Test of nerves and mooring capacity
Sunday 25th September dawned bleak and
wet and during the day.... well it just got wetter! However our team
were in place having picked up the the Southern most mooring in America Bay
on the Saturday afternoon. Classy Lady had the mooring with
'Halcyon' rafted alongside. The weather forecast predicted breezes up
to 20kmh coming from the South East, not a problem for this location
as it is our most S/Easterly protected mooring. Nothing prepared
our Skippers and crew for the howling Nor Westerly that raced up the bay at
about 1.30am then stayed in for at least a couple of hours creating quite a
large chop with gusts exceeding 40 knots. The mooring rope was like a
piano wire! Any doubts about the mooring capacity to hold over 45
tonnes of combined vessel weight was tested that night along with some
nervous folk until the wind abated and a return to bunks was made.
The 'Knowledge day' was a great success despite the awful weather. A
big thanks to Roy and Ali who turned 'Classy Lady' over to our participants
for the day, and especially to Roy for his always informative
navigation and chart session.
From left, Roy, Annette, Harry (behind cupboard) and John work on a marine chart with the various chart instruments.
