What's everybody in Fla doing about Irma?

[Colwyn D]

In 04 I saw almost every boat at Harbortown that were on the hard blown over like dominos. Of course it was still better than the city marina clusterf if your hauled make sure the jack stands are chained together and don't walk when the gusts hit

Thanks for the advice. I'm hauled in Stuart and can't get to the boat but have asked the yard if they can get some put on.

Good luck everyone.

 

[saltshaker]

Change of plans... st Pete no longer make sense in view of the westerly shift of the NHC tracks. So after spending the day preparing my boats and other things, we dropped the lines at midnight and are heading east. NE 12/14 kts in the stream wasn't bad although even in the dark I could tell instantly when we hit the stream. Still a good ride at 21kts. Just passing Cat Cay right now will loses signal soon till Chub-Andros

Hopefully the damn NW won't be too bad. Supposed to be 15/18 kts by the time we get by Chub around 7am

After Nassau we ll run on the bank to Hatchett Bay on Eleuthera which wil out is about 220nm from Irma. Well away from the hurricane force winds and just on the edge of tropical force wind

Hatchett Bay is a small pond with a very narrow cut into the rocks on the south west shore

Another reason I dropped st Pete was that should the storm shift west, we wouldn't have enough fuel to make Panama City on plane and there is no guarantee of getting fuel along the way. By Saturday big bend is supposed to be getting 20kts from the north...

Tough call but probably the right move. I was wondering about fuel too. Figured the same that if St Pete wasn't good you'd need to run up to the panhandle or even further west. Best of luck and stay safe.

 

[Avenger]

Dam this Sucks I don't know what to add except us Yankees up here will keep you all in our thoughts and prayers.
A winter snow storm is looking real good about now.

Stay Safe.

What Dan said.

There's not much we can do from here but pray for you. Good luck and be well.

 

[capttonyf]

If the track continues as predicted and the 5 to 10 ft tidal surge happens, ours along with all the other boats in Ft Lauderdale I'm afraid won't make it. Fingers Crossed, and hoping for the best.

Tony

 

[bobk]

Shift west. Looks like the east coast will fare better.

http://nc-cera.renci.org/

 

[saltshaker]

It all depends on how quickly it looses strength once it moves inland. Looks like it's coming into the Everglades first if this track holds

 

[Pascal]

Got to Eleuthera around 11am and safely anchored in Hatchet bay. Just 200nm away which is more than enough

Hatchet bay has some hills around cutting the wind and a very tight entrance cut into the rocky cliff. I wouldn't be here for a direct hit but for 50/60kts it's perfect

As to storm surge, the 10' called by the talking heads on TV, they're using worst case scenarios. If you want the real thing use the NHC chart :

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/093751.shtml?inundation#contents

Now obviously the storm can wobble east and could hit Miami directly... again, it on oh takes 60 or 70 mile so to be outside the hurricane force winds.

Here are a few pics of my 53 last night right before I left the Lazzara I run seen in the back ground Being just inside the tee head, i was able to rig some long double lines to the tee head outside pilings crossing the dock. In theory that will give me the surge range needed since the winds will be NE thru SE but who knows...

 

[saltshaker]

Latest track does not look good for the West coast of FL

 

[nautibake]

We are glad to have made the 2 day trek out of Key West Monday-Tuesday back up to Burnt Store in Charlotte Harbor, but now looks like a direct hit on this coast. Hoping it keeps heading west, but prepping as best we can.

A beautiful 1965 Hatt 50 was our dock neighbor in KW Bight for previous 2 weeks, and we were surprised to see them pull into our marina day before yesterday! They are one dock over working hard to get their Hatt ready as well.

Pascal, nice work on getting out of dodge! For most of the past week going to the Bahamas was unthinkable. Here we are in SW FL...

Good luck to everyone in this storms path...

 

[Freeebird]

Okay guys, we have a bad situation here with one of our own who is in the Tampa area having tried to escape Miami before the shift. They're now just trying to find someplace to leave the boat and take shelter. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[nautibake]

Okay guys, we have a bad situation here with one of our own who is in the Tampa area having tried to escape Miami before the shift. They're now just trying to find someplace to leave the boat and take shelter. Anybody have any ideas?

PM me the specifics (# souls, do they have car, etc) and I will try to help. We are 2 hours south of Tampa, but others may be closer.

 

[Freeebird]

May as well make it public. Husband, wife, and a cat. 60' boat. We're trying to encourage them to continue north despite being worn out and scared.

I haven't heard anything since around midnight when they were approaching Tampa Bay. They don't know the area.

 

[Freeebird]

Just got word they found a slip in a marina.

 

[SEVEN]

Thank goodness.

 

[saltshaker]

This is not looking good for the Keys and West FL. If this things stays along the coast the surge will be devastating. Not sure what would be the best track right now as there's too much in its path at this point. Be safe and don't take unnecessary risk.

 

[Pascal]

I m very concerned about them as we've talked about plans three days ago when th west coast run made sense. I had found th m dockage in Ft Myers while we were Planning to go to st Pete. They left earlier than us because of their speed yesterday I suggested they back track to fort Myers and head east in the OWW but I wonder if they had enough fuel for that. It sucks.

 

[Freeebird]

Let's just hope and pray they have a really good story to share and the boat survives the storm. Based on the latest, I'll be surprised if it does. Main thing is, they have safe shelter.

Prayers for all who are dealing with this mess.

 

[bobk]

We have had a few SB's and a 60's Hatteras come into our cove (Kitching Cove) in the past few days. It ought to be a good spot if they have proper tackle for soft mud. Most SB's use a plow and it does as one of my neighbors found out years ago.

Bobk

 

[rsmith]

We have had a few SB's and a 60's Hatteras come into our cove (Kitching Cove) in the past few days. It ought to be a good spot if they have proper tackle for soft mud. Most SB's use a plow and it does as one of my neighbors found out years ago.

Bobk

The Indian river shoreline was littered with boats that tried to anchor out in Frances and Jeene in 04. It's not the straight line winds that are a problem but the gusts and lulls. I talked to a guy that rode it out and ended up on the beach. Said the anchor line would stretch like a banjo string in the gusts and the lul between gusts would rocket forward over the anchor line. Something on the rode finally failed and he ended up on US1 in Grant

 

[Pascal]

When I wa calling around for dockage on the west coast, one guy told me they were running out of diesel because so many big boats from SoFL were stopping for fuel. Now it look like those who can't make it a least it panama city are in trouble

This whole thing has always felt like we re playing chicken with an 18 wheeler...

Anchoring can work if you're in the right spot with the right tackle. I wouldn't trust line... I know chain can be tough when it gets tight but with the full length you get damping with catenary effect and you can use a snubber

Couple of years we endured 4 hours of 70kts wind during a derecho in Staniel anchored behind the majors. All chain and we held fine Obviously 70kts is nothing by hurricane standard although it was funneling between the majors. But the point is that all chain may drag but it's better than rode snapping. And if you drag you can usually relieve the pressure with the engines