Bertie Milne, Whitehills.

Peterhead is a wonderful place and I won't have anone say differently.  After 20 hours tacking it is super to slip between its massive breakwaters and across the bay into the protected marina.  I forgot about the wind and missed the pontoon I was aiming for and had to veer off for two up as there was a boat in the way.

After a nice sleep and some scran we cleaned up and dried out.  Why they make boats with opening windows I don't know.  They always seem to leak, especially when they'er under water.  I might have to devise a method of covering them in inclement weather.  All the effort I went to to prevent water ingress around the anchor winch seemed for nothing.  It still found its way in, not as much but still some, bugger.

Peterhead is still busy with the supply vessels in and out.  They are like the pickup trucks of the sea.  We had some Germans, Belgians, Danes and Swedes yatchs in with us.  The heating was on in the shower block which was much appreciated as the outside temperature was lower than the sea's.  We stayed withing the clutches of Peterhead for two sleeps, well one and a half really but hey, then it was off for Whitehills.

I love Whitehills, don't know why, it's not particularly pretty or vibrant  but I like it.  It's exciting and fun to visit new places on the journey north but it is also good to re-visit places.  Bertie Milne the harbour master is always on at me to polish the topsides.  I alway say it's just not worth it as the Tollesbury mud will stain it right back to how it was.  Graham was also there to meet me, he thought it was last year we chatted, had to tell him it was the year before.

Rattray head was its usual malevonent self.  We left Peterhead to catch the fair tide round the head but that gave us wind against tide and it got a bit poppley for an hour or so.  Once past Fraserburg things started to quiet down and the kettle was on for breakfast.  Did I say we left at 0330hrs!  Anyway after a couple of boiled eggs and soldiers and a mug of Marmite all was in balance.

I gave Bertie a call on the VHF once round the headland and asked if I could go on the slip and scrub off.  He went off to check and called me back and all was arranged.  It was nearly high water so we went straight in and tied against the wall and waited for the tide to drop.
 




As soon as it dropped enouth I donned my wetsuit and, armed with scrapers and scourers, climbed down the ladder set into the quayside and entered the water.  It was a tad cold but the wetsuit and effort kept me warm for a while.  By the time the tide had left the keel I was becoming hypothermic, limbs refused to work properly so a late lunch and a short sleep infront of the heater outlet were the order of the day.

Felling refreshed, well not really, we carried on with the scrubbing and scraping and by nightfall we were done in more ways than one.  As the tide lifted us off the bottom the lines were cast off and the engine took us to the outer harbour and the luxury of a pontoon for the night.  The morning saw us move to the fuel berth alongside the quay where Tutak had another deserved drink. It was back to the pontoon and further resting before the crossing of the Morray firth in the morning.

The visitors' pontoom in the outer harbour is open to a bit of surge.
 
 
The inner harbour, less so but don't they pack 'em in!
 


There are a couple of right angled tight turns to make to get in but it's not too bad.


The posts with the white triangles mark the edge of the reef so don't stray out of the entrance channel!  There is also a bit of silting which maybe a problem for deeper draught boats at low water but for Tutak, with her modest 1.2m, it was no problem.


 So that was Whitehills for another year.  Bertie is so helpful and with Tutak's bottom fettled we were a little faster too.