18th May
This was going to be the big one: 110 miles in one go.
There are yacht-friendly places between Norfolk and Yorkshire, but not all that many, and besides in my plans I have sacrificed a bit of time in the east of England in order to maximise time in the islands of Scotland.
Yet again our timing was dictated by the tide. Getting out of Wells was obviously going to be as winding and shallow as the entrance, and had to be timed to be close to High Water. At the other end of the passage, there is a swing bridge in Whitby that gives access to the inner harbour where the marina is; the bridge only opens at certain states of the tide.
Our departure from Wells had to be about 10.45 in the morning. The distance from Wells to Whitby is about 110 miles (nautical ones, of course). How fast would we be going? Well, that depends on the conditions. On a flat sea, under motor, Goldfinch will easily do 6 knots through the water. She can also do that and more when sailing, but only if the wind is just so; too little wind, or too much, or wind from the wrong direction, can mean slower speeds. For planning, I assumed 5.5 knots. So I expected the 110-mile stretch to take 20 hours, getting us in to Whitby at around 7am, not long before the first opening of the swing bridge. Perfect.
The reality was a bit different from the plan. Firstly, there was hardly any wind. We only managed just over an hour of actual sailing during the whole passage. So we were motoring, and that meant we could make a guaranteed 6 knots and maybe a bit more. Add to this the fact that we had quite a helping hand from the tidal flow, and you get an average speed that is noticeably faster than the plan. Just as in my day-job, it's always preferable to do better than the forecast than worse. But it did mean we arrived at Whitby at 5am and had to wait three hours before they let us through the bridge.
The passage itself was long, tiring and cold, but at the same time delightful. There is something special about sailing at night, particularly if you can see the stars. The moon, less than half full, was intensely bright. There were some clouds, but they served mainly to spread the moonlight across the sky, and there were still many stars visible. At one point we saw what looked like two dozen stars in a straight line, moving in a stately fashion from right to left across the sky, like a skein of illuminated geese. Then, a few minutes later, another similar line: trains of satellites shot from the imagination of Mr Musk.
As well as the heavenly bodies, there were also the lights of other boats and ships to keep us entertained, and the lights on the approaching shore. One of these, flashing every 5 seconds, was identified as the High Light at Whitby, so even when we were still far off the port was welcoming us.
As I said, we arrived at 5 am and had to wait for the swing bridge to open. Once past the bridge, we made contact with the marina, who after searching around managed to find us a spot rafted alongside another boat. This proved to be a yacht based in Wolverstone, just down the river from Goldfinch's home port of Ipswich - and they too were on a round Britain voyage!
Whitby is an attractive town with a lot of history. Captain Cook was born here, and it was from here that he set sail aboard Endeavour on his historic voyages of discovery. The old Abbey dominates the skyline as you approach from seaward, and is visible from many places in the town, looking all ruined and romantic. You can see why Bram Stoker chose to set much of his novel Dracula here.
The walk up to the Abbey is an arduous climb, but once you're up there the views are breathtaking: out to sea over the harbour walls, or inland over the rolling Yorkshire hills.
We had a pub meal in Whitby overlooking the by-now rain-soaked harbour, and the next day set out for Tynemouth. But that's a different story.
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