So the plan was for Vince to go to see the family in Nassau and for me to boat sit. I'd do laundry, write some postcards, take the ferry to Hopetown and Man O'War and spend a couple of days photographing the local area. Well, that was the plan.
Vince left Monday evening, weather warm and pleasant. I had a quiet meal in Mangoes (blackened grouper, excellent) and pottered gently back to the boat for the night. At about 06.30 I was woken by lots of bumping and banging. Got up in time to see an empty tender plus outboard, which had bounced off our hull, heading down wind with another (manned) tender in pursuit. As I watched the attempts to catch the loose boat I realised that there was rather more wind than I expected. Forcast was 10 to 20 and it was already over 20 knots. I also realised that whereas we were anchored on 70ft of chain with lots of room early last night, we were now on 70ft of chain with neighbours only 30ft away. Many late arrivals during the night and early morning! Looking at their chain angles it was clear that some of them were on a very short scope.I spent the next 6 hours sitting in the companionway taking transits on all the nearby boats and listening to the sound of engines running, more chain being released, and general mayhem. Another dingy went by, not being chased this time and all the time the wind was rising and veering so that it was now blowing uninterrupted into the harbour. 10:00, 25, 30, 35 knots, wind still rising. At around 11.00 I heard a loud splash behind me as our dingy, which was tied up as short as I could get it, took off and turned over. It was a major struggle to get it back up the right way and to retie it even tighter to the transom.I sat another couple of hours, just watching with my fingers crossed (and my toes) and slowly, oh so slowly, the wind started to ease. By 14.00 it was down to 30 knots and by 15:00, down to 25.People started to emerge from hidey holes and collect the pieces.
I drained some fuel from the outboard and filled the bore with WD40 but couldn't empty the water from the carburettor, so no usable engine. Worse still, at some time the oars had vanished overboard, never to be seen again. Luckily I was able to arrange a tow with my nearest neighbour for the next morning (we were close enough to have a pleasant conversation without shouting!). I went to bed exhausted from all the nervous tension of the day.
Next day was spent getting the outboard serviced and in a fruitless search for oars. Seems that no-one rows a dingy these days! The stores had lots of paddles, or decorative oars, but none had any that were useful for the avon dingy. I asked around and was given a fantastic amount of help by folk trying to locate a used pair (in the garage under the dock, in the loft...) but to no avail. I finally found a pair of used longish paddles (thanks, Moorings) which were usable. Collected the outboard which had been emptied, cleaned, serviced and refuelled and went back to the boat. Most of my closest neighbours had left, so I could relax.
The talk in Snappers bar (I was forced to go there to get decent wifi coverage, honest, nothing to do with the beer) was 35, 40 and as the evening went on 45, 50 knots, flying debris, missing tenders, dragging anchors, and multiple close encounters. Naturally, the events escalated as the evening wore on, but the middle of the morning remains in my mind as a very tense 2 to 3 hours. Its probably good that Vince wasn't here!
Vince returned to a quiet, warm, relaxed evening having had a great time visiting his family. He took the news of the events very calmly and wanted to know why I hadn't taken any pictures for the blog! Laundry, ferry and photography will have to wait for another occasion!
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