I usually love sleeping on the boat and have trouble sleeping on land – last night was not the case however. With strong winds coming into the Maitland Marina in Goderich ON from the southwest and then clocking around to the northwest it was more like being a rubber ducky circling a drain.
Strong winds? Oh yeah – Dan turned on our wind indicator and saw 15 knot winds gusting to 43 knots all in a matter of seconds. And it continued all night creating a strong current and raising the water level in the marina basin significantly. So Gaviidae yawed back and forth, side to side with the noise of the fenders sounding like flatulent elephants. Please, no political side comments here.
I should also mention that the next finger pier upwind from us had already been compromised and was held in place by docklines providing structural support. And they were heavily frayed even before the winds hit. Concerned about our own finger pier I was awake at 2:00am, 3:00am, 4:00am peeking out through the horizontal rain to see if we were still connected to the main dock or whether the 50’ trawler next to us was any closer.
By 6:00am I was ready for the night to be over. By 7:00am, with it still being dark, I finally fell asleep until just after 9:00am. The elephants are still with us and the boat is still yawing away but the screeching wind as backed off.
I’m now on my second cup of coffee trying to find my brain. For my first cup, I accused Dan of hiding my creamer only to have him ask whether it was “that red thing on the counter” right in front of me.
Ah yes, the exotic life of living aboard.
October 13, 2016 – Goderich, Ontario