Clawing our way back

Today was meant to be spent in port, at Breskens again doing jobs as the wind howled outside.

But Lesley woke early, looked at the weather forecast and saw it had taken a turn for the better with winds turning to come from the North not the West. We both decided to snatch the opportunity to get further down this coast  and managed to leave the marina by 8am, without the usual preparation. 

Passage planning was done as we motored away, when it was still calm. We went slowly against strong tides, and soon a big swell developed. It rained hard and mist descended. We got past Zeebrugge but then large waves started coming in on our beam, rolling the boat wildly and we had to attach ourselves to safety lines.

Instead of going all the way to Nieuwpoort as planned, we decided to run into Oostende, 10 miles short of it, because frankly it was feeling dangerous.

Every time we see a decent forecast, the tides and waves have conspired to cook up something risky. We tried to get into the locked basin in Oostende as it would be less bumpy overnight. See pic, the red lights show it is closed, and the lock guys told us they wouldn't open it because of big winds! 

So we are forced to berth in the outside area open to the sea waves and there is a poor night's sleep in store as we rock and roll and our ropes squeak and wail. But we are safe.