We had originally intended to sail into the Firth of Forth and berth at either Granton or Port Edgar for a visit to Edinburgh, but having heard bad reports of these places and being behind schedule, decided instead to save time and distance by making our next leg across the mouth of the Forth to Eyemouth and then visit Edinburgh by bus or train from there.
We sailed from Arbroath on the 19th August, departing the marina at 11.30. The forecast southerly wind soon came up and had us beating to windward for a while, one of the few times this was necessary on the entire voyage. Later it fell light for a time and then filled in from the forecast SW, allowing us the lay the course for the remainder of the passage and arrive at Eyemouth at 23.45, distance sailed 53 miles.
The bay off the harbour entrance is sheltered from the west so we anchored overnight and entered the harbour with sufficient rise of tide on the morning of the 10th, securing alongside the visitors’ pontoon at 12.10.
19: Arbroath to Eyemouth, 9th August
Shipping forecast, 9th August, 12.01:
Forth: S or SE veering SW 4 or 5; rain or
showers; moderate or good.
The time of our stay in Eyemouth coincided with very low spring tides. The visitors’ pontoon pretty nearly dries out in these conditions though the bottom is level and quite soft. With craft rafted outside us however the berth was not an entirely comfortable one in these circumstances and some other skippers sought deeper water in the new Gunsgreen basin nearer the entrance. Subject to some swell though in the strong northerly winds that had by then developed this, we gathered, was not an entirely happy place either.
Eyemouth looking from the port office building across the Gunsgreen Basin towards the inner harbour. The visitors’ pontoon is on the left hand quay beyond the grey portakabin
NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION
