Storm Chasers
Having arrived in Pollença a week ago, our stay so far has been nothing short of dramatic. After a beautiful downwind sail across from Port de Soller, we happily anchored in the beautiful, large bay of Port de Pollença (and right next to Spain’s most expensive property, I might add).
With a strong weather system due to blow in, we were happy that we’d picked a very protected anchorage to wait it out. But it seems that Mother Nature was ready to prove us wrong! After speaking to a few of the locals in the bay it seemed that everyone was a bit jittery about what was to come... They saw 27 boats wash up on the beach here in February after a similar weather event, so we soon understood why.
As we were setting our anchor in preparation for the impending forecast, we were very kindly ushered over to a private mooring and told to tie onto that instead. The owner of the mooring had gone into the marina to wait things out, so we attached four double lines (and a fifth back-up) to her 5 tonne concrete block. Boy, are we glad we did.
For the next 36 hours the wind howled in from the North. No rain, no thunder, no lightning. Just unrelenting wind gusts at over 50 knots a pop. The catamaran next us dragged anchor 400 metres away, and spent the next 45 minutes in a tense battle against the wind to get it re-anchored. We spent two sleepless nights glued to our wind instruments and drag alarm. The highest gust we registered hit 66 knots, putting us firmly at the top of the Beaufort Scale and into hurricane territory. The kids seemed mostly unfazed by it all.
September has certainly proven herself as a major transition point in the seasons, averaging about one big storm per week. But despite our nerves, we had done all of the right things to safely ride this one out. It’s good to know just what the boat (and we!) can handle.
In the calm after the storm, when all was said and done, we toasted our good fortune and the kindness of strangers who went out of their way to make sure that we were safe. Here’s to the next big blow tomorrow…