June 25 dawned breezy. I got up at 0700 and looked outside to see the trees waving madly in a strong wind. I went down the beach to check the boat.
Delyth, a fin keel Hunter 19, was sitting pretty on her mooring at Lee on the north Devon coast, lying to a combination of NW wind and west going tide. There was no swell.
When I checked later, at about midday, the wind was still howling, and there was a building swell, but the boat was still fine.
At about 1400 I checked her again. The wind was up to 40 knots and directly onshore The boat was still on her mooring, but she was now rearing up steep seas. I donned my wetsuit and paddled out on my surfboard to say hello to Delyth and check her mooring lines.
By the time I reached her, there were short, steep, breaking seas with faces of about 20-30 feet as they broke on the reef just inshore of the boat. Mean wave height was probably about 6 feet. I was amazed just how quickly the swell had built.
Delyth was riding them sweetly as is her nature. I clambered aboard and began pumping out the cockpit. I finished, looked over my shoulder and saw a mother of a wave coming at me, just breaking. I grabbed a winch and under we both went, surfacing right in the path of the next wave.
When it hit she was flung on her beam ends, the tip of the mast going underwater. Thanks to 50% ballast ratio she came up like a cork, streaming water. My board, attached to the backstay by its leash, was airborne, spinning in the wind.
I checked all the lashings on the mast and boom and re-secured the rudder which is stored in the cockpit when not sailing. I couldn't take the mainsail off the boom as there was no way I could open the hatch with so much water about.
I put a loose bight of chain from one winch, through the bow roller to the buoy and back to the other winch as security in case my anti-chafing gear failed and the mooring ropes broke.
I sat on the cockpit sole for a minute and had a little chat with the boat whilst we took a couple of green ones on the nose. I was aware that I might not see her again. I threw my board in the water and jumped in after it.
The paddle back was very hard work, not made any easier by a ferocious rip in the channel back to the beach, forcing me to gain the beach in a gully further out. I deposited my board, weighted down with stones, on a ledge, and climbed around the cliffs to reach the slipway. I ran to the car and went to pick up my son from school, late of course.
Coming home, I saw a Coast Guard vehicle parked at the top of the village - not a good sign. We drove back down the beach to check the boat again. There was the Lifeboat, just a bit further out from Delyth.
They were looking for a “swimmer”, reported washed overboard from “the little boat in the bay.” The rescue helicopter was just a bit further down tide. I asked if they were looking for me, and to my consternation it turned out that they were.
The lifeboat went back to Ilfracombe, and I got back in the car, bought a case of beer, and went to the RNLI boathouse. Thanking the cox, I received the inevitable lecture about being mad etc, but I stood my ground, maintaining that a surfboard, wetsuit and competent water person is a seaworthy package.
He asked me how far out I had got in my attempt to get to the boat in such “atrocious” (his word) weather. It gave me huge pleasure to report that I had made it all the way out. The cox thanked me for coming in and for the beer. We parted amicably.
It gets bad now. The next time I checked the boat, there was no question she had dragged. The swell had dropped off a little with the turn of the tide, but the wind still blew 35kn.
She then dragged on to the reef where the anchor caught again, leaving her bouncing up and down in water which was one minute six inches and the next six or eight feet. Her cockpit was constantly full of water.
I had to get back in my wetsuit and swim out to cut the line. Suddenly there were people everywhere, some swimming out to give me a hand, others bringing ropes, pieces of timber, a 4x4 with a trailer. Another brought a flask of hot chocolate.
Cutting the line was tricky because breaking waves and sharp knives don't mix well, but as soon as it was done, Delyth surged off the reef on the next big wave. I could almost hear her sigh of relief.
We stranded her comfortably on her side on the sand. A tractor was organised and we took the mast down. Many hands carried all the portable things from her. Inside the cabin there was virtually no water, which considering she had been fully submerged several times was impressive. There was a fair bit of paint blasted off the hull by breaking waves, and a couple of scratches. Nothing really.
The tractor came, and with hard and cohesive work from many people, we pulled her up the beach and slipway, along the road and into the local hotel car park. Job done - and I still had a boat when I thought I had lost her.
As my mooring is in an exposed place, I eagle-eye the weather all the time. On June 25 all the internet sites I looked at forecast something like 20-25 knots NW backing W.
The weather rapidly worsened as the day continued, reaching its un-forecast crescendo between 1400 and 1600. Apparently Force 11 gusts were recorded nearby.
The earlier NW wind, combined with an east-going tide conspired to build the swell very fast. Then, as the tide turned, the wind veered, adding to the new ebb, both smashing into the NW swell. I believe it was the confused sea which broke out my anchor.
When I retrieved the anchor and chain some time later, I found that the flukes of the 25kg fisherman were bent nearly T-shaped The pin holding the stock had sheared, so capsizing the anchor and allowing it to drag.
I think the anchor must have been made from very poor quality metal as the boat only weighs 680 kg and in addition to the anchor I had 11m of 5/8th chain, 15m of 3/8th chain and 30m of 16 mm rope. It really should not have dragged or bent the way it did.
There are no marinas in North Devon. All harbours dry with about 2 hours either side of high water. To see the location check Google Earth for Lee, position 51 12N 04 10.30W.
