Gale-force Winds

I had thought there wouldn’t be much to write about now that we are home and hunkered down during the coronavirus pandemic. I was wrong. We knew strong storms with heavy wind were forecast for today. We thought that the tide slides would keep Breeze On secure in her slip. George went down to check on the lines sometime between 9 and 10 am this morning. He called me after a few minutes to say he needed help. He was trying to tighten the line on the windward (starboard) side but the wind was blowing so hard he couldn’t get it any tighter. By the time I arrived the boat was up against the piling on the leeward (port) side and the shroud—one of the cables that holds the mast up—was catching on the piling. Not good. I tried pushing the boat away from the piling while George tightened the line on the other side. I couldn’t do it. Meanwhile, it just kept getting windier and the gusts were especially strong. We switched sides and I tightened the starboard side while he pushed away from the piling on the port side. During a “lull” we made some progress. We decided to try to tighten the line some more and that is when it got crazy windy. George tied a line to the starboard side piling, then through a block to the winch. We were able to pull the boat over a little. While we were working on that the Bimini frame came loose from the boat. We managed to get it reattached. George went to get a screwdriver to tighten the set screw while I held the frame down. Even though I was pulling on it with a fair amount of my body weight, it came loose again. I had visions of the bimini carrying me away like a parasail. We decided to take the bimini off of the frame and started the rather complicated process of unzipping it while trying not to lose it. Meanwhile, boat was heeling over so much the shroud was catching on the piling again. I was afraid the shroud would snap and we would lose our mast. We got the bimini off the frame but lost a cover for one of the windows. After tossing the wet bimini into the cabin George added a few more lines, I loosened the stern lines to try to realign the shroud forward of the piling and we went below in our wet clothes to monitor the situation. Shortly afterward the wind subsided. Phew, what an ordeal. 

The peak wind was 42 mph with gusts of 64 mph at 10 am. 



White line around piling was lead through the block and back to a winch.