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Old 23-04-2016, 18:46   #1
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Cyclone Amos Pago Pago

Well, THAT was fun. Not. We got hit overnight by Cyclone Amos. Cat 3, winds 90+ kn gusting 110+ kn. Fast mover, doing roughly 15 kn from NW to SE. Cyclone eye passing overhead. Midnight to about 5 AM was "worry watch" time - roughest waves & wind gusts. Pound, pound, pound.

Wife and I are okay, no injuries.

Had ditch bags prepared and the hotel is like right there across the dock then street. Motor problems, so was tied to this serious non-floating concrete monster dock.

No serious damage our boat. A few things, though:

Wood cap rail stbd side took a beating, lost about a 2.5 cm wide X 3 meters long outer strip. The part that overhangs the hull getting caught on the dock - needed wider fenders, I guess, but with the rolling/pitching not sure even that would have helped. And where to store one-meter wide fenders?

One mooring line snapped - chafed through inside the fire hose chafe guard. The fiber outer layer cause we don't use the rubber-lined inner layer. Thought that would work. Gotta re-think that system - but had backup lines already installed.

And of course lots of stuff falling underfoot from shelving inside the main salon because we never installed fish-netting to prevent exactly that from occurring. Or considered what would happen if the vessel was heeled 15 dg and then slammed into the dock. Oops.

By 6 AM Harbour Master on VHF 16 reports we were in the cyclone eye & awaiting the backside to pass through. In the event, the backside gave us no more than mid-teens for winds. Phew!

Will survey scene later on but nothing on VHF 16 about probs with other boaters. Also, saw our local tugboat/Good Samaritan {with his 12 ft metal dink & 40 HP outboard} coming in from his ketch for breakkie at Mc Donalds.... So, guess there's nobody on the rocks. Damn glad of that!

Engel fridge is full of beer & water, the wine bottles survived unbroken, and we've plenty of food aboard. Solar panels & wind turbine doing a great job vis–à–vis power. All in all..... Can't really complain about a thing. Lucky, we were we were!

BTW: This thing started as a TD and passed through the Fiji gap W to E on the same path that a Cat 5 cyclone hit Fiji back in Feb going E to W. And again, like that one, a wanderer, changing course/direction a few times. About 12 hrs before we got hit the USN tropical cyclone page had this beast going SE PRIOR to nearing Ind. Samoa and passing well S of Am. Samoa. But when we rechecked about 6 hrs later for updates she'd upgraded from Cat 2 to Cat 3, accelerated from 6 to 15 kn, changed course to pass N of Ind.Samoa, then headed straight for Pago Pago. Bummer.

Internet connect sort of iffy right now. And things to do. But thought to mention that my "respect" level for anybody/everybody who ever sat out a "furycane" {as Zeehag calls em} aboard their yacht shot upwards from genuine respect to man-oh-man... I'll buy you a beer and let's not do THAT again!

Will report/update later if anything noteworthy occurred. Gotta go.
James


Ref: tracking updates: Navy/NRL TC_PAGES Page Click on 20P.Amos

Current track. Look close at 14s to 16s on far W edge of map... Shows when Amos was still a TD and had curved from E of Fiji to head NW. Then back E for fun, I guess. Beast.
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Old 23-04-2016, 18:54   #2
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Re: Cyclone Amos Pago Pago

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Old 23-04-2016, 21:36   #3
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Re: Cyclone Amos Pago Pago

Good to see you weathered it without any serious problems, hopefully a once in a lifetime experience. We appear to have been lucky in Australia this year with the season almost over and all the action further east into the Pacific.
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