Who Was Tending these Moorings ?

[unbusted67]

Major carnage. This is why I hate being on the water in the fall

20 Boats Sunk, Damaged in High Winds | NBC Chicago

[Blue Stocking]

Wow!!--expensive day. Were these boats all up the bay on swinging, shallow moorings, and were ripped away by wave action, or at the seawall?

[defever]

don't see any balls in the water where these boats are but i'll bet alot broke loose due to no chafe gear and too small bowlines... great lakes can get really hairy in a hurry..

[Mark1977]

What a shame...

[osirissail]

What moorings? There is no mention in the linked news article to any moorings. The second sentence in the news article "Boats began loosening up and breaking away from the harbor wall around 9 p.m. Wednesday." speaks to the boats bashing against the seawall and then breaking up and sinking.

[unbusted67]

It's in the written article that goes along with it.

[jzk]

These boats were moored on cans at Monroe Harbor. I heard that some broke loose from the ground connection, not just chafing mooring lines. We are on a slip in the same harbor, but it doesn't get this kind of wave action. The boats on the south half get all the punishment. A few break loose, and then they take more with them as they pummel through the crowd.

[zeehag]

that kind of sea action WILL break anything loose. compound it with wind.....

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

It's in the written article that goes along with it.

Maybe there is another news article about this incident and "moorings" - but in the link in the OP, Post #1 - the word "mooring" does not appear. Not that it makes much difference - the boats are trashed/lost one way or the other.
- - Still it would be nice to have more information that the brief blurb in the link in post #1 to see if the boats broke loose due to chafe or rotten moorings.

[MitchM]

they were predicting 30-50 kt winds and 7-12 foot seas on the gt lakes from the niagara escarpment west to michigan during this time. not sure many sailors' mooring setup or dock lines could withstand those forces. we hauled out in 10 kts on weds am in erie, and by 4 it was up to 35 kts, no further hauls.

[SVRagamuffin]

here are some videos i shot last week

Monroe Harbor Chicago wind storm aftermath Part 1 - YouTube

Monroe Harbor Wind Storm Aftermath Part 2 - YouTube

They just pulled this out yesterday. Still a few boats sunk waiting salvage. USCG said 11 sunk.

[Mark Zarley]

It is always up to the owner to monitor the weather and make prudent decisions to keep their boat safe. It would not suprise me if the owner of the moorings (if there were any) had his renters sign a wavier.

[jzk]

The "owner" of these moorings is the City of Chicago, and they are operated by Westrec marinas:

Chicago Harbors - Westrec Marinas

The boat owner is responsible for the mooring line that shackles to the buoy. There can be much chafing going on when the waves come from the north. However, in this case, I heard that many actual moorings broke free from the ground. We are in a slip at the very protected Northern end of this harbor, but we used to be on a mooring.

Originally Posted by Mark Zarley

It is always up to the owner to monitor the weather and make prudent decisions to keep their boat safe. It would not suprise me if the owner of the moorings (if there were any) had his renters sign a wavier.

[zeehag]

seems mother nature scored better than those in that cool looking area...sad to see. weird weather this year. hope folks ar able to regain their losses without too much problem.