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Today was a quiet day of sailing. Mostly motor sailing, but with a bit of wind in the middle of the journey to make us feel like proper sailors. We were persuaded, rather reluctantly, to avoid our normal approach of a 4am departure and instead set off after a light lunch at 2pm. The fickle winds were on our nose and forced us to use the motor. Luckily the sea state was mostly moderate, not too rough, so we travelled the 37 nautical miles to Peterhead in 7 and a half hours mainly because the wind picked up from 6 to 16 knots and veered from north to north-east to speed us on our way. We both managed a brief snooze below decks but as we had a lie in already that did not work very well. So, we passed an hour or two revising the phonetic alphabet, sad but true. The trickiest letter, at least for us, was P for Papa, although M for Mike, N for November and surprisingly W for whiskey had us struggling for a while.

This kind of quiet day, when the risk seems low and the sailing is easy, offers an opportunity for all kinds of contemplation and even meditation. It is a chance to appreciate being a tiny part of a huge ocean, a very small part of a huge universe. The only thing to see today was the birds and after a few glasses of brandy the lads were talking about Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets, Fulmar, Herring Gulls and Peter even claimed to have seen a Puffin but others were sceptical and reckoned it must have been the one painted on the side of his boat. It seems important to point out that Tami Nori, is north-east dialect, from Northumberland to Shetland, for ‘stupid bird’ but is the affectionate name for a Puffin. I guess that the skipper of a boat named after a Puffin is allowed to include Puffin in the list of birds spotted on a quiet day.

Peterhead is a wide bay that has been turned into a huge harbour. In the south corner, almost hidden when you first come through the wide entrance, is a fairly large marina. All around are huge docks with oil industry supply ships but there is also a large fishing harbour at the north end. I guess that perhaps in two decades from now the harbour will still have the fishing industry plus some wind farm support boats, presumably the oil thing will fade away. I must admit I see this massive harbour as a brilliant leisure facility. I imagine kids sailing their Toppers and Lasers and the whole bay, sheltered by the harbour wall, would have a set of racing marks and a chaotic sailing mecca. However, perhaps on my only two visits to Peterhead, both in June, I have got a strange idea of the weather here. It seems like a pleasant mild climate but presumably a long cold winter has come between my two Junes.

On the pontoon in the Peterhead marina I spotted a lovely wooden sailing boat and was working out how to include it in a shot of Tami Nori arriving in the evening light when the owner arrived. Dick has sailed that boat, called Midnight, round Cape Wrath three times and he was currently on his way to Shetland. I hope I can meet Dick in Wick and get some more advice about going round the top. 

The salty sea dogs, like Dick, that you meet in harbours and marinas are always an inspiration, to set your sights on new horizons. Oh dear, I think I have drunk a lot of brandy, I had better stop writing this blog post and try some of Mark's single malt.

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