Stepping up to the mark

The idea of coming to Blyth was for shelter and rest, we've not had a lot of either. The misgivings about the mooring came to fruition last night when the wind veered from NW to NE and ripped through the marina at F8/F9 with a maximum sustained gust recorded by us of 52 knots. Trying to sleep in something akin to a washing machine is not easy, however, most of the early hours were spent stood on the pontoon adjusting and nursing fenders; ironically, our little step-up fender, whose role is usually passive, served as the major work horse and with our assistance we can report no damage done -- at times the blue line down the side of the hull (see pic on previous post) was below the level of the pontoon. Other boats moored with bows-to-wind were not as secure as we had expected when the wind veered and the inner pontoons bounced in the crashing waves, their owners were unaware of the treatment they were receiving and some will have some surprise damage when they return.

Despite all of this we must be thankful. The 79th Nordseewoche was underway which is one of the major yacht racing events in Germany, hosting the only German offshore race series from Helgoland to Edinburgh. Some of the entrants were caught out and sought refuge here and in Newcastle reporting 5-6m waves and 60 knot damaging gusts; as far as we know all arrived safely.