I should add (from a safety point of view) that the bloke without the lifejacket n SPR's Photo above was nothing to do with the cruise - he had asked if he could "guddle" the rudder bolt on his Yacht from off the side of a rib before we left, and was somewhat taken aback to find himself in the photograph instead of being parked by the stern of his yacht (which is just out the pic to the left!) The adjustment was successfully made, and no spanners were lost to the brine.
Always wear a lifejacket!
But yes, the day was good. We met SPR again at Newhaven (where's the pic?
) then motored across to Inchkeith, where we went ashore and saw a lighthouse, a lot of WW2 ruins and 10,000,000,000,000 seagulls. Lots of eggs in nests, so lots of really grumpy birds. One or two of the group were "decorated", but we did see one chick breaking out it's shell....
Then did a lap of the island, stopping to look at the wreck off the SW corner of the island, and headed for Inchmickery. A good blast against the now increasing wind made itr a little more interesting to drive, and I proved my test Prop (upped an inch in Pitch & a good half inch in diameter) was much better in the waves. (see the prop swap thread for my next plea!). We RV-ed off the southern end of the island and headed for Inchcolm, stopping only for one of the party to switch tanks.
Arrived at Inchcolm, and I thin got ourselves into the background of someone's wedding photos while we had our picnic. Stated there for an hour or so chatting about ribs & life, and meandered round to the Western end of the island, where we found three seals sunning themselves on a starboard hand marker, and after visiting the tiny harbour, the "official" rally broke up. A coupe of boats headed back to Granton, & the rest of us (4 ribs) aimed for the bridges. by this time the wind had got up a bit more, so the sea was slightly lumpy choppy. After pulling into PE, we decided to go & find ice cream simply to kill time until the tide made it possible to recover.
According to my trusty Garmin, 33.2 nautical miles at an average of 12.4 knots.
The flotilla travelled at the speed of the slowest boat, and then add in lots of 3 knot harbour speed limits / seal watching / wreck spotting / etc). Cruising average was C. 17-18 knots.
All in all, a good day out. I'll find the decent pics & post them later.
"The Massive"
