This storm is going to affect so many people that I've met or gotten to know through this forum that I would appreciate hearing through this thread how people are doing over the next few days.
Like any storm party, it is sobering to think that some who have posted here will lose boats or other property before this is over. I'm in good spot so I feel a bit awkward going on with constant updates about my situation when so many of you are going through the same thing. I can't rule out the possibility of major damage or even the end of my cruising when I look at the conditions coming though.
So, please, if your Internet connection is still working, let us all know how you are doing. Pictures of storm preparations would be nice and we all might learn something from them.
Here is Strider as ready as she can be.
The wind will initially come right down the creek from the point at the left side of the picture but should back around to provide a better lee before the strongest gusts arrive.
Bow and stern lines are fitted with shock absorbers with larger lines slack under them so the first set has to completely chafe through or break before any strain comes on them. Slack is adjusted to the boat won't move too far and build up a lot of inertia if that should happen.
Tails of the lines are carried across to cleats on the other side to keep boat attached if a cleat should pull out. Spring lines are doubled in the same way but without shock absorbers as there shouldn't be any significant surge fore and aft.
I'm tied up here and it's a long way out to the mouth of the creek so I don't expect any strong wave action:
10/20/12 0900: Just a little moan in the rigging, very light chop, and just starting to spit a little rain. Those dock lines suddenly look very thin.
1340: There was a gust to 37 knots at the buoy off Solomons but I haven't felt anything here that would seem out of the ordinary for any other normal rainy fall day. If that ratio holds, and the wind is currently from the worst direction, we should be fine in the storm.
1545: A friend just phoned to say that the Oxford police had robo-called her to say where the evacuation buses were leaving from. I wonder what they know that the surge and wind forecasters don't?
10/29/12
1609: I've been distracted much of the day with the tragic sinking of the tall ship Bounty with the captain and a crew member missing.
It's finally started to seem like more than just a fall storm. I can see rain splum blowing across the exposed part of the creek surface at an impressive rate and people messing around boats on exposed docks. The masts show quite a bit of heel.
The backing of the wind has left me much more comfortable and I hardly feel a thing in the cabin with the fire going and drying things out. My only complaint so far is a few small tree branches blowing onto the deck.
I went out and reconfigured lines for the further backing of the wind to the other side of the boat overnight.
I still don't think it is blowing as hard as it did when I was anchored at the end of the Pongo Canal last spring:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=138634
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=138717&#post897242
Sun vs. rain and clouds seem to make about a 20 knot difference in perceived wind speed.
Like any storm party, it is sobering to think that some who have posted here will lose boats or other property before this is over. I'm in good spot so I feel a bit awkward going on with constant updates about my situation when so many of you are going through the same thing. I can't rule out the possibility of major damage or even the end of my cruising when I look at the conditions coming though.
So, please, if your Internet connection is still working, let us all know how you are doing. Pictures of storm preparations would be nice and we all might learn something from them.
Here is Strider as ready as she can be.
The wind will initially come right down the creek from the point at the left side of the picture but should back around to provide a better lee before the strongest gusts arrive.
Bow and stern lines are fitted with shock absorbers with larger lines slack under them so the first set has to completely chafe through or break before any strain comes on them. Slack is adjusted to the boat won't move too far and build up a lot of inertia if that should happen.
Tails of the lines are carried across to cleats on the other side to keep boat attached if a cleat should pull out. Spring lines are doubled in the same way but without shock absorbers as there shouldn't be any significant surge fore and aft.
I'm tied up here and it's a long way out to the mouth of the creek so I don't expect any strong wave action:
10/20/12 0900: Just a little moan in the rigging, very light chop, and just starting to spit a little rain. Those dock lines suddenly look very thin.
1340: There was a gust to 37 knots at the buoy off Solomons but I haven't felt anything here that would seem out of the ordinary for any other normal rainy fall day. If that ratio holds, and the wind is currently from the worst direction, we should be fine in the storm.
1545: A friend just phoned to say that the Oxford police had robo-called her to say where the evacuation buses were leaving from. I wonder what they know that the surge and wind forecasters don't?
10/29/12
1609: I've been distracted much of the day with the tragic sinking of the tall ship Bounty with the captain and a crew member missing.
It's finally started to seem like more than just a fall storm. I can see rain splum blowing across the exposed part of the creek surface at an impressive rate and people messing around boats on exposed docks. The masts show quite a bit of heel.
The backing of the wind has left me much more comfortable and I hardly feel a thing in the cabin with the fire going and drying things out. My only complaint so far is a few small tree branches blowing onto the deck.
I went out and reconfigured lines for the further backing of the wind to the other side of the boat overnight.
I still don't think it is blowing as hard as it did when I was anchored at the end of the Pongo Canal last spring:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=138634
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=138717&#post897242
Sun vs. rain and clouds seem to make about a 20 knot difference in perceived wind speed.
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