I regret to report that the Starship sank at its mooring at Jacobs Well on Friday 24th August at approximately 11am.
After being on board the boat on the mooring at Jacobs Well for three days from Tuesday, when the wild weather began, I noticed that the Starship was slightly down by the bows and listing to port when I was motoring into shore in the dinghy.
By the time that I had beached the dinghy and walked to the car park it had slipped beneath the surface. Well, almost - a bit of the superstructure was still visible.
It's a real pity and I hope that it can be salvaged. For those who do not remember or were too young at the time, the Starship was built in the early 1970's and featured in the Post magazine. I think that it was commissioned by a medical doctor but has had a few owners since then. It was shaped a bit like a whale and had a bubble canopy for the skipper who sat in a raised seat. Like a fighter jet. It was an awesome sight to see it under way at speed.
Sorry that I haven't got any photographs. The camera was packed away and I couldn't find it among the mess of other gear. Anyway it was windy and wet and the camera probably would not have fared too well.
I had been watching it ever since the wind arrived at 12noon on Tuesday and thought that it was handling the conditions very well.
Thanks to the boys in Met providing advanced warning, quite a few of the owners of moored and anchored boats were on board otherwise the damage in the mooring would have been worse. Nine or ten boats broke their moorings, dragged anchor or had to be held in place for a while with power. A couple of large boats dragged their entire mooring - block and all. There were a couple of minor collisions and some lucky escapes. Three boats ended up on the mud banks just short of the trees thanks to small high tides.
I won't be riding out the next big blow at the mooring - far better to get to a more protected anchorage and be out of the way of boats to windward.
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