Peterhead to Banff

Pippa Shaw

Sometimes you end up where you need to be. And for us, today, apparently that was Banff, not our original destination of Whitehill. It started as a relatively pleasant sail, some big waves heading out of the breakwater, but long, rolling ones that we were surfing over calmly. Hitting top speeds of 7.5kts was an impressive feat when we're usually excited to be making 4 or 5! As we turned the headland, the wind died off (as we knew it would), so on with the engine. Our engine has been a bit problematic lately, so we were looking forward to giving it a good test after its latest diagnosis. Almost exactly after an hour, true to form, it shuttered and died, leaving us adrift with little-to-no wind, but a thankfully calm seastate. Of course, this was also the exact moment our friends from North Shields showed up on September Moon, showing off by motoring laps around us while we bled the injectors to try and get some momentum back. On the bright side - being that still meant they got some great pics! And it was nice to see them, even if it was from the deck of an adjacent yacht. A while later, the engine was chugging along again, and our friends sailed off to continue their overnight passage to Inverness. An hour later... you guessed it... dead again. This time, the wind had changed direction so it was some uncomfortable tacking in a pretty strong headwind to try and make more progress. We learned that we can run our engine for about an hour, every other hour, so we were kind of killing time until we could get her started again. But as the wind continued to build and the swell increased, having been sailing since 6:30am, we decided to bail, calling the closest harbour (Banff) seeking refuge. On the bright side, the wind pushed us nicely onto the pontoon, making mooring a breeze. And our other boating friend is here too, so that'll be nice (after we've decompressed a bit anyway) ⛵️

Boat & Crew

Sudana

Thames Marine, Mirage

David Pasby

First Mate

Pippa Shaw

Owner