Last week all the windows were finally put in, there is still some finishing to do but they are in place and sealed & when I tested them with the hose, watertight. (and it is important right now)
Tropical cyclone Pam has caused major devastation in Vanuatu over the last 24 hours and she is heading this way. It’s expected she will cross some time Sunday afternoon through into Monday.
She got up to category 5 which is the maximum storm rating but is expected to drop to a 3 or 2 as she heads this way over cooler water. Not surprisingly she is the talk of the marina and has been for the last few days with people making plans to leave for “calmer waters” and sending (adult) kids to stay with friends before she hits.
I’ve taken a slightly different approach and have been monitoring as many sources of weather information as I can, so far everything I have seen is suggesting that she will pass east of NZ, enough east that she shouldn’t cause too much problem at West Park . It is going to get windy and rain a lot that’s pretty much guaranteed. It’s likely that there will be some big seas, even in the marina, which I’m picking will cause any problems we do have. The trouble will be if something causes her to swing this way and if she doesn’t loose as much wind speed as is expected.
While I find the details of wind strength interesting & I’m learning a lot I’m not going to bore you with them.
So what have I done to prepare – firstly I’ve taken with a grain of salt all the doom and gloom predictions about the storm and how bad it will be here… how could we tell when it was days away from reaching NZ waters? But as I said I have been watching Pam’s progress and if I thought she was going to make a direct hit at cat 5 I would have checked my insurance and checked into a hotel.
I’ve spent some time this afternoon putting things away (so the paddle board has gone to the storage locker) and making sure that everything on the dock is secure so that nothing can blow away. I’ve put some extra mooring lines in place including spring lines (that run from the middle of the finger to the bow & stern of the boat) to hold her more securely, this gives me backups in case a line or fitting fails in rough conditions. Put a couple of extra wraps of jib sheet on the fuller to reduce the chance of it flapping and have checked that the main cover is well secured too. Near & Farr has been repositioned in the berth so that she is more central (have to make a big leap to get on and off rather than stepping onto the pontoon) reducing the chances of her hitting the dock, there is still a bit of slack in the lines so that she can move rather than being pulled to pieces from being strung to tight. In the morning I will put some fenders out just to make me feel better in the off chance that she does touch and I’ll stow the last few things that are still on deck (the outboard & my dock shoes). Working on the assumption that it may be wet for the next few days I may also swap gas bottles cos that is a nasty job to do in the rain.
I also looked inside and have tidied up a bit more, if she does start bouncing I don’t want any “flying objects”, screwdrivers and full wine bottles have been put away and I’ve just about emptied the half full one so it can’t smash if it gets tipped over. In the morning I’m going to pack an overnight bag and put it in the car so that if I do decide that I need to “abandon ship” I’ve got clothes for work and my toothbrush. I’ll also be keeping my wet weather gear (my new jacket has an inflatable lifejacket built in), a torch, phone and the go pro handy tomorrow night.
Time to get some sleep, tomorrow may be a sleepless night.
landtoseanz 