Caught in the storm.

[The_Gaffer]

Guys, as Nick said, we're at that time of the year.  What you experienced kev was what in Maltese we refer to as a Skontratura.  This happens very fast, and it is characterised by a swift ripple on the sea, dark clouds suddenly appear on the horizon, and a sudden backing of the wind (the wind turns anti-clockwise).  Before you know it, the wind picks up to about force 5 to 6, followed by a severe shower of rain accompanied by a tunderstorm.  They happen closer to shore then out in the open sea due to the temp difference on land and change of isobar pressure due to the proximity of land.  These phenomina are very common at this time of the year, and many fishermen have been caught out by them.    I've had a few experiences with them, but my worst experience was just off the coast of sicily, 3 years ago, when the wind suddenly backed to NW from a slight easterly breeze, and picked up to about near gale, force 7.  Luckily I was on the gaffer, I closed the front windows, mounted the flybridge, and rode the storm from there, but I had 4 kids on the boat, and it scared the crap out of my daughter and her sister in law!!!!.  Another time I was out on the FADs for Lampuki...caught sight of the fresh (as in cold) ripple, looked up to the horizon, saw the dark clouds, and a few clouds cut off from the main clouds (this signifies wind).  Immediately headed back to port at full throttle (at that time I had a buccanner 20.5 withan iveco 130hp turbo diesel inboard), but I was about an hour away from port @ 22knts, my exact position was about 10 miles south of hurds bank!!!!.  6 miles off the grand harbour, the storm hit us full force, (my dad was with me at that time, God rest his soul), I asked him to just hold on, and he obliged, always with a good joke, stating that he was reciting the rosary, and was now resigned to God and all Saints in Heaven!!!.  You think 6 miles is close, but with f6-7 NW winds battering your bows, and hardly doing more then 5knts, it takes a lifetime to reach port in those conditions...and above all, visibility is poor, you're struggling with the throttle and steering wheel, the boat is pitching and rolling, I'm telling you, not a good option to be in.  Finally we made it to post, I was soaking wet, drenched with sea spray and the rain, dad's knuckles were snow white, and all we could think of was thankyou Lord, we live to tell the tale.  We later found out that the wind was actually f6-7 but gusting at f8. The breakwater was seldom visible, being covered in waves and sea spray....and some of my mates from Senglea actually came out to meet us at port.  Remember, at those times we didn't have mobile phones, just the VHF, and I certainly didn't have a chartplotter/GPS, just a small raython GPS which provides coordinates. 
Just a reminder to all the newbies here, and the old hands as well.  Beware of the sea, be very weary, conditions can change rapidly, and when out on a boat, it not like you're only 5 minutes away...think fast, don't just say, oh OK, there's a storm coming, but just this one last FAD, and then I'm heading in...because before you know it, the storm is ahead of you!!!!

[shanook]

Those who have VHF and can transmit when u see a storm coming just give a shout on VHF it can save a life. I got warned once by the 'brother' and it really made a big difference we were out for lampuki and it was calm and the lampuki were biting, when brother started calling us to see if we were ok as the storm was picking up on shore. We packed everything and headed straight in. Good thing as about 15 minutes from shore the storm hit us badly. 15 min are a very LONG time to make to shore in those conditions. If brother had not warned us, i dont know what would have happened.