2013 Tropical Storm Andrea
I
needed the rest after the two days of steaming through the canal and
south down the Delaware Bay and all the sand shoals.
I came through the narrow entrance into this so called harbour but it
is more like an enclosed river mouth with a bay stretching SE to the
town. I pulled up the anchor and found a marina who had no
space but at least water and diesel so I filled all the tanks to full
and left to re-anchor having found out along the shoreline both sea
and land was quite shallow water. I dropped anchor with quite
some room aft of me and let out 75 m of my 10mm chain. I
checked that the rest would flow easily and also checked that the
join to the nylon rode was secure and free flowing.
There
was a hive of activity at the Coast Guard Training Centre as the
recruits stowed everything movable and made sure that the few vessel
in their dock had double the lines. With all the canvas well
secured along with everything on deck I prepared a good meal and then
settled into bed with the alarm set for midnight when the Tropical
Storm would arrive.
Here
is the extract from Wikipedia The first tropical cyclone and named
storm of the annual hurricane season, Andrea originated from an area
of low pressure in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on June 5. Despite
strong wind shear and an abundance of dry air, the storm strengthened
while initially heading north-northeastward. Later on June 5, it
re-curved northeastward and approached the Big Bend region of
Florida. Andrea intensified and peaked as a strong tropical storm
with winds at 65 mph 56 knots on June 6. A few hours later, the storm
weakened slightly and made landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida later
that day. It began losing tropical characteristics while tracking
across Florida and Georgia. Andrea transitioned into an
extra-tropical cyclone moved along the East Coast of the United
States.
Yes
I was right in its path and well prepared. I got a few hours
sleep but just before midnight the wind started from the SE. I
had quite some room astern so I undid the snubber and let out all the
chain I had in the locker which was 100 m. The nylon took the
strain round the capstan. Well the wind rose more and more.
Thankfully there
was a short fetch so the waves were quite small. Then came the
rain and the wind so I again let out another 20 m of nylon and
started the engine. I put it in gear and just let it idle.
At
the hight of the wind I had the engine in full ahead with the anchor
straining to keep Malua in position. I was watching the anchor
alarm from the cockpit as we weaved back and forth with the wind in
the high 40 knots. The rain and noise was disconcerting
not that I had to talk to anyone else. It appeared that all the
other vessel except one were holding at their stations. That
fellow started to drag towards the sea shore beach but thankfully the
anchor must have caught something because he stopped just before
going onto the beach.
At
about 4:00 am the winds veered to be coming from the opposite
direction so it was time to up anchor and re-anchor with more room
off my stern. This was a challenge in itself because I had to
gauge how the anchor was coming in from the cockpit while pressing
the up anchor button. I am sure I put strain on the windlass
but eventually I say the anchor appear over the bow and I steamed
into the wind to drop it a and let out the 75 m of chain again.
The anchor set the first time and I was again stationary with the
Vesper Marine anchor watch set.
From
about 5:00 am to dawn with the rain continuing all this time I sat
either in the cockpit with the engine running or down below watching
the anchor alarm. The rain and wind eased as the light came up
and I could relax and have breakfast. I was not going anywhere
for a few days until l the open ocean calmed down so I went ashore
and walked around. The next stage was to enter the Hudson River and
the Big Apple
Was that a magical moment on Malua.
Here are a few photos of the short haul
here...
Follow Malua.
