Riding out Ike In Galveston

[Franklin]

...Can you imagine what happens in a tight finger-marina (short mooring lines) when the water rises by 10 feet and you cannot be there to adjust?

Knut

Yep...it's the rise of the water level that is the problem with marinas and in some cases, the protection from waves once the water level rises above that protection.

Anchoring out chafe is of course a problem, but a combination of protection and letting out a couple of feet every hour or so should take care of it.

Knut

My goal is to come up with a near fool proof method where nobody is needed on the boat.

...It sounds like you still had a lot of swing with two anchors, but how did you put them out in relation to each other and the boat?

Knut

They initually are dropped in a straight line with one having longer rode then the other. Next time I may try to give them a little bit of an angle to keep the rodes away from each other but it didn't cause me any problems with them touching.

 

[Franklin]

Franklin, WOW what a brave thing to do. Glad you are OK
I am curious about the medicine you used for sea sickness. "sturdegen? What is it and where can I get some??

I am a terrible speller so I'm not positive on the spelling but it's pretty close. It's not available in the US as the FDA hasn't approved it yet but use in Europe a lot and all say it works so that's why I made sure I got some when I went to Mexico.

It doesn't work as good as the patch, but it's a lot less expensive and you don't have to worry about it falling off as it's a pill.

 

[Franklin]

The good news about all this is I get to learn how to lay fiberglass. After hearing that there is a big backlog of work for the repair men and a couple month's waiting list, I'm taking 3 days off starting now to do it myself. Should be fun.

BTW: yeah, I first ran the generator (and AC too...I admit it ) to charge the batteries but that died during the tropical winds time so then I ran the engine to charge the batteries (300 amp house bank). The engine died too during the storm as the pickup tube had sucked up a thick substance (I thought my tank was clean) but I had enough battery power to last a few hours with that big pump.

 

[Windride27]

Stugeron

Franklin meant Stugeron.

Check out this site for info. You can't get it in the US. Not sure about on line:

http://www.drugdelivery.ca/s33578-s-STUGERON.aspx

Cheers,

Dave
SlipAway
O'day27

 

[r.w.landau]

Franklin, thanks, great account of your experience.

Your post was great. I did not read if you got your power back. How it that coming?
I would be hesitant to give the anchors some angle. My Dad always set two anchors out at angles. The anchors were different and the lesser anchor would break loose and foul the good anchor. As the boat swings, it puts full force on the in-line anchor. I like your 2 anchors inline idea, but then again I don't deal with hurricanes.
Then again maybe we do. Ike came through Pittsburgh with 60 plus winds. My brother John's boat got loose with 5 others and suffered some damage here at Lake Arthur just north of Pittsburgh. I called my brother Cal in Palm Beach that has a large Catamaran, and told him about John's boat. Cal's comment was, why don't you guys move out of the hurricane zone.....
Hope things are pulling back together, glad you made it through!
r.w.landau

 

[John24107]

I read this a couple of days ago when it first was posted. My knee jerk reaction was -- what an idiot! Why would somebody risk his life to protect what really amounts to no more than a very expensive toy. I decided not to voice my opinion then because Franklin admitted that he was "nuts" and I had nothing to add to that. I thought about it again when I saw all the posts congratulating Franklin for his courage. He was indeed courageous. He was in significant risk.

As I read about his chafing issue, I realized that he probably also had a VHF radio and/or a working cell phone. I wonder if, had his lines chafed through and he headed for the rocks, would he have also put someone else's life at risk to rescue him and protect his toy? Obviously, we'll never know and I'm glad that he is safe. However, he wasn't courageous, he was foolhardy.

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Franklin,,,,,WHEW!!
Where have you been? Don't be thinking we don't like your opinions. This site wouldn't exist if we all thought the same. Folks would just be bored and drift away. (OK, pun intended)
Sheeze, I remember when you first posted here. You were asking newbie questions and planning for a boat. In five years you hoped to quit work and go cruising. Did you quit yet?
And your spelling is no worse than mine. I use ieSpell. Works great. And it's free. Just go to iespell.com.

 

[Franklin]

... I wonder if, had his lines chafed through and he headed for the rocks, would he have also put someone else's life at risk to rescue him and protect his toy?

Nope...never would put somebody else's life at risk unless it was to safe somebody else's life (not mine). I figure if I get myself into trouble that I can't get out of, oh well, I'll just have to pay the piper. I had an offer from another boater to ride it out with me but I didn't call him as I didn't want to put him at risk in case it turned out I didn't know what I was doing.

I figured either 3 things were going to happen a) my boat was doing to make it and I would learn from the experience b) either my anchors would drag or my line would break and I'd drift until it hit something (seems drifting speed is about 2 knots judging by the boat that hit me) and then I'd go ashore and walk away. c) my boat would sink and I'd float/drift to shore ontop of two PFDs and I'd get up and walk away to shelter.

Now A is what happened. B might have not been that bad. C wouldn't have worked like I thought. My big miscalculation was the wave heights. If I would have floated to shore, once there the 8' waves would have beat me down pretty bad against the hard surface as there was only 1-2 seconds between the waves. If B happened, I would have had the boat to help break the waves so I could make it to shore. I'm very glad it was A which I was pretty sure it would be and the great thing about it all is now I know what I can do which makes me a better sailor.

BTW: It's not just a toy to me. It's my home. It's my hobbie. It's my savoir. It's my life. Could it be replaced, yes. Would it be the same for me as all the other sailors, no.

...he wasn't courageous, he was foolhardy.

Get no arguement from me. Doesn't mean I agree with you but I don't know the answer. Is it a fool who has confidence in his abilities and tests himself from time to time? Maybe.

 

[Jerry White]

Franklin, you've got way more guts than I do. I - coward that I am - huddled in Austin (evacuated from Lake Jackson) with my boat buttoned up in Waterford Harbor in Kemah. Fortunately, the predicted surge did not materialize, and my boat was unscathed. In fact, Waterford got electricity and services well before we did in Lake Jackson, so . . . . . after about a week in the dark at home (after returning from Austin), we "re-evacuated" to the boat for a couple of days of lights and AC until the juice returned to our house.

Again, you've got nerve my friend - must've been quite an experience.

Jer

 

[CalebD]

So glad to hear your 'Ike' story Franklin

I am even gladder that Plan A worked out for you although I can't quite imagine myself doing it. On the other hand, if my boat was my home I might think differently as you did. The fact that you had the determination to do this proves that no matter how many folks might disagree with you, your opinion and thoughts are a great contribution to this board. I hope you will continue to drop in again as often as you choose. I, for one, enjoy reading your posts.
I also hope you get some power back soon.
Has TonyB been too busy to check in here in the aftermath of 'Ike' and is he ok? I'll bet he is just workin' his a$$ off on the oil platform(s) and home/boat projects.