Bobbing around like a cork in a washing machine

Who would of though the roughest wave action we would experience would be while we were tied up

Wednesday evening.
Sailboats on the way out of the
channel for a race

to a dock. We pulled into South Haven, MI on Wednesday  to wait out some thunderstorms that were predicted for Thursday. We arrived about 4:00 in the afternoon and got into the slip with no problems, nice wooden fixed docks. We went to dinner with a fellow Looper (Richard, who I mentioned in a previous post). It was a beautiful evening, lots of people milling around in the river. It seems that cruising around in your dinghy is the preferred method of transportation. We slept well on Wednesday night. Thursday morning we noticed that the wind had shifted around and was blowing right up the South Haven inlet. The marina operator told us it would probably get pretty rough in here tonight.  By mid morning we noticed a lot more rocking of the boat and the water level had rise a foot or more.  We also noticed that the boats going out of the channel were bouncing around a lot more.  By mid day the boat was rocking so much we decided go out and walk around a bit.  By the time we got back to the marina, the waves coming down the channel were breaking over the top of the wall.  Lesson Plan was rocking and rolling. We put on additional dock lines and tried to get them tight enough to slow down the rolling. The surge action, coming from under the docks, would push the boat toward the finger pier pulling against the lines on the left side of the boat, then it would snap back in the other direction. We knew it would be rough night, but at least it wasn't raining. Steve eyeballed a couch in the boaters' lounge at the marina office and said we may have to sleep there tonight. Ahhh it will be okay, just a little extra rocking to help you sleep.

Waves coming into the inlet coming over the wall at times

I was sleeping off and on and was in a pretty sound sleep when I heard someone calling (yelling) my name about 2:30 AM. It was coming from outside the boat. Once I realized I wasn't dreaming I scrambled out of bed and through open the hatch. I stuck out my head to see what was the matter. It wasn't Santa. It was Richard standing on the side of his boat. I said what's up Richard (remember he is the 81 year old single handing). He said: I need some help, one of my dock lines snapped and I can't get off the boat. He had lassoed a dock post and was trying to keep his boat from drifting into the one next to it.  I quickly pulled off the broken line and had enough line to get it back on the cleats and then run it back up to double up the line. Steve and I took the line Richard was holding and ran it from the post to the corner cleat of his boat. Steve helped him lasso the dolphin (a post between the two boats not attacked to the dock) so we could pull the front over to keep the boat from snatching against the lines so hard. They got two lines around the dolphin.

Waves crashing into the lighthouse pier

With a feeling of satisfaction we were debating on whether we needed any more lines, when the original line that broke, broke again. I went to my boat and retrieved one of my extra lines, you know us sailors, we love to have plenty of lines. We got it secured when another boater came up with a heavy duty dock line. We put it on the other corner pulling in the same direction. Feeling that Richard's boat was now secure we put an extra wrap on Lesson Plan's lines, making three lines of holding on the front corners (the back corners and midships were already doubled). We felt Lesson Plan was pretty secure. I headed back to bed. Steve said he was going to the restroom first. He never came back to the boat. In the morning he said that couch slept pretty good.

What a night. At least it wasn't raining.
Here a link to a video showing Lesson Plan the next afternoon.  The surge action had subsided quite a bit.
This video shows the waves coming in the inlet.

South Haven would have been a great stop, if it weren't for the west winds blowing the waves from the lake into the channel. It is a very walkable town with a lot of shops and restaurants close to the marina

Lesson Learned: If the opening of the channel faces east and heavy winds are foretasted to be out of the west, find a better harbor.
Steve learned that a couch in a marina lounge can sleep pretty good.

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” African Proverb
I wonder if rough waters at the dock count?