We are STILL in Blind River. Last night, just as we were turning in, several wild thunderstorms (including hail!) passed through with plenty of noise and occasional heavy rain, but not a lot of wind. Today we awoke to sunny skies, but more wind than any of us could possibly want. And it's only gotten worse as the afternoon wears on.
Sitting down below watching the wind meter (and this is actual wind at the dock, not apparent wind which increases with our boat speed) we've been seeing steady readings over 30 with occasional gusts over 40 knots! At one point I even saw 47.4, although we aren't sure how trustworthy our gauge is when we see something like that. Needless to say we decided not to leave today. We are eager to get to a nice anchorage, but today we are glad to be safely tied up in port, not worrying about our anchor dragging.
The marina is protected from the west (the direction the wind is blowing from) by a point of land, yet still there are whitecaps blowing down the fairways between docks. And the noise of the wind in other boats' rigging is almost deafening. Not to mention halyards slapping against masts. We are grateful for our free-standing mast. No side stays, forestay or backstay for the winds to howl through.
I hope the picture shows how the boats are being blown (the masts should be upright, but they all are leaning to the east). You should also be able to see the wavelets breaking on the hulls of the westernmost boats.
Such are the joys of cruising. Some days you move, some days you stay put.
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