Windy Spring

We had many windy days in March, enough to limit my sailing time. And then we had a REALLY windy day. The weather forecast was quite amazing. “Strong to very strong NW flow will affect most of the coastal waters thorough Wed Evening. Rough and Dangerous seas will affect the waters through Wed night.” Our forecast was, “Storm Warnings in effect until noon today- NW winds 25-35 with gusts to 40 knots, increasing to 30-40 knots with frequent gusts to 50 knots.”
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April 21st- I finally visited Morro Bay on Sunday. It seems that the wind on Tuesday set a record. It was the strongest sustained NW wind that anyone could remember. Diablo Canyon recorded gusts to 68 knots and in Morro Bay at the Harbor Office the wind was said to be 50, gusting 70 knots. During storms the south wind often gusts above 50 knots but this was a sustained wind that averaged 50 knots for several hours. Because the tide was flowing slowly and the wind was with the tide the waves in the mooring area were only two to three feet. I noticed that the mooring lines were very tight on the deck cleats but there was no damage that I could see. A mooring is probably a safer place for a boat during a storm than tied up against a dock where large waves can pound the boat. At least one boat at the docks was damaged. At the weather buoys the wind was 35 knots for three hours and the gusts reached 51 knots. The significant wave height was 22 feet.

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This is a 20 knot wind at the mooring. Imagine what two or three foot waves would look like!