Overnight the wind speeds were apparently recorded upto 76 knots.
Friend and sometime crew Michael visited the harbour this (Tuesday) morning, luckily he was able to catch a lift on the launch and make good the only problem on our boat, which was the mizzen halyard which had blown loose. When we talked he told me could see 7 headsails plucked out of their roller reefers and blown out. I'm sorry for the damage and the distress caused to other boat owners.
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Over ten years ago, when I bought my first boat, I asked Jon Crisp, my erstwhile sailing mentor, to look over her. As he left, he said one last thing, "...put a sail tie around the roller reefer, you never know when the wind will pluck it out whilst you're away and things will be bad." I wish I remember as well everything else he'd said and we'd learned, but mostly that he was still with us, to have the opportunity to retail our own tales of sailing and the sea...
