelete