It looks like the pattern of things for the next few weeks is going to be to get odd good days sailing in between days of storms. The weather in the morning was is stark contrast to the previous days. I had been used to seeing Stonehaven under a mass of cloud and waves falling over the breakwater. Today there was not a wave on the water and although it would involve motoring it was time to leave.

The passage plan was to push south down to Arbroath or Dunbar if the going was good. However, if anything it was going to be a beat into the wind with the tide against us for the first few hours.

We motored out shortly after 9am and soon turned south motoring against a knot of tide with the mainsail up. The wind was constant for the first two hours – nothing! After that it slowly started to build so that by the time the tide turned south we could sail to windward at six knots in about twenty knots of wind. The wind was from the southwest and would make Dunbar out of the question for a day passage.

At 3pm I phoned ahead to Arbroath to check it was OK to come in for the night and confirmed the gate times. It was going to be close but we should be able to make the quarter to six “lock in”. With the wind just right we were flying along and it was a pity not to have more time in order to go further. However, after putting in a reef it looked like the wind was only going to get stronger and Arbroath was going to be the best option. From four miles out we met up with a small fishing boat and travelled in together.

It was not appreciated at this point when a fighter jet over flew us at about 100 feet. There is a lot of fast jet action in Scotland but you can’t normally see the pilot waving! After removing the sails and motoring up the entrance channel we rounded into the inner harbour just after half five. The assistant harbourmaster took our lines and welcomed us to Arbroath quickly pointing me in the direction of the “best chip shop in Scotland”.