A couple of hours or so ago we were suddenly hit by at least 47 kts of wind, a downpour (actually a sidepour as it was driving from the south) thunder and lightening. All safe and sound, thank goodness. [We’re still on the quay at Lefkas, by the way, more on that in another post.]
- Force 9, Severe Gale, is 41-47 kts.
- Force 10, Storm, is 48-55 kts.
We know it was at least 47 kts from our lovely Dutch neighbours to port, who saw that register on their instruments. We were too busy to look at ours!
We knew rain and a storm were due later tonight, but forecast wind was 4 gusting 6, so not worried. Then a very black sky developed to the south and we were on standby to close hatches and ports and position the drip trays if it got closer. The next thing we knew, everything was flattened as it hit. I was in the cockpit, so scrambled round the boat closing all the hatches from on deck, which is quicker than doing it from below where you have to take the mosquito screens out first. I was fairly soaked by the time I got back to the cockpit and started passing things down to John, who’d already closed all the ports below. Then, a large yacht came into a slot 2 along to starboard, pushing the light motor cruiser between us right up against LouLouDitsi. All the fenders did their job well. The rings on the quay where he’s moored are not well placed, so his starboard stern line is straight back, rather than at an angle, so he’s prone to moving our way anyway. With this wind, it was more of a problem and as we were being pushed by 2 boats and a lot of wind, our stern was getting nearer and nearer to the quay. Engine on! Forward tickover and the helm over to starboard did the trick nicely.
We hadn’t had a chance to put the sprayhood side triangles in and it mightn’t have made much difference, but the cockpit was soaked and so was I. Turns out that yellow shorts start looking see-through when wet 😯
John was by now togged up in waterproofs, so he took over on watch, while I went below to change every item of clothing I was wearing.
About 10 minutes after I came back up in waterproofs, the wind was dropping and the rain stopped. We mopped up and made a cup of tea. Everyone along the quay agreed – that was quite something.
Right, I’m off to check the forecasts again.