Weathering the Wind

Today was a very intense weather day: wind, rain, snow, waves, and more wind. Typically, November is the month for windy storms, but this year extreme winds have persisted into January.

Trees blown down in John's back bay.

Most of the trees bordering the bay across from our cabin blew down last month. Trees over two feet is diameter just snapped like matchsticks. They now lie in the water with their jagged stumps jutting up along the shore. In the past, these trees provided a windbreak from the southeast winds that usher storms. Now, the wind blasts across the Hole in the Wall and swirls off the cliff behind our cabin.

Two of our cabin anchor cables snapped during that same storm. Fortunately, we weren't there that day. It would have been a wild ride. This was the second time it happened. After the first (chronicled in Up the Lake Chapter 4), our friend John installed double cables. Those lasted over five years, but this time he devised a whole new new system.

John is a float cabin engineer extraordinaire. What he came up with is a shock dampening system using old car times. Instead of connecting the 7/8 inch steel cables from the rock wall directly to the float structure like before, he placed a car tire in the middle.



We had a chance to test the new system in today's 70 kilometer winds. Instead of roughly jerking the cabin as before, the tires and the attached cables raised out of the water and gently pulled the cabin back in place. The new system is a huge success thanks to John and his ingenuity. -- Margy