Wind, and a lesson in chafe

By Sailor Keddy -
There were 50 knot gusts yesterday in the inner harbor, where Winchelsea and I live. There were also 25 foot waves in Massachusetts Bay, as a low pressure system came around and parked itself over Boston. It's not supposed to leave until Monday, which means more rain and snow with less intense wind. I went back to the Winchelsea at lunch time yesterday and made sure all the dock lines were secure, the bilge was pumped out and that everything looked in order.

When I returned later, after watching a really good IMAX movie at the aquarium, the winds were very, very strong. Boats were bouncing around the marina and it looked to be about 1-2 feet, after the waves were dissipated by the outer docks, which you can see in the picture below, to the left of the end of Long Wharf.


The winds were supposed to increase until about midnight. I went below and started watching a movie and having a little night cap. Around 11:30 I noticed things started getting a little more rolly and the wind had really picked up. I went up top to have a look around. It had stopped raining, but the harbor was a complete mess. The waves were a solid 4 to 6 feet outside of the marina, and the outer docks and wharf did little or nothing to stop them from coming in. The massive steel docks that are on the outer edge of the marina looked like fingers of spaghetti in a pot of vigorously boiling water. The wooden docks that the Winchelsea and other boats around me are on looked nearly impossible to walk on. It was all really a sight to see. High tide had come in and coupled with an east wind, Long Wharf was almost completely submerged. It was almost high tide again this morning and I went down to the end and got a couple of pictures (click to make them larger):



Now, a dock line is a small price to pay for a lesson in chafe. I took a look around the boat this morning, and although all of the dock lines were still in place and holding me in my slip, the bow line had seriously chafed on the chock and would have probably given way sometime soon and allowed my boat to slam into the one to my port...not good! The picture below was taken after I pulled the frayed part higher towards the cleat, and I also got a new line and set that up as well. Having to replace a dock line is a much cheaper lesson than causing damage to another boat!


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Unknown said…
Are you having fun yet?
February 26, 2010 at 7:20 PM
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