ACCELER ATED BY THE
MOUNTAINS, THE KATABATIC
WIND SCREAMED LIKE A
BANSHEE
to refloat the boat. We swung on the boom,
hung over the lifelines and used the windlass
and engine, all without success.
Less than an hour after our call, the Omani
Coastguard arrived with not one boat but two.
A Royal Oman Navy and a Coastguard launch
came alongside giving us enormous relief. The
officer in charge explained they had urgent
emergencies to attend to; high tide would
be at midnight, and they promised to return.
DÉJÀ VU
As midnight approached, we were becoming
concerned when the Coastguard hadn’t arrived
and we’d failed to refloat. However, at around
0015, a Royal Oman Coastguard launch arrived.
He brought his launch alongside and we tied to
him with stern and bowlines. After a few gentle
manoeuvers by the Coastguard boat, Rahala
was bobbing in unison with their boat. We were
floating! Our relief was ecstatic.
It was approaching 0200 and we happily
hosted the Coastguard team to tea and chocolate
biscuits aboard Rahala. Later, before they left,
they helped us move to deeper water in the
centre of the channel and we reset our anchor.
However, just before 0400, the katabatic wind
returned, howling at nearly 60 knots. We were
awake and prepared. Again, the wind screamed
down the channel, straining the rode and
whipping up the sea. I decided to lift the
anchor, leave the channel and motor out to
the wide main waterway. In
pitch dark, with high winds
and choppy seas, this was
challenging, but once out
of the channel, everything
became more manageable.
We motored to the far end
of the Musandam inlets
where we had comfortably
anchored the previous three
nights. For the third time
that night, we set anchor
and tried to get some sleep.
A couple of hours later, an
Omani Coastguard launch
pulled alongside to check
on us, and were obviously
pleased to see we were all
safe. They asked us to make
our way to Khasab Harbour,
the small seaport outside
Musandam, saying the storm front would make
it too rough to attempt our passage to Dubai.
When we arrived in Khasab, the Coastguards
provided a swinging mooring for Rahala,
helped us tie up and even collected a longer,
thicker rope to complement our mooring lines.
Once secure, they hosted us to a grilled tuna
and salad lunch in their port office and later,
one of their officers ferried us to a local shop.
We attribute surviving the beaching due
to the strength of Rahala, to having the
right anchor, and a fair amount of good
luck. However, the timely and professional
assistance of the Royal Oman Coastguard
helped transform a potential disaster. A few
days later and back home in Dubai, we lifted
Rahala out for an expert survey. No damage
was found other than a little missing antifoul.
THE LEARNING CURVE
Rahala’s keel had
bedded into soft
sand and didn’t
respond to her
crew’s attempts
to get her freeThe anchorage was
beautifully calm before
the storm front arrivedThanks to the boat’s strength,
there was very little damage