Monday 11 - Tuesday 12 June (Bangor to Troon)Monday: Brian Hannah of Raymarine was here at 0800, and with difficulty cut an orifice for my new speed log, all duly installed by 1000. Only cost an arm and half a leg, but at least we can be up and running again. Spent the rest of the day in Bangor and prepared for the next day.Tuesday: Awoke to heavy showers, and left before HW at 0830, heading out to sea on a long course with only 2 waypoints - Bennane Head, off the Ayshire coast, and then the entrance to Troon harbour. The rain abated but there was again thick fog/mist nearly all the way across, and relatively little traffic on the radar. In the Firth of Clyde we were nearly T-boned by a large ketch: he was heading towards our port side and we were the stand-on boat, but it was clear he wasn't going to change course. Cath yelled at me to sound the horn, alter course, or both, and I gunned the engine and left him to pass close behind. We could see the 'helmsman' head down in the cockpit and clearly not looking. I checked his position and called him on he VHF to point out that we had had to take swift evasive action: he said there were three of them on board and that we "must have been in a blind spot on his radar!" John Clough later asked whether they also had blind spots on their optic nerves!
We never saw Ailsa Craig through the fog, and Arran was only a shadow. We arrived at the large and well-equipped Troon marina at about 2100, and I opened a half bottle of champagne to celebrate arrival in Scotland. We were too late for a meal in the very smart Scott's restaurant there, so had soup and a roll and retired.