Too Much Wind

-



An early night and a lot of wind. In the morning a huge thunderstorm passed over us. Huge claps of thunder and lightning all around. The wind gusted for a while but wasn't too bad. After the storm had passed the wind settled to a steady easterly. We decided to leave.

The forecast was predicted strengthening  throughout the day. The forecast had been for a force 7 but then changed to a force 6. However, the forecast then increased again to a force 7 and on passage we could here strong wind warnings on the radio for force 7. We were going with the wind so it should feel a little less.

The wind grew stronger and stronger and by 13.00 was very strong. Force 7 and some! We were sailing under foresail only. We reefed and reefed until we hardly had any sail at all. The boat was zipping along above 7 knots. The waves were getting bigger and we surfed down into the troughs. Conditions were awful. We hoped as we entered the large harbour things might improve however they only got worse.

A huge tanker came from behind and overtook us. We had to change course to avoid it but it was terrible timing. We pulled the boat back on course and neared our destination. The wind just grew fiercer and fiercer. We couldn't reef the sail anymore and we were still travelling too fast. It became clear that there was no way we could run along the canal to our berth in these conditions. Luckily there is a sand spit inside the harbour that offers some protection from the waves. The spit was to windward so the only way we could reach its protection was by engine. With difficulty and a lot of flapping we wrapped the foresail, now with partly torn UV strip due to the conditions. We used the engine on full power (far more than it has ever been used) and very slowly we moved forwards at less than a knot. The wind kept blowing our bow away but we had to persist. We could see other boats anchored and hoped the 10m depth would reduce. It didn't and we were close to losing our fight with the wind so we dropped anchor.  We quickly dropped all our chain and most of our line. The boat pulled up onto the anchor and we were secured to the ground. Relief, even though some water, even in the safe anchorage still made it over the boat. Not a very nice experience in testing conditions for us and the little boat.




Popular posts from this blog

First Day Explorers

-
Image
After a good night's sleep, we woke early...ish for breakfast. We were hoping for a traditional Indian spicy fair but got a traditional boiled egg, bread and jam. We washed it down with a hot cup of Chai, so all was good. We ventured out in search of a few sites, however were easily distracted by fresh fruit platters, mango lassis and mobile phone cover shops. Next, an ATM stop to test various SBI machines. One small branch failed but the head office one worked. This was near the Mumbai stock exchange, complete with bull outside. We ended up at Horniman circular garden. An interesting name but the garden was being 'refurbished' - dug up. Marine drive is famous amongst the people of Mumbai. A huge boulevard next to the sea for romantic strolls. The stroll today wasn't filled with romance, more noise pollution as the whole sea defence boulevard was being fixed. Almost all of it for mile after mile. We had to walk on the dual carriageway but soon got fed up and headed inla...
Read more

Le Havre to Nevers (7th-18th March)

-
Image
We have been cycling for 2 weeks now and have covered a lot of ground.  We have had varying weather of heavy rain, scattered showers and dry but cold.  Night's in the tent have been pretty cold! THE ROUTE (Le Havre) After our last night in a 'proper bed' for a while, we stocked up on food and headed out of Le Havre. We cycled through farmland to a pretty little town called Harfleur and then on to Lillebonne. We saw 2 massive birds nesting at the top of a post. Our first night camping was beside the river, very tranquil. (First night camping on the River Seine) We followed the Seine down to Rouen. This is funky town with lots of bars and restaurants all along the river. Unfortunately the heavens opened just as we approached so, after taking shelter for a while we continued on to find a camping spot for the night, this time near a railway line. From Rouen we headed throy St Aubin Les Ebeuf and Les Andleys following the river.  We saw lots of beautiful houses and chateau ...
Read more

Around Valence 22nd March to 9th April

-
Image
We are now staying with friends. One lives one side of the Rhone in the Ardeche and the other on the other side, in the Drome Region. We had originally planned to visit for a few days, however, due to the weather we have been here over 2 weeks! The day we arrived we had blue skies and sunshine, which lasted the first day! Since then we have had a lot of rain, thunder, lightning and hail. Our friends have very kindly said we can stay as long as we like. We have spent some time mending broken things eg. the bike repair kit bag, which virtually disintegrated and the sleeping mat, which we have now accepted cannot be fixed easily! We went to the Salon des Vin de France for a wine tasting event and tasted many wines from around France - some good, some not to our taste and not worth the high price. One sunny day we explored Valence. There are some very pretty parks and lots of historical buildings. We saw the Maison de Tete and a house where Napoleon used to live. We wandered the...
Read more