Riding the "Wave" (6-12-06)
We survived our first tropical wave (the things that hurricanes are made of). We rode out the high winds and squalls on a mooring in the nicely protected harbor of Port Elizabeth, Bequia. The anchorage is well protected from any wave action but the hills to the East actually accelerate the winds. On any given day, the “Bequia Blast” would run through the harbor with 20-25 knot winds. We wondered what would happen when the wave caused the wind to really pick up.
The wondering ended around 5:00 Monday afternoon (6-12-06) as the first squall swooped down from the hills. Crossroads heeled over 10 degrees in the first blast of wind- big lean for not having any sail up. Then the rain came. The wind driven rain was so loud we couldn’t even hear the 35 knots winds screeching in the rigging. We stood in
the cockpit behind the protection of the dodger and watched the visibility drop to a boat length. We could not see the shore or town and could barley see the boat in front of us. Should we do something? What? So, we sat and nervously watched the storm, wondering what we would do if the mooring chose now to break.
I had run two lines through the mooring line and back to the boat - one to hold us and one to take over if that one broke. I also ran a line from the boat to the mooring itself (a rather large engine wrapped in chains). This last line was back up in case the mooring line couldn’t handle our boat sailing back and forth in the storm.
Every thing held. That squall passed and we were able to sleep fairly well with only occasional high winds and rain. Until 5:00 AM when we had another squall come through. It was a lot like the first one but not as scary, since we had already done this once. It passed in an hour or so and the rain settled into more of an all day pace.
By now we figured the decks were clean enough to eat off of so we opened the water fill caps and plugged the deck drain to let some free water flow into the tank. That afternoon the wave had about blown itself out and Michele was able to take advantage of the nine inches of fresh water in the dinghy to do some cleaning.
It looks as though the next couple of waves will pass way to the north of us. We’ll be tucked in Grenada before another one comes through.
Glenn
The wondering ended around 5:00 Monday afternoon (6-12-06) as the first squall swooped down from the hills. Crossroads heeled over 10 degrees in the first blast of wind- big lean for not having any sail up. Then the rain came. The wind driven rain was so loud we couldn’t even hear the 35 knots winds screeching in the rigging. We stood in
the cockpit behind the protection of the dodger and watched the visibility drop to a boat length. We could not see the shore or town and could barley see the boat in front of us. Should we do something? What? So, we sat and nervously watched the storm, wondering what we would do if the mooring chose now to break.
I had run two lines through the mooring line and back to the boat - one to hold us and one to take over if that one broke. I also ran a line from the boat to the mooring itself (a rather large engine wrapped in chains). This last line was back up in case the mooring line couldn’t handle our boat sailing back and forth in the storm.
Every thing held. That squall passed and we were able to sleep fairly well with only occasional high winds and rain. Until 5:00 AM when we had another squall come through. It was a lot like the first one but not as scary, since we had already done this once. It passed in an hour or so and the rain settled into more of an all day pace.
By now we figured the decks were clean enough to eat off of so we opened the water fill caps and plugged the deck drain to let some free water flow into the tank. That afternoon the wave had about blown itself out and Michele was able to take advantage of the nine inches of fresh water in the dinghy to do some cleaning.
It looks as though the next couple of waves will pass way to the north of us. We’ll be tucked in Grenada before another one comes through.
Glenn
posted by Glen Phillips at
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
