Unfortunately we had to go back to Carrickfergus, the doctors were insisting that Beverley had a medical, so we had to go back and sort that out.
We were in Troon and there was a big blow scheduled for the next day, so when I went up to the Marina office I persuaded them to count our two nights in Troon that we had used for the Gemma and Harry trip, along with the night in Largs and the previous night as four nights which meant that if I also paid for that night, I would be allowed one night free. (Usually you need five nights consecutively, but if you don't ask you don't get) Beverley never asks for these things which is why she paid £24 for a night in Rothesay, while I persuaded them that we were a foot shorter than what we were and paid £22 for the night. So once we knew we were in Troon for the night we decided that we would get Salty Lass clean, so that meant getting the washing done and cleaning the boat from top to bottom. While we were cleaning the boat. we remembered when we were last cleaning the boat in Troon. Then we had a temperature of -1°C and a wind chill that made it - 8°C. Beverley had a hot water bottle down her front to keep her warm and we were so glad to find out how the heating system worked.
The next day the storm arrived as predicted, which restored my faith in the weather forcast. On rainy days like this then I get on with some work of some kind while Beverley edits videos.
The next day, was beautiful, practically no wind but a fantastic day, so it was time to leave Troon and start our journey home. Our first little trip was over to Lamlash where we managed to motor sail. The sea was like glass and at one point we had the most glorious reflection of the sky in the water. It just looked fantastic.
On the way in to Lamlash we saw a boat that we had meet in Troon called Equus, so we went to the mooring so that we could chat to them. Beverley and I also reflected on how different the days are from one another, with beautiful days intermixed with horrible days. Its just crazy but that is the reality of the British weather for you. The other great thing about cruising though is if you don't like the view you can always move your home. While, I was discussing the view the crew heard me talk about it and they all came up on deck to look at it.
The next day we left the mooring really early as we needed to get back to Carrickfergus. As we left Lamlash we saw religious mural on various rocks which were there for the hermit that had given Holy island its name. As we were motor sailing then there was not much to do, so I got on with some sailing while Beverley read a book. When we could motor sail then the books and sewing go away, so that we can trim the sails and keep them adjusted. In the end we had the sails up about five times in the crossing as the winds would be there and then they would be gone. We managed to do the whole run using the tide as much as we could so it was a long day, but it was great to get in.
The next day it was time to retire our old Log Book and start our new book. So we have done 2000nM in the book and we reflected of our best days sailing and our worst sails
Our Best sails
Coming out of Liverpool over the rock channel and going to Conway, the sails had been just right and the wind was just right and it was sunny, so a great sail. Another great sail was going down to Porthdinllaen where it was quite high winds but we managed to sail it all, which was great.
Our worst sails
Chicken rock was our worst, with bad weather, a headland and a lot of being thrown around the cockpit. Another sail that I didn't like was when we went from Whitehaven to Liverpool, there we had some really bad weather with a nice sail in the middle. For Beverley going up the North channel with 30knots of wind against a 4 knot tide was particularly unpleasant. Since then we have tended to be extra cautious with the North channel which is why we have motor sailed it a lot.
Our new Log Book
Our new log book is completely blank so that we can use the template that we have produced and put in the resources. That way we can mark up our log book the way we like.
