Isabel Aftermath

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Matt

All, My boat is currently on the hard at Herrington Harbour North. I'm currently on the West Coast until tomorrow night and haven't been able to reach anyone at the marina. Anyone been out to the marina that can report on the conditions and/or state of the boats on the hard? Did the water reach as far as the dry storage. For reference mine is one of the sailboats (Hunters) up there.... I'm anxious to hear any reports from the area.... thanks, matt
 
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Matt

Boat's name is Cythere...

John, The boat's name is Cythere, a Hunter 34 in long term storage up in back (something like L or N row if I remember correctly). Up past Osprey composites.... Was the water up that far? thanks, matt
 
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UnBelizeable

No bad news about landlocked boats

I've talked to several there...no one spoke of any blow overs. The docks are a mess from what I've been told.
 
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Carter Honeycutt

Have a boat there also

Just purchased a 30' hunter there on hard stand and my yacht broker said it came through fine, water did not reach dry storage area to best of my knowledge. My boat is the 1989 30' called Jambalaya.
 
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Harry Greenspun

Hoping to return today

We went yesterday to check on our boat. It was on a hard stand and came out fine aside from some leaves and sticks in the cockpit. I was told that A, B, and C docks suffered significant damage. I hadn't heard of any boats on stands being knocked over. Depending on our schedule, we will try to go back today. If anyone posts their boat name and dock location, I can try to check on it. Harry Hunter 456 - "Czech Mate" harry@greenspun.com
 
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John Dawson

Herrington Harbor North

Lots of damage at HHN docks. Cythere and Jambalaya are fine, as are all the boats on the hard. (Assuming the Cythere traveller was lashed to boom midair and is not storm damage.) More details plus pictures and my conclusions when I get home, as this is stop at sisters computer.
 
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John Dawson

Herrington

Matt, the traveller mentioned was on Jambalaya, sorry for the confusion. I think HHN was damaged so much because its exposed to the Bay to the east. Normally storms come from the NE or S, but this was east across the Bay and with a large storm surge. Docked boats were broadside to the wind and waves. The outer end of the pier was not the place to be.
 

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John Dawson

Look closely

I was looking at the seawall where the pier and concrete sidewalk was, thinking the erosion from the surge was bad there. Someone came along and explained that a boat had been thrown up on shore and thrashed around there. He then pointed out the pivot point of the keel just peeking out of the ground where it had been driven into the earth.
 

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John Dawson

Some lessons

Here I noticed some boats had docklines that went to eyebolts in the beams that connect pilings under the decking. It looks like the boats yanked the pier decking up with their surge and the beam then got stuck on the tops of pilings. I sometimes tie around the beam if a piling is not in the right place, but I will stick to pilings for hurricanes.
 

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Matt

Thanks so much John...

John, I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear this news.... Thanks so much for taking the time to look around for the boat and to send the good news!! thanks again, matt
 
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John Dawson

Most common lesson

While most people doubled up on their lines and added fenders, I thought very few got it right. The surge was very well predicted, but the lines were not lengthened. How do you extend your lines in a slip just large enough for you? There are pilings at the corners of your slip, and thats your space. When I was sure my neighbors were not leaving to be pulled out, I ran my lines down the dock to farther pilings. We usually avoid criss-crossing other peoples lines, but its also polite to not endanger your neighbors boat. I tied high on the pilings, with a round turn so the line wouldn't be pulled off the top. With a run of twenty feet or more, the boats elevation poses less of a problem than making fast to something five feet away with a shorter line. This allows for more vertical movement with the same horizontal space. In this case, the water level was over two feet above the pier planking, with two foot waves and 40kn wind added to that. There were cases of tops of old pilings broken off, probably from the weight of a boat on too short line. So many boats were pulled out that there was a surplus of larger slips to be appropriated. Another problem was that fenders were deployed at reasonable places, but when your waterline is level with the piling top, you're lucky if the hull isn't punctured. I also noticed a number of those fenders using rubber mounts on a board, and they appeared to work well with the boats jumping around so much relative to their targets. I did not hear of any damage on the hard, other than shredded sails and biminis, etc. There were cases where small powerboats were pulled out on trailers, and then the flood floated the ensemble away. The safest place is ashore; ask for extra stands. The picture is a boat with doubled dock lines that are rather short. At least it was prevented by them from sinking further.
 

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Kirk

Herrington Harbour

Some more info on Herrington Harbour... The marina is still without power or phones (as of last night.) Unfortunately, my boat was out on the end of one of the destroyed piers in the photos. Most of my damage came from the only other boat that was out there still (in the next slip.) Some of the problems also arose due to the small number of cleats on the smaller boats(like mine.) It's hard to get multiple lines on those small cleats. I finished my preps the night before the storm and was by myself. The marina folks came by and suggested I move to another slip up at the other end of the marina. I would have loved to do that, but they wouldn't help (they were obviously very busy,) and I wasn't about to undo all the work I had just done to prepare. All in all, the boat survived, but is now in the need of some repairs and possibly a new motor (we'll see what the insurance folks have to say.) The marina has some big tough choices to make now about rebuilding.
 
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Ned Tyler

Herrington Harbor

The damage to piers A, B and C and the boats on them came from the waves rolling in from the Chesapeake Bay. The piers are normally somewhat protected by a long breakwater. The storm surge was above the breakwater and that allowed the waves to go directly at the piers. There was breaking surf at the marina. With the breakwater, conditions would have been rough - without it they were impossible. On Wednesday, I moved my boat from B dock to a sheltered slip up the creek. She survived without a scratch!
 
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