Broughty ferry

Our crew was greatly strengthened by the arrival of D yesterday and this morning, after a cooked breakfast ashore and some essential shopping, Allan, D and I decided it was time to move on. We left the tidal harbour of Anstruther at about 11, around an hour before high water, and headed south across the Firth of Forth to have a look at Bass rock.

This is an extraordinary isolated rock that is the home to millions of seabirds. 

Without any preditors, we wondered, do they lead untroubled carefree lives  or maybe is there rivalry between different species or trouble between neighbours who push their luck by encroaching on other birds territory? 

We could not answer these questions. We had a brisk SW wind and had a reef in the mainsail most of the time. After  inspecting Bass rock we crossed St Andrews Bay and entered to mouth of the river Tay. This is surrounded by notorious sandbanks, prone to constant movement, but we eventually threaded our way in, tacking against a blustery wind. This evening finds us on a buoy of the Royal Tay Yacht Club, on the North side of the Tay, at Broughty Ferry a few miles from Dundee. I have never been here before, but D used to sail dinghies off the beach here many years ago with her friend Angela.

We hope to meet up with some more Gaffers here tomorrow.