Hull to Inverness

Hi everyone,
At midday today we arrived in Inverness after a three day passage.  We had a wide range of conditions from near-gale to calm and sunshine to drizzle.  We were very lucky to get a weather window to sail here in one leg.  That said, it wasn't a perfect weather window!

Here is the plot of our track...

Zen Again Track

And here are the vital statistics...

• Distances/Speeds
• Route Distance = 350nm
• Logged Distance = 380nm
• GPS Distance = 377nm
• Duration = 3 days 6 hours
• Average Boat Speed = 4.9 knots
• Average Ground Speed = 4.8 knots
• Weather
• Minimum Wind Speed = calm
• Average Wind Speed = 16 knots
• Maximum Wind Speed = 30G35 knots
• Seas up to 1.5m
• Engine
• Total = 24 hours
• Driving = 24 hours
• Charging = 0 hours

Like our passage last year from the River Orwell to the Humber Estuary, this passage was hard work. This was mainly due to the strong westerly which became north-westerly before blowing itself out to a flat calm.  We then very had a nice easterly to take us from Peterhead to Inverness.

We departed Hull Marina at 0600 on Saturday.  We had a great sail down the estuary with the ebb giving us a boost with ground speeds up to 10 knots.  Once clear of the estuary we turned north and sailed inshore of the wind farms.

Down the Humber

As we continued north towards Flamborough Head the wind was veering from SW to WNW and increasing.  We gradually reefed down until we were sailing under double-reefed main and storm jib. There we quite a few fishing buoys to avoid along the way.

Approaching Flamborough Head

 We stayed 3 nm off Flamborough Head since the tide was against us.  The seas were lumpy and we were regularly taking waves on deck.  Eventually we got clear but found the best course we could lay was due north.  We were sailing "full and bye" - just cracked off a little to drive through the waves.  The original plan of hugging the coast wasn't going to work.  Like it or not we were aiming for Peterhead!  The wind was cold.  We wore four layers of clothing - shirt, fleece, Musto Snug and wet weather jacket - and were still cold.

The worst of the weather was on Saturday night when we were down to a half-furled storm jib and the double-reefed main.  Note that our main is small - equal to a first reef - so our double-reef is trisail size.  It was wet but fast.  Did I mention it was cold?  Very cold.  A hell of a "welcome back to sailing" after a year ashore.  Zen Again absolutely loved it.

Northbound

By Sunday morning the winds were easing but continued to veer as they did so.  Eventually we had full sail set and were close hauled heading NNE.  By early afternoon the wind had died and we started up the donk.  The zig we did to the NNW is clear on the track.

The North Sea was glassed-out for most of the night with just a low, short N swell rolling by.  We motored until dawn on Monday.  We then were able to sail for several hours, passing Peterhead and rounding Rattray Head into the Moray Firth.  As soon as we bore away towards Inverness the wind was too light to stem the ebbing tide so the motor went back on.

Motoring over a glassed-out sea

On Monday night the E wind gradually built up to 15-18 knots and we were sailing again.  However we realised we needed to slow down to enter Inverness at the midday high tide on Tuesday.  As the wind built up we reefed down until eventually we were under bare poles to time our entry.  This reduced our speed to 3 knots for much of the night - explaining our poor average speed overall.

This morning (Tuesday) the air temperature increased markedly as a warm front came through with only a little light drizzle.  By mid-morning we were in T-shirts!  Motoring in to Inverness was quite spectacular with pretty towns and old forts on the foreshore and fields and forest on the hills behind.

Fort George

Chanonry Point

Passing the Meikle Mee shoals

Approaching Kessock Bridge

Zen Again rests

Zen Again is now in Inverness Marina.  We'll stay here for a couple of nights, catching up on sleep and exploring the city.  On Thursday we plan to enter the Caledonian Canal - only a mile from here.