Sudden Storm from nowhere

[Norman_E]

There I was, sat on my boat, moored to the end of the jetty at Yacht Classic, Fethiye, on a calm morning with no more than a dozen knots of wind anywhere in the forecast, when out of nowhere it suddenly blew 40 knots or more and churned the bay up into a mass of waves and blown spray. I slackened my stern lines a bit to reduce and equalise the snatching and all was well for me. My instruments recorded gusts up to 49 knots and consistent wind speeds from 30 to 45 knots. Out in the bay boats started dragging anchors, and one 36 foot charter boat ended up blown ashore close to the restaurant. Mehmet and his men from yacht Classic used their ribs to keep it from major damage and eventually dragged it off. It was probably just luck that the boat's rudder appears to have missed both of the big rocks that break the surface close to where it went ashore, and the boat seems to have escaped major damage, though I think its keel bolts may need inspection. One hour later all was calm again, with the wind down to maximum gusts of 10 knots.

I have photos but cannot upload even a thumbnail on this connection.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I have experienced this on the Clyde as well. We should never take being at sea lightly but that doesn't mean excessive HSE, just sound preparedness and good practices.

 

[Norman_E]

I changed my connection, and uploaded one.

View attachment 32328

 

[vyv_cox]

Some very odd weather about just now. We are in Limnos, torrential rain overnight but no wind. This morning flat calm first thing, went to about force 5 within minutes.

 

[noelex]

Very strange in Symi as well.
Complete about face of the forecast late last night, with 30k SE (49k gusts) in place of light NW that was previously forecast, a few hours before.

Not what you want to hear, just before going to bed, when you are in an narrow anchorage with no protection from the South.

Luckily we only have one anchor to pick up

(Sorry I could not resist that one )

 

[Norman_E]

I just heard that the yacht did not get off scot free. Having looked at the point where she went ashore I discovered that the "rocks" are in fact a pile of big rectangular concrete mooring blocks awaiting deployment, with plenty of corners just below the surface. The yacht was damaged and took on water, and appears to have been taken to be lifted.

 

[affinite]

Very strange in Symi as well.
Complete about face of the forecast late last night, with 30k SE (49k gusts) in place of light NW that was previously forecast, a few hours before.

Not what you want to hear, just before going to bed, when you are in an narrow anchorage with no protection from the South.

Luckily we only have one anchor to pick up

(Sorry I could not resist that one )

But It is a big un !

 

[KellysEye]

>when out of nowhere it suddenly blew 40 knots

We've had that in Turkey, the Greek Islands and Croatia, it's often Katabatic but not always.

 

[SimbaDog]

Yes, had similar weather event in Sporades, tends to focus the mind

 

[Norman_E]

>when out of nowhere it suddenly blew 40 knots

We've had that in Turkey, the Greek Islands and Croatia, it's often Katabatic but not always.

This was about 11AM, from a calm morning when we washed the boat with little or no wind blowing, and our neighbours on a 54 footer fitted their genoa. It blew up to full strength in about two minutes flat. The boat that dragged ashore had been anchored in about 10 metres of water with only 30 metres of chain out! Mehmet told me that such storms happen here in winter, but he had never seen one like it in the summer months.

Last week I was here when a boat wearing the white ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron dragged and came across our bows, in only about 10 or 15 knots of wind, causing some mirth among the red ensign plebs like me!

 

[Tony Cross]

One of the problems with that anchorage (close to Yacht Classic and Ece marina) is that everyone wants to be within a short dinghy ride from shore. Consequently everyone anchors on top of everyone else in what is fairly deep water (around 12m from memory?) on relatively short rodes to reduce the swinging radius. So it's not surprising that when the wind gets up in there people drag. We always went deep into the bay, and laid 70m of chain. Nobody else was within hailing distance so lots of room to swing. When the wind got up we could keep drinking in the bar there (it was Yacht Plaza back then) whilst others were running for their dinghys.

 

[macd]

There I was, sat on my boat, moored to the end of the jetty at Yacht Classic, Fethiye...

Tha' were lucky
At the time I was on passage from Rhodes to Kastellorizo with two very inexperienced guests. Diverted to Fethiye after the genoa furling line parted. Not sure they believed me when I explained that saltwater showers on heaving foredecks are not an everyday part of Med life.

 

[Norman_E]

Actually we did get some damage, a trim was pulled off by a mooring line that got round it, but it was easily refitted. The only other damage was that just before the storm I lent my hose spray head to the neighbouring boat, and after all the excitement I forgot to get it back!

I cannot get the uploader to work, but here is a photo of the boat that went aground.

 

[ValleyForge]

Have to admit to a minor faux pas there a few years ago, we anchored there on a nice calm day with only a gentle breeze, off the café, quite a crowd of yachts so popped off for just a little while - blow me, when we came back the breeze had stiffened & swung 90 degrees. I had put quite a bit of chain out but it transpired all our neighbours had short chain - 20 - 30 M at most so a bit of minor entanglement occurred. Our European partner neighbours (Germans) were not terribly amused but a bottle of pop sorted it all out. Back then you had to watch for chain and cables from the ferry wreck - I expect they've sunk deep into the ooze now.

Mind you, was there in the years before the marina was built and occasionally enjoyed snow at Easter and howling gales for ages