Now 11h00, and things have settled a bit.... low water means that we are a bit more sheltered from the wind, and the wind has swung a bit more Northerly, and the swell seems to not come in so badly......

We've been offered a chance to lock through to the inner harbour, but still undecided, as it means facing the challenge of getting off the current berth, which won't be easy in 30kts of wind, and then negotiating the lock... the wind will be straight down the throat as is the swell, and there are no pontoons, its tying to the walls!... however, on the upside, it means no swell tonight......

16h30 update....

Decided not to go into the lock, it looks too much.....

So we grabbed a taxi to the chandlery the other side of town, and bought snubbers.... they didn't have much left, a bit of a run on them apparently!... I got two of the giant spring types, and have spent most of the afternoon fitting them along with some hose over the warps through the fairleads.... much quieter below....

The forecast is for the wind to moderate this afternoon, and then even more tommorrow, but still no sign of it.... its still well over 25kts in the harbour, but we are now past high water again, and so things should be better tonight....

Hoping that we might be able to make a dive for either Dunkirk or Calais tommorrow, but as I write, we are still well and truly storm bound in Oostende....

19h00 update...

Wind seems to have moderated a little.....

Apologies for typos, but we've been aboard fellow forumite, BarryT's boat all evening, enjoying a selection of wines, so enjoying our situation!

Forecast is for 3 to 4 tommorrow, so optimistic of a dash down to Dunkirk (or should that be Dunkerque), which is only 26nm.... suspect that the wind will be OK, but there may well be a bit of a sea running... it'll be a broad reach, so we'll either fly down in 3 hrs, or wallow our way, all feeling sick!

Plan is then to head over to Ramsgate Saturday, which should be fine under a lee shore, and then Saturday onwards back to Ipswich..... not ideal for the kids, as its 3 days of passage making in arow, but can't be helped....

We're off in a few minutes to dinner aboard Vreny as guests..... so no doubt, more wine!