The weather was looking great on Monday morning; in fact it was so good there was no wind at all! Not a problem as the forecast was for a force 3 to 4 from the north soon veering to the east. So although the wind would be on the nose to start with it would soon be a reach up to Troon – hopefully!

It was half tide when I motored out of Portpatrick harbour but still there were plenty on rocks showing. It just showed what a small gap we had fitted Silverwind through when we approached in the night at low tide.

There was no wind and we motored out into the tidal stream to take advantage of the last of the north going flow. We had three hours of north going tide left. The plan was to take advantage of this and within those three hours to get north of Stranraer. Here the tide splits and turns north when the main North Channel tide turns south.

While there was little wind we continued to motor north until just north of the Irish Ferries path out of Stranraer. By this time the wind had quickly built to a force 5 from the north – not perfect. With one reef in the Mainsail and the No. 2 up we made our way north.

For the next few hours it was slow going in the hope that the wind would soon veer to the east. In anticipation of a wind change we kept close to the eastern shore as we made our way up the Forth of Clyde.

Sailing off to the west we took a close look at Ailsa Craig a massif bulk a rock sticking out of the middle of the Forth. It is a dome of rock all but the northern shore that is a flat area, perfect for the lighthouse. It was now 5pm and we were in easy reach of Girvan that had been Plan B. However, the weather report for Clyde Coastguard sounded good so we continued on to what would be an early morning arrival in Troon.

Within an hour I was please that we had kept going as the wind finally veered to the northeast. Now after a short lull in the wind we were sailing with a full main making 5 knots almost straight for the destination. I was keen to get as close as possible to Troon before it became dark to get a visual idea of the “lay of the land”. Therefore I was please when by 8pm we were 10 miles west of Ayr (south of Troon) with the town lights in easy sight.

It was at this point we met our first Submarine. With its lights faint against the town lights I first thought it was one vessel towing a second – then I saw the flashing light! It was about half a mile distance but I tacked anyway giving it the benefit of the drought that it had right of way! I had gone for the west side of the channel to enable us to get north as quickly as possible and to keep clear of the rocks on the eastern shore. It was now time to make the final approach and head east. The only rocks to worry about off Troon are approximately 1 mile southwest of the entrance surrounding a very low-lying island. To help with the navigation the rocks have a light on them with characteristic, Fl (4) 30s (Flashes 4 times every 30 seconds) but all I could see was a continuously flashing light that is not on the chart!

At this point I was navigating primarily by the depth sounder and rough bearings off the different towns, which I could only identify by their respective masses of streetlights. Apart from this bright flashing light none of the navigational aids were showing up against the town lights. To be safe we passed well north of any of the rocks and we came in on a bearing to the north of Troon. Well before I had established sight of the harbours lights I worked out where the harbour was (partly by watching the Irish Seacat depart!).

Within two miles of the harbour I finally sighted the harbour lights and was able to confirm that the continuous flashing light was from the light on the off lying rocks. After a quick call to the marina it did not take long to get the sails down in what was now an easterly force 3. We motored into the harbour and quickly found a space on the visitor’s pontoon of Troon Yacht Haven. It was now 1am and after a quick visit to the marina office I was soon in bed.