Holy Island by trailer-sailer

Frank Sibly enjoys coastal hopping from Northumberland's Seahouses to Scotland's Dunbar Harbour

- Frank Sibly

Getting our trailer-sailer to the Scottish Borders involved a seven-and-a-half-hour, 350-mile drive from Herefordshire.

My wife, Sue, and I launched my Etap 22i at the lifeboat slip at Seahouses. Sue was planning to enjoy the harbour visits and to join me as crew for the short voyage legs, but to follow by car while I sailed the longer legs solo.

The well-constructed Seahouses slipway is 150m from the lifeboat station, down a narrow public road, along which the lifeboat has to be hauled on a trailer by a tractor. You therefore need to park carefully when assembling the boat for launch, to avoid obstruction. The slipway slope is quite shallow, so the trailer had to be submerged to launch it.

After launching, we flush the hubs with fresh water. Our new stretchy garden hose was ideal for the job, but the tightening mechanism on our tap-hose connector had rusted up, so we had to hold it on by hand: I must remember to replace them every year!

We then needed somewhere to leave the trailer, something that is becoming increasingly difficult. Eventually, we found a caravan storage business willing to take it for just a week, for which I offered £60, which was probably a bit too much.

Promising forecast

Seahouses, actually known as North Sunderland Harbour, is very busy with passenger boats going out to the Farnes to view the grey seals and seabirds.