Mornington Storm Photos

[Hartley18]

Just to show you lot on the other side of the globe that being Down Under has it's hazards too:

After The Storm

[teshannon]

Wild photos! Thanks for posting them.

[luckytexan]

Yes pretty wild pics indeed! So if I understand the article correctly the little bay there is just open to the sea and there is no breakwater or anything? I bet they put one up after this!
Thanks for the pics!

[sailortjk1]

Doesn't look like a good place to keep a boat.
No protection to the open water?
Why would you moor there?

[eryka]

Oooooo...

Is April near the peak of your hurricane/typhoon season?

[Ilenart]

Mornington is in Port Philip Bay. The spot is normally sheltered from the prevailing breeze by Snapper Pt. Its only when you have a north wind that you have problems.

Unfortunately its the only spot in that section of Port Philip bay where you can moor a yacht.

Eryka, this is Melbourne which is no where near where you get cyclone (what we call hurrucanes). The nearest cyclone would be 2,000km / 1,500 miles away. Cyclone season is between November and April with peak season Dec-Apr)

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by Ilenart

Mornington is in Port Philip Bay. The spot is normally sheltered from the prevailing breeze by Snapper Pt. Its only when you have a north wind that you have problems.

Unfortunately its the only spot in that section of Port Philip bay where you can moor a yacht.

Well.. that's not true. There are plenty of places around the bay where you can moor a yacht, including Williamstown to the North and Sorrento to the South.

Mornington is a very friendly relaxed and affordable club with great facilities for what you pay and really handy for those living south of Frankston - one of the best clubs on the Bay if I may say so (no, I'm not a member) ...the only teeny-weeny downside is that there's a bloody good chance your boat will wind up on the beach if a once-in-ten-year big northerly comes through - and then I suppose you're lucky it's actually a beach (not rocks!).

That's what makes this so nasty:
(a) It's a great club and a nice venue to sail from
(b) This is not the first time they've been hammered and no-one's done anything about it (yet)!

They recorded winds a little over 60kts that day, so hardly a "hurricane" as such, but the storm did bring down powerlines and a couple of people were killed.

[Hartley18]

My favorite photo is this one:



That's actually a breaking wave in at least 5 fathoms of water and right in the middle of an official mooring ground!!

No wonder mooring ropes snapped!...

[Ilenart]

Originally Posted by Hartley18

Well.. that's not true. There are plenty of places around the bay where you can moor a yacht, including Williamstown to the North and Sorrento to the South.

Hartley18, when I said in that section of Port Philip bay I meant around Mornington. From memory Williamstown would be around 50km away? which in Melbourne traffic means a two hour drive.

[Alden68]

Wow!

Thanks for the pics. I would have had the mother of all panic attacks watching my boat try and (hopefully) survive that. I feel for those people that saw their boats pushed onto the beach and pounded by breakers.