Friday has been blown away!
I didn’t sleep too well due to the mix of wind and wave action during the night. My stable sleeping platform from 2 days ago is an almost forgotten memory now.
Morning
I had to hold on to the fiddles in the galley while making coffee in the morning to avoid falling. My first action at the computer was to check the weather forecast. Not great news, the winds would continue to pick up until around noon. After that they would slowly subside over the next 3 days.
Superyacht Far Niente had anchored behind me the previous afternoon. The shift in wind moved me a lot closer than before. As I wanted to let out some more chain this might put me uncomfortably close. I hailed the captain on the VHF and established communication. We spoke and I informed the captain of my intent, asking if he had a problem with that. He responded that it was no problem and I promptly put out 10m more chain.
The d’Natalin IV superyacht to windward is being buffeted and turned by the winds as well, and I think they might also be rolling around as much as I am.
I’m glad I did that, as somewhat later the winds picked up again. I turned on the instruments so that I could see what the actual wind was and measured 39 knots in one gust which also looked like it was raising a bit of a waterspout closer to shore.
It is only 9am and I’m already a bit tired; I think that I’ll stay aboard and work for bit longer. Then I’ll go ashore at the first opportunity in order to have terra firma under my feet once more.
Noon
I’m not going ashore yet as the gusts are still very strong and I don’t want to leave poor Zanshin alone and unattended. Far Niente has left, so I could let out more chain, but I think I have more than enough out at the moment.
I’m glad that the monitor is glued to the countertop, as a glass I have drying in the galley just tipped over from a particularly bad roll.
Afternoon
After the winds had settled enough for my taste, I dinghied into shore. It was late afternoon and just before sunset and the bars were very busy. Quai 8 and Max’s Place had almost no seating, but I grabbed one of the last chairs and enjoyed the lack of rolling motion.
Friday has been blown away, but not completely.
