Wiliwaws, (a big blast of 100+ wind) indicated by the haze on the near horizon; the edges are rimmed with 20 or 30 waterspouts; sometimes, when one hits the boat, we roll in the water 'till the rail goes under water.
We went deer hunting in Kodiak, in Uganik, after salmon seining and halibut fishing was done; on the way back we were caught by a storm. It started in the southeast as we left Shuyak; as we crossed the Gulf of Alaska, it gradually came around more easterly, and increased in velocity; as we approached the Barren Islands, local rips caused the seas to build to thirty-five feet! We decided on emergency anchorage inside East Amatuli (easternmost of the Barrens).
The wind screeched 100+ knots around the compass for the next five days; after the 42-foot Kristy Kay dragged her 70-pound Bruce anchor for the sixteenth time, the skipper, Arnie Phillips, made the decision to jog into it, until it calmed down enough to get the hook out. We drove the boat in circles, in that little cove, for three days; when the wind switched so that it was blowing right in on us, we moved across the channel, and drove up and down a (relatively) sheltered beach, for two more days.
Finally, when It seemed to subside to mere gusts of seventy or so, we took a break, threw out the anchor, and took a break from the endless jogging. I hit the rack; less than five minutes after I did so, a gust of wind slammed the boat, and snapped the anchor of, at the shackle...so we jogged the rest of the night, and finally headed out about 1:30 P.M., 3/4 against a six or eight foot leftover westerly swell...
