Very Windy Sunday

Again the weather forecast for Sunday was for it to be very wet and windy and this time it was extremely windy although fairly dry. Around 9:00 a.m. Richard Cannon had a phone call from Rodger Wheeler asking for help with fixing boats that had moved. Rodger couldn't do his usual paddle across the river because it was too windy. There were quite large waves on the river with a lot of white horses and columns of spray.

Richard's son Martin joined in to help. It was very exhausting walking and working in the wind and life jackets were worn in case we were blown into the river. Several boats had moved and quite a few boat covers were in a bad state. Richard Thornhill’s Graduate had moved the most and the trolley was only partly under the boat and somehow it had turned upside down!! Some stakes used to tie boats down had pulled out.

Richard tied the bow of his boat to the large pile of tyres it was resting on but when he returned to it the bow had lifted the tyres up and they had blown over so they were moved to rest on the front of the trolley.

The start hut was moving quite a lot and near it the wind speed was measured at gusting over 40 mph. There was no possibility of sailing.

Fortunately there didn't seem to be any real damage to any boats but now the windy season is upon us it is important that boats are very securely tied down and boat covers are in good condition and secure. Owners should come and regularly check their boats.