We are looking forward to a long weekend out in the harbor but when we check the weather forecast we realize it's going to be another wet weekend in this Sydney summer. Anyway, with so much to do to get Zenitude ready for next sailing season we decide to stay the long weekend in the marina and get some work done. It's Australia Day on Saturday and the wind hauls all day, but it's a dry and warm day. Sometime during the night the wind stops and the rain starts. As it turns out, the rain starts and it doesn't stop for the rest of the long weekend.
On Sunday night the news from Brisbane are not promising. It is expected that ex-cyclone Oswald will be coming our way and high damaging winds will reach Sydney sometime during Monday. We talked with friends at Manly marina in Brisbane that reported having gusts of 68 knots wind at the docks. Considering that 72 knots is hurricane force, they were almost at that level. When the wind finally got down to 30 knots it felt like calm for them. News from Queensland are devastating and we are waiting for the storm to hit Sydney but besides the rain, it is surprisingly calm here at the marina. Amazingly we focused on the many tasks we had planned and actually got a lot done.
Waking up on Monday morning we find it's still very calm and it's still raining, heavily at times. The wind hasn't come yet and the rain hasn't stopped. Forecast is now confusing and we think we'll get anything between 20 to 50 knots winds, maybe unpredictable high tides, and for sure still lots of rain. Oscar decides to stay another night, we don't want to leave Zenitude not knowing how the moorings will hold, specially if tides are not predictable. The mooring rope may all of the sudden be too short if the tide rises too much, this is how several boats sunk in Bundaberg, 2 years ago when a cyclone hit them. I leave Oscar and Zenitude to come back to the appartment as I need to be able to get to work without too much drama. In the end, the dreaded wind misses Sydney as the storm goes in an easterly path out to sea. The explanation is a strong Southerly that is also coming this way and will reach us some time next weekend, has pushed ex-Oswald out to the east. Finally on Tuesday around noon, the rain stops and some little blue patches appear in the sky. Summer is back in Sydney.
G.
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