Here comes Florence. Blech.

[Owly055]

     Last fall we had one member who took off to the Panhandle to avoid Irma.... I don't recall him ever describing the experience or outcome.  Most people in the path of Florence probably have nowhere to move their boats to safety within the time frame available, as they will generally have more important assets, not to mention it would seem natural that locations nearby within sailing range of several days probably fill up rapidly.

    I've often wondered about sailing southeastward far enough out from the core that while the prevailing winds are still influenced by the hurricane as far as direction and consistency, you are still using the winds generated by the hurricane to avoid being in it's path..... How far out would you have to be to avoid excessive winds and excessively confused seas.  How far out from the core are the winds influenced by the hurricane rather than an adjacent system?   If you know the storm in northwest of you, it seems that wind speed and direction should tell you pretty much that you are in the right quadrant and at a "safe" distance.   It seems that there should be a viable strategy for avoidance by sailing offshore.  Of course this time of year they are being generated one right behind the next it seems.   Passing across the actual track hundreds of miles behind a major storm like Florence to head to Maine or Newfoundland, etc,  you would probably be out of the zone of useful wind generated by the storm long before being out of the turbulent seas it left behind.

     Just wondered if there is a useful strategy and if anybody uses it.   Live aboards are the most vulnerable it would seem, as most live aboards are shore dependent in numerous ways, and cannot just up anchor and sail to safety.   If you are a true transient, you probably headed out a long time ago and are in Europe or the EU, Norway, etc, touring and exploring until heading for the Canaries in a few months......

                                                               H.W.

                                                                                                     H.W.

[Jim_ME]

Have been hearing reports mentioning New Bern in news on NPR, and just saw this article about a storm surge there...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/14/us/hurricane-florence-new-bern-north-carolina/index.html

Hoping that John and his family are all right.

[w00dy]

Agreed. We lived in New Bern for a while and I hate to think of it being underwater.

[CharlieJ]

Harbor cam shot of Oriental, down stream from  New Bern, yesterday evening.. This is the town dock that's the tips of the pilings you can see. There is a road there too !!

I've stayed there and I THINK W00dy and Ralay had Mona there once also

https://towndock.net/harborcam

[Frank]

My ole sailing friends Annie and Neville live there. That blue building on the left is a coffee shop I've been in. Crazy! No word from them since Thursday.
Any work from John S?

[CapnK]

So far so good here. Got the I36 into a slip around in town where its protected, Ariel and A30 at anchor and still afloat this AM, might get out there maybe late today but probably tomorrow. Winds today forecast to get into the 40's from the S, which is right up the Bay, a 6 mile fetch or so. Hoping that doesn't happen, of course.

Sent a text to JR, have not yet heard back from him.

[CapnK]

Just got a text from John as I wrote the above. :) They are OK, but have lost power since Thursday at 6PM. He says Irene was worse with regard to the winds, but that the water and flooding are much worse now with Florence. Says to tell everyone Hello and appreciates the thoughts.

[Tim]

Good to hear from you and John.  :o Keep your head down Hope all anchors hold.

[s/v Faith]

Thanks for the update, so glad to hear you are both ok!

  I saw some video, looks like Newborn Grand was doing well (one power boat seems to have found its way ashore)...  Bridgeport not so much, many boats sunk again (like Irene)... 

[Jim_ME]

So far so good here.

That is good news, and about John, too.  :)

[Frank]

Hope all the boats are OK Kurt!
Glad YOU are ok!
Hope Capt S is ok too....
Still no word from my friends in Orietal.

[CapnK]

Smollett still without power, still blowing 20+ here, forecast to die to low teens overnight (sooner the better!). Boats still floating and no dragging, docks still in place - but 8 more hours of hard wind & bigger gusts on that ~6 mile fetch, so not out of the woods yet.

Craig - Doc told me Dennis stayed at marina and tended his and her boats and they both came out with minimal or no damage.

I hate Florence, ready for this time period to be *over*...

Seriously thinking about diving into a bottle or 12 of grog for the rest of it.

[Tim]

found this on FB supposedly in Oriental I am assuming from Florence

[Tim]

Good to hear from you, hang in there

[Jim_ME]

S/V "Rabid Rabbit"...maybe just hopped up there...?  ;)

[Frank]

On the bright side, sure is convenient for a bottom job.
Hope no one was hurt.
Water sure has power!

[Jim_ME]

On the bright side, sure is convenient for a bottom job.

Yes indeed, Frank. Yet again, we see the advantage of a full keel...sure would be a hard maneuver to pull off with a deep fin keel...

Hope no one was hurt.

Yes.

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

What are the odds of that happening?  Whoverer owned that boat is pretty lucky.  Hope everyone else remains safe!

[CapnK]

Quick summary - lots of work to do yet.
All boats survived, including dinghies, as did contents of dock boxes (tools, resin, etc...).

A-30 leaked had about 5" of water over the sole, no damage to engine, lost a 15kg SST Danforth style anchor and down to 2 strands on the other rode of 7/16" with a Fortress FX-23 (yes, mongo) on it.

Katie appears fine, haven't had a chance to go inside her yet, sure it looks like a tornado was in there though.

Alpa windlass got ripped out of foredeck - bad core - and she and a Watkins 25 battled overnight and into this morning until after an hour or so I was able to get them apart and staying that way (let me tell you how my marina sucks sometime... no help at all...), with the W25 coming out the poorer as you could guess. Mangled pulpit, snapped off 'sprit, lotta scars. Scars and broken stanchions on the Alpa.

All this bad stuff happened *after* the storm had gone by - a vicious backside rainband.

Going to go pull the I36 out of the borrowed slip right now. Will do a detailed wrap up and debrief later.

[Jim_ME]

Appreciate your quick summary. Great to hear that all your boats survived.

All this bad stuff happened *after* the storm had gone by - a vicious backside rainband.

Unusual the way Florence just stalled there for days working its way slowly SW toward you, and only now seems to be moving on to the NW. Similar to the way Harvey parked itself over Houston and dumped heavy rain for days a year ago.

Good luck with your post-storm work, Kurt. Grog to ya!