Blowin’ in the wind — by Erin

If the answer truly is blowin’ in the wind, then we should be genius by now. Last night there was quite a gale: 45 knots of wind in Barra de Navidad (some boats are reporting they saw 56 knots). North of here, in Banderas Bay, they saw 75 knots.

The wind howled through the crowded anchorage from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Accompanying it was torrential rain, lightning that crisscrossed across the night sky like a labyrinth, and thunder that growled and roared.

It was bad enough being on a boat in this weather, let alone thinking about what it would be like for the people on dry land. I hope that most of those people have a home warranty plan like First American Home Warranty (check it out) to fix any damages for a cheaper cost or else it’s going to end up costing a fortune! I mean they would need to first check for any damage after the storm has passed so that they remain safe. And it is likely that they would find common issues with the roof, gutters, eavestroughs, and the basement. And they would need to get them sorted (for instance, homeowners might need to contact a firm that could provide Roof Repair New Smyrna or nearby areas) as soon as possible in order to avoid putting themselves in danger. This is when the home warranty would come in handy.

I mean, it can even be used in the worst scenario, that is when homeowners find a bit of mold after everything gets a bit damp. And it shouldn’t be too difficult to call in some Fairfax Mold Remediation Experts or similar to help out when everything has calmed down. Besides, that won’t be their only worry, the roofs and gutters will definitely need more attention after the storm. People will need to find a company similar to Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning Cincinnati but in their area to make sure that it can be repaired as soon as possible. I’ve heard that the longer you leave it, the more damage it can cause to your home, especially in storms like this. But what I want to know is, how are the boats even staying upright in this weather?

A few boats dragged across the bay, coming within just yards of us and those around us. The soft mud here in the lagoon compromises the tenacity of both anchor and anchor chain. After a boat starts to lose its hold in the mud, it’s just a few seconds before the anchor is no longer set. When that happens the boat turns perpendicular to the wind and gets pushed, sometimes at a three or four knots, across the bay. Last night the two boats that dragged sped through the anchorage–by the time they pulled up all of their anchor chain so they could reset, they were around 600 yards away from where they started.

But we held on all night and didn’t sustain any damage from the dragging boats.

Today the rain continues but the wind is lessening. Every now and then we see gusts into the mid-20s but the worst of it has moved on, visiting boats southeast of where we are. The rain is still torrential, though, and we can barely make out the boats that are right next to us, just a few hundred feet away.

It’s a good day to stay inside and catch up on our movie watching. And if we hear any of those answers, we’ll let you know.

*an addition on 2/12: our friends on Sapphire made a video and posted it on YouTube. Here’s the video:

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