thank god for the winter lay up

[Piere]

Ever since lift out I have looked out over the channel and wished the old girl was still afloat ,flat seas ,benign breeze.
But tonight in the channel evry ship is heading for shelter. FORCE 8,9 OR 10 .
The bay east of dungeness and the margate roads has bacome a safe haven for ships much much bigger than my humble yacht.
I happened to check my mooring chains a few weeks after lift out an was alarmed to find the odd link feeling a little tired .
A lucky escape methinks .
Must remember to look up the progress of our Ellen as she battles thru a 40 knot gale tommorrow when I visit the boat show . A very brave girl
I will debate the journey up the M20/25 to excel in the morning .
perhaps i may wait till sunday when the winds die down

 

[Anonymous]

We had a very noisy night last night in Chichester but all is safe and sound. Gusts to F9. I see on AIS live right now that all the shipping in the Solent and south of the island seems fairly normal. The Pride of Cherbourg is making 20kts northerly and the Normandie is making 18kts on 144 degrees. I wouldn't like to be aboard them myself!

David

 

[Piere]

nope , me niether. Dave
the frequency of pitch and roll on a large ship has a nasty effect on me tummy.
Strange though , never felt bad on a 24 ft yacht /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
pete

 

[capel679]

funny that Piere,
rough channel crossing on big boat and me tum goes wiered
but 15 knots on my cruiser......no problem.
how come ?????????????????

 

[SteveA]

We seem to have been hit harder up here in Cumbria - recorded speeds of 80kts gusting to 90 last night ( Morecambe Bay). More gales to come according to the forecast for the next 3 days. Went to check the boat today - what a mess! Floating pontoon berth and the boat has obviously been just about over to having the mast at horizontal - toe rail gone, stantions broken, several bottle screws badly bent and lumps out of the GRP - I thought saling was for fun!

 

[Anonymous]

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Avocet]

Whereabouts are you Steve?

I have almost identical damage (I'm in Whitehaven on a "wind-on" pontoon). As I only went in half way through the season, I thought I'd stay in for a while - big mistake! My nice new (2 seasons ago) toe rail on the starboard side is now toothpicks for a couple of feet amidships, I have one broken stanchion base and a bent bottle screw on the starboard cap shroud. (Oh, and a couple of burst fenders)! It looks like Avocet was rolling far enough for the toerail to hook under the pontoon and then tried to lift the pontoon as she came back upright.

Still, there's always someone worse off than oneself, there were two boats on their sides in the compound and I gather one of those that was afloat isn't anymore

 

[SteveA]

Just down the road from you in Barrow docks. The boats a Moody Halberdier and it's now without about 25' of toe rail! The trouble was/is that she is fastened up beam on to the the present winds and there isn't anywhere else to take her - even if I could!
Our local boat clubs have had some problems i.e. about 3 boats have fallen over but considering the conditions we're experiencing I think we've not done too badly.
When I called the insurance today they were telling me that some of the marinas have had structural damage to their buildings.
I think boats at Fleetwood will have got away with it being down in the dock but would be suprised if there hasn't been problems at Glasson.
Steve.

 

[ridgy]

Three boats fell over at Holyhead on Friday night, thankfully the domino stopped two boats short of mine.