There is no truth in the rumour that the only reason we left Port William on Saturday was that the crossword in the Saturday “Times” was too hard for us!

We could have left on the early morning tide but there was no guarantee that the wind would have died by then. Therefore we opted for the early afternoon start with the sun shining and a fresh southwest wind blowing.

Everything is so much easier with two people as all the tasks are shared out. Not to mention Jenny’s eagerness to do the washing up! We were all ready to go just after midday and were just caught by the local police officer. After giving him all our vital details and persuading him that we were not carrying drugs or arms we were on our way. It was a perfect cruise across the bay to the Mull of Galloway which we started to round just as the tide turned in our favour. It was nice to be able sit around with someone else to boss around other than myself!

Keeping well off the Mull of Galloway we avoided the tidal race but got a three-knot tide that bought our speed up to 9 knots. The taxi driver told Jenny on the way to Port William that seven tides meet at the Mull (he appeared to have got this information from a friend of a friend etc) and today the white water made it look like it.

It was then that the wind started to play around. One minute we were sailing at 9 knots in a force 4, then nothing. Then back came the wind and we were off again. This wind lasted for half an hour and then we were back to just the tide pushing us in the right direction.

At this point Jenny had to slowly break the news to her mum that she was not going to be home late! It had been asking a bit to think we could get around in 7 hours (although the Police Officer thought we should be able to do it in 2!)

The wind did start to build however and shortly before 9pm we were a couple of miles off Portpatrick in the pitch dark. The good thing about Portpatrick is that you can get in at any tide. We were about to prove this by going in at low tide! This is all well and good but at low tide the gap between the rocks is about 40 feet!

After identifying the leading lights we made our way in. I took the helm as I thought it was only fair that if anyone was going to put the boat on the rocks it was me! The sea was calm by now and all went smoothly only slightly confused when the leading lights appeared the wrong way up because of the low tide. After turning into the inner harbour it was clear the local police officer’s information was not quite reliable! He had told us that the harbour would be empty – not quite correct.

In the time it had taken us to sail from Port William over 25 racing yachts from Belfast (mainly from the Royal Ulster Yacht Club) had filled the harbour. We took the last space. After a snack we were tied and it was time to get some sleep. Our bodies’ request for sleep unfortunately coincided with about 100 Irish sailors coming back from the pub!