The calm before the storm

This photo belies our experience of the passage home from Gigha this morning. The lovely serene sunrise morphed into fog, force 6 winds and huge seas beyond the tip of the Mull of Kintyre. The only good thing was that the normal passage time of about 10 hours was reduced to 8, such were the conditions and tide.

We had 3 hours of lovely peaceful sailing before all weathery hell broke loose! The Ards Man did so well to keep a firm and unfazed hand on the wheel to guide us through the stormy conditions- I was a tad anxious!

After a challenging 3 hours down the North Channel/Irish sea the sea state calmed a lot and we had a pleasant enough sail back to Belfast Lough. I slept for another 3 hours when we got in.

Home is the sailor, home from the sea. Thank goodness!