17th Sept: St Bees to Mackay

Last night was a shocker! We rolled, a lot, all night. There was no wind to speak of so I guess it was caused by the tide rushing back and forth through Egremont Channel. The forecast today is OK, variable winds picking up this afternoon, changing direction overnight before strengthening significantly tomorrow and Saturday. Where do we hide? After going over all the options we decided to head back to Mackay Harbour to sit it out.

'Ray' hard at work in the back corner while the Skipper attends to his social media profile.

‘Ray’ hard at work in the back corner while the Skipper attends to his social media profile.

The sail back was glorious. More or less flat seas, close hauled in 5 – 10 knot winds all the way back. Great opportunity to give the auto-tiller its inaugural workout. We both voted it a great success. “Ray” will be a much appreciated member of the crew on all our trips from now on.

After two ‘not-so-restful’ nights sleep we were both pretty exhausted. A long, hot shower and dinner at the Thai restaurant at the marina was all we managed before an early night.