Windy in Eden

I am composing this blog under difficult circumstances. This is the second day of howling SW winds and the restaurant with the wireless service is closed. Fortunately they've left their wireless service running so I've dragged a table behind a plastic barrier, set up the laptop, and am on my knees with my jacket draped over the laptop and my head to make reading the screen possible.

We have had a very difficult day and terrible night. Two nights ago we prudently moved from the jetty at Snug Cove to anchor on the Southern side of Twofold bay in anticipation of predicted high winds. The winds did not come that night as predicted. In fact, Pachuca drifted over her anchor. In the morning we decided to motor back so that I could visit Merimbula, about 30 km away to visit a Medibank Private Office so that I could suspend my insurance and take out travel health insurance. I also needed to present our passports to Customs to get final clearance for ourselves and Pachuca.

Brenda and I left Arnold in charge while we went to Merimbula by bus. That turned out to be a somewhat useless visit because contrary to what the Eden chemist and the Eden Information Centre had said, there is not Medibank Private presence in Merimbula. (They must have confused Medibank with Medicare.) Neverthless by telephone and fax we managed to get my suspension papers away. While we were having lunch Arnold telephoned. He was battling high winds, going to 50 kn for minutes at a time. A rope had parted and one of the barge boards was broken. He was having a hell of a time.

It took over an hour to get back. By then the wind had settled to 35-45 kn. I visited customs and got our passports stamped and the boat clearance.

The night was difficult to say the least. Fortunately we got help. Arnold got advice to clear out while we had the chance. But another sailor, after providing great advice on how to set our ropes, told us that our 22 hp engine was not powerful enough to claw us against the wind to the other side of the bay. He had seen several boats try it and wind up on the rocks. We had to stay. He also produced a tyre which he and Arnold hung on one of the jetty posts. Later on I "borrowed" another tyre not being used and set it on the other post.

During the night a man appeared from nowhere and asked if we needed barge boards. We said Yes because Pachuca's barge boards were small and one had splintered. He returned 30 minutes later with three beautiful pieces of timber pre-drilled for our ropes. I asked him if he was an angel sent from heaven and he modestly replied that he was just another sailor. Then later into the night another man appeared and asked if we needed large fenders. I told him that we needed all of the help that we could get. Shortly he produced two large fenders that made Pachuca's 6 fenders look like toys. We put them cross-ways opposite the two posts.

The night was a series of adjustments of the tyre heights to match the changing tide, fiddling with ropes, and serious crises where we would be hit by squalls with 50 kn winds where we would have to assist by fending off by hand while the boat pitched up and down wildly and slammed into the jetty. At times the nose of Pachuca would be totally immersed in water then she would come up with a sheet of water racing across her deck. We took turns sleeping when we could.

We got through the night with no serious apparant damage to ourselves or the boat. Fortunately no more ropes parted and the midships bollard held. We had redundant lines all over the place to try to avoid a crisis during the night.

Unfortunately it is not over yet. We do not expect relief until tonight.

We sort of trapped ourselves into this. In hindsight we should have waited at the anchorage. But had we done that Arnold would have overstayed his 3-month visa, causing possible problems. Hindsight again. Arnold looked at his stamped passport and saw that he got his exit stamp dated one day before the expiry of his 3-month visa.

At this point we plan to sail out of Eden for New Zealand tomorrow morning. If we do not depart by Thursday we must notify customs.

Attached are some photos of our setup.