Friday, February 25, 2011
While the boat was hit by waves this past night, they were coming directly from the front and the winds kept the boat pointed into the weather, with the additional bonus of charging the batteries via the wind generator; thus it was quite a comfortable night at, unlike for those at the dock where the wind kept the boats bouncing and jostling around. I can see the masts of the boats at docking swinging around now – even those in catamarans!. I fought my way against a tough exit from the North Sound but then turned downwind and had a great run to Trellis Bay with the equivalent of about 5 reefs in the sails and still made 6 knots in winds that were constantly around 25 knots. It was a fun run despite being rolled around a bit in the big swell and being constantly worried about the dinghy getting pooped by a breaking following wave.
I’d flaked 2 lines, one on each side, and prepared the boat hook for use and was ready to pick up a mooring but knew that the mooring balls were spaced quite closely at Trellis and that the wind would make it difficult to pick up a ball and that a missed approach would be dicey as there isn’t much room to manoeuvre. I found a mooring ball close to the entrance of Trellis and then the fun began – the first run was exploratory, I wanted to check the painter and visible parts of the mooring for damage. The one I’d chosen was in acceptable condition so my second run was in earnest and I set it up quite well and thought I’d finessed it quite nicely until I walked forward and the painter was just a yard or so out of my reach – I’d gotten the mooring directly in line, just a bit short. The wind whipped Zanshin I‘s bow around and I made a third pass which, while not as elegant and smooth as the previous one, managed to let me snatch the painter and get Zanshin I firmly attached.
I did a bit of work in the cockpit and below decks but spent my time waiting for a visitor or a call which never came, then had an early dinner at De Loose Mongoose and retired back to the boat in order to watch another movie and read the rest of my thriller.
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