Blowin' stink
It's blowin' stink today in Port Townsend, a south witch wind, for sure.  When I went aboard Tethys tied up in Point Hudson marina yesterday, the cold wind was half this force and still pushed me down the companionway stairs, beat at me with the wang, wang, wang sounds of lines on the mast, annoying me and stirring up memories of Auckland, New Zealand and Richard's Bay, South Africa, two marinas I'd stayed in for nearly a month alone in winds much stronger.  In Port Townsend, the wind today is 40 knots with gusts expected to go higher.  Nasty, no question about it.  In Auckland, the winds reached 50's and gusts went higher. We had Tethys in a far corner of the marina. No live aboards were allowed so we picked that spot where I could be a sneak-aboard while Nancy went back to US for the Seattle Boat Show.  Each day, the tide would rise and fall, my view changing from cold grey rocks and noisy gulls surrounding us atop the breakwaters when we were low, then up to their level with a view out to the harbor when it was high.  Not once, but twice, anomylous cyclones managed to find their way down to our latitude.  Moored to 4 pilings and sheltered in a marina, you'd think I'd feel safe.  I was, until the tide went up.  Then, not only was Tethys heeling hard from blasts of wind threatening to tangle her spreaders with the boat in the next slip, she was also yanking the pilings at dangerously high points so the angles of her tugs against the piles were threatening to pry them right out of the mud. The 4-6 hours, while the tide was highest were tortuous.  I was alone in the far corner of the marina, no one knew I was there and the dinghy in these winds was useless.  Grateful for a distraction 12 hours into the storm, I watched two feather weight racing sloops work their way free from their piliings.  Both had roller furling sails and mainsail covers begin to work their way loose, providing steadily more sail, urging the boats to move more and more with each inch exposed.  One of the boats eventually reared up on a wave and flipped the tire it was tied to over the top of the piling and slammed against the boat next door.  The other, out on a mooring, raced in circles while the roller furling jib got completely loose, then completely shredded.  Wind has so many roles.  Today, the wind is a witch.  Hope to hear how any of you are fairing today in this wind, or wherever you are or remember.