Arbroath to Stonehaven to Peterhead

This will have to be short as the battery on the laptop is going flat!
Out of Arbroath at a sensible time having said goodbye to Rick, with me Caskey and Rachel on board. A great sail - probably the best so far - full sails up and a bit of tacking into the NE wind 15 to 20kn, arriving in Stonehaven in time to meet Sarah and Andy, who collected Rachel, and Ray who joined, at the pub and a particularly bad doner kebeb from the local Stavros outlet. A nice fisherman moved his boat for us and suggested we have his slot as it would be out of the swell. Many thanks to him but I didn't get his name. Another cockpit party to say goodbye to Rachel and turned in at midnight. Oh how I wish it had been sooner! Read on.
(Hansome) Bob McDougall came out from Edinburgh first thing to join us, having been up all night in the pub with his mates. Something he was to regret later! We left Stonehaven into a huge swell from the NE and a reasonable breeze but dead on the nose. So with a first reef in the main and full jib we started tacking towards Peterhead, 35 miles to the NE. As we got further out from the land the swell and wind increased. So I called for 2 reefs in the jib (sorry Shawn I should have rigged the No3 jib) and a bit of engine assistance. We were by now close hauled (as near as you can sail to the direction the wind is coming from) crashing into the steepest swell I have ever known. A short steep wave would hit the bow, come crashing over the boat and almost stop us, or we would climb to the top of the wave and than fall vertically of the far side of it with a sickening plunge into the following trough where Gamaldansk would take it on the belly with a huge bang which made the whole hull shake. She would then throw herself at the next one and the endless process would start all over again. We tacked in and out for hours. Nearer the shore was slighly better so we tried to stay in its' lee, but without much effect. All of this was done in driving rain and spray, and trying to avoid all the big boys going to and from Aberdeen. Bob regretted his long night in the pub as Pete held on to him as he revisited last nights beer over the side. In all a very long and tiring day which saw us arrive in Peterhead wet, cold and bedraggled, only to be told that there were no drying facilities and the pub was two miles away. Great. The days log showed that we had done 55 miles to travel 35, but that meant that we had crossed the 900 mile mark wich is half of the planned 1800. So after some great pasta from Chez Caskey we headed off for the 10 minute walk (yeah right!) into town for a pint. Of course a few minutes after we set out the heavens opened horizontally and we arrived at the awful pub wetter than we had been all day! Taxi back to the boat as the weather looked like December. Went to bed feeling very dispirited and low and wanting to go home. Whose stupid idea was this anyway???