BOATS have been smashed up by thunderous seas and high winds. Two were destroyed in Havelet Bay. On Wednesday several vessels anchored there were escorted into St Peter Port Harbour by the workboat, Sarnia.

But deputy harbour master Tony Pattimore said that damage elsewhere around the harbour was kept to an absolute minimum.

‘People should be aware of the weather forecast and make sure the weather is within their capabilities.

‘Don’t try and push the envelope if you don’t think you can handle it – stay in port,’ he said.

There were other reports of boats breaking their moorings at Salerie, Belle Greve and Bordeaux.

Guernsey and Alderney lifeboats have been busy.

Eight people aboard a German schooner had a lucky escape eight miles off Les Casquets on Wednesday afternoon.

‘Potentially it could have been a very serious situation,’ said Alderney harbour master Steve Shaw.

‘He had rigging damage and only had a reasonably small horsepower engine and the prop was coming out.

‘If one of the three masts had come down, he could have had serious damage. They were out there in very poor conditions and instances like that can go wrong very, very quickly.’

Mr Shaw said that conditions in the harbour were horrendous, with the worst north-easterly winds for two-and-a-half years.

One boat capsized in the harbour but harbour crew managed to get extra lines on other boats in danger of drifting.

*GUERNSEY has just had its wettest day since records began in 1947.

The Guernsey Met Office confirmed that 62.5mm or 2.46ins of rain fell on the island in 24 hours on Wednesday.

‘With further precipitation forecast in the form of showers or more prolonged rain later, it will give us something to talk about while we shelter and continue to wonder where our summer went,’ said Pete Hugo of the Met Office yesterday.

The previous record was tied between 6 July 1969 and 18 February 1978 which each produced 59mm, or 2.32ins.

The average rainfall for the whole of July is 37.6mm, or 1.48ins. Four of the five wettest days in Guernsey happened during the summer months.

‘In the summer you can get quite intense thunderstorms,’ said Pete de la Mare, also of the Met Office.

‘This system came up from the heat off Spain. The thundery conditions that come up across us produce the large amounts of rainfall.’