Wednesday 30 March 2016

Katie lashes out...

Just a month and a half after "Imogen" [clicky] and now we've just been pounded by "Katie" over the last (Easter) weekend..

Wind speed scale (left) in knots, wind direction (right) in degrees - data source Cambermet.co.uk
The graph shows three days worth - I was working on Sparrow during the day on the 27th (peak of 45 knots, force 9) and at times the rain was horizontal, and even down in the "valley" between two much bigger boats, and with her mast down, she was rocking.... As it turns out that was nothing to overnight on Sunday into Monday, when we had a gust of 65 knots which is full blown F12 (hurricane) but consistent gusts of F11 , and that was inside the harbour..  I suspect that was when this occurred...


Thankfully - no damage was done - even the mast head light seems to be OK (but I need to test it), but it was a bit of a shock, and huge thanks to fellow club member David who tipped me off to the problem and had already replaced and lashed down the mast by the time I got down there.... I'm guessing that the rope lashings at the foot acted both as a shock absorber and a hinge, so she just gently fell sideways - no damage to mast or boat, the spreaders are fine....  I was lucky...!

More than I can say for others though....  one of the club members who launched early suffered a mooring failure and his catamaran is currently down harbour high on a mud bank - jib looks to have shredded, I do hope they manage to get her off..

Picture courtesy of Max at http://bursledonblog.blogspot.sk/2016/03/after-storm-katy.html
 ...the clubs mooring barge turned turtle, and Langstone Harbour Board's own mooring service tug broke free and ended up wrapped around Hayling Bridge (clicky - pic courtesy Mark's blog) - she's been warped off but looks like some significant damage.

Scenes of devastation when I came through Emsworth this morning...  this one looks bad - she was pulled up on the beach last week guessed the owner was cleaning the bottom as she had a couple of chunky anchors out...  not enough though, it looks like she's lost a bilge keel, one of the spreaders has gone, but the whole of the pontoon side is caved in and fractured - a right off... 


...and two up against the harbour wall - the blue one is "Geraldine" a  Leisure 17 - I think that's the second time she's ended up there....   There's also a bigger boat called "Sheherezade" at the bottom of the main street just to the left in the picture below...


That puts the mast slipping off the boat in context...  
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4 comments:

  1. jmilesr30 March 2016 at 12:14

    Yikes - I'm glad the damage to the mast appears light
    I think I'll renew my boat insurance a little early after reading this!

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer30 March 2016 at 13:38

      Miles - the weather, in my opinion, is getting more extreme - I'm no environmental expert but it does seem that this winter has been spectacularly stormy here on the south coast... either way, good move, just renewed mine a few weeks ago - happily, I'm not going to need to use it....

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  2. Mark The Skint Sailor30 March 2016 at 22:30

    Steve, I think you got off lightly, compared to the number of damaged boats around the local harbours. I went over Hayling bridge tonight on the way to meeting up with Jim at the Barley Mow. It looks like the HM tug has been pulled away from the bridge, but it looks trapped in that lagoon between the bridge and the Billy line pilings. The gap between the pilings looks too narrow for the tug to get through. It looks like it was swept over the pilings by the wind and storm surge tide during the storm. I'm not sure when the next tide will be that gives enough clearance to do the return journey!

    There are quite a few unfortunate boat owners after Sunday Night/Monday morning. The one at the top of the Eastern Rd is looking particularly sad already.

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer31 March 2016 at 07:42

      Mark - definitely afloat, but according to a mate of mine who walks to work across the bridge she's take a fair amount of superstructure damage - they may be waiting for a calm to repair her before getting her out.. members yacht got blown ashore there, so there is water but if they want the next big one that'll be my launch weekend (9th/10th)

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