About 8am
this morning another thunder storm blew in. The sky turned black
,buckets of rain were pounding down on It's Perfect and we could see
nothing. The wind that had been blowing in the 30's hit 60+knots.
Rod was at the helm with the motor running, the anchor was holding
but our nerves were raw as we waited out the storm. Island Fever one
of the many backpacker boats was anchored between us and the shore.
With only one other boat in this part of the anchorage there was
plenty of room to swing.
The rain
was finally letting up and the wind back in the mid 30's and then
down in the 20's. Island Fever was still in place his anchor
holding. After more than an hour of high stress, hard rain and
screaming wind the sky began to get lighter and the rain was letting
up. Rod cut the engine and we were sitting in the cockpit watching
the very last of the storm blow by.
We were
talking about how well It's Perfect did in the storm when a huge bolt
of lightning crashed down out of the rainy clouds and with a
deafening sharp crack hit our main mast. We were in shock as we
watched the windex fall down in flames to the water below. After our
hearts quit pounding we began to check the boat for damage. All the
electrical instruments are out. Our incomplete damage list reads like
a West Marine catalog.
Auto
Pilot Ray Marine
Tri Data (wind,depth & speed)
RL70Radar
display & pathfinder scanner Pactor ModemTri Data (wind,depth & speed)
R70 Chart plotter at the nav station
TS50 Kenwood SSB & Tuner
R-NAV300
GPS
Wind Indicator
Nema
2000
VHF Radio/AIS
Inverter/Charger RefrigeratorBilge Pump controller FM/CD Player Stereo
All navigation lights ST60
The list
will go on. After we had pulled ourselves together and assessed
some of the damage we knew we needed a GPS to get us back to the
mainland. Rod took the dinghy to Island Fever to see if they had a
hand held GPS they could sell. The captain said he was in the
cockpit and watched as the lightening bolt hit our mast, quite a
sight. He was very glad it wasn't him. He was great and sold us his
Garmin GPS72H hand held unit for $100. We felt very fortunate to get
it.
We stayed
one more day and were again sitting through another large
thunderstorm at day break. The winds hit at least 50 to 60 knots.
It did not last as long and it was over. We left the next morning and
anchored in Porvenir about sundown. Island Fever joined us the next
morning to offload backpackers & we stopped by to see if he had
any weather information. It seems Saturday will be the day for the
60 mile sail up to Portobello to begin the slow process of putting
our boat back together.
Rod & Linda, glad you guys are safe and sound but sorry to hear about the damage to It's perfect. We are in Ecuador until end of November so we cannot offer much other than moral support. John & Della
ReplyDeleteMoral support is much appreciated. We are not over the shock of the spot we are in, but we are getting there. We will have to take it one thing at a time. Enjoy Ecuador!
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