8 December Highs and lows

on the wall in St Georges after the storm

We've identified a potential weather window for departure on Thursday, 10 December. In anticipation of this we presented ourselves at the local Covid test centre two days ago. It happened to be my birthday so when asked what did I get for my birthday I replied “a nose swab” and a negative result. That was the high.

The low was a cold front that tracked from the east coast of the States straight to Bermuda. The forecast was for 30 knots sustained with gusts to 60 knots clocking from south through to west. Our choices were to stay on anchor in St Georges Bay tucked into the south of the bay or move onto the wall by the Customs House. We thought we'd have more protection behind the Customs building. We were sorely proved wrong. From midnight to dawn we were pinned on the concrete wall with all fenders strained, the lines straining too by waves bouncing back and forth with a big gust of 75 knots recorded. It was made worse by the wave action bouncing within the confined harbour area. David stayed on watch in the cockpit all night checking lines and fenders, watching the small boat ahead of us almost being washed up on top of the wall at high tide.

It was a horrible night. The one boat that had stayed out on anchor was a single hander. He dragged and spent the night motoring into the wind to keep station. With hindsight we would have had a better time on anchor, our Rocna has held us in 68 knots before and it would have been less scary without a concrete wall in proximity although neither us, nor the six other boats in harbour, suffered any damage.

Today we're resting, catching up on sleep and looking at the weather. I'm ready for the calm of the Caribbean winter.