High Winds Sink Tuzi Gazi Marina - Again

Crystal Blues Stern & The Sinking Docks

This section of the South African coast is a real weather engine, with a succession of high and low pressure systems dancing along the coast with unusual frequency.  The wind will swap from North East to South West and then back again within 24 hours, and then flip over again within another 24 hours.  It seems never ending.

The docks here at Tuzi Gazi Marina were badly damaged by a 70 knot gale about three weeks ago, when the main pontoon collapsed into a spectacular concertina.  Unfortunately several visiting cruising boats were damaged in that blow.  The dock staff have worked endlessly to repair the dock sections that failed, but each successive storm puts the damaged floats underwater again, so the dock buckles further.   A lack of parts and a complete lack of new floats is hampering their effort.

The initial disaster was caused by the failure of rusty anchor chains.  The heavy chains that hold the marina in position are tethered to concrete blocks on the sea bed.  These moved in the big blow and have not yet been re-positioned, so the entire structure is moving around in the wind, flexing the hinge points and further stressing the structure, specially at low tide.  Its a mess.