When it rains it pours.... lol

[rustybucket]

Just sitting here thinking about the last 10 days or so and WOW. I'm not one to brag but it's been a doozie! I don't normally talk about personal stuff online but I gotta share this string of bad luck with everybody, it's almost mind boggling. Before anybody asks, I'm ok, family is ok, everybody is good. Taking everything in stride, I mean really all you can do at this point is laugh at it...

1. My trucks transmission goes out, new transmission is going to take 30 days to arrive and cost $5k. We decide to buy a used prius to cover the gap (been needing a car anyways)

2. Hurricane Sally predicted to hit LA, instead turns and hits our boat in Pensacola direct, I get to ride out a cat 2 on the boat when I was only expecting tropical storm winds.

3. Stepson wrecks his truck (he is ok, no injuries, just shook up), ran into a tree in South GA that hurricane sally knocked over. Truck will be in the shop for 10ish days, $6k worth of damage

4. My father passes after a long battle with cancer and liver issues. Can't have funeral b/c of corona.

5. I've been driving the prius, but since stepson needs a vehicle he takes the prius. So now i'm driving a friggin rental car that smells funny. I own 4 vehicles and am driving a rental car smh... lol.

6. Walk out into the garage yesterday and there is a puddle of bloody water under our upright freezer (which has half a cow in it, plus fish and deer meat). Everything inside still partially frozen. Go buy a freezer from home depot to save everything.

7. Wife sprays some wasp nests along the back of our house. Spray appears to have killed the rosemary hedgerow that was growing along the house.

8. What next????

Whichever voo-doo lady put a hex on me she can take it off now, I'm good, got the point!

I know, I know, it could be worse, it always can be!

Sorry, just had to vent, thanks for listening!

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Well I think you've passed the mental health assessment. You seem to be taking everything in stride. Lots aren't. We're all luckier then maybe we deserve. Take care, my friend!

[SKYCHENEY]

But you still have the boat. And all of your hard work upgrading her is still intact. Sounds like a great story if told like that.

Just hold on. Things will get better.

[johnjen50]

Are you kidding me? I would have thought that AMAZING COCKPIT UPGRADE you accomplished would have taken more out of you! Hopefully you are done for a while, and will only enjoy calm seas and fair winds for a while. Take care.

[jim rosenthal]

Sorry about your loss. Glad your boat is okay, considering how much work you have put into her....

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Rusty, I know you know how lucky you were. I thought you, and everyone, would like to hear about another Hatteras within spit'n distance from you during the storm. You may have even seen him.

In another thread, I posted about my friend, AB (made up), who rode out Sally and lost his 43C. I spoke with him in more detail today. Like everyone else, his plan relied on the forecast. His boat had been docked at or near Barbers (which we know was obliterated). AB decided to run east to Perdido Bay and up to the narrows where he set two "big anchors." Once he learned the storm had picked up speed and tracking east, it was too late for him to run and no way to get off. He said it went from sugar to S#&@ PDQ.

AB said the ride was wild, but holding, when he was hit with either a microburst or a waterspout. Braced on the salon floor on a futon, he was flung hard against the opposite side with the futon and other items on top of him. The hit dazed and disoriented him, and for some time. AB stayed dry, but the side windows began cracking. He said waves were breaking well over the foredeck onto the base of the flybridge. AB said the the ride was getting much worse, and he was being tossed like a rag doll for an indeterminate period of time. At some point, he heard what he thought sounded like loud gun shots--easily heard over the howling wind. Those shots were his two anchor lines parting. I don't how much chain and line he had out, but he was on the nylon.

He couldn't exactly recall how long he was adrift, hours he thinks. AB said the constant, confused rolling and pitching were terribly disorienting. He said you never realize how much stuff you have on a boat until it's all airborne around you; some of it was hard. Mercifully, the cell towers stayed up the whole time enabling AB to update his son, ergo the Coast Guard (AB's son retired from USCG this year as a Commander stationed at Mobile.). AB estimates he was driven about 10 miles down into Perdido Bay proper headed for open water. Suddenly, he began repeatedly slamming up against something solid. He reckons the waves were then breaking over his flybridge. At that point he figured the boat would breakup and he was headed for the water. Knowing he wouldn't likely make it, he composed a goodbye text to his family. Old School held together even as it was repeatedly slammed about.

The next morning, his son was able to get to him by small boat and swimming (if I recall correctly) a quarter mile. Old School had gone aground on someone's unfinished dock. The boat had impaled itself on one of the pilings. AB termed it "a column" sticking up almost to the overhead between the engines. The ER had flooded above the overhead, and water was in the engines when they pulled the dipsticks. AB donned a life jacket and was helped back to the small boat.

AB and his son returned to the boat the next day to salvage their "considerable" rods, reels and whatever they could. Approaching the boat, his son used his .40 Cal. as encouragement for "the Mexicans" looting Old School to vamoose. That's make my blood boil!

AB says he's lucky to be alive. He's still processing the experience. He described Old School now as something someone who had a yard could bring back on their own time, but not worth it if paying a yard rate. He was insured. AB's about my age, and doubts he'll get another big boat. He feels that he just doesn't have the energy to put into another boat. I hope he gets past that.
IMG_2154.jpg
Old School with me when we ran from Irma in '17.