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I wonder if a mooring ball came loose or they were hooked up incorrectly?

http://bvinews.com/new/choppy-waters-wash-vessel-ashore-ddm-cautions-residents-of-adverse-weather/

Maybe they were on someone's Boatyball and they got untied.

We saw a boat in White Bay put the eye of the mooring ball right onto the horn of his bow and walk away. He was tied up! When the wind switched the line popped right off the horn and he was loose. Amazing what you see out there!

People need to remember the most secure way to stay on a ball is to motor past and wrap the pendant around your prop.

Hopefully no one takes that advice seriously....

There are worse beaches to wash up onto. If they pull it off quickly there is likely minimal damage.

The swell has been very bad the last 2 days. Nobody should have been overnighting in CGB unless they were tucked in east of the dinghy dock.

Jason,

What is the prediction for north swells for the next week? Leaving out of Road Town tomorrow.

When you're the charterer and you have to call this incident into "home base", you say: "Now, you're gonna think this is real funny after I tell you the whole story!"

https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/beef_isl_tortola

doesnt look like much swell predicted

although last couple days pretty high

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot...uom=E&time_diff=0&time_label=GMT

I'm the wrong person to ask. I know the swell activity when I look out the window and see how many surfers are on the point or hear the volume of the waves...

I find far to many charters head out with a detailed itinerary and are extremely reluctant to deviate from it. This causes poor decision making relative to proper anchorages.
G

Always gotta have a Plan B. Looks like a Moorings stack pack.

Definitely a moorings.. also looks like the bridle is still attached to both cleats... mooring ball pendent failure? will definitely ruin the paint job!

question...assuming you have checked the pendant and you note the swell is high...anything you can do besides anchor watch?

Best advice is to avoid anchorages that are exposed to a north swell even if they are calm when you tie up in late afternoon (CGB and White Bay, JVD are notorious and from the cruising guides & chart briefings this should be common knowledge). With the multiple sources of marine forecasts available at our fingertips there is plenty of advance notice available, and the swell can sometimes very quickly build in just a few hours. There are several good close-by alternatives to CGB and White Bay if a north swell is forecast - Great Harbour, Little Harbour, and Diamond Cay at JVD, and Sopers Hole.

If you are moored with a heavy swell, at the very least don't leave the vessel unattended and head to the beach! I recall a few years ago the motoryacht that disintegrated on the rocks at White Bay, JVD. There was heavy swell and the mooring pendant snapped as the ~20 ton boat pitched up. The vessel was ashore within a minute or two.

If the swell unexpectedly picks up at night and you're stuck (or you get a serious squall), I would be in the cockpit maintaining a watch. I might then set the anchor alarm with a short radius of 1 boat length to help as an additional 'set of eyes' especially if it was a very dark or rainy night. I would not rely solely on the alarm and head off to bed. If the mooring fails, by the time you wake up to hear the alarm beeping, jump up on deck, and assess the situation, it may be too late.

I feel very bad for the owner of this boat. Unfortunately, I think there is a group of charterers (hopefully small) that treat the boats like cars in the Avis rental fleet. Do you think they called the Moorings to ask when the replacement boat would be arriving?

We were in Cane Garden Bay a few years ago with Saildoggie (rest his soul). The forecast was for North swells the next day and they arrived at 4 am and we had waves breaking over the boat. We got the heck out of a dodge quick!

Looks like a power cat ran aground near Scrub earlier in the week.

http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/oops-rough-seas-boaters-beware

Crap...that might be the powercat we are taking out in 3 weeks

Our visits to CGB have all been land-based, pre- or post-charter. One morning we woke to see all the boats in the bay bucking violently. I was very glad to be on shore.

Since then, I've always wondered if the swell forecasts are reliable enough to avoid that situation. Having that kind of severe swell pop up in the middle of the night would not be something I'd want to experience.

Dan

The North Swell forecast is extremely reliable 3 days in advance. 48 hours out it’s reliable almost to the hour that it will occur. I once stopped into CDB to pick up a crew member. A 8 foot swell was forecast to hit about midnight yet at 4 pm boats were coming in and taking Moorings. I spoke to one skipper picking a ball up next to us and told him condition would get nasty that night. He said they would give it a try anyway!
G

George-

Which website(s) do you use for your forecast?

https://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=amz715


SMALL CRAFT SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION


REST OF TODAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet with
occasional seas up to 8 feet. Dominant period 9 seconds. Isolated
showers.

TONIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet with
occasional seas up to 8 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds.

SUNDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet with
occasional seas up to 8 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Scattered
showers.

SUNDAY NIGHT
East winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet with
occasional seas up to 8 feet. Dominant period 7 seconds. Isolated
showers.

MONDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Isolated
showers.

TUESDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Scattered
showers.

WEDNESDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet with
occasional seas up to 5 feet. Dominant period 10 seconds.
NORTHWEST SWELL around 4 feet. Isolated showers.

This is the current forecast. Note on the last day the capitalized portion. That is what you are looking for with regard to swell. Through next Tuesday looks good. Swell moving in on Wednesday.
$$

thanks brother...that certainly is a lot simpler than the sites i was using

I use the website below - very accurate graphical portrait of the swell as it starts to build - about a 6-10 hour real time effect.

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot...uom=E&time_diff=0&time_label=GMT

From what we can see...

1. Moorings vessel

2. looks like he used a double bridle to the mooring .

4. looks like the mooring can and its anchor drug toward shore being pulled by the weight and resistance of the boat due to the conditions.

5. Our last BVI trip, May 2017, before Irma., two of us on the jeanneau 36i.... we intended to moor at Diamond Cay, Jost Van Dyke, and go to dinner at Foxys Taboo....But it was open to the SE strong winds wind and swell . We needed a NE wind,
not SE.

6. Also tried Great Harbor, although other vessels were moored and the harbor looked full, we passed Due to the SE winds and swell, it would have been a very rough night. Inside the harbor the conditions had boats boundiing and bobbing about..

7. Motored , yep, over to Canegarden Bay, where the wind was still howling and white caps at the pass entry. But, as we got in the lee of that big hill, the wind and windwave conditions went to near zero and flat. Much more comfortable and safe.

We had a very calm night on board after a good times at Myetts. For us, with all of Josts harbors open to the wind and waves, no way for us to moor there . But, that is us. A whole lot of other boats thought different. We are hoping the NE
wind conditions will bless us this coming may and allow us to moor at Jost.

Of course, we were not there in canegarden during this presented incident, and can only surmise from looking at the photo....But great care should be taken when a mooring field or anchorage is open to strong winds and wave conditions.

Part of my briefings for the last ten years plus. Surfing and Anchoring are mutually exclusive sports. I know a lot of people love Cane Garden Bay. It is North Swell no go if you have any sense at all.

Looks like a swell coming in on Thursday. And that was the night we planned for CGB. Oh well perhaps we do the Bight.

Good one. LOL.

Capn Jay is right on - I use the surf site magic seaweed - if they are happy about CGB, I am not going there.

https://magicseaweed.com/Cane-Garden-Bay-Surf-Report/480/

And sailors should never have plans - sailors should have intentions.

It’s never a good sign when you fly into beef island and lots of surfboards are being unloaded!
G

Not arguing here, but am legitimately curious-Why is White Bay, JVD a problem in a north swell? As it's south facing it would seem a safe harbor. Is there some wraparound or seafloor effect I'm not considering?

The swell can but not always wrap around into WB. Depends on the actual direction. Because of how shallow WB is it does not take much wrap around effect to cause issues. If WB were 15 feet deep it would be a non event. WB has several other issues that make it undesirable for overnights.
G

That makes sense-Thanks!

Skipped cgb today. Swells looked like 4 ft coming in which would have been 6 plus in the bay. We may try again tomorrow. At the bight tonight.

TONIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 10 seconds. East
swell 4 to 5 feet. Scattered showers.

THURSDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 10 seconds. West
swell 4 to 5 feet. Isolated showers.

THURSDAY NIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 10 seconds.
Northwest swell around 4 feet. Scattered showers.

FRIDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Scattered
showers.

FRIDAY NIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Scattered
showers.

SATURDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Isolated
showers.

SUNDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 8 seconds. Scattered
showers.

MONDAY
Northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet with
occasional seas up to 5 feet. Dominant period 10 seconds.
Scattered showers.


Looks like you were right on the swell size. Interesting thing is the forecast has the swell clocking around to the west tomorrow which is unusual. Stay out of Sopers whole. No swell Friday on through the weekend if you can put CDB off another day.
G

CGB has been very calm the last few days and nights.