Tuesday 20 September 2011 (A date to raise awe in the hearts of Vlicho sailors and bring horror to the eyes of Marine Insurers everywhere)
The weather started about 2 am - howling winds and lashing rain. Then something that sounded like hailstones, and with a crash, the awning on the camper van collapsed. We roused ourselves, and tried to get out to see the damage, but the awning strut had collapsed over the door, which could now only open a few inches. In the photo, the two parallel bars are the top of the door and the bottom of the camper roof, and the diagonal across them is the fallen strut. Holding the door open invited a deluge of rain into the camper, so we decided we'd wait until it was light and then see what we could do.
At 7 am our bladders were demanding attention, so we considered our escape routes. I had blocked off access to the cab to hold back the tide of rats, so I was reluctant to take that protection down, and even so, we didn't know if we could open the locked cab doors from the inside. (Something we should know, really). The main door wouldn't shift. We thought about ringing Michael in the Winnebago (Alison was away for the week in the UK) but we didn't want to disturb him too early. In the event, it turned out he wasn't there, he was gardiennaging boats in Vlicho Bay all night.
Finally, I remembered the burglar - if they could get in, we could get out, and we hadn't done anything to seal that window (hurrah!). So I put on jeans for the first time since Bobstock, and climbed out.
I was able to lift the awning, to let Dave out, and then he attached extra guy wires to the struts to hold them firm.
There was no other damage, apart from everything getting a soaking, and the weather appeared to have gone through. Pete had said he was going to ride out the weather in Meganissey, and we'd heard nothing from them, so we assumed all was okay. It was a classic calm before the storm ...
The weather started about 2 am - howling winds and lashing rain. Then something that sounded like hailstones, and with a crash, the awning on the camper van collapsed. We roused ourselves, and tried to get out to see the damage, but the awning strut had collapsed over the door, which could now only open a few inches. In the photo, the two parallel bars are the top of the door and the bottom of the camper roof, and the diagonal across them is the fallen strut. Holding the door open invited a deluge of rain into the camper, so we decided we'd wait until it was light and then see what we could do.
At 7 am our bladders were demanding attention, so we considered our escape routes. I had blocked off access to the cab to hold back the tide of rats, so I was reluctant to take that protection down, and even so, we didn't know if we could open the locked cab doors from the inside. (Something we should know, really). The main door wouldn't shift. We thought about ringing Michael in the Winnebago (Alison was away for the week in the UK) but we didn't want to disturb him too early. In the event, it turned out he wasn't there, he was gardiennaging boats in Vlicho Bay all night.
Finally, I remembered the burglar - if they could get in, we could get out, and we hadn't done anything to seal that window (hurrah!). So I put on jeans for the first time since Bobstock, and climbed out.
I was able to lift the awning, to let Dave out, and then he attached extra guy wires to the struts to hold them firm.
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