Yet more bad weather
28 June 2017 | Bourgenay
DavidH Horrid
Well, I was sailing along, all fine and dandy, 6 knots towards Ile de Jeu, engine on tickover to charge the batteries and cool down the deep freeze, (You never know when a G&T is needed!) when the wind just died.. flat, nothing, nada, zilch.
"Blast" I said and started motoring towards Les Sables D'Olonne, 6 miles away in plain sight. Odin (pbuh) must have heard my request because, 20 minutes later and 4 miles off, a blast is what I got. Straight from the North and within a few minutes it had racked up to a full gale, big seas, blown foam, the works.
I was going nowhere (well, backwards actually) so a quick handbrake turn to stbd and I shot into Bourgenay, 3 miles away across the wind.
The entrance is supposed to be untenable in strong onshore winds but I have been in there before and the seas were still building so in I went like a ferret up a trouser leg: instant kalma. Plenty of space alongside so I tucked up in the most sheltered spot in the lee of the lifeboat.