We departed Whitehills harbour and set off along the North facing coast, again with many small harbours along the way. Another day of very little wind to start with, but I put up the main that gave a slight push to assist the engine.
When Michaels boat Foreness was on the beach in Helmsdale we were shocked how much weed was growing on the keels. The water was quite peaty as the marina got most of its water from the passing River Helmsdale so I couldnt see my keels.I realised on leaving Helmsdale the boat was feeling sluggish. I took the opportunity whilst moored in the clear water of Whitehills to attempt to scrub the weed covered starboard keel with a broom from the pontoon. On leaving Whitehills in very calm water I had regained about another 1/2 kt.
The journey from Whitehills took us along the North facing coast of the Murray Firth passing Banff, Macduff and Fraserbugh. As we passed Fraserburgh the wind picked up, but directly on the nose, so we continued to punch into under motor.
We eventually arrived at Peterhead about 17.30. It’s a very busy port serving the Oil and Gas platforms and a large Fishing fleet. The Marina is located in the SW corner of the large outer harbour which makes it a long way from town. The harbour master recommended a pub that was in the opposite direction that was about a mile and a half away. It turned out to be a characterless modern pub built next to a travel lodge type hotel on a busy junction of the A9. We never got to see Peterhead town, but i suspect we would have found a pub with a little more atmosphere there.
On returning to the marina we met two people that had come to meet a relative being towed into Peterhead. The restored old Fraserburgh Solent class lifeboat was attempting to get alongside the pontoon. One crew member was ashore attempting to pull the 42ton vessel towards the pontoon. With our and some other assistance it was soon moored up.
Shortly after that the current Peterhead Lifeboat appeared at the entrance towing a green hulled sailing yacht. Over the previous few days we had received a DSC alert from the Coastguard asking for any information about a 27ft green hulled sailing yacht by the name of Flower of Stockholm, possibly the same name in Swedish. It had set off from Sweden about 2 weeks earlier and was overdue arriving in Peterhead. We had heard more that morning with the Coastguard contacting a vessel some way off asking if they had seen the missing vessel.We didnt here the response.
The boat being towed in was in fact the Flower of Stockholm. Its sails were blown out in a storm and the engine had failed. He had no power and lost all communications. He had managed to get near some oil rigs and a support ship had come to his assistance and in trying to establish a tow had reversed into the casualty vessel causing more damage. The crew had boarded the boat in a work boat or rib to assess the situation and in doing so managed to bend or break some of the stanchions. I had a conversation with him the next morning and he wasnt a happy man. I did remind him he was lucky to be alive.
I moored port side to in Petershead and scrubbed my port keel before leaving.