Sunday 3 August 2008

Drying out on the harbour floor?



Granton harbour at low water. The first time we heard about boats with only one keel in drying harbours ("they all lie down when the tide is out, but stand up again when the water returns"), the notion seemed pretty alarming. In fact, it's not so bad. After all, the boat reaches those sort of angles at sea often enough so things belowdecks are stowed securely enough to stand it.

We had a nice little north Edinburgh holiday this weekend. The original plan was to head out Friday evening and anchor off Inchcolm Island but, after moving the boat from the mooring to the pontoon, we were just too lazy to go further and decided to spend the night there. The decision was made easier by the vicinity of the Starbank Inn - a superb real ale pub just by Newhaven harbour. We haven't spent much time in this part of town in the past but enjoy it now, particularly as it has quite a different feel to central Edinburgh.

Saturday morning was a low, low tide and we found ourselves stuck in the mud even on the pontoon (where there is a dredged channel). No matter, there was breakfast to be gone out for and jobs to do on the boat so it was easy to pass the time until the tide floated us again and we could head out for a fantastic day's sailing.

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