ARRIVAL OF CYCLONE TOMAS

Today, Tuesday March 16, 2010, the first strong winds of Cyclone Tomas woke me around 0700. It appears my area will not be blasted much.

I heard that some yachts in Savusavu (my first port of call in Fiji) broke their moorings. The harbor at Savusavu is very narrow and usually crowded. I can only hope everyone pulled thru OK.

Yesterday I started thinking about what I'd need to take off Torrid in the event I was forced to go ashore for a while. Although I have a "ditch bag" which has essential survival gear in the event I ever had to abandon ship and take to my life raft at sea, what I didn't have was an organized "go bag" in the event I had to flee ashore. It was sort of putting all those essential items you would want to have with you in the event your house caught fire. You don't have time to look for those few items in your home that you would not want consumed by the fire. Likewise, I might not have time to find my items in an emergency.

It is surprising how little we actually "need" in an emergency. It is surprising further how many people have risked, or lost, their lives rushing into a burning house to gather these items.