Where the hell did that come from??

[Dave_Snelson]

I went over to Porthmadog to bring my boat into the inner harbour for winter on the advice of the harbourmaster. Good advice too!

I arrived in Porthmadoc and went to the harbour to launch my tender. Realising I had forgotton my friend's life-jacket, I nipped back to my caravan (static thingy) to get one. The weather at that stage was OK-ish and not too windy. Fifteen minutes later I arrived back at the harbour and a F9+ gale was ripping through Porthmadog. In 15 short minutes the sea had gone from OK to having white horses on it inside the harbour. An imminent gale / storm warning came over the VHF from Holyhead, to which I thought "too late bucko, it's already here!" The wind was shrieking through the rigging on the yachts and one poor owner now doesn't have a mast on his yacht. The little yacht was being tossed about like a cork on its mooring so violently, then the rigging gave way and the mast just snapped right off!

I drove down the wharf to look at my boat on its mooring, to find that whilst it was OK, the poor thing was bucking about like bronco horse, thrashing around, up and down, left and right. Good job I fitted the new mooring warps then!

We were about to give up and drive home, when the storm blew itself out. The wind literally dropped to nearly nothing and the water flattened off in under 5 minutes - most bizare!! My friend, who has actually never been on a MoBo in his life said "where the hell did that come from?"

Anyway, mission accomplished. We took the boat for a 3/4 hour run and then moored up in the inner harbour.

<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>

 

[ccscott49]

I think they are called squalls, mind you one of them has been blowing in the northern north sea for twenty years!!

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[jimi]

Well its sort of like this HLB had black pudding and beans for his tea. He also had several pints of Lancashire's worst, bent over to pick up a stray buutt end he'd noticed when all hell broke loose fae his arse. It was on the local news, apparently Tutts was blown onto Lundy and in fact is still stranded there.

<hr width=100% size=1>O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

 

[oldharry]

...Ah well from recollections of 10 years of the Irish Sea, you dont take too much notice of forecasts out there; its the mountains - they cut the weather off from the rest of the country, so that I remember days when the rest of the UK was being battered and drowned, and vice versa - every one else gets good weather while Wet Wales - sorry, West Wales - is doing a re-run of last winters worst!

The Solent is much more civilised - just the odd tornado or waterspout. (And yes i know several boats were sunk in Barmouth by one a few years back!)

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[gonfishing]

Dave I know how you feel when things like that happen.
I had my first boat on a mooring I put down in Oxwich, a few years back, I had heard there was some bad weather heading our way, but it arrived early!!! When I got to the beach to launch the dingy there was no chance ,it was blowing a force 7/8 southerly with 8/10 ft rollers on the beach!! my boat was the only one left on it's mooring, even the Trawlers had run for the safety of Swansea marina. I spent an anxcious time,watching my boat disappear from sight minutes at a time, only to bob back into sight again!!2 days later I managed to retrieve her, the rope I had used to tie up to the bouy, had worn through, but luckily I had also shackled a chain to the launching eye through the bouy which saved the the day,I think that week used up 10 yrs of boating luck!!!!

Julian

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