Out and about with Pelagia

This year’s sea miles kick off with a short passage to Scotland. I’m sailing as crew on Pelagia, a Contest 46 of the good old-fashioned kind.

Loyal readers may remember that last year I bumped into my very first boss, Wim Korte, in the Azores. What a remarkable coincidence! Because we got on so well, and he also knew Marion from our days at Oracle, Mar and Wim came to stay with us for a weekend afterwards, and we in turn visited their lovely spot in Driebergen. Their sailing plan for this year turned out to be a lap around the UK. As we were leaving, I mumbled something about being happy to help sail the boat to Inverness. And so it came to pass…

Last Saturday Bas (Wim’s son) and I came aboard, and on Sunday we took the inland route to IJmuiden. On Monday we set off at a leisurely pace, motoring for lack of wind.

As I type this we’re passing Whitby. I’d have loved to stop there, as would Wim and Bas, but we missed the bridge and would have had to wait 8 hours because of low water. As so often in the UK, the bridges only open for 2 hours either side of high water.

That’s all for now!