A Very Stormy Night

Last night's storm caused more damage down at Eastney.

Further afield there appear to be a number of boats loose and washed up on the beaches around Langstone Harbour.

Mine and Jim's boats were OK, as was Meagles owned by Nicky, my blog reader. Others were not so fortunate, but in all honesty you could say it was inevitable as the boats that were damaged are among the least cared for.

Icefiver lost its cabin. Its been coming for weeks as it doesn't float and its basically been left to rot.

Here's Icefiver with its cabin a couple of weeks ago. Not in great shape:

Now it looks like this:

The roof of the cabin had washed up on the beach:

Although it doesn't float properly any more, because its wood it floats enough to move down the beach pushed by the wind and waves. It moved enough last night to bump into a small cabin cruiser further down the beach and cause some damage:

Inside Icefiver was depressing. The large diesel engine rusted and ruined:

Further down the beach there was even more damage. The Westerly that was washed up the beach in the first storm had been dismasted and had also lost its rudder. The tide with the storm surge must have got high enough to bounce it round quite a lot!

The two white yachts further up the beach that normally bump into each other had dragged their anchors and collected around the Westerly. Quite obviously whatever the yachts were using to hold them in position was useless. Looking at them, one was tied to a very small concrete block and the other just had its anchor, which had dragged along and had not been properly set. Its a bit of a crime really because at Eastney you can actually walk out and manually set the anchor at low tide.

Here are the useless anchors:

The Leisure 17 at the back of the Westerly has sustained a lot of damage, the pulpit rail had been ripped off  where it had slammed into the Westerly (ripping the Westerly's boarding ladder off in the process) and the jib roller reefing had been disconnected, which now puts the mast at risk due to the lack of forestay.

At the rear there was a hole in the hull and a large crack further towards the stern:

Finally yet another storm surge has eroded the banking at the top of the beach. Soon the fence will be undermined and then the buildings themselves will be at risk. Its the University's own fault because earlier in the year they cleared the banking of the bushes that might have protected it. Given its the University's department of Marine Biology you'd think they'd know about coastal erosion. lol.

So, the job tomorrow is to get out to Sprite 2 and check her over, fit some bits and also there's some work needed on the dinghy. Busy day tomorrow as I'm doing some wiring on a mate's camper van later in the afternoon. He wants sexy blue LED strips adding to the interior of his mobile shag-pad. Lol.