Today’s weather promises some winds and rain – but no sunshine. I’m doing home-office, so it isn’t a total loss of a day. But it is rather hot and sticky below decks with all the hatches closed, and I’m opening them up whenever there’s a break in the rain.
Noon
There was nothing worth reporting in the morning, and not much newsworthy now. I did turn on the instruments to measure 25-30 knots of wind whistling by as the last squall came thro
ugh. At least my anchor is holding, and none of the other boats in the anchorage seem to have shifted. As I wrote this another squall came through and I had 32 knots constant come through. The satellite images, only 10 minutes delayed, aren’t looking good. More than just some winds and rain are in the forecast for the rest of the day, and the duration of the night.
Afternoon
Still windy with gusts up to 30 knots, and cloudy. I’ve just thawed out some beef and am making up a Bolognese sauce with onions, spices and passata. That should be enough for tonight’s dinner aboard and the rest will go into the fridge for another night.
The guys on the launch from Paradise Beach Club at attached to a free mooring, but I doubt that any of the boats in the anchorage are going to leave and go ashore tonight. They don’t have much protection from the rain, and none from the wind.
I’m going to set up an anchor watch program for tonight. Even though I’ve got a lot of chain out and haven’t budged an inch so far. I’ll certainly sleep a lot better with an active GPS alarm warning me of any slippage.
Night
It is 23:00 now, the winds arrived a bit early. I’d set my alarm for 23:30 but the first gusts hit and woke me up. I’d looked at the forecast earlier and had seen that the wind would shift and come from the SE at 30 knots. This would have put me quite close to the mooring I’d vacated days before. I’d used a lull in the winds to re-anchor a little further away; but after dropping anchor and letting out sufficient chain I found myself still to close for true comfort/sleep should the wind clock around more than expected. So I’m not only using the anchor watch app, I’m going to be holding anchor watch in the cockpit tonight.