The homeward leg

Thursday 30/5/19 to Friday 31/5/19

The forecast was for the wind to be blowing up to Force 5 and would persist for the first period but should then ease as we passed Flamborough Head. We were not expecting what transpired.

We locked out at 0920 with the aim of hugging the coast and avoiding the worst of the waves. After an hour an alarm sounded - a strong wind warning from the nav kit.  I didn’t even know we had such a thing set up! With the wind regularly stabilising over 30 kts and occasionally reaching 36, the alarm was becoming an irritant.  Having trawled through the manuals we managed to find the sub-menu that allowed us to silence the alarm. Despite the wind strength we were tucked in the lee of the shore and were experiencing a gentle ride with waves off our starboard quarter. The videos below show we were not unduly affected by the wind strength.

The forecast was for a max of F5, 17-21 kts, decreasing. This was confirmed by the coastguard and 3 separate weather sites.  In reality we had steady winds of around 28 kts, the low end of a F7, with regular gusts well over 30. I can only put this variance down to local phenomena.

PredictWind, to which I subscribe, indicated that the wind would decrease at about the time we were due to reach Flamborough Head.  Right on queue we found ourselves floating along in a F4. Over the course of our 3-week trip I have found PredictWind to be accurate and reliable no matter which part of the British Isles we found ourselves in. 

We had a busy but otherwise uneventful night ensuring we remained clear of the traffic that services the oil platforms and wind farms that are scattered around this part of the coast.  

One of the many ships that service the oil rigs and wind farms off the east coast of the UK.

As the morning dawned we were greeted with the warmth of the sun that had eluded us during our time in Scotland.  Bliss.

We tied up at our home marina at 1400.

Trip Details:

Miles travelled: 1365 nm

Engine Hours: 192

Wing Engine Hours: 10

Cruise at approx 1800 rpm

GS approx 7.6kts

Average fuel consumption: TBC

Outline of the route taken