White Squall or ?

[rcvesselstyn]

1980. We were headed out for a short 3 day trip to the island. The plan was to sail over to Emerald and maybe get a dive in around Indian Rock. We had spent the night aboard the boat hoping to get a early start. The next morning broke gray and still but we decided not to wait for the wind since it was just a short trip. Aboard the Cal 25 Island Sun there were the two of us and Benti the Basenji. We left the marina with the main up and the 6 horse Evinrude pushing us at a good speed.

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A long interval 4 foot swell was running but there was no wind so the sea was glassy. It's about a 45 minute power from the mouth of the harbor to the buoy off of the point of the peninsula. We were bundled up with jackets, hats and gloves because it was cold just sitting there powering. Finishing off the last of our breakfast we reached the buoy. Benti ran up on the foredeck and watched the sea lions on the base as our boat passed. We figured she thought of them as giant mice.

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Since it was still calm we continued to power for another 45 minutes. The gray day got lower and lower till we were in a light fog. Finally the wind started to pick up and we were headed right into it. With the little bit of wind came drizzle. Not anything overwhelming but it was still a little cold so we put on our foul weather gear. Conditions suddenly started changing dramatically.

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The wind jumped up to 30 knots, right down our throat. The mate turned down the outboard enough so we could just hold our course and I went up to drop the main. The wind continued to pick up and was buffeting me, with my foul weather gear and the mainsail whipping in the wind. As I'm lashing the main the wind's direction started to veer slightly to starboard. The mate continued to keep the boat headed into the wind by heading a little further West. By the time I got back into the cockpit the wind had picked up even more. I can pretty much judge the speed of the wind, at least up to about 40 knots, this was more. The wind was clocking further to starboard. I took over the tiller and kept us heading straight into it. At this point the wind was hitting us in the cockpit to the point where the mate put Benti down below and put in the hatch boards.

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The wind was full of rain and spray, it felt like we were being sprayed by a fire hose. Before I could correct the course the wind veered even further to starboard. We were under bare poles but we're heeling as if we were under full sail. I had to turn the engine up so that I could get the bow back into it. The mate is braced behind the cabin and I'm bent over holding the tiller bracing my other arm against the cockpit combing. We both felt like we were going to be blown out of the boat. The mast and rigging were shaking with the buffeting from the wind. It had to be 50 knots. We are being soaked and shaken. The sea and the sky had become one. We hung on like this for about a half an hour and then it started to ease up as quickly as it had come on. By this time we had done more than a complete 180 on our course. Patches of blue sky started showing up. The wind dropped to less than 10 knots. The mate let Benti out of the cabin and we got an earful. She was not happy missing out on our excitement. I was all for turning around and heading back towards the island. The mate vetoed that plan when she said she was done for the day. By the time we reached the Peninsula we had blue skies and fair winds. Other boats were out with people in shorts and t-shirts. We were still in our foul weather gear crusted with salt. After getting back to the slip we stopped the clean-up operation to sit down and have some lunch. Reviewing what we had gone through we figured we had gotten caught in a fair weather waterspout. We had seen them in the distance over the years. If we only would have known we could have stayed on our course and just skirted one side. By keeping our bow into the wind we stayed in the water spout for the maximum amount of time.

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[Mary Mac]

Love these old photos! Benti does not look pleased about being put down below. Interesting weather. Sounds like a possible microburst. I suppose a waterspout is somewhat the opposite of a microburst!