Hurricane Sandy tidings

[DianaOfBurlington]

It might be enlightening for some of us with boats in the water along the US East Coast to report what they have done or will be doing to ride out the storm this weekend and week. Do you shore up in the marina? --set anchors? --raft up? --drive way up a river away from the coast? --do a fast haul-out?

People have separate ideas. Those of us intending to live aboard can learn much from those who have seen this stuff before.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

 

[Boatsail1]

Juno Beach, Fl. double check all lines. Battery full and pumps in shape. Check twice daily and status. Moor at dock where normally keep her. Water container blown away. Found. All well.

 

[jibes138]

Marina did not force us to evacuate so doubled up lines, set them high on piling because surge was high and full moon tides. Surge expected to be over parking lot so we had to get our cars out before they were submerged partially. Through 2:00 today only had winds up to about 35 but surge was really high. At low tide the water was only about a foot below our normal high tide. Did not remove canvass but if winds were predicted any higher I would have stripped all canvass.
Two options for a full hurricane with marina evacuation. Either get on a haul out list or go to a hurricane hole and set multiple heavy anchors. I did the latter last year for Irene and it worked OK, used a 40 pound danforth, a 35 pound CQR, and a 25 pound danforth. I now have a 35 pound manson supreme, a 33 pound Bruce, and two 25 pound danforths. The CQR and 40 pound danforth are still set for when I need them.

 

[jsalley]

Prepped the boat to ride it out in the slip two days ago (extra lines, stripped sails and canvas, etc); then the forecast moved Sandy's landfall further our way (lower Chesapeake). Got hauled today! Feel a lot less anxiety now.

 

[RichH]

Hauled out, totally stripped the boat including 'crap on de back' masts, doubled the amount of normal jackstands.
Im on the Upper Chesapeake which should get a 2-4ft. surge followed by a 4-6' 'suck out' below MLW ... and then (maybe) return to normal levels after a FEW days of predicted NW equinoctal gales. The Hurricane arriving just before the arrival of and combining with a strong equinoctal gale --- double whammy of two weather bombs simultaneously.
Staple your hat to your head folks .... it looks like its going to 'blow' from Sunday night though early Wednesday!

 

[wonkodsane]

Storm strength predictions keep dropping and storm landfall point and track keep shifting North.

Fizzle?

 

[All U Get]

Storm strength predictions keep dropping and storm landfall point and track keep shifting North.

Fizzle?

Seems to have slowed progress a bit but its hard to judge the intensity. I'd rather be disappointed than wet.

All U Get

 

[NYSail]

Could not get hauled.... left the slip as last year during Irene the surge brought me to the top of the pilings and it is predicted the surge will be a couple feet higher for this storm. Stripped all canvas and headed to my 500lb mooring in Mt. Sinai harbor. Added a couple extra lines, checked that my insurance policy is paid up and will watch from the road.

 

[Cool Beans]

Just checked this morning and the track keeps going east and north before hooking west. Good for we in the lower Chesapeake, not good for Jersey

-removed bimini
-removed rail mounted grill
-wrapped entire sheet around headsail
-wrapped line around mainsail and cover
-extra spring line each side
-taped up the gaps in the companionway hatch

Last hurricane that made land fall here, I stripped everything off the boat including the boom and had like 20 lines coming off. . .not as concerned this time around, I will be making a morning check here shortly and evening check to see how bad the storm surge is. . .and then after work tomorrow :neutral:

 

[Dave602]

Left her in place, stripped bimini, doubled lines. Second lines attached to chains looped on metal frames of the floating docks. Main sail bag lashed up and extra line wrapped around the roller furl. Tide this morning 2 feet + more than normal. Tomorrow morning will be 3ft higher still. The piling with the guy by it is normally 8ft or so off the dock.

 

[RTMBoston]

http://www.maineharbors.com/camindex.htm

Here's a link with some cams on the water for those wanting to take a peek.......

 

[AbbySedge]

Just wanted to wish all of you people who will be in the path of Sandy the best of luck. Here in Mobile the weather has dropped to a cool 54 degrees which is very unusual for this time of year and on top of that a full moon. Hang on tight folks and the best to all of you!

 

[Leicadave]

Ocean Co. NJ

The roads were full of boats being pulled out of marinas for the past two days. A lot of sailboats were hauled from the local marina as well, but some will remain in the water stripped with double and triple lines. Now mandatory evacuation orders are taking effect.

Per Boat US's advice I pulled my Whaler and put it on its trailer, and they'll pay half the hauling cost. Luckily my Cape Cod Cat was pulled last week.

Could get 2-3 feet of water in the driveway where they're parked very close to the bay, more if this is (as predicted) worse than 1991 when the "Hurricane without a Name" struck the area and put ca. 4 feet of water under the house (which is on pilings thankfully) per neighbors' reports. I think it will take 5 feet of water to float the boats; not impossible but hopefully unlikely.

We expect to lose electricity (it just blinked off and back on) in the next couple of days as our town is filled with beautiful old trees mostly still full of leaves. That's why I installed a permanent auto generator after last year's hurricane.

 

[runcj]

This is where a trailer craft comes in handy. My strategy is just to haul my boat from the water and store it. My insurer Boat U.S. recommends pulling boats from the water if at all possible. During events like Sandy, the only real safe place for a sailboat is land if there is a safe place at all. I have a storage space for my boat about 2 miles from the water. Haven't tested this yet since the peninsula that I live on could be totally flooded by the Gulf of Mexico during a storm surge and hurricane Charlie did not have a surge here.

 

[Doc_holiday]

Yep, I put her on the trailer and brought her home. Removed anything loose and stowed it in the cabin. Hopefully no trees fall and hit it. I have it sitting out of any range given wind direction and how the trees may fall. Put mast on ground next to fence. Good luck to everyone

 

[Tim R.]

Stripped all windage(sails, canvas, wind gen, etc). Made sure batteries are topped, tested both bilge pumps, disconnected all electrical loads, secured all loose objects, removed ground tackle. Tied up to granite 5000lb mooring block in a hurricane hole with double pennants with good chafe gear. Got off the boat and staying with friends.

 

[Witzend]

We are likely to sustain significant damage in the upper Chessy. The center of the storm is forecast to track right up the Delaware or just N there of. Flooding will be significant with the storm surge. I suspect tomorrow will be the worse for us with the possible loss of our dock due to the push of water up the Chesapeake during the reverse side SW, combined with all the rain and the flood of water coming through the Canal from the Delaware.

I have cross stabilized the Gazebo roof for wind protection, but nothing can be done to protect it and the dock from the high water wave action that will likely rip the deck out as it did with Isabella. The house will probably be OK from flood due to it's +50' elevation, but there are a number of trees that could pose a threat even though the Derecho already cleaned out many.
Witz is on the hard, but not out of danger, it could still blow over in the 70kt forecast winds.
Hoping the best for all.

 

[Ken Honeycutt]

We're expecting 50+ Kt winds on lake Michigan with the possibility of 30 foot waves. After last years N'oreaster that destroyed a lot of boats in the harbor, I decided to pull mine out early this year but weather here in Chicago has seen South winds blowing 20 to 30 almost everyday since the second week of October, actually lowered the lake level on the South end of Lake Michigan several feet. Finally pulled boat out last weekend after weather delays.
The Chicago park district asked all remaining boats on moorings to move to empty slips in the harbors last week when Sandy was predicted to produce high winds in Chicago.

 

[joe-fran]

The intensity of most storms is directy inverse to the level of the preceeding hype.

 

[skygazer]

Failure by Corrupt Weather Service

Hauled our Hunter 23 a week ago in the rain and wind Friday, expected this storm back then, just didn't know how bad it would be until a week ago Sunday/Monday. Had no computer access till Sunday. I put it on a trailer and drove 50 miles inland and parked it on top of a steep hill as far as possible from trees in a small field (my back yard).

I think the various weather services did a horrible job. This storm (un-named at the time) was clearly on their computer screens by Sunday/Monday a full week ago and they decided we didn't need to know the possibility existed. They could have said 40% chance of mid Atlantic landfall hurricane, or whatever % they wanted, instead of predicting "Nothing but Blue Skies, from now on". Even this morning (10/29/12 Monday), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has NO HURRICANE warnings, not even for New York City. I don't know what the agenda is, but I know they are funded by taxes from us and their job is to give us warning, not entertain graduate students in a meteorology class with asinine technicalities. These distinctions were not made in the past. Probably the Hurricane of '38 would not be called a hurricane by today's NHC. Possibly no hurricanes this far north would be called a hurricane by the new technicalities.

Here is a computer image I POSTED A FULL WEEK AGO, Monday 10/22/12 :

Notice that the date of the map is Monday,10/22, also be aware that the ECMWF is proven by charting to be more accurate than the GFS, especially out more than a few days. The GFS flip flops around and gets it close around 3-4 days out. There was not "initial spread, but now the models are reaching consensus". Instead the ECMWF held steady since 10/22, and the GFS flipped totally and moved to what the ECMWF said all along.

I'm not knocking the GFS, I'm saying ALL the weather services had the ECMWF on their screen and refused to let us know. The replica Tall Ship Bounty was just lost in this storm, they were safely in New London CT on Thursday and headed out. The water in New London is so deep huge tankers go way up the sheltered river. If the weather services had been honest this sad loss could have been averted. All crew were saved by exhausted rescue personnel who risked their lives and equipment, and spent a ton of money doing it.

I'm furious, and hope all will write their congressmen. The weather service could easily give percentage odds, we know what it means. They will say "we don't want to panic people." Well, of course people panic when they don't find out till the last minute, when they could have had at least a full weeks warning to be aware, something awful is lurking on our horizon.

Here is a link to the sailnet site where I posted that map a week ago Monday, just in case anyone doubts it. Unfortunately the thread was disrupted by men who prefer arguing to allowing the information to get out, fortunately three people pulled it back on track, after a couple days were wasted.

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/93377-halloween-hurricane.html