Spider Web and a Prayer

[solanderi]

We are squared away here in Miami Beach with easily 20 plus lines securing the HAT TIME to this side of the State. Winds are South at a steady 15....

I have been lucky enough to have some nice folks from this forum send me their extra Boat Show tickets....I am hoping that I did not send out any bad Karma to the Hatteras gods regarding my present Hatteras of which I am quite fond. I mean the new 64 is nice and all but I will stay very content with mine just like it is.....with no extra windows, no new sun roof and I definitely don't have any use for an in-salon jacuzzi....(nervous laughter). Will update later.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Good luck to you and everyone down there. We will keep our fingers crossed for all of you. We have been through it too but not nearly as often or as badly. Florida and the Gulf Coast have had more than their share of all this mischief lately.

 

[Genesis]

Good luck - its coming your general direction, but you're on the better side than if you were in Naples..... or maybe in the Keys....

Hold onto your hats.... its gonna get rough before dawn.

 

[solanderi]

Hold on to your HATTS.....I like it...good for a T-Shirt or something

 

[Genesis]

Yep. I need to come up with something like that..... will have to give that one a shot.

I bet it'd be real popular with the folks around this site eh?

 

[Pascal]

well, i'm ready too.. hopefully... the marina is fairly well protected with spoil islands and trees, with winds form the S and SW, it shoudl be ok.

i learned a few things from Katrina... secured the dinghy better...with the windsurfer under to pervent too much water from accumulating and tearing down the floor... (cheap POS Zodiac rollup)

i also turned the boat around, facing SW.. should have down that for katrina, woudl have preented water from coming thru the unvisible crakcs of the saloon door.

main problem is that teh slip is too narrow (just about a foot on each side, may be 15"...) and the outermost pilings are not far enough. stern sticks out so stern line angle is wrong... will need to adjust lines as wind shifts and tide changes...

 

[Genesis]

Looks like the Keys is going to get Cat 1 force winds, possibly 2. Miami proper should not get it too bad, but north of Ft. Lauderdale up to the Stuart area may get nailed with a Cat 2 storm. The only good news is that you won't get surged on the east coast to any significant degree.

The last recon just showed CAT 3 strength, and her organization is still improving.

Also, beware tornadoes. There is a HUGE risk of them with this storm due to the frontal boundary just south of Tampa. Several confirmed ropes on the ground have already been reported. The biggest risk for tornadoes is roughly 50nm on either side of a line between Orlando and Tampa, but due to the trough and baroclinic factors there are likely to be many more tornadoes than "normal" for a hurricane of this sort. The entire southern half of the state is now under a Tornado watch.

Update: There was just a rope reported on the ground near Titusville....

 

[solanderi]

The marina just shut the electric down on the whole marina. My gut reaction was to fire up the genny and put a load on it for the night (ac). Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Passages]

I don't see the need to run the genny all night unless you are staying on board and it's too uncomfortable without AC. If things get bad, you really don't want to be onboard anyway.

What are they saying in your area? If winds over 90 mph are predicted, I'd respectfully suggest you not expose yourself to that onboard. You've got your spider web, everything on deck is secure. There's not much more you can do.

Go home - or to a nearby hotel. You've done all you can and it's now out of your hands.

 

[Genesis]

There is a very good chance he may get Cat1+ winds there.

I'd get off the boat. Shut off everything except the bilge pumps, close the seacocks and fuel valves, and get out.

You did your best, put your trust in your work and God. Boats can be replaced. People cannot.

 

[solanderi]

Thank you, will do.

 

[Pascal]

lights flickered a few times recently (3:30) but so far so good. we havent gotten any rain band yet. coming soon it seems looking at the radar...

water level is high already. SE then S wind are expected to pile water in the northern end of biscayne bay... first rain drops starting to come down.

i don't see any strong reason not to run the genny except maybe conserving fuel... just in case i lost power in Katrina but ran on inverter.. power came back minutes after i fired up the genset 20 hours laters to recharge batteries.

being docked bow in, i doubt i can make it off the boat with water so high... or if i do it's one way trip, couldn't make it back up :-( i'm well protected by a 105 footer on the T dock (I''m 2 boat down from the end...) but it will be better when the wind shift to the S as long as the trees on the island hold and the water doesn't wash over... :-( hopefully not.

 

[solanderi]

The rain is sporadic with pretty good visibility. The 4a buoy reports at Virginia Key 31 w/ gusts to 38 and Fowey was 49 w/ 55 for gusts. I am sure they are up from that by now. Hang on.....

 

[Pascal]

it's getting interesting.. finger pier are under 6" of water, water level is just a few inches below the main piers.

lights flickering... i shut down the AC to avoid any compressor damage... inverter kicking in when light flickers. Lots of blue flashes on land, transformers blowing? many places already without power.

neighbor's sea ray 46 (almost new) is taking a beating, lines too slack, boat rokcing and bangin in the piling which are now a foot bleow rub rail... sun pad (left in place unsecured!) starting to get blown off... wish i could do sometign but there is no way i can get off the boat, it's a good 8' down to the dock!

rain is coming hard now...

 

[Pascal]

power is out at the marina and just about everywhere including downtown, key biscayne, etc...

main piers are under close to a foot of water... that's 3' above high tide.

canvas and enclosure that held for Katrina are being ripped apart on other boats... sailboats are heeling 30 degrees...

eye is about due west, eastern eyewall about 40 miles or so. i tried taking a few pic tures but can't see much ...

 

[Pascal]

more pictures...

docks are made of concrete beams with planks that are now coming apart...

 

[Pascal]

last batch for now....
last shot shows the finger pier.. my bike is tied to piling and almost completely underwater now.... planks have piled up at the finger entrance...

 

[Tom Ipock]

Good pics! Damn, I almost feel like I'm there!
Hang on!
Tom

 

[saltshaker]

Pascal,

That does not look like a safe place to be. Please try to post at least every 1/2 hour so we know you are safe. Could you also post the name and location of the marina in case of an emergency? With that much pitch and roll, you need to be very careful and stay near the centerline of the boat. Good luck, our hopes and prayers are with you.

Jack Sardina

 

[UNIQUE_NAME]

good luck pascal and anyone else in the path. you're few pictures just summerized what the weather channel has been trying to convey (and failing miserably) for the past 12 hours. is anyone else tired of looking at some person in a rain slicker telling you it's raining and the wind is blowing at 35 mph?