Terrigal Weather Update

Only five days until I leave for the Laser Masters Worlds in Terrigal. Meanwhile Andrew Campbell has this inspiring weather update on his blog...

With four days of rain and onshore breezes and swells, New South Wales and the Central Coast is trying to wring itself out and get settled before the Laser World Championships starts here on Wednesday. While most of the counties have been in months long drought, the top stories are about flash floods swallowing objects such as Rescue Fire Trucks and small villages. The entire month of February’s expected rain has arrived in it’s first four days.

All the while the swell has rolled in bigger and bigger each day onto our little beach under the faint protection of a natural jetty beside ‘The Haven.’ I know of at least four boats in the last week that have been gobbled up by rogue breaking sets of waves and come ashore with broken masts, torn sails and thoroughly embarrassed sailors amongst cheering crowds of onlookers.

Last night apparently the race committee boat, which was peacefully anchored alongside the local fishing fleet, broke loose from it’s ground tackle and rode ashore to be found this morning full of a mix between buckets of rain water and sea water from the waves breaking into it.

All that and our forecast is calling for the swell to potentially increase over the next few days as the low pressure system intensifies. That could make it difficult getting through the already meter-high beach break, but we’ll see what happens.

Here is the race committee boat, high and not-so-dry.


According to the Laser Worlds Championship website...

Local police, the NSW Fire Brigade, inclusive of a Hazardous Materials Response Unit arrived at The Haven shortly after 10.00am this morning and are working away to lift the waterlogged and sand drenched boat out and onto land, where it will be inspected. It is yet to be determined whether the boat can be salvaged or not.

Yikes. What have I let myself in for? If the weather has wrecked the committee boat, what chance do we poor Laser sailors have? Now where is that advice on how to deal with fear?