Aleria's Adventures

  Beryl is heading in a straight line for the Windward Islands. It looks like it will bruch over Barbados before making it's way over Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines. At current projections the eye will move over Carriacou and then head directly to Jamaica. Because the tropical SSTs are off the charts, they expect rapid development to a Category 4 storm. God help the people.  And, there's a second system forming behind it and expected to follow the same track as high pressure is blocking its way North. Looks like La Nina is doing her thing.  Meanwhile, there's a system forming in the Gulf of Mexico. Here we go. 

  We just had gusts to 48.6 knots. We made the right decision. I would not like to be at anchor in the Aran Islands or Inishbofin in this. 

We launched  Aleria  a week ago and could only clean her up a bit. She was filthy and took a lot of scrubbing. I got the cockpit cleaned up and below decks as well. Didn't have time to get to the decks. Meanwhile, it took Alex a while to secure the docklines and take care of a few issues that needed immediate attention.  We were to return Monday, put up the sails and bring her home starting Tuesday. But the forecast changed dramatically with a gale packing up to 50-knot gusts by Thursday and in the upper 30s by Wednesday. We couldn't take that chance.  I suggested we return on Tuesday afternoon when winds were forecast to be about 10 knots gusting 15 from the North, stay overnight as there would be no wind in the morning and we could finish up what we didn't get to on Tuesday. We had to put up the sails, climb the mizzen to run a halyard we had lost last year, inflate the dinghy, fill the water tanks, check the gas and other systems. Clouds in light Northerlies Tuesd...