Aegina heavy weather this evening

sailaboutvic

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Once again it shows a harbour wall isn't the place. To be when there any type of storm but for some reason people seen to think is safer , maybe because they can step off the boat when it gets too much and let the insurance deal with the cost.
Of cause they do look like charter yacht ,.
its not their home with all there worldly goods so maybe they have the right idea and walk away.
 

BurnitBlue

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Once again it shows a harbour wall isn't the place. To be when there any type of storm but for some reason people seen to think is safer , maybe because they can step off the boat when it gets too much and let the insurance deal with the cost.
Of cause they do look like charter yacht ,.
its not their home with all there worldly goods so maybe they have the right idea and walk away.
Agreed. We had this discussion in the aftermath of last years medicane. Are those boats lying to lazy lines or there own anchor. That makes a huge difference. At anchor in the bay no one would anchor so close as to lock masts. Also a boat can drag the length of a football pitch without harm. Against a stone wall dragging a single meter would be a problem. Not to mention the reflected turbulance from the wall. Then there is locked masts. Did you note the flying solar panel. The advantage of stern lines ro the wall is fine up to a certain windspeed to stop swinging around. Above a certain windspeed it is a very real nightmare. Anthing above F6 or F7 I reckon.
 

sailaboutvic

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When both our snubber snap some weeks back the condition was much worst with winds over 54 kts and gusting , but being at anchor although it was a wild night we rode it out without any really concern or damage unless you count my eye accident.
Putting that to one side , they look like charter boat I guess if you look at it anyway , if a storm on the way and a family on board you might think it not my boat so bugger the boat let's all stand on dry land .
 

BurnitBlue

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there was just standard rain on and off all day and no wind.
then when the storm came over there was microburst or something like that with high wind for a few minutes
Yes, it is so easy to judge current conditions especially when other boats are already tied up there. Human nature to group together is understandable.

I have largely escaped this situation because of an incident in Turkey many years ago. Briefly I was moored stern to a harbour wall among a dozen other yachts, when a 70 foot + Turkish gunboat type warship did the same. The captain took long port and stb bow lines to shore to stop swinging against the yachts. Unfortunitely the bow lines were led outside all masts trapping everyone inside. Three days of stress in very strong winds indellibely printed on my mind the disadvantage of such a situation. Some yachts did have big damage against the wall. Big bits of grp and the contents of a stern locker littered the quayside. I was OK. A nervous wreck but all down to luck.
 

Dragon461

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I was in Little Vathy at the time it was very windy. One boat called a mayday just outside. Went to Aegina yesterday 5 yacht badly damaged all charter boats
 

Mistroma

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Agreed. We had this discussion in the aftermath of last years medicane. Are those boats lying to lazy lines or there own anchor. That makes a huge difference. At anchor in the bay no one would anchor so close as to lock masts. Also a boat can drag the length of a football pitch without harm. Against a stone wall dragging a single meter would be a problem. Not to mention the reflected turbulance from the wall. Then there is locked masts. Did you note the flying solar panel. The advantage of stern lines ro the wall is fine up to a certain windspeed to stop swinging around. Above a certain windspeed it is a very real nightmare. Anthing above F6 or F7 I reckon.
They will be on their own anchors, I don't remember seeing lazy lines there a few years ago. It is pretty exposed and we avoid it but have used the harbour. Last time we put out plenty of chain but others didn't (as usual) and dragged against us. The wind swung slightly and we reckoned it might not be good later that night even though the forecast was reasonable. Unfortunately, it took a while to extricate ourselves from some anchor chains and had to use more throttle that I liked. Our own anchor refused to budge and we also managed to hook the chain over the protrusion at the back of the keel. First time ever but easy enough to sort out.

We motored around the top of the island as the wind was really getting up and anchored around the corner for a few hours. I believe a few boats were damaged in the area where we were against the quay. I think the boats on the exposed side fared even worse.

We usually avoided the place as it was very busy on most days. I forget the best day to get a space but Friday - Sunday got traffic from Athens and some weekdays had a lot of charter boats.
 

BurnitBlue

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I was wondering how long this practice of anchoring stern to a stone wall has been going on. Only a few years I think. I do recall when the term Med Moor arrived. Some cruisers actually asked on this forum what the term meant. It is not a world wide practice. Alongside, yes but not stern too. Actually probably started and confined to Greece.when the weather patterns were reliable. Nowadays, the weather patterns are changing so Med Mooring may be on the way out as the Med falls into line with the rest of the world.
 

Mistroma

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I thought that this technique had been used since ancient times, rather than being recent. I think it probably developed due to a combination of harbours or quays with limited room and virtually no tidal range. Ferries certainly use it for quick turn around in many places with minimal shore docking facilities. I think bows towards the quay used to be more popular but modern designs tend to favour the opposite direction.

Many quays in Greece have no protection from onshore breezes and trying to tie up alongside doesn't work well, especially when busy. You'd be forever moving to let an inner boat leave a raft or only accept a huge reduction in boat numbers tying up.

I would not want to remain alongside in a very large proportion of Greek quays. Using an anchor to hold the boat clear is actually safer in most places. I normally anchor if bad weather is at all likely but you can always be trapped by other boats. I have ended up supporting several boats inside a small harbour because they had minimal chain out. My chain was almost on the other side of the harbour and held well with wind beam on. It was impossible to leave and other boats couldn't do anything about their anchors.

Not an ideal system but it does work as long as most people are sensible (increasingly forlorn hope now).
 

newtothis

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Given that you can get three boats stern-to in a space that will only take one boat alongside, and given that Greek town quays are not getting any bigger, and that given that there are likely to be more, rather than fewer people wanting to get ashore, I don't see Med mooring disappearing any time soon.
 
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