The strong North Westerlies that blew all day on Monday 24th July should have been blowing us across the channel but instead because I had parked Bonny on the outside south eastern corner of Falmouth Haven Marina, they were our gaoler - they blew athwart the boat and pinned her to the pontoon in their vice-like grip. Furthermore, Good Report was moored alongside us and so even if I had been foolish enough to try and escape, she would have to move first to let us out. We were 'guarded' by a pair of boats moored in front of us on the same pontoon and behind us about half a boat length and at right angles to us, lay the sterns of two other boats moored alongside eachother on the other face of the corner of the pontoons.
To escape forwards would require turning the bow of the boat into the wind within about 15 metres, but the windage on the mast, which sits considerably nearer to the bow than the stern, is huge and excerpts a tremendous load pushing the boat sideways. Not only that but the boat's long deep keel provides a large resistance in the opposite direction. Oh and I nearly forgot, when forward gear is engaged the considerable 'prop walk' initially turns the boat to port - in this case, onto the pontoon.
The reverse is of course true - engaging reverse pulls the stern of the boat to starboard. Whilst that would pull the stern of the boat away from the boats behind us, the bow, encouraged by the strength of the wind would be blown onto them. Contact of our bow pullpit with their over hanging stern gear, of dinghy davits on the first and Hydrovane steering gear on the second, would leave a tangle of twisted metal and some very cross sailors and so was not an option to be considered lightly!
As it happened, these considerations were academic for the first half of the day because the Yellow Brick tracker had still not turned up and so Mick and I were out shopping for fresh provisions for what we hoped would be a passage across Biscay. I had emailed YB Tracking first thing to advise them and they had replied that it was out for delivery! Whilst on our way to the shops, a UPS van passed us and resisting the temptation to acost the driver, I checked the delivery status. My heart sank when the tracking page continued to read "delivery date to be advised".
I fired another email off to YB tracking and we continued with our shopping. On our way back I checked again and to my great relief the status had changed to "delivered". So Mick went to buy pasties for lunch and I went to collect the tracker.
Back on board the wind was still howling and Bonny was still pinned to the pontoon. Nevertheless after our pasties, we made preperations to leave including filling our water tank and recommisioning the Yellowbrick - which proved time consuming and required repeated phone calls, but eventually it was done.
By 2000 hrs the wind had started to moderate and so the three of us (including George) studied the latest weather outlook and considered our options. We all agreed that Brest was achievable and if we were lucky we might get further south, possibly even A' Coruna.
Then we got ready to leave and discussed tactics for extricating ourselves from the Pontoons. After much debate, George decided to go out backwards and then remoor once we had left. The wind was still fresh but because he was further away from the boats behind us he had more room to play with. Out he went without too much trouble.
Next it was our turn. Mick and I both agreed that the best option was to 'spring off' to get the bows pointing out. This involves leading a rope fthe stern of the boat forward onto the pontoon and then reversing against it. The idea is that the stern is pulled in and the bows out, so achieving a turn before moving forwards. Then as quickly as possible, one must cast off and engage forward gear to continue the turn before the bows are blown onto the pontoon once again.
Try as we might however, we could not get the bows to point out enough to clear the boats in front. That left two options; wait for the wind to subside further or go out backwards. Having seen Good Report escape in this way earlier, I decided we could just make it. Once again there were two options; full power to get the whole boat out as far and as fast as possible or moderate power that would reduce the turning momentum. The risk of the first was that our bow might get snared by the other boats' stern gear, the risk of the second that the whole boat is blown onto the sterns of the others.
I decided on the full power option. First we moved forwards as far as possible. A helpful frenchman was on hand to push the bows off once we started moving. This was it, the beginning or quite possibly, the end of our cruise.
OK lets go I shouted and engaged reverse and full power. The stern immediately pivoted out into the wind and the bows swung towards the pontoon. I had to get out quickly enough to get enough room for the swinging bows to clear the other boats. Fortunately they seemed unoccupied because I suspect any on board observers would have been in cardiac arrest territory. Bonny's stern was moving at a gathering pace away from the pontoon and her bow was swinging in a sything arc towards the sterns of the unsuspecting boats. I held my breath, Mick turned as white as a sheet as Bonny's bow swung clear with inches to spare. I just managed to arrest her sternway to avoid smashing into moored small craft and we were free. With a cheery wave to George on Good Report and to our helpful French helper on the pontoon and a rueful grin to Mick, who replied, "that was VERY risky" we made our escape towards the harbour exit and the Western Approaches. It was 2130 on Monday 24th July.
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