Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wind... Wind and more Wind

Well I guess it was not ment to be. the car rental and trip to Loretto
it was a rough night, with winds gusting . we all slept with one eye open.
We had a mooring ball, which is normally safe but two days before the net had a warning 
about them not to be trussed. This was obvious because half the ball were missing from our stop over 2 years ago.
 We took one that we may have been on before, it was oversized for large boats, bigger ball, bigger chain and larger concrete block we assume???.
as we finished breakfast,the wind picked up blowing 30 Kts, maybe we should stay with the boat
10 oclock it,s gusting to 38kts. Looking back on shore, one of the other boats on a small ball was on the rocks
people running around trying to get some lines on it, it missed the empty side of the dock by about a 60 ft.
Crap the boat next to us is dragging, into the catamaran just behind it. Oh Oh I think our friends Sunshine is having trouble they are pulling up anchor. 11Am boats have there engines running, we turn our on, just to be sure it starts if we need it, we let it run
Blowing a solid 28 Kts with gusts into the 40s. What is going on here, 20 to 28Kts was predicted, that is why we all came in, but we got 2ft seas in an anchorage, everyone is having trouble, we ourselves are wandering back and forth, straining the mooring, is one of our two lines chaffing? Crap this is not fun. Shane is steering the boat trying to keep it into the wind.Nikita runs a line over our
sail cover so it doesn’t flap so much.
Ok enough is enough, its blowing 36Kts gusts over 50, we seen a 54 on the kt meter, are we goint to hold?
A boat is having trouble with its dingy, oh my God ,it flips over with the moter under water, they are towing it upside down.
Some one anounces the other dingy dock on the other side has parted and the ladder on the wall is now missing. another boat in the waiting room anchorage has broken free and is being rescued from the mangroves.
Its a full on gail we have seen 57 kts twice. our friends Wiz lay out a second anchor, they are just in front of us and were walking back and forth like us. We see a dingy floating towards us upside down, Nikita walks to the bow wanting to snag it . Darral jumps into his dingy and motors out 100 ft and snags it, towing back to his boat Wiz. Man that is gutsy. he flips it over on his thrid try and secures it to the back of Wiz.
The seas are rolling 3ft, everyone is bobbing, and every rope, mast and line are making noise.Everyone is tired from the stress.
4pm it starts to ease back 27kts of wind feels like its calm, all are releaved. we ease back into our normal selves. kims starts on supper, by evening its 16kts, the seas have flatened. The VHF is abuz with other boats reporting missing life jackets, paddles,
etc. 3 dingys have been resqued in the eclipse, one pretty mangled, on the dock.
Gypsywind has faired well, nothing lost,nothing damaged.
We have a good boat that handles herself in big seas, we feel lucky.
Next day it is calm 4kts of wind. we treat ourselves to town and that rental car, yes you guessed it 3 grocery shops and another $400 of provisions. we prepare for our next leg of our journey down to lapaz.

Gypsywind and crew is safe and sound, heading south. 

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