WYC Friday Night Moonlight Cruise NOT

The Whitby Yacht Club hosts a moonlight cruise on the Friday before a full moon.  This was to be the last one before the boats are hauled out on Oct 18th.

Since I was the one organizing the cruise, I was concerned about the risk of thunderstorms being issued by environment Canada.  Rita and I had planned to take club administrator Danae and her husband Alex along the cruise.

However, as I was cleaning the boat to get ready, I had the VHF radio on, and there was a marine broadcast weather alert at 6pm saying that severe thunderstorms are coming through our area.

I decided to call off the cruise, or rather postpone it until next Friday.

GOOD THING I DID

Rita and I were on the boat a little after 8pm, and the sky turned black, and the winds picked up.

MAX Apparent Wind Speed

The boat was rocking, MAJOR rain, and lightning bolts EVERYWHERE.

Two boats in the club had their jib sails unfurl and were shredded!

The storm lasted over two hours, and major rain ALL NIGHT.

In the morning, we discovered that one of the shelter tents in the front lawn of the club was picked up with the wind and send over 400 yards into the lake OVER our fencing to the south!

Peter (AKA Lock Ness Monster)

Peter Smith got in the water to retrieve what was left of it.