Sort of extremely off-topic, but bear with me!
Exactly a week ago today I was sailing in the rain. Only, it was real sailing, with me in my Wayfarer.
I'd headed to Windermere and rigged the boat by midday, in blazing sunshine and 28℃, and in hardly any wind, I slowly drifted down from the North to Bowness.
At Bowness I met a friend in his Wayfarer. We moored up, had a sandwich, and at the public jettys put the world to rights. He was working on the Friday, and at about 3pm had to set off north. My plan was to camp overnight, in the boat, at Newby Bridge about ten miles south, and return on the Friday. A text from my wife, after I'd requested the latest weather updates, suggested 'lightning storms'. The sky didn't look like it, so I waved Chris goodbye and took the route to the west side of Belle Island, having never seen it before.
Among the moored yachts there a few raindrops fell. I dug out my Goretex jacket and carried on, all but drifting in next-to-no-wind and a light drizzle. A mile south, things took a definite turn for the worst.
Black skies as if from Mordor turned up in seconds. Thunder and lightning crackled and rumbled just a few kilometres away. I dropped the mainsail, rolled up the genoa, and had a 'blinking' good look. The lightning was closing on me, the rain now heavy. What had been lightning strikes 3 or 4 kms away had started to hit much closer. The Wayfarer, of course, has 25' or so of aluminium pole sticking skywards. I decided this was a Bad Thing, given that my mast was the only target for the best part of half a kilometre, and motored towards the shore.
The nearest shore, a lee shore, was a bad place to be, but there were trees around which reduced my risk of being struck by lightning. About 20m offshore I dropped anchor, a ferociously heavy Danforth that was recommended for the future Hebridean Sailing I intend to do. Anchor down, five metres of SS chain, and maybe 10m of cable in a depth of 8 metres. I pulled on the anchor. It seemed to have grabbed. I was moored maybe 10m offshore.
It was still calm.
...And then....
It wasn't.
Out of NOWHERE at 40mph gust hit the boat. She instantly yawed into it, the genoa unfurling itself and flogging in the gale. With genoa sheets flicking like bullwhips, and thunder and lightning overhead, I wondered whether the best defence was to drop the genoa or stay clear of the mast and shrouds. Within a minute, another gust hit from the side, and the boat listed, mightily, to starboard. I heard water pouring in over the gunwale, but didn't see it, as I was climbing the port side to prevent a capsize (or worse).
The boat righted, somehow, full of water and wallowing. "'Flip' the lightning. I have to get the gennie down."
I dug my hand deep into the water inside the boat and found the halyard release. The genoa came down in a moment, got tucked safely away, and I looked at the bow, now pointing properly into the wind. The gusts had, it is true, died down somewhat, but the fetch to windward, with the intense gusts, produced five minutes of surging waves, the like of which you'd not expect on a mere lake.
Plenty more water came in over the bow.
I untied my bucket and started bailing, in the rain, in the swell, unable to see anything, not sure whether the anchor was holding, as the lightning moved away.
53 buckets later the boat was nearly dry.
My clothes, my bedding, my camping gear was soaked.
As the storm died away - it had lasted maybe fifteen minutes, but I had no idea how long the event had actually run - the wind dropped and swung to the north. I couldn't retrieve my anchor. It must have got really wedged in during the mayhem. After three or four attempts I cut it loose.
I raised sail, ran down the lake, found the river and moored up by 8pm. My first text, to Chris was blunt: "Are you still alive?" He replied he was, but a mile short of Waterhead, he had been hit by the same storm, had no visibility, and thought his boat was just going to sink.
I slept well that night, in wet clothes, under a wet sleeping boat, while lying in an unspongeable puddle. But at least it didn't rain overnight.
Andy
