Wee bit of a blow this morning – a trimaran moored off DYC broke its mooring & ended up on the beach at Windsor Reserve. Bounced off the sea wall first & amazingly the wall came second. The (un-official) mayor of Devonport, Simon Gundry was there directing operations & CYA member Chris Leeche’s son Daniel, came to the rescue with some lines from the Navy to secure the vessel.
Further proof of the blow (50+knots) was the flag pole on the downtown ferry building (photo ex David Plummer)
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Anyone want a mooring on the outside of Devonport? I vacated mine 😛
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PS I meant SOUTH EAST winds causing rough conditions off DYC, like the 1917 storm which caused havoc in Torpedo Bay..
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As a youngster I kept my IA snugly on the sandy beach at Torpedo Bay. No sand there now though, thanks to the wash of fast ferries and things. Coming back on my bike from checking her during a SE blow one day I came across the almost brand new Woollacott MARCO POLO ashore on the rocks between the DYC and the Windsor Reserve. Tony Armit was aboard and calling for ropes. I dashed back to my boat for my mainsheet (good pusser rope of course) which helped when she was towed off, only chafed on the starboard side, fortunately, so prompt was the local response.
It was pretty ugly for a while. I’m pretty sure Armit’s mooring gear was good but the hobbyhorsing in the nasty chop in a NE blow there can be extreme. There again, Tony was still learning and may have not secured her well.
It happened to me once off the Gold Hole at Northcote, another dodgy spot, when LOLOMA came ashore in a NE blow, fortunately without much damage thanks to Lindsay Subritzky alerting me and some splendid salvage work by Macky. I had gone ashore and left the tidying up to a young son who left her secured only with the end of the buoy rope which chafed through on the bobstay. My fault all the way.
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Swing moorings are fine if sized to suit the vessel! Ninety percent break where it hits the boat, and if you look at most that fetch up on the rocks, very few appear to have had a recent visit from the owners.
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Checked on our launch today, boat is fine, but Otaramarae bay at Lake Rotoiti (N.I) is so full of weed its not funny!
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That brings back some sad memories for me, having lost our
boat of a mooring in Torpedo Bay.
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Lake Taupo looking very similar team. Nice to see some water going back into it.
Happy Easter!
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