Never say never again

During the week, the crew and I left our Macwester Malin on her mooring and nipped over to Blackness for an early evening stroll. The plan was to wander along to the castle, but before we did that we walked out to the end of the pier. As we passed the Blackness Boat Club clubhouse we recalled the time that we ventured in there five years previously and as was customary, I re-stated that we would never set foot inside that building for as long as we lived (and a bit more).

Yet …about thirty seconds later, somehow we found ourselves walking over the threshold and into the clubhouse, having been dragged inside by an uber-keen sailor who was desperate to make our acquaintance. To cut a long story short, the club had come through dark times but was now a welcoming, sailor-friendly venue keen to reach out to other sailors and clubs.

As we left, we promised to return by sea, to the self-proclaimed “Cowes of the Forth” and to encourage others from our club to follow suit.

A few days later we took our Macwester Malin over to Port Edgar for an overnight with a number of other club yachts. We had a relatively peaceful evening while everyone else was out for dinner at the local Chinese restaurant. The plan was that we would meet-up later on. By the time it reached 11pm, we nipped over to the other yachts, but assumed that we must have somehow missed them as they were in darkness. Just as we were turning in for the night at 11.30, one of our chums appeared and asked if we were still up for visitors.

Five minutes later our cockpit was jammed, and we had a fun time through to the wee small hours.

The next morning a few of us set course for Blackness, although we were later setting off than the others, as our yacht needed a thorough tidy-up. Given that the wind was straight on our Macwester’s bow, we motored up the river to catch the others, and made reasonably good progress.

Above and below: Blackness Castle.

Our chums on ‘Joint Venture’ had beaten us to it, however there wasn’t enough water to land when they arrived, so they sailed across the river before heading back over once more. ‘Joint Venture’ (with a draft of about 1 metre as we do), gingerly made for Blackness pier and as they didn’t run out of water, we followed them in a few minutes later.

Although we had visited Blackness by car numerous times over the years, and sailed by a few times too, this was the first time that we had actually landed there, so this was a first for both yachts.

We were welcomed by the commodore and enjoyed a drink at the bar. It was quite a turnaround from the first time that we had visited the club and we both felt good that we had delivered on the promise we made a few days earlier. We subsequently encouraged others to visit, and a week or two later ‘Joint Venture’ and another three yachts from our club returned to sample the pleasures of the “Cowes of the Forth”.