Monday 26th May - Lossie to Seaport Marina

Monday 26th May. After a nice evening in Lossie, we made an early start (7 ish)
 to escape from the harbour on a dropping tide. The pilot book says that access
 is HW +/-4 and despite all the dredging last year it seems no better. The wind
 was also NE so there was a fair bit of swell across the entrance. We measured
 1.4 m under the keel so it wasn't that bad.

The wind however had dropped to around 5-6 knots and we needed to be down to 
the canal by mid afternoon so we motored again. The wind remained fairly light
 all the way until we got to Fort George so it was the engine all the way. When 
it did pick up, we couldn't be bothered to put up the main and in all the 
excitement (or lack of it) we forgot to unroll the head sail with the wind
 still behind us. 

Fort George saw the usual crowd of people on the other side looking for 
dolphins but today there were none in sight. Quite a few seals basking on 
the beach but not a lot of activity in the water.

View of the Kessock Bridge
 

Under the Kessock bridge and then round in circles for half an hour until the 
clacknaharry sea lock was ready for us. The wind had picked up to 20 knots on
 the beam going into the lock so some clever springing was necessary to get 
ourselves out. 

In Seaport Marina we found Rick and Connie from Calaloo - a US boat which 
drifted over the Atlantic last summer to London and was on the way up the 
east coast, through the canal and then down to Spain. We had met Rick and
 Connie at the dinghy naming party last week and had arranged to see them up 
here. Andy's just cooked a nice chilli and it's off to the Clacknaharry Inn for
 a few beers ahead of tomorrows start of our journey through the Cally canal.


You can just about make out the scottish flag on Grand Slam above. Rick had
put up a sizeable US flag so we couldn't be outdone!