Spider Web and a Prayer

[labrador]

It's not WINTER yet!!!!!

 

[Norm Mayer]

Passages, I went thru the hurricane in N Ft Myers, and it wasn't too bad. We had a few gusts to 90 mph, but most was a sustained 60. Your family should be OK, as damage in the area is minimal, considering the storm!
Pascal in Miami certainly had it worse. The boats that had damage in our marina were almost all neglected. Those of us that prepared for the storm were virtually unscathed. My dinghy, with everything removed and 2 1/2" lines and 2 3/8" lines was better secured than many of the 30-40 footers!

In our area of the marina, we had to provide lines and tie up a couple boats we were afraid would break loose and damage our boats. There ought to be a law against such reclass abandonment that could cost others their boats, and in our case, loss of life as we have several liveaboards in our marina.

So much for the soap box, hope your family is fine.
Norm

 

[34Hatt]

Is it me or is it true??? It seems to me that in most of the pictures including Pascal's and one's from the past year that most of the boats in the tree's and on the beach are SAILBOATS. A lot of you have seen this first hand is it just the way it looks in the pictures or is it true.

 

[labrador]

The majority of those are from broken lines on moorings. Yes it's true and I've seen it firsthand. The one I race on now just went into a hurricane hole on Sun. hovever this was the exception rather than the rule. Unless they attach a storm pennent to the shackle on the chain at the mushroom the surge can and will break their mooring lines. It certainly does not help when they leave their sails on the boom and forstay as they also will unfurl and flog anything in their path to death!

 

[captddis]

Iremember that during Hugo, a lot of the powerboats that were sunk in the carribean sank from sailboats breaking loose and going through the side of the powerboats like torpedos! I always tell my wife who comes from a sail family, that blowboats are a menace to navigation.

 

[Pascal]

my celular internet is out on the boat... worked till after the storm.. i guess the battery back up on the cel towers are starting to go down :-(

i agree re sailboats... but maybe it's because more sailboats are moored than docked. there is a 60 footer across from me. docked stern too the exposed water and were the winds were blowing from... quickly snapped lines and tore out his utility pole. I tried to get on it too adjust his lines... there was nothing to adjust. what was left of his only spring line was the size of the anchor line i use on my 10' dinghy!!! he has 4 25' day sailors in the slip next to his... same thing... all banging with not enough lines... and he runs a sailing School!!!

some marinas are better setup than others. I complain about the width of the slips in mine but at least we have multiple pilings to spread the loads. some marinas only have one piling near the bow, shared by 2 boats... too much load..., they snap or pull out.

 

[solanderi]

No Pictures yet.....but FWIW this Thread was titled spider web because I think that's what Genesis said his boat looked like before one of the storms. If it does not look like a spider web, you probably need more lines.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Pascal, glad you are okay. That is as close as I want to get to any of this. I guess I am a fair weather boater only. Your photos are a lot more realistic than anything else I have seen, and I too am sick of seeing talking heads in rain slickers pretending they are heroes by standing out in the rain for a few moments. I can't wait til hurricane season is over. This feels like the worst on record, surely.

 

[UNIQUE_NAME]

i had to laugh yesterday. someplace in jersey was under water due to the tides. during the broadcast they cut away to a reporter sitting in a canoe spewing how bad it was. in the background 2 guys walk past in 3 inches of water. did i miss the reporters in the background of pascal's pictures?

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, we got nailed by Ivan and threatened by three others last year, and were hit square-on by Arlene (which was just a TS), hit by Dennis and menaced by Katrina this year.

"The worst" from Ivan (worst of them we've been through) was at about 1 or 2 AM. At 9:00 or so power went off. I went outside on the shielded side of the house (wind coming from the other side) to shut down the breakers at the main panel, and pieces of trees, fences, and other debris were already going past. Stick my head around the corner? I don't think so!

Coming back inside I had to reinforce the garage doors, because they were about to collapse inward (even though they were already braced, and I had cars up against them!)

At 1:00 AM? Go outside? Yeah, right. I'm crazy, but I'm not suicidal, and that would have been.

The "Weather Channel" guys don't get close enough to know what it really is like, or they can't report if they do because their satellite truck has been blown into a tree and demolished!

These storms suck - other than a bit of scuffing on the right side from rash guards I've been undamaged from the worst that these storms have dealt to us thus far..... but I'm getting VERY tired of it.

 

[Traveler 45C]

Is it me or is it true??? It seems to me that in most of the pictures including Pascal's and one's from the past year that most of the boats in the tree's and on the beach are SAILBOATS. A lot of you have seen this first hand is it just the way it looks in the pictures or is it true.

Yea, I noticed the same thing when Ivan hit us.

Re: Weather reporters- my friend got hired by The Weather Channel as a cameraman for Wilma. He was told to film the gas lines. He couldn’t find any initially. According to him there were no gas lines. They insisted! He had to drive around for an hour and a half to find one. Talk about creating a story...

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, Ivan seemed to nail more blowboats than powerboats around here, but there were a good representative selection of powerboats included - which happened to include a couple of Hatts.

 

[labrador]

Doesn't matter if it's a sailboat or power, if you don't care about it and take all reasonable precations, it's going to end up on the beach and probably damage someone else as well.

 

[solanderi]

A few representative pics from the 22nd floor overlooking Government Cut west towards the Port of Miami from Miami Beach. BTW, the whole building was swaying enough to make you wonder where you left your scopalamine patches.

Also included were a few shots of some wind effects. The hard top to the Hat Time is visible in the back ground.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Has anyone else looked at the theory that quite a few boats that come to a bad end in hurricanes turn out to have been for sale BEFORE the storm occurred? There is some evidence to suggest that boats that are for sale are less aggressively protected than boats that remain someone's pride and joy- like ours. Any comments?

 

[67hat34c]

Agree, also majority of damaged boats were junk before the storms, just look at the photos on usauctions.com.

The pride and joy guys pay the insurance premiums so the others can file claims.

 

[OldHatt45]

Pascal,

I just got to looking at your pictures. And I think I finally figured out a use for BlowBoats (from the 912.jpg).

Traffic Control. Complete with "Do Not Cross Lines".

Sorry for making fun of BlowBoats, but through other friends, I've seen more Blowboats break loose then anything else. I guess it's because they do moor their boats and by the time they figure out the storm is going to be a problem, it already is and they can't get out to their boats to do anything about it other than pray, and possibly make sure they can find their insurance policies.

OldHatt45

 

[Traveler 45C]

Were those cars in the water or were they flipped by the wind?

Jim, I agree with your theory. One of the “For Sale” boats at my marina that survived Ivan happened to sink one hour after the owner came to inspect after the storm. We know he scuttled her, a diver confirmed it. He found a hose pulled off a thru-hull, the hose clamps unscrewed and still attached.

 

[34Hatt]

Yup those For Sale boats do try to take advantage of the storm but the Insurance company usally try's to see if it was for sale and how long. If the find that out they pay very close attention to how and what happened. I have heard of a few owners that got caught that way which brings a warm feeling when I hear that.
Most of us have so much BLOOD, SWEAT and TEARS into our boats that a check just can't replace it!!!!

 

[67hat34c]

Did they arrest the boat owner?